Till the Spirit is Poured upon Us From on High
32: 15-20

Till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high DIG: What will the restored Kingdom look like? How do these promises of God compare with those given earlier (see 28:16, 29:17-24, 30:19-26, 32:1-8, 33:20-24)? What is distinctive about the imagery Isaiah uses to convey his message?

REFLECT: How does Isaiah understand what the outpouring of the Spirit will be like on the LORD’s people? How does that compare to the disciples’ question in Acts 1:5-6? Which is closer to your own view of what it means to be filled with the Spirit? How so? What does Isaiah say about God’s ultimate desire for you?

Here there is a swift change from the prophecy of warning to the prophecy of salvation. Once again Isaiah leaps forward to the far eschatological final invasion by all the nations of the world. Here, after speaking of the devastation of Judah, Isaiah describes a future time of blessing in the Land and of the people, for when the Great Tribulation is finally over and God is ready to restore Isra’el, the Messianic Kingdom will be initiated by the outpouring of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. Why? Because Yeshua Messiah cannot come back until He is recognized for who He is, and invited back by the nation of Isra’el (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). Speaking of the believing remnant, Zechariah prophesies: And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look upon Me, the One they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a first born (Zech 12:10-11).

These Scriptures beg for the question, “How long will the judgment continue? How long will the devastation of Judah last?” ADONAI answers and says: Until the Spirit of God is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest (32:15). This says basically the same thing as 29:17 except the desert is substituted for Lebanon. The picture is one of abundance. What was formerly useless for crops will become fertile, while what was fertile will be become a virtual jungle. Is anything to hard for the LORD (Genesis 18:14a)?

The judgment will continue until Isra’el’s national regeneration (Zechariah 12:10-14; Joel 2:28-32) and the means of this regeneration is the outpouring of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. At that time, the Land will again produce and become fruitful. Joel makes the very same point. In Joel 1:15, he begins to describe the Day of the Lord, the term in the TaNaKh for the Great Tribulation (in this case the end of the Great Tribulation). He first describes the Day of the Lord and the judgments that will be poured out in the remainder of Chapter 1 and the first part of Chapter 2, and then he describes the total devastation of the crops as a result of the tribulation judgments. But notice Joel 2:21-27. After showing that there will be a massive devastation in the Great Tribulation that will destroy the crops of Isra’el, he describes the regeneration of the land and the crops. In verses 2:15-20, he describes the destruction of any further armies that would come against Isra’el. But in Joel 2:21-27, he describes the restoration of the crops. Then in 2:28-32, in the same context, he links the restoration of the Land with the pouring out of His Spirit. Other prophets also spoke of this outpouring of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Ezeki’el 36:26-27; Joel 2:28-29 and Zechariah 12:10).

We find the very same thing in Isaiah 32. Devastation is seen in 32:12-14 until Judah becomes a wasteland. But that is going to change. When Isra’el is restored (Zechariah 12:10-14) there is going to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 33:15 and Joel 2:28-32). And what is now a wilderness will become a fertile field, and what is now a fertile field will be considered a wilderness by comparison. The LORD has a way of both reversing disaster at the last minute (37:36), and overlooking beyond disaster to what He, in His steadfastness, determines to do.

As the redeemed of Isra’el enter the Millennial Kingdom, they will have the same benefit of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as do believers in the Church Age today. Therefore, they will have an inward desire to do the will of God (Ezeki’el 36:27). There will be four results.

First, justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field (32:16). True abundance will be in matters of the spirit. From Isaiah’s point of view, Judah’s relationship with ADONAI had been like a desert. Righteousness and justice had withered away while the people had abandoned God’s ways and pursued after their own goals. This had led to the oppression of the poor and a disastrous foreign policy. Judah had, in effect, cut herself off from her source of life. But in the far eschatological future, she would live in relationship with her God and holy living will once again be hers.

Secondly, the results of righteousness will be peace (9:6 and 59:8-9), quietness, and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest (32:17-18). This is seen more clearly in the progressive revelation of the B’rit Chadashah. The person who has received the grace of the LORD’s forgiveness is at peace with Him. For He Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14a). When Yeshua’s character is central in our lives, we don’t have to lean upon others to supply our own needs. The fact that this has not produced significant long-term changes in the world is a testimony to the extent of our sin nature. I don’t know about your neighborhood, but there is no “Garden of Eden” sign posted in mine!

Thirdly, the destruction of Isra’el’s enemies is seen. Though hail flattens the forest and the city will be leveled completely (32:19). Again, Isaiah refers to a specific city that will be leveled completely at the time of Isra’el’s restoration, which, in conjunction with earlier Isaiah passages, would be the city of Babylon (see Dk – Babylon, the Jewel of Kingdoms, will be Overthrown).

Fourthly, we see material blessings for those in the Messianic Kingdom. How blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys roam free (32:20). Even the animals will be able to roam free among the crops because the crops will be so plentiful. Blessing (asre) has three shades of meaning: under divine blessing (Psalm 32:1), enjoying fulfillment of life (Psalm 112:1), and doing the right thing at the right time (Psalm 2:12, 137:8-9). For the believer in Yeshua Messiah, all three are seen in the Messianic Kingdom: divine favor, personal fulfillment and total righteousness.

We have already seen the close association of the Holy Spirit with the messianic promise (see Dc – A Shoot Will Come Up from the Stump of Jesse). It is because the Spirit of ADONAI rests on Messiah that He is able to rule as He does. Not only Him, but also the members of His Kingdom (32:1-8). John the Immerser underscored this when he differentiated himself from Messiah by saying that he only baptized with water, whereas, Messiah would immerse with the Ruach Ha’Kodesh and fire (John 7:37-39). So now, just as Isaiah had promised, the Messiah, through the Spirit that the Father has given, makes it possible for believers to live a life of true nobility – one of generosity and self-giving, one of justice and righteousness, one that the uncertainties of this life cannot ultimately disrupt. There are inner resources with which to meet everything that comes to us and to triumph over them. That is the Good News.¹¹³

You Women Who Are So Complacent
32: 9-14

You women who are so complacent DIG: Up to this point, how have the men responded to Isaiah’s message (see 28:7-10)? Why might he be turning to the women at this time? What does he anticipate for them? What does he mean by the thorns and briers (see 1:7, 5:6, 7:23, 27:4)? What is wrong with the revelry and merriment over which he calls the women to mourn (see 22:12-13)?

REFLECT: What is the difference between “security” in God’s love and “complacency” that you are in the right? Are you at ease because you think you can manipulate ADONAI? Or because you are resting in Him? Are you merely going about your business as if everything will remain the same? How can you be sure that you have the correct view of the events in this world? What lights your path?

The righteous far eschatological Kingdom described in 32:1-8 will be preceded by judgment. ADONAI has every intention of providing a final restoration, but judgment for sin was demanded first. As in the previous chapters, Isaiah alternates between the near historical invasion of Assyria in 32:9-14 and the far eschatological righteous Messianic Kingdom of 32:15-20; between the LORD’s indignation of one nation and God’s anger with all nations. Here Isaiah reverts back to the present Assyrian threat and points out another area of sin that must be punished, the false security of Judah’s women (to see link click Av – The Women of Zion Are Haughty). They were probably representative of the attitude of Judah in general.

You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say (32:9). He calls these Jewish women to listen and to hear. While there is nothing inherently wrong with ease and security, they are destructive when based on a false premise (Amos 6:1). Those women were living in such a self-confident state that they failed to see the coming judgment and the calamity that would come with it. Throughout the Scriptures, the recurring question is, where is your trust? And if the answer is anything other than ADONAI, you are in for trouble.

The devastation would begin soon, in little more than a year Assyria would invade Judah in 701 BC. At that time, those very women who felt so secure would tremble. The grape harvest would fail and the harvest of fruit would not come (32:10). So, the first evidence of judgment would be the failing harvest of the grapes and other fruit as the Assyrians would overrun their fields. It is as if Isaiah was saying, “You may rejoice now, but what about next year when the harvest fails?” It is easy to trust in our circumstances, assuming everything will go unchanged. Trust in God, however, raises us above our circumstances. I know that is easy to do. Faith, in the face of calamity, can only be seen in a relationship with the LORD that is so strong that it overcomes fear. And even then, we may have to say to Jesus, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

The prophet called on the women to begin to mourn for the land about which they feel so confident. Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! The harvest time was supposed to be especially joyful. Here, Isaiah’s words would have been especially painful. Particularly in happy times, we do not like to be reminded that death stares us all in the face. God’s prophet would not let the women of Judah escape the reality of the coming judgment. Therefore, because of the coming disaster, the women are told to strip off their clothes and put on sackcloth around their waists (32:11).

The people of Noah’s day displayed the same attitude and so, according to Jesus, will those who live in the last days before His return. False security is a constant problem, and it is the way of wicked people to indulge in it even when disaster is staring them in the face. It is a way of avoiding the necessity of coming to terms with reality.¹¹²

The grape harvest was the basis of their economy, and its failure would cause Judah’s women to mourn for the land in which they had placed their confidence. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines (32:12). It seems that it was common for men in the ancient Near East to beat upon their breasts and put sackcloth around their waists as a gesture used in lamentation to express exceeding great grief and sorrow (Luke 18:13)

And for the land of My people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers – yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry (32:13). The phrase, and for the land of my people, makes it very clear that just because the Jews might be called the people of God, He is not some lucky charm for them (Jeremiah 7:4). They do not have some kind of magical claim to Him. The pleasant fields and the good vines could be overgrown with thorns and briers as quickly as any other place whose people were out of harmony with God. Elsewhere in 1:7, 5:6, 7:23, and 27:4 the terms briers and thorns are used. But here Isaiah reverses them and uses thorns and briers, which is the phrase used in Genesis 3:18 with respect to the curse on the land.

The climax of the mourning is reached in this verse. Why the mourning? Because Jerusalem would become empty. Perhaps most significantly, the fortress, or the palace will be empty. There would be no earthly king in Judah. It was as if Isaiah was saying, “No, the Kingdom I am talking about will not be brought in by people going about their business as usual.” The gutless, scheming leaders of Judah described in Chapters 28-31 would not bring in a new day. They would bring disaster.

The Assyrian advance was the beginning of the end for Jerusalem. The City of David would fall to the Babylonians 115 years later in 586 BC. Therefore, Isaiah was not saying that the judgment would be completed in little more than a year but that it would begin in little more than a year. In the near historical future, the fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted (Lamentations 1:1); the citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for unfettered flocks (32:14). This was foretold in 6:11-13, implied in 11:11, and predicted again in 30:8-17. The general sense one gets is that, what was formerly cultivated, now has become a wasteland.

Olam, the Hebrew word forever, does not always carry the same weight as the English word “forever.” In the next section we learn that eventually the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon Israel and the people of God will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest (32:15-20). Consequently, it is obvious that Isaiah saw a day when the desolation would cease. Therefore, it is better to understand olam here as meaning for a long intermediate time.

The women and men of Judah had lost their way. They were looking to the world for help (First John 2:15-17). So how can you be sure that you do not go in the wrong direction in your life? The Bible teaches us that God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path (Psalm 119:105). Recognizing that His Word was his light to direct him (119:130 and Proverbs 6:23), the psalmist vowed to follow it (Psalm 119:105-106). How about you? Is it easy? No, the world, our flesh and the devil tempt us (James 1:13-15). But is it worth it? Read on.

See, a King will Reign in Righteousness
32: 1-8

See, a king will reign in righteousness DIG: What conditions marked the reign of the leaders who did not trust God (see 28:7-10, 14-15; 29:13)? By contrast, what will this kingdom of righteousness look like? What will happen to the ways of the fool and the unjust? Why would foolishness flourish when there is no justice?

REFLECT: When you need someone to be a shelter for you, to whom do you turn? Why? How is Jesus presented in this passage? For whom could you be like a shelter or a stream of water today? How? What example can you think of where a person’s power has been mistaken for true greatness? Is your culture more influenced by a leader’s style, or by substance? Why do you think so? What marks of true greatness do you want to see growing in you? How can you cultivate that fruit (see Matthew 6:33)?

Chapters 28 and 29 spoke of the false leaders, and Chapters 30 and 31 spoke of their false counsel. Now Chapters 32 and 33 speak of the true leader and characteristics of His reign. Here Isaiah utilizes the language of the wisdom tradition to talk about sense and nonsense; wisdom and foolishness. Throughout the Book of Woes the folly of Judah’s spiritually blind leaders has been described. Here then, the LORD, through His prophet, pictures the future righteous reign of Isra’el as a contrast with the present defiled one.

See, a King will reign in righteousness (32:1a), serves to underline the contrast with Judah’s leadership in Isaiah’s day that were not leading the nation according to the path established by their God. Indeed, they had carefully planned to conceal their path from Him (29:15- 16, 30:1-2). Yet, the willingness to discover right and do it, was the mark of a righteous King. Thus, Isaiah looks to the far eschatological future when a righteous King would rule Isra’el during the Messianic Kingdom. The King Isaiah is speaking about here is the Messiah, who will reign in righteousness. And rulers will rule with justice. Those rulers under Him will be righteous and just (32:1b). The same point is made in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Therefore, because the LORD would protect Jerusalem, He will also bring about a time when righteousness will flourish.

The righteous leader protects His people and enables them to carry on because of what He provides for them. Nowhere is there a better example of this than Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gu – The Good Shepherd and His Sheep), and the Servant who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Im – The Son of Man Came to Serve, and to Give His Life as a Ransom for Many). Isaiah looked forward to a time when a divinely empowered King would do what people had wanted in a true king all along, but what an ordinary king could never live up to.

Isaiah spells out the results of this righteous reign. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm (32:2a). No longer will the leaders of Isra’el be predators from whom the people will need to seek relief (29:20-21). Rather, the leaders themselves will be sources of protection and support. Because the Messiah Himself will rule the future righteous government, it will produce righteous men. Like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land (32:2b). They will refresh others like water in the desert and a rock that gives shade from the desert heat. In all four illustrations the perfection of His rule is pictured. The contrasting dangers of wind and storm picture protection from every threat; the supply of water and shadow point to provision of every need.

Secondly, not only will the true leaders provide security for their people, they will also make possible the removal of all spiritual hardening on the part of Isra’el. This seems to be a clear reversal of the situation described in 6:10 and 29:10-12, where their hearts were calloused, their ears dull, and their eyes closed. But during the righteous reign of Christ, their spiritual eyes are open so they can see spiritual truth. Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen (32:3). Their ears are open so they can listen to and obey spiritual truth.

Thirdly, their hearts will be soft so they can understand spiritual truth. The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering of their tongues will cease so they can communicate spiritual truth fluently and clearly (32:4). Spiritual clarity and perception always flow from submission to God’s ways. Refusal to submit is the surest prescription of an inability to discern any difference between good and evil (Isaiah 5:18-23 and Proverbs 4:14-9). Therefore, it is appropriate that here spiritual clarity is a result of faithful leaders who themselves submit to the LORD and to whom their people have no difficulty submitting.¹¹¹

The fourth result is a proper evaluation of the character of men and women. No one will be politically correct. The fool will no longer be called noble; the scoundrel will no longer be highly respected (32:5). The word fool is one of the strongest negative words in the Dispensation of Torah, because it depicts the person who has consciously rejected the ways of God, which are the road to life, but instead has chosen the ways of death. Though the fool and the scoundrel will still be present in the Messianic Kingdom, they will be called what they are. Isaiah then describes the characteristics of the fool.

These next three verses are a separate and a very clever little poem clarifying the deeds of the fool and the scoundrel, ending with a pithy statement about true nobility. For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD (32:6a). The word speaks is in the imperfect tense and expresses typical behavior. The emphasis here and 32:7 is on the sins of the speech. It is the thinking and behavior of a person living an immoral lifestyle. The fool opposes ADONAI and does not care about the needy. The hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water (32:6b).

He is greedy and is constantly seeking higher social status. The scoundrel’s methods are wicked; he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just (32:7). The word evil schemes, or zimma, has a consistently bad meaning. It occurs nineteen times of sexual misconduct (Leviticus 18:17 for example). It is planning for one’s own advantage no matter what the cost to others. He speaks foolishness and fails to communicate spiritual truth. He practices sin because he understands no spiritual truth. He lacks obedience and therefore plots evil schemes.

On the other hand, the noble person of righteousness plans to do good to others. But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands (32:8). This word may refer to social standing, but its root meaning refers to character, someone who is generous and large-hearted, someone who knows that God supplies all his or her needs and as a result, can afford to be generous to those less fortunate. As a result, the fool, the scoundrel and noble people of character will all be present in the Messianic Kingdom. The righteous will be those believers who reign with Christ for a thousand years on this earth, but the fool and the scoundrel will die by the time they are one-hundred years old if they do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah (65:20).

The Reign of a Righteous King
32: 1-20

Isaiah now contrasts the righteous King Messiah, during His thousand year reign in the far eschatological future, to the corrupt leadership of his own day. He expands his theme on what will happen during Isra’el’s restoration. Because ADONAI would protect Jerusalem, He will also bring about a time when righteousness will flourish. Here then, Isaiah speaks about the reign of a righteous King, Yeshua Messiah (see Psalm 72).

Woe to Those
Who Go Down to Egypt for Help
31: 1-9

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help DIG: How is this woe related to the one in 30:1? What similarities do you see? What differences? What reasoning is given here for the warning in the previous woe? If you were a leader in Judah, why would you be seeking this alliance? What have these leaders overlooked as they formed it? In contrast to the stumbling of the Egyptians, how will God help Judah during the Assyrian attack? How will the LORD be like a lion? Like a mother bird? Like a fire? How will this be like another Passover for Judah (see Exodus 12:12-13)? What will be the result for the Assyrians? For the Jews? What does it mean that God does not wait until we have repented to act mercifully on our behalf?

REFLECT: What pressures have you felt lately? In practical terms, does relying on God in such times mean not involving the help of anyone else? How can you tell when it is wise and right to seek godly counsel? When have you actually lived as though the LORD didn’t matter? What difference does it make to you to realize that even in those times God is protecting you as a lion or a mother bird? Judah made a wrong choice in forming an alliance with Egypt. What amounts to a wrong choice for you? Is there anything that you are trusting in more than God right now? What would happen if you put the LORD first in your life?

Like the previous woe (to see link click Fs – Woe to the Obstinate Children, Declares the LORD), this one was directed against the Egyptian alliance that some in Judah thought they needed for protection against the Assyrian threat. Not only would Egypt not be able to help Judah, but in going, she had rejected ADONAI. She would reject the true and choose the false. As a result, Judah would experience the terrible reality of her sin (Jeremiah 52:1-34 and the book of Lamentations). This is the fourth woe in the Book of Woes. But this one also points to the Messiah who will one day deliver His people (32:1-20).

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help (31:1a). What He promised in the previous chapter is going to be carried out. Those who went to Egypt for help, and who relied on Egyptian horses and chariots instead of God, will be punished. Both actions, going to Egypt and acquiring horses and chariots, violated the Torah (Deuteronomy 17:16). God does not go back on His words; He would judge the nation for her disobedience. Again, Isaiah points out that Egypt is going to prove to be weak and helpless. The Egyptians are men, not God. The horses are made of flesh, not of Spirit. The Egyptians can only help as long as the flesh is able to help. And that will prove to be worthless, because the flesh of Assyria is stronger. Only God could ultimately protect them from their enemies. Consequently, God’s judgment will cause both Egypt and Judah to fall. Both the helper and the helped will fall together. The Egyptian alliance would fail as Isaiah had prophesied, but God would not abandon His people.

Woe to those who rely of horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen (31:1b). The emphasis upon horses here suggests the likely reason why Egypt’s help seemed especially attractive. Ever since the introduction of the horse into the Near East in the Middle Bronze Age (1800 BC), warfare had been revolutionized, first through chariots, then by this time, through the beginning of cavalry. Apparently this weapon had an almost magical effect on the leaders of Judah. No matter how mighty the Assyrian army might be, they thought an alliance with Egypt, with their horses and chariots, would ensure safety. So, it would be like a splash of cold water in the face when Sennacherib’s field commander sarcastically commented that Judah would not know what to do with horses even if they had them (see Gr – Please Speak to Your Servant in Aramaic)!

In the ancient Near East, at this time, horses and chariots were something like the “ultimate weapon.” When the horse, with its speed and stamina, was hitched to a light two-wheeled chariot on which was a two or three-man crew, the results could be devastating. Along with the driver, there was at least one archer with a powerful bow. In some cases, there was also a spearman. They were so desirable that even countries like Judah, whose hills and valleys meant the chariots were of limited usefulness, felt they had to have a chariot force. Today, we look for defense by other kinds of armaments: shell-proof tanks, stealth aircraft, and laser-guided missiles. But where is our defense? Both nationally and personally, what is it, or who is it that we are trusting in?¹¹⁰

But the destiny of a country does not rest upon either horses or missiles, and when a people feel that special weapons can relieve them of dependence upon God, they are on the road to destruction. This is not to say that weapons and faith are mutually exclusive in a fallen world, but it is safe to say that commitment to God’s ways, with whatever that may mean for weapons in a given situation, is of foremost importance. This kind of commitment was clearly lacking in Judah. They had not sought ADONAI’s direction, nor did they put their trust in Him. As a result of their faithlessness, God said: Do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD (31:1c). Judah would have to suffer the consequences of her actions.

Isaiah taunted the leaders of Judah by saying: Yet He too is wise and can bring disaster (31:2a). Hezekiah’s royal counselors, who were supposed to be so wise, had counseled for dependence upon Egypt (5:21, 19:11-15, 28:14-15, 30:1-2). They acted as if the LORD knew nothing, as if the Creator of the universe did not really understand their situation. It was as if Isaiah was saying, “You know, God understands a little something also.” He does not take back His words (31:2b) means that if we change, this enables Him to change His approach to us. We can see this in the book of Jonah (Jonah 3:10 and 4:1-2). God kept pursuing Jonah until he had a change of heart. Unless we change, He is relentless as time itself. All the Egypts in the world could not alter what He says.

And if Judah carried through with her plan of faithlessness, He will rise up against the house of the wicked, against those who help evildoers (31:2c). ADONAI told it like it was when He called them the house of the wicked instead of the house of Judah. What a scathing denunciation! It didn’t matter that they were the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their birthright didn’t matter and neither did their supposed alliances. If Judah refused to trust in ADONAI, far from being the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:10), He would be forced to discipline her because He loved her so much.

So just how do you get faith? Or trust? Or belief? Where does it come from? The Bible teaches us that without faith it is impossible to please God (see my commentary on Hebrews, to see link click Cn – The Faith of Enoch). It is a decision. The world-famous evangelist Billy Graham’s magazine is named “Decision” for that very reason. And everyone will eventually stand in front of Yeshua Messiah, the Judge (John 5:22), to be held accountable for what they decide. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 also see First Corinthians 15:3-4). Our love for God needs to be greater than whatever it is that we fear. Most of the time we don’t feel like it. Our flesh wants the evidence first. But after the decision based on faith is made, the feelings follow. Some people get the cart before the horse, but it doesn’t work that way.

The Ruach continued to inspire His human author when Isaiah contrasted Egypt and God by asserting that the flesh is hardly equal to the spirit. He said: they were merely men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit (31:3a). This is clearly true, but we human beings have a tough time with this concept. Because of our fallen nature, we tend to value the seen more than the unseen. But Jesus said: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life (John 6:63).

In reality, only ADONAI could protect them from their enemies. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the nation who helps will stumble, the nation who is helped will fall; both will perish together (31:3b). If Judah persisted in seeking an alliance with Egypt, both nations would meet disaster together.

As in 30:19-33, here Isaiah turned from the condemnation of the false hope in Egypt to the declaration of the true hope in ADONAI. If the LORD were relentless towards sinful Judah, He would also be relentless in the defense of repentant Judah. The motivation to trust always was, and always is, both negative and positive. This announcement of trust before the fact is typical not only of Isaiah, but also the gospel. God does not wait until we have repented to act mercifully on our behalf (mercy is not getting what we deserve). More accurately, His mercy becomes the incentive for repentance. We are invited to repent because of our attraction to God, rather than, because of avoidance of Him.

God assured the people that His greatness would protect them from the terrifying Assyrian threat. As a lion meets up with a flock of sheep and is unafraid of a number of shepherds, so the LORD was not afraid of the Assyrians. As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey – and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor. In other words, the Lion of Judah cannot be frightened off by a pack of people shouting and beating their pans. As a result, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights (31:4).

God is also going to protect Jerusalem like a bird hovering over her nest. Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) will shield Jerusalem; He will shield it and deliver it, He will “pass over” it and will rescue it (31:5). Even though 46 of Jerusalem’s surrounding cities will be destroyed, God would protect the city of David. Like a bird hovering over her nest, God protected Mount Zion and the Assyrians would fail in their attempt to destroy her.

Since God would rescue Judah, Isaiah called on the nation to turn back to Him. Isaiah pleaded with them, saying: Return to Him you who have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites (31:6). Eventually, they would throw their idols away (30:22) in favor of the true God. For in that day, every one of you will reject the idols of sliver and gold your sinful hands have made (31:7). In light of Isra’el’s future national salvation, Judah ought to throw them away immediately. They are called to reject the idols of silver and gold that their sinful hands had made. When both the helplessness of idols and the grace of God are revealed, the idols are powerless. Although they are valuable metals, they are valueless. When they returned from the Babylonian captivity, they had learned the invaluable lesson that idols are an abomination to God. As John Calvin (1509-1564), one of the great pastors during the Protestant Reformation, said, “True conversion does not ask the price.” But the opposite is also true: so long as a person continues to question whether he or she can possibly afford to trust in ADONAI, the cost will always be too high.

The last two verses put the seal upon the LORD’s promises. It is God Himself, and no other, that will destroy the Assyrian king and his army. Assyria will fall by a superhuman sword that is not of man; a sword not of morals, will devour them (37:36). It will be Malach ADONAI, the Angel of the LORD or Yeshua Messiah. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor (31:8). The Assyrian commanders, seeing Judah’s battle standard and their soldiers being slaughtered, would be terrified. Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic, declares the LORD (31:9a).

It is ADONAI, not man, that delivers. This truth resurfaces again and again in the Bible. It appears at the conception of Isaac (Genesis 18:10-15, 21:1-7), when all human power was gone. It appears at the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 14:19-31) and again at Jericho (Joshua 5:13 to 6:27). It is there in the story of Gideon (6:1 to 7:25), and in the rout of the Philistines in Samuel’s day (First Samuel 7:2-17). Jehoshaphat experienced it in his fight with the Edomites (Second Chronicles 20:1-30). This truth is at the heart of Paul’s contrast between the flesh and the spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). When people believe they can save themselves, they, in effect, dethrone God in their lives and doom themselves (Philippians 3:7), for it is only as the King of our lives that He can help us.

Whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem (31:9b)? Ariel means two things, the lion of God and the burning altar-hearth of God. The word is used in the lion of God sense in 2 Samuel 23:20, Isaiah 33:7 and here. The word is used in the burning altar-hearth of God sense here in Isaiah 29:2 and Ezeki’el 43:15-16. Isaiah will use both figures. He will view Ariel as a burning altar-hearth and he will view Ariel as a lion. God declares, through His prophet Isaiah, that His burning fire is in Zion, and His furnace is in Jerusalem. Therefore, in these verses, Isaiah uses both meanings for Ariel; sometimes a lion and sometimes like a burning fire.

In 1887, just following an evangelistic meeting held by Dwight L. Moody, a young man stood to share his story in an after-service testimony meeting. As he was speaking, it was obvious to everyone there that he knew little about the Bible. His closing lines, however, spoke volumes to all the believers there. He said, “I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do now. But I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.” Daniel Towner was so struck by the power of those words that he quickly jotted them down, then delivered them to John Sammis, who developed the lyrics to the famous hymn Trust and Obey. Towner composed the music and the song quickly became a favorite. It remains popular to this day.

Refrain:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,

But His smile quickly drives it away;

Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,

Can abide while we trust and obey.

Refrain

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,

But our toil He does richly repay ;

Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,

But is blessed if we trust and obey.

Refrain

But we never can prove the delights of His love

Until all on the altar we lay,

For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

Or we’ll walk by His side in the Way (Acts 24:14).

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

Refrain

For ADONAI is a sun and a shield; ADONAI bestows favor and honor; He will not withhold anything good from those whose lives are pure. The LORD of heaven’s angelic armies, how happy is anyone who trusts in You (Psalm 84:11-12 CJB)!

The Voice of the LORD Will Shatter Assyria
30: 27-33

The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria DIG: What images, names, and verbs are associated with God? What do these teach you about who the LORD is, what He does, and why? What will happen to Assyria at Topeth (see Jeremiah 7:31-32, 19:12-14)? How did the LORD shatter Assyria?

REFLECT: When we pray Your Kingdom come, what does that imply about those who resist God and are not part of His Kingdom? Should one rejoice at the thought of God’s judgment? Why or why not? Knowing the LORD’s judgment is certain, how does that strengthen you to keep on following Him? God intended to deliver Judah even while she persisted in rebellion. What hope does that offer you (see Romans 5:8)?

These verses combine the “now” and the “not yet” of the believer’s life in an important way. The “now” that Isaiah spoke of was for him and his generation, prophesying that the Assyrian army, which was surrounding Jerusalem, would be defeated (37:36). This occurred in 701 BC. ADONAI, in His raging anger, would rush against His enemies. But in addition to this near historical prophecy, Isaiah and his generation also looked forward to the ultimate protection of Messiah in the Messianic Kingdom.

We experience the blessings of today, all the time knowing that there are incredibly greater blessings to come on the other side of the grave. This is the “not yet” aspect in the life of a believer. However, the modern secular view denies that there is any other world than this one. The secularist believes that the physical-material world is all there is. But the biblical world is markedly different. It insists this is a real world, where real decisions of great consequence are to be made. We may choose to make our lives here and now better, or we may choose to make them worse. But why is this world real? Because it is the product of the invisible Creator, and that leads us to the realization that as real as this world is, it is only of a larger reality that includes the unseen world.

Thus, believers live in two worlds. We live here and now and confront “the Assyrians” of our everyday life. We seek to live as obedient subjects of the Kingdom of God this very day. But at the same time, we know that there is more to come. Just because “Assyria” is defeated today does not mean that there are no more “Assyrians” ahead. And we see a world where the kingship of the Creator is not yet fully worked out. So, we live faithfully and confidently today, looking to the last day when all God’s enemies will be defeated forever, and when He will ascend His throne and rule His happy subjects forever.¹⁰⁸

Isaiah catapults us back to the present situation that presented itself to Judah. With respect to the Assyrian threat, would she trust ADONAI or Egypt? God’s prophet prophesied that the Assyrian army (30:31), which was surrounding Jerusalem, would be defeated (to see link click Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put to Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp). God is shown as coming from a great distance on the wings of a storm. See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; His lips are full of wrath, and His tongue is a consuming fire to overcome His enemies (30:27). Neither Assyria, nor her king, could escape the wrath of ADONAI.

The Name of the LORD points specifically to God’s character as redeemer (see my commentary on The Exodus Bz – Redemption). It is important to understand that this appearance of Him should begin with His Name. For His character and His Name had been slandered by both the leaders and people of Judah by trusting in Egypt. He would vindicate His Name by delivering Jerusalem from the very Assyrian army that had sent them to Egypt for help.

His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck (30:28a). This speaks of wadis, or gulches, which are normally dry but can be a rushing torrent in a matter of minuets as a result. Therefore, because His Name was slandered by the king of Assyria (37:9-13), he and his nation will be shaken by the strainer of destruction. He places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray (30:29b). Each of these figures leads to destruction: the rushing torrent of drowning, the strainer to divide the good grain from the useless chaff, and the bit that leads an unbreakable horse to its death.¹⁰⁹ They will be up to their neck in trouble.

The defeat of Assyria would result in a new Passover song for Isra’el. ADONAI said through His prophet, “And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival” (30:29a). At the time of Isra’el’s national salvation there will be a song in the night. Their hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel (30:29b). This joy of God’s judgment is also seen in Psalm 91:2-3. It is not odd Assyria’s destruction should be compared to a time of feasting. Biblical feasts were first and foremost times of rejoicing over ADONAI’s acts of deliverance. It was as if God was saying, “You have abandoned Me because you thought I could not help you. That abandonment will bring destruction upon you. But despite bringing the Assyrians against you, I have not abandoned you. The proof is that one day you will be able to rejoice over what I have done.

Theirs was the song, but His is the victory. The LORD alone will cause men to hear His majestic voice and will make them see His arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail (30:30). Judah would be a joyous spectator to these acts. Isaiah prophesied that God would fight Assyria in battle with the blows of His arm (30:32). Here Isaiah introduces the concept of the arm of the LORD. It will be developed further in the book as Isaiah expands our understanding of this phrase. This is the first of nine times it is used by Isaiah (40:10, 50:2, 51:5 and 9, 52:10, 53:1, 59:1 and 16, 62:8, 63:5).

Merely by the command of His voice, ADONAI will shatter Assyria; with His scepter He will strike them down (30:31a). Assyria had claimed to hold the scepter of the world; but in reality, ADONAI held that scepter and would shortly strike down the imposter outside the gates of Jerusalem. The point is, what God will do in the future against all the nations, He will now do to Assyria. This would cause Judah to rejoice. Every stroke the LORD lays on them with His punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps (30:31b). The reference to tambourines and harps reminds us of Jehoshaphat’s defeat of the Edomites (Second Chronicles 20:13-30). All Isra’el had to do was to praise God in confidence and receive His blessing.

God’s war is specifically against the Assyrian king who will be defeated. Topeth has long been prepared; it had been made ready for Sennacherib, the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze (30:33). The result is the preparation of Topeth, which is the same as the Valley of Ben Hinnon, a valley on the southern side of Jerusalem. In Greek, it was called the Valley of Gehenna. It was a place where human sacrifices were offered by the kings of Judah to the god Molech (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chro 28:3, 33:6; Jer 7:31-32, 19:2-14). The people of Jerusalem dumped their garbage there and burned it. Therefore, it was a place of continual burning. Later, the homeless dead, with no one to claim their bodies, were thrown in the fire. It eventually became a symbol of hell. Isaiah says that hell is already prepared for the Assyrian king.

The expression: Topeth has long been prepared means has been prepared since yesterday. Hell has been prepared since yesterday for the king of Assyria. It is from this expression of yesterday that the rabbis came up with the theory that hell was made on the second day of creation. Because that was the first day that could have a yesterday. For this reason, they said that no blessing could be pronounced on that day. Every other day God said it was good, but He doesn’t say that on the second day (because, the rabbis would say, hell was not good). Once again Isaiah is counseling His people that they need not seek an alliance with Egypt because of their fear of Assyria. What they really needed to do was to draw closer to the One who truly held Assyria’s destiny in His hand.

The People of Zion Will Weep No More
30: 18-26

The people of Zion will weep no more DIG: In light of all the warnings throughout Chapters 28 to 30, how do you account for the promises of God’s grace here? What do the agricultural images convey about the LORD’s grace? What is the condition for this outpouring of grace? What contrasts do you observe between 30:18-26 and 27-33? Are salvation (30:18-26) and judgment (30:27-33) flip sides of the same action on God’s part? How do they work together to achieve the same divine purpose?

REFLECT: How will your life change when the faithful remnant of Isra’el weeps no more? When will that be? What will cause their weeping to cease? What have you been saying to ADONAI lately? Does He hear you? How do you know? What do you most look forward to in the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom?

Therefore, although the nation of Isra’el had turned from ADONAI, He longed to be gracious and compassionate to them for they were in a covenant relationship with Him (Deuteronomy 29:1-29). For the LORD is a God of justice, giving blessings to those who depend on Him. Blessed are all who wait for them (30:18). And Isaiah, although he pronounces judgment upon judgment, also wants to include the promise of Israel’s future restoration. But there is going to be a delay.

Because of the previously mentioned sins, the LORD is going to wait. God is a God of justice, and He must wait before showing grace. First, He must be exalted. Because ADONAI is a God of justice, sin must be punished. He cannot simply bestow His grace freely while leaving sin unpunished. This is the reason for the delay. Blessed are those who meet God’s waiting with their own waiting. Messianic Jews and Gentile believers still wait today for Israel’s national regeneration and restoration. We know it will ultimately happen, because the believing remnant of the Great Tribulation look to Him, the One they had pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son (Zechariah 12:10). And once God sees repentance, He is free to bestow blessing.

Then, inspired by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, Isaiah gives a far eschatological prophecy of blessing on Isra’el. During the Messianic Kingdom, the Holy Ones (Deuteronomy 33:2-3; Job 5:1; Psalms 16:3 and 34:9; Zechariah 14:5) will once again be faithful to ADONAI. He will say to them: O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be once He hears Isra’el cry for help at the end of the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ)! As soon as He hears her cry, He (and not some other nation like Egypt, Syria or Ethiopia) will answer her (30:19) with His return (see Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah).

He is ADONAI Yishma, or the LORD who hears. Talk! Talk! Talk! We all need to be heard. We each have a contribution to make, a thought, an idea, an opinion. God knows what we are going to say even before it is on our lips. And, no matter how much we have to say, He never gets tired of listening to us. That is His name.

Although Isra’el will experience the bread of adversity and the water of affliction during the Great Tribulation, the LORD will bless and restore her afterwards (30:20a). When Isra’el is restored, God will provide two types of guidance. First, they will receive outward supernatural guidance, by means of teachers who will teach them the Word. In contrast to rejecting them (30:10), the Israelites will gladly listen to them. Her teachers will be hidden no more; with their own eyes they will see them (30:20b). Rejection of the Word will be a thing of the past. Previously ADONAI had tried to teach them (28:9-13, 29:11-12, 30:15), but their own stubbornness had blinded and deafened them to the truth. Now, because of the judgment of the Great Tribulation, their eyes and ears will be opened to what He had been trying to say all along.

C. S. Lewis likened the LORD’s use of adversity to walking a dog. If the dog gets its leash wrapped around a pole and tries to continue running forward, he will only tighten the leash more. Both the dog and the owner are after the same end, forward motion, but the owner must resist the dog by pulling him opposite the direction he wants to go. The master, sharing the same intention but understanding better than the dog where he really wants to go, takes an action precisely opposite to that of the dog’s will. It is in this way that God uses adversity.

Secondly, they will receive inward guidance, from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit (NKJ). Like never before, the nation of Isra’el will be sensitive to God’s Word. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, they will hear His voice saying: This is the way; walk in it (30:21). The natural result of the inward and outward guidance will be the end of all idolatry.

Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you” (30:22)! With their eyes opened as a result of both the judgment of the Great Tribulation and the corresponding grace of God. Isra’el will finally see the uselessness of idolatry. So instead of being defiled by their idols, they will defile their idols by getting rid of them (Hosea 14:3b; Micah 5:13-14). Not even the outward gold and silver will be kept as a reminder of them.

Then Isaiah turns to describe what it will be like when the people of Isra’el live according to God’s Word and are obedient to Him. Another element of the restoration will be the material blessings from the Land, which will prove to be productive. In the Messianic Kindgom He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the Land will be rich and plentiful (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). In that day, your cattle will graze in broad meadows (30:23). Even the beasts of burden will be well fed. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel (30:24).

In the day of great slaughter (Revelation 16:16, 19:17-21), after Isra’el’s and ADONAI’s enemies are destroyed, she will enjoy great peace. When the towers fall, streams of water will flow and there will be an abundance of water on every lofty hill and every high mountain (30:25). Throughout Isaiah, especially the first part of the book, dryness and barrenness are associated with human pride. Likewise, water and fruitfulness are associated with trust in ADONAI and dependence on Him. Consequently, when the towers of Isra’el’s pride are smashed (2:12-17, 32:14-15, 57:15), she may expect a new era of unbelievable fruitfulness.

Also, light will be increased because of the Sh’khinah glory of God (see the commentary on Revelation Fu – The New Jerusalem had a Great, High Wall with Twelve Gates), for the moon will be like the sun. And the sun will be seven times brighter than normal, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of His people. At that time, ADONAI will heal His people of the wounds He inflicted; that is, He will restore them to the place of blessing (30:26).

These are Deceitful Children
Unwilling to Listen to the LORD
30: 8-17

These are deceitful children unwilling to listen to God DIG: What was the “official” response to Isaiah? What inescapable logic do you see in God’s judgments here? What does Isaiah mean by the image of the wall? In contrast to their alliance with Egypt, what is Isaiah’s plan for their deliverance? What will happen as a result of Isra’el rejecting this plan?

REFLECT: Isra’el was tired of hearing the Word of God, and wished to be left alone or listen to others as well. What in your life are the pleasant things or illusions (30:10) you would rather listen to at times? How have these resulted in high walls fencing out God? Have you experienced this wall of illusion eventually cracking, bulging, and collapsing around you (30:9-14)? What effect has that had upon you? With what are you building a new wall? Compare 30:15 and 28:12 with Matthew 11:28-30. What differences do you see? What similarities? What thoughts or pictures come to mind as you consider the LORD as a resting place? If you are a workaholic, reliant on swift horses, how would you begin to apply 30:15 to your life? How does a busybody or workaholic find rest and quietness? What is there to repent of? Has the foolishness in your life been wasted? Or are you still learning?

Here Isaiah turns from talking about the dependence upon Egypt (30:1-7), to the attitudes that encouraged the alliance. It was basically a refusal to trust God (30:15), which in fact is what Chapters 7 through 39 are all about. And having made up their mind about the issue, they didn’t want to discuss it any further. The fact was that they had the Torah, the mercy seat and the ark of the Covenant, which contained the golden jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded and the stone tablets of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4). But they said in effect, “Don’t confuse us with the facts, our minds are made up.”

They were stuck in their ways just as the Pharisees and Sadducees were when Messiah came. They were convinced that right standing before God was achieved through the Oral Law (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ei – The Oral Law), and refused to hear anything that might be at odds with that conviction (Luke 6:6-11). But Isaiah told the Jewish religious leaders of his day that if they refused to hear the truth from him, they would have to hear it from ADONAI Himself. God would wait until they had been reduced to a state of helplessness in their own efforts. The good news is that He waits to be gracious (30:18).

It is ironic that only after we break ourselves on the results of our pride that we are able to see that He was offering His grace to us all along. The truth remains, however, if we refuse to wait for ADONAI, He will wait until our circumstances force us to turn to Him.

The people did not want to listen to ADONAI’s instructions through Isaiah. Therefore, God told His prophet to write it down, or inscribe it, on a tablet or scroll to serve as an eternal reminder of the foolishness of this alliance. The LORD commanded: Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, Because the prophecy will ultimately be fulfilled, as we will see in Chapters 36 and 37, it will serve as an everlasting witness to authenticate Isaiah’s near historical prophecy against Assyria (30:8). Remember the test of a prophet is to predict some near things that can be fulfilled exactly, and then he can be trusted to make prophecies far beyond his own lifetime. The reason to inscribe this truth is Israel’s state of sin.

The information on the tablet was to serve as an everlasting witness. It was not for the prophet’s own hardened generation, but for generations in the future (8:16). They would look back on the record of God’s fulfilled promises, both for discipline and for blessing, see how they were fulfilled, and then have faith in Him. Consequently, they could learn from their mistakes and the foolishness of the nation would not be wasted. The next three verses (30:9-11) summarize for us why such a witness was necessary.

These were rebellious people (30:9a). This is an astonishing condemnation in the context of the ancient Near East. All the other nations would only record their triumphs. If we are to learn anything of their failures, we can only look to other sources, certainly not from their own national literature. But not so the Judean’s. Isaiah’s own bitter words have preserved the evidence of their rebellious failure. What God thinks of us is more important than what we think of ourselves.

They were also disappointing children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction (30:9b). They failed to act like respectful and obedient children. By refusing to listen to the Torah, which is the voice of God to them, they disappointed ADONAI.

Isaiah describes Israel’s inclination for false prophets. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions” (30:10). These are probably not the actual words of the people, but as in 29:15, they represented their true feelings. Isra’el was not asking the prophets to stop prophesying; they are asking them to change their message. The people wanted to pretend that they were pious (1:2-31). They said: Leave this way, get off this path (30:11a). The path is the teaching of the Torah. They wanted to turn the direction of the prophetic message. In that way they would stop the Holy One of Isra’el from ever confronting them. By keeping the prophets and seers from proclaiming His real message they, in effect, didn’t have to think about their state of sin (30:11b). However, Israel’s desire for false prophets, and rejecting the message of the one true prophet, led to consequences.

This is an increasing problem today. Children are not being taught about consequences in life. You can do whatever you like and never have to pay. “Self-esteem” has nothing to do with performance and behavior. Thus, it is emerging that some of the people with the highest self-esteem are thieves and crooks. The triumph of “feel good” psychology is killing us, because all of this is an illusion. There are consequences in life, and those in the public eye who teach otherwise are the modern equivalent of the false prophets. They tell us we can have everything we want with no responsibility for the outcome. One of the tragic examples of this trend is the epidemic increase in male irresponsibility for the children they have fathered. The social costs of this phenomenon are only beginning to be felt. We need prophets who will declare, “What is right” and not what people “want to hear.”¹⁰⁵

The consequences of Judah’s Indifference: Immediately after they said they did not want to be confronted, Isaiah confronts them with more words from the Holy One of Isra’el. He declared: Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Isra’el says: Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit (30:12). Isaiah reiterates the cause and disobedience to God’s message through His prophet. As a result of rejecting his message, relying on oppression (plans to avoid God’s counsel) and deceit (which Egypt would practice on them), they would undergo judgment because they despised the words of the prophets. The refusal to be instructed by God is a sin, and if not corrected, over time, will lead to disaster. This sin is described in two figures, both of which indicate the suddenness and totality of the impending disaster.

The first consequence will be the fall of the house Judah. Isaiah uses an analogy and says that their spiritual condition is similar to houses built of clay. Of these there are several varieties. Some have a framework of wicker hurdles thickly daubed with mud. In others the walls are made of layers of mud placed one over the other, each drying before the next is put on. Others still are made of sun-dried bricks. This style of building is very ancient, and is still common in many parts of the East. A thief might easily break through a wall of this kind, and modern thieves are as ready to do it as were the burglars who lived in the days of Job 4:19.¹⁰⁶

This sin will become for you a high wall (30:13a). The first figure of disaster is a wall that is ready to topple. The interval from the first cracks until the actual collapse may be quite a long time, but when the collapse comes it is sudden, terrible and irreversible. The judgment would come suddenly, like a cracked and bulging high wall that suddenly collapses in an instant (30:13b). So, it would be with Judah’s refusal to rely on ADONAI. Years would pass, but one day the Assyrians would stand at the door of Jerusalem with all of Judah in ruins behind them (see Gr – Please Speak to Your Servants in Aramaic).

The second figure is that of a ceramic jug. When the wall collapses it will be shattered as suddenly and completely as a jug dropped on a rock. One minute the jug was whole, the next it was only pieces. Isaiah prophesied that the Judeans would break like pieces of pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment would be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern (12:14). They will be broken in so many pieces that each piece will be of no use. In short, Judah was overconfident, thinking that God would protect them no matter how great their sin.

We saw the same thing outside Washington, DC in 1861 before the Civil War. The Union Army had convinced itself that it could dispose of the ragtag Confederate Army in short order. After all, they had better-looking uniforms and more up-to-date equipment, and they were better drilled. As a matter of fact, however, they knew little about discipline, determination, and courage – things the Southerners had a good deal of. In the battle, it quickly became apparent that in terms of raw fighting skill, the northern army was badly outclassed. Soon setbacks were turned into defeats, defeats into retreats and the retreats into headlong flight. The picnickers who had come out to watch the “jolly fight” led the rush back to the defenses of Washington.

If we place our confidence in the wrong things, adversity and difficulty will destroy us. We will have no resources to meet them. But if our confidence is in God and not in ourselves, these things will only drive us closer to Him. We know that He will not fail us, so we can be faithful, even to death. That kind of fortitude means that defeats do not turn into routs. We can fall back to a new line of defense and fight it out with courage, knowing that God is at our back. The Judeans had forfeited that knowledge by turning to Egypt, just as the overconfident the Union army had trusted in their own superiority.¹⁰⁷

The second consequence will be flight and depopulation. The cause of their consequences is again the rejection of the prophetic message. For this is what Adonai ELOHIM, the Holy One of Isra’el says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it (30:15). Isaiah’s plan for their deliverance was repentance and rest. In the KJV, return means in the sense of conversion. In the NIV, repentance also means in the sense of conversion. Both have the fundamental idea of turning around or turning back. This would be how they would obtain their rest. The rest is to stop trying to achieve salvation by any human activity and resting in the grace of God. Then they would have quietness and trust, or confidence. But Isaiah’s contemporaries rejected all this; they would have none of it. They had obviously failed to learn from the mistake of Ahaz (7:3-4). It was this original subjugation of Judah under the Assyrian yoke that was the motivation for their current course of action. Now Isaiah offers them another message. Do not rebel by trying to free yourself from the dominance of the Assyrian Empire. In time God will free you. But instead, they wished to rely on their own plans, reject the prophetic message, and turn to the Egyptians for help. Therefore, they continued to make the same mistake that Ahaz had made.

The Holy One of Isra’el had extended His arms to them with a gentile word of strength. God said: This is the resting place, let the weary rest, and: This is the place of repose – but they would not listen (28:11). They could have hidden beneath His wings like chicks, but they would not (Matthew 23:37). Why not? They were proud and overconfident. Friend, that is a dangerous combination.

Instead of depending on God, they depended on military might. Therefore, their consequences would be twofold. The first consequence would be flight. You said: No, we will flee on horses. Therefore, you will flee! You said: We will ride off on swift horses. As a result, your pursuers will be swift (30:16). If they were to rely on horses (31:1), God said they would be forced to flee. This is the opposite of the blessings promised for obedience in the Torah (Leviticus 26:8; Deuteronomy 32:30) and in Joshua 23:10. Because they trusted in the wrong things, when those things fail, they would be completely undone.

The second consequence would be that of depopulation. A thousand will flee at the threat of one Assyrian; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill (30:17). The emphasis is on the solitary condition under which Judah will be left. Being easily alarmed by the threat of the enemy, they would stand alone like a flagstaff on a mountaintop as a warning to others not to count on military strength.

Woe to the Obstinate Children, Declares the LORD
30: 1-7

Woe to the obstinate children, declares the LORD DIG: What is the basic problem with their desire to form an alliance with Egypt against Assyria? How would you feel as one of Judah’s ambassadors to Egypt, when Isaiah approaches your caravan and gives you this oracle? How does the nickname, Egypt the Do-Nothing, contrast with the description of God throughout these chapters?

REFLECT: Judah’s shame is repeated three times here. She looked for the right thing (security), but in the wrong place (an alliance with Egypt). What are some of the wrong places you have hoped to find the right things like security, love, and acceptance? When was the last time you went against God’s will even though you knew better? Judah eventually ended up in bondage. How about you?

In the eighth century BC, Egypt was long past its prime. After about 1000 BC, it was never again a dominant force in the ancient Near East. After its heyday, Egypt was ruled first by the Libyans from the west. After that, by the Nubians from the south; they seemed to lack the energy or the initiative to rule on their own. Thus, Egypt appeared to be powerful but really was not. We do not know how obvious that was, although from the remarks made by the field commander in 36:6, the Assyrians seemed to recognize it. In any case, those with spiritual discernment recognized the situation: Isaiah and Jeremiah both recognized it.

That is the kind of discernment we need. Are those on whom we are tempted to rely on just as weak as we are, though giving a good appearance? Do they have our best interests at heart or only their own? Are we relying on them as a way to avoid the risk of trusting God? Have we sought the guidance of those with spiritual discernment concerning the relationship? Have we sincerely sought ADONAI’s guidance? In many cases destructive relationships are clear to those around us. Our problem, like the Judeans, is that we are afraid to let go of the splintered reed (36:6) and so do not allow ourselves to look at the situation with true discernment. If we would first let go of it emotionally and spiritually, God would open our eyes to its dangers.¹⁰²

Chapters 30 and 31 center on the foolishness of attempting to make an alliance with Egypt to ward off the Assyrian threat. Egypt was waning as a world power and could be of no real assistance to Judah in her fight against the strong Assyrian empire. But a strong faction in Judah wanted to seek aid from Egypt, rather than turning to God for protection. This is the third woe in the Book of Woes.

The woe was pronounced against those in Judah who wanted to form a near historical alliance made with Egypt. The prophet spoke to those people as if they were children, and obstinate children at that. Woe to the obstinate children, declares the LORD, to carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by My Spirit, heaping sin upon sin (30:1). Like children, they did not have the proper perspective to know what was best for them. Desperate to save themselves and their nation, they were forming plans, but they were not God’s plans. When ADONAI made His Covenant with Isra’el, she was a child of God. Once in the Land she should have become an adult, but she had not grown up. Because of her rebellious nature in forming an alliance with Egypt she was acting like an obstinate child.

God’s word concerning alliances with Egypt was very clear. They were forbidden (Exodus 13:17; Deuteronomy 17:16; Ezeki’el 17 and 19:4). They didn’t need a new word from ADONAI, they only needed to obey the one they had. Any alliance with Egypt would involve the recognition, if not the worship, of the Egyptian gods. But the mind that is set on this world’s ways cannot see the wisdom of God’s way (First John 2:15-17). To it, rebellion is not rebellion but merely common sense. Therefore, the Spirit did not lead the decision by King Hezekiah. The reason it was like heaping sin upon sin was because the original idea of rebellion against Assyria was sin, and now aligning with Egypt only adds to their sin. And finally, by going down to Egypt, they were ignoring God’s prophet Isaiah . . . yet another sin.

Those who went down to Egypt without consulting ADONAI were looking for help from Pharaoh. Hezekiah and the leaders of Judah had not consulted with Isaiah before or after making their plans. They most likely knew they wouldn’t get the answer they wanted (Second Timothy 4:3). Instead of looking to God for protection, they looked to Egypt’s shade for refuge (30:2). The woe was pronounced because Hezekiah was making this covenant for the purpose of security, hoping at long last to escape the dominance of Assyria. It was a woe because of its disastrous results.

But to Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace (30:3). Her time as a world power was over. Shabako, the Pharaoh at that time, was a Nubian, not even an Egyptian. Egypt did not even have the cultural strength to produce her own leadership, let alone protect anybody else’s. So, Isaiah says that to lean on the staff of Egypt was to bring disgrace to Judah. Later Sennacherib’s field commander would mock the Jewish delegation on the walls of Jerusalem when he said: On whom are you depending that you rebel against me? Look now, are you depending on Egypt that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him (36:5b-6). Tragically, they had rejected to trust in the LORD who would not have failed them and, instead, aligned themselves with Pharaoh, who most assuredly would.

The whole basis of our faith is summed up in Jesus’ words in the garden of Gethsemane: Yet not what I will, but what you will (Mark 14:36). Only one who is absolutely convinced of ADONAI’s good intentions toward him or her can say those words. All others are doomed to distrust the LORD and believe that their will is better than His, that they, the pot, know better than the Potter (29:16).

The Jews even sent a delegation to two Egyptian cities – Zoan and Hanes – to talk about the alliance. But the talks were doomed before they left Judah. Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes (30:4). The two cities, Zoan (Zo – long o – an), and Hanes (Hawn – ness) are two cities in the Nile Delta region in Egypt. But, Isaiah says, no matter how strong the covenant is made, it is doomed to failure because everyone in Judah will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace (30:5). ADONAI had already said many times through Isaiah that God would use Assyria to wipe out the northern kingdom of Isra’el and to punish the southern kingdom of Judah. So, to look to a crumbling empire like Egypt for help was useless. When this is all over with, Judah’s shame and disgrace will be all the more.

For the Judeans, their attempt to solve the Assyrian problem for themselves led them back into the very thing God told them not to do, to go back to Egypt, in spirit, at least (Hosea 7:11, 9:1-6). Ultimately, of course, some of them did return physically (Jeremiah Chapters 42-43). The same is often true for us. Our attempts to take care of ourselves lead us back into the very things from which God has delivered us in the first place.

The writer of Hebrews refers to this as the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1). There are areas of our lives where we are particularly susceptible to temptation. When we refuse to trust God in some other area of our lives, perhaps one that appears totally unrelated, we effectively take ourselves out from under the protection of God and throw ourselves open to that old area of weakness. Oftentimes, we are weak there precisely because it is something that seems to offer us the pleasure or security of significance we think we must have. When we learn to trust God for these things and to find them in His ways, not ours, then we experience deliverance from the bondage of those old sins. But when we refuse to trust God in any area, we have cut off the power source and are thrown back onto all our old resources. So, it is not surprising that we are defeated at precisely the same points as we were before.¹⁰³

Then Isaiah adds an oracle concerning the animals of the Negev (30:6a). This is an oracle of judgment. The previous verses merely emphasized the human planning that lay behind Egyptian alliance; here, we see the human cost. The point here is that Egypt’s help would prove to be worthless. The envoys traveling to Egypt loaded with treasures had to pass through the Negev, a desolate, dangerous area with wild desert animals. Judah’s people were so desperate for help that they were willing to risk hardship and go to great expense.

In Exodus 13:17 the LORD would not let His people travel through the Negev down through Philistia the shorter path from Egypt. I wonder if the ambassadors realized that they were traveling in the exact opposite direction of the exodus. Before, they traveled to freedom; but now they were traveling to slavery. But it wasn’t like they didn’t know better. God’s prophet, Isaiah, had warned them.

Through the land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels (30:6b). The donkeys and camels of Judah were carrying the wealth of Judah for the purpose of purchasing the help of Egypt. Judah’s people were so desperate for help that they were willing to risk hardship and go to great expense. All this is done for nothing, because Egypt could not assist Judah in any way. At the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar and his Assyrian army proved their superiority by routing the Egyptians.¹⁰⁴

They carried their tribute to that unprofitable nation, to Egypt, who is utterly worthless. Literally, the Hebrew reads: Egypt, vanity and emptiness they will help. Isaiah graphically displays Egypt’s emptiness. Therefore, I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing (30:7b). That is why God names Egypt, Rahab the Do Nothing. The name Rahab is another name used for Egypt in Isaiah 51:9-10; Psalm 87:4; Psalm 89:10. The word Rahab can have two meanings. It can mean big mouth. What God is saying here is that Egypt is a big mouth that can do nothing. In its adjective form it can mean arrogance or agitator. God says Egypt sits in arrogance, or as an agitator of inactivity. As a proper noun it also means hippopotamus. They are big animals, and in this area you see them all the time, but what are they always doing? Nothing. You never see them do anything except open their big mouth. Just as Isaiah had prophesied, Egypt was no help at all.

Judah had lost the sense of her original purpose. ADONAI had told Abram that he would be made into a great nation. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said: I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you (see my commentary on Genesis, to see link click Dt – I Will Bless Those Who Bless You and Whoever Curses You I Will Curse). She was supposed to be a godly example to those nations around her, not to sink back into worldly behavior.

In the town of Delburne, Alberta, there was an old water tower built in 1926. Standing empty, the building was bought by two men who wanted to turn it into a dining and cocktail lounge. Plans called for a bar to be built on the second floor. Something similar has already happened in various communities: that which was originally designed to provide the water of life has been “converted” into that which is providing resources detrimental to society. Schools were once thought of as sources of moral and spiritual benefit. In some cases, they now are fountains of agnosticism and atheism. Even churches, built to convey to men and women the water of life, are now the providers of everything but the Gospel.

Warning Against Alliance with Egypt
30:1 to 31:9

Isaiah has been talking about two covenants. One is a far eschatological covenant made with the antichrist, bringing a worldwide devastation, and a second near historical covenant made with Egypt which will bring about the local devastation brought about by Assyria’s invasion in Chapters 37 and 38. Here, in Chapters 30 and 31, Hezekiah made his one key lapse of faith and opted to go against the Word of God spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He made an alliance with Egypt thinking it would ward off the Assyrian threat.

In the Near East, the importance of shade cannot be overemphasized. In many cases, shade from the searing rays of the sun is the difference between life and death. The sun is so direct and so hot that a person can become seriously dehydrated before he or she is aware of danger. So certain Psalms refer to ADONAI as the One who offers protection under His shade or shadow. The shadow may be cast by His outstretched wings (Psalm 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 63:7), a symbol of protection as the parent bird shelters the chicks. But on two occasions God Himself casts the shadow in which the believer rests. He who dwells in the shelter of Elyon, the Most High God, will rest in the shadow of the Shaddai (Psalm 91:1). And ADONAI watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:5-6).

God’s shade is an important figure for Isaiah, and we can understand why, with his emphasis on trust. To him it is almost unimaginable that the people of Judah would exchange the shadow of Shaddai for that of a human being. How can they choose to look to Pharaoh for the protection only God can give? Yet, we are prone to do the same thing. Of course, it is appropriate to place a certain degree of trust in other humans. We trust our spouse, we trust our employer (sometimes), we trust our pastor or rabbi in a messianic synagogue. But if those are the ultimate places where we seek shelter from the world, to the point that we exclude ADONAI from the picture, we are in for a terrible disappointment, for even the best of humans will fail us.

They will fail us especially if we put them in the place of the LORD in our lives. Any time we expect humans to give us what only God can, we are setting them up for failure and ourselves up for disappointment, because we are asking too much of them. By contrast, if we have come to the place where ADONAI is genuinely the shelter under which we live, we will not be crushed when humans fail us. Because we, living under the protection of the LORD, will be able to be more trustworthy, many of our human relations will be also. But we must have the order right: God first, all others second.¹⁰¹

The entire account of the warning against an alliance with Egypt to ward off the Assyrian threat follows a parallel structure where the first letter is parallel to the second letter, with C being the turning point.

A Third Woe: Near Historical Prophecy Against Any Alliance with Egypt (30:1-7)

B Near Historical Prophecy Against the Nation of Assyria (30:8-17)

C Far Eschatological Prophecy of Blessing Upon Isra’el (30:18-26)

B Near Historical Prophecy Against the Nation of Assyria (30:27-33)

A Fourth Woe: Near Historical Prophecy Against Going Down to Egypt (30:1 – 31:9)

In That Day the Deaf Will Hear the Words of the Scroll
29: 17-24

In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll DIG: What does the phrase: In that day mean (29:18)? Who is the New Covenant made with? What will happen when creation is turned upside down? How will Jacob be different then? Who will co-rule with the Messiah? When will they rule? How will they rule?

REFLECT: How has Yeshua opened your ears and eyes to learn His message in a way you could never hear or see before? What do you most look forward to in the Messianic Kingdom? What hope do the promises here give you? How do verses like this encourage you? What can you do to encourage others?

There is another sudden shift to the theme of redemption as in 28:5-8. This section deals with the far eschatological covenant with the antichrist that will bring about a worldwide persecution of the Jews. When the nation of Isra’el finally rejects the rules taught by men (29:13b) and realizes that Christ was who He said He was, their national blindness will be removed (Zechariah 13:1-5). They will be able to hear the word of God and understand the book (Isaiah 29:11-12).

Previously, they could not properly interpret the Scriptures because rabbinical law was the only thing that guided them. But in that day, the Millennial Kingdom, the spiritual scales will fall from their eyes and they will not only be able to see the truth of the TaNaKh, but the B’rit Chadashah as well. About one hundred years later, Jeremiah would prophesy: The time is coming, declares ADONAI, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD. This is the covenant I will make with the whole house of Israel after that time, declares ADONAI. I will put My Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying: Know the LORD, because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares ADONAI. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Eo – I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Yisra’el).

After the campaign of Armageddon and the ushering in of the Messianic Kingdom, the Israelites will rejoice in ADONAI. Things will be different then. In a very short time, as the LORD counts time (Second Peter 3:8), even the creation itself will be transformed. Will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field will seem like a forest (29:17)? Lebanon symbolizes that which is not made by human hands. The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted (Psalm 104:16). However, the fertile field is the product of human hands. But since the whole creation is infected by human sin, nothing is as it should be. Everything needs to be turned upside down! What appeared as wilderness will show its true nature as the Creator’s perfect design. What seemed to us like a well-ordered garden in our lifetime will, in retrospect, be a wild forest.

In that day, when the Messianic Kingdom comes, the metaphors of deafness and blindness will contrast with 29:10-12, which referred to the nation’s impaired sight. The deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see (29:18, also see 32:3 and 35:4-6). There will be a new hunger to hear and see the scroll or God’s Word, a New Covenant with the house of Isra’el and the house of Judah, and a new satisfaction in the Scriptures (Ephesians 5:8; First Thessalonians 5:4). Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Isra’el because of what He will do for them (29:19). Notice the reference to the humble, or the poor and the needy which, when used together, is always a reference to the faithful remnant of the Great Tribulation. The apostate Jews will be destroyed and the remnant will be saved (Zechariah 13:8-9).

The ruthless that deprived the innocent of justice will be punished. All active opposition to Messiah and His Kingdom will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down. Believers throughout history will rule and reign with Yeshua (Romans 8:17; Rev 2:26-27). Although some unbelievers be alive when the millennium starts, their sin nature will not be allowed to reveal itself. Those who with a word made a man out to be guilty, who ensnared the defender in court and with false testimony and deprived the innocent of justice, will be silenced (29:20-21). Those who are lost will have one hundred years to accept Christ as the Lord and Savior or they will die (see Kq – The Wolf and the Lamb Will Feed Together, and the Lion Will Eat Straw Like the Ox). Righteousness will reign and evil will not be tolerated.

The forecast of the Messianic Kingdom is now traced back to the original purposes of God, and focuses on His chosen people Jacob (Deuteronomy 7:7; 14:2). Therefore, this is what ADONAI, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob (29:22a). The word therefore does not merely summarize the previous couple of verses. More exactly, it introduces a summary not only of 29:17-21, but of Chapters 28 and 29 also. It might be loosely paraphrased, in the light of everything that has been said on this topic, then, I wish to say. When did ADONAI redeem Abraham? In the most general sense, Abram was redeemed (see the commentary on Exodus Bz – Redemption) when the LORD took him outside to look up into the heavens. At that time God said to him: Count the stars, if indeed you can count them. But there were so many stars they were impossible to count. Then ADONAI said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And fatherless Abram, whose name meant father of a great multitude, believed ADONAI, and He credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6); God redeemed Abraham when he believed in Him.

Jacob is pictured as an anxious spectator of all that has happened to his descendants. But when Messiah comes He will say to the house of Jacob, “No longer will you be ashamed or your faces grow pale” by foreign domination and your own sin (29:22b). For when they see among them their children, the work of their hands, they will keep My name holy (29:23a). Instead of being disgraced by its barrenness, the house of Jacob will be wonderfully fruitful. The final link in the chain of command of the Jewish branch of the Messianic government is that Isra’el will rule over the Gentiles (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom).

In that day, the faithful remnant will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Isra’el (29:23). As their children grow up in safety they will realize that God has protected them. They will stand in awe and worship Him. ADONAI’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (37:36) will be a foretaste of the ultimate deliverance from the antichrist.

Individual life will be changed in the Messianic Kingdom. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain (Deuteronomy 1:27; Psalm 106:25) will accept instruction (29:24). No longer will spiritual blindness prevail. Instead of resentful grumbling there will be a teachable spirit. They will know God in a personal way and be His children.

Woe to Those Who Go to Great Depths
to Hide Their Plans from the LORD
29: 9-16

Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD DIG: Even though the eleventh-hour defeat of Judah’s enemies has been foretold, what effect will these events have on the people (29:9-14)? What will the impact be, specifically, on the prophets and seers? On the uneducated? On the literate? On the wise and intelligent? How do you account for why they are so unable to grasp what Isaiah is saying to them (29:10-13)? Why was God displeased with the worship practices of the people of Judah?

REFLECT: What similar rituals or routines do you see in your church or messianic synagogue? How might Isaiah mock that practice? Which of these traps do you fall into at times? In what ways have you tried to dictate the terms of your relationship with ADONAI? What did the Potter then say to the clay? What else would it take to convince you that the Potter is not just like the clay? Rabbi Saul echoes Isaiah in saying that the wisdom of the wise, which advocates that people find spiritual reality in some other way than Messiah, will perish (First Corinthians 1:19). Have you found Christ to be a more reliable ally in your spiritual life than the other alternatives people turn to? How so? What other ally still seems to appeal to you? Why? 

Isaiah suddenly propels us back to his own day and the near historical future of the southern kingdom of Judah. The root cause of Judah’s troubles was the spiritual blindness of her leaders. Spiritual blindness is both self-chosen (29:9b) and also a judgment from God upon the choice made (29:10). It is a pointless, stubborn and careless refusal of the truth (29:11-12), and ADONAI sees right through her hypocrisy (29:14).

It is obvious that what Isaiah had said about Judah’s present and future both stunned and amazed her rulers (29:9a). All the talk about trusting the LORD instead of Egypt and victory through defeat confused them. They were not led by the Spirit, but the world (First John 2:15-17). To them, such talk is foolishness. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (First Corinthians 2:14).

The words of Isaiah’s call continue to come true. The more he spoke the truth, the less the nation of Judah understood him. So here in agony and frustration, it is as if he cried out to them, “Alright, go ahead and be blind, be anesthetized like a drunk.” Blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer (29:9b). But your problem is not from alcohol like those in Samaria (28:1-7), your problem comes from God. You have offended Him to the point that He no longer allows you to hear Him. God is the one who enables us to hear His voice, and if we rebel against Him long enough, He withdraws His enabling grace (see the commentary on Romans, to see link click Al – The Evidence Against the Pagan Gentile).

Interestingly enough it was not the priests who were mainly to blame for the blindness of the people. Without doubt they were guilty of implying that rituals alone would satisfy God. But the prophets and seers were really to blame. It was the blind leading the blind into destruction. They could have received clear direction from ADONAI as Amos did (5:21-24), but they did not. The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep. He has sealed your eyes with the prophets; He has covered your heads with the seers (29:10). This deep sleep is a total insensitivity to spiritual things. When King Ahab decided to believe 400 apostate prophets who only told him what he wanted to hear, ADONAI allowed a lying spirit, or a demon, to speak through them as a means of bringing Ahab to his death (First Kings 22:1-38). If those on whom the nation depends for a word from God lose contact with Him, that nation is lost like a ship at sea in the fog with no instruments or radio.

The prophets and seers had the technical skills to understand God’s word, but they lacked the spiritual insight that would enable them to see the obvious meaning. So of course, the situation was hopeless for the common person. The person who can read, cannot be bothered to open the Scriptures and the person who cannot read is unconcerned to find someone who can! For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I can’t for it is sealed” (29:11). For those who are educated, it is like the Scriptures are sealed. For those who are not educated, they are in now hurry to find someone to help them understand. Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I don’t know how to read” (29:12). The people took their lead from their leaders and became hypocrites themselves.

This applies to us today. If we are far from God or deep in sin we will find the Bible is closed. It will be as dry as dust and just as boring. The apostle Paul wrote about this when he said: For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit to God’s Torah – indeed, it cannot (Romans 8:7). But if we have fallen in love with the Author and long to know Him better, it is amazing how the Scriptures open up.⁹⁹

The people of Jerusalem, professing to know the LORD, did not worship God from their hearts. They were mere hypocrites. ADONAI says: These people come near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me (29:13a). The hypocrisy of the people came from the inability of their leaders to interpret the word of the LORD. They had a pretense of godliness, but in truth, their hearts were far from God. Their offerings and feasts were merely for show. God cannot be manipulated or mocked (Galatians 6:7-8). No place is this truth stated more plainly than in Psalm 51:16-17: You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).

There is a story about an old village in Spain. The people of this village heard the king planned to visit there. No king had ever done that. So naturally, they became excited and wanted to offer a great celebration that would show their adoration and that would honor the king. But what could a village of such poor people offer? Someone proposed that since so many of the villagers made their own wines – very good wines – they could offer that to please the king. And they each decided that they would all take some of their best wine, and combine them as a gift for the king. On the day of the king’s arrival, they all came to the village square early in the morning with a large cup of their finest wine and poured their offering into a small opening at the top of a large barrel. They were excited to see the king enjoy the best wine he’d ever tasted. When he arrived, the king was escorted to the square where he was ceremoniously presented with a silver cup and invited to draw wine from the barrel. He was told the villagers were delighted to have him taste the best they had to offer. He filled his cup from the spigot. And when he drank the wine, to his surprise he tasted only water. Had some miracle-worker turned wine to water? Had someone stolen all of the wine that was meant for the king? No. Each villager had reasoned, “I’ll withhold my best wine and give water. There will be so many cups of excellent wine poured into the barrel that mine will never be missed.” After all was said and done, the king was left with a town full of people who simply went through the motions of showing their love and admiration for him. This is what the nation of Isra’el was guilty of. And that is why God told them here: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Through Isaiah as His prophet, God declared: Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men (29:14b). This type of thinking would eventually bring the Jews to the Oral Law (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law) and is the real reason for the rejection of Messiah the Jewish leadership. This is quoted in Matthew 15:1-9. Jesus even says: You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you and then Jesus quotes this from Isaiah here. It is the fact that the Jews worshiped God by laws taught by men and not divine commandments that brought about this accusation of hypocrisy. This was a problem for the Jews in Isaiah’s day, for the Jews of Christ’s day, and for Jews today. Messiah takes these words and directly applies them to the Pharisees. They had a sense of religiosity that was a product of human works. And to reemphasize what I said above, their reliance upon the Oral Law is the reason that Yeshua was ultimately rejected by His generation. But Messiah had nothing to do with the Oral Law because He knew it had nothing to do with God. He knew it was man-made. And because He rejected it, they rejected Him (see the commentary on The Life of Christ  Ek – It is only by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, That This Fellow Drives Out Demons). This led to the worldwide dispersion in 70 AD, that will ultimately lead to the covenant between the antichrist and Isra’el, and the Great Tribulation or His strange work, and His alien task (28:21).

Because their worship of ADONAI was made up only of rules taught by men, God judged them and their wisdom would vanish. When Isaiah prophesied that once more the LORD will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish and the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish (29:14), the near historical fulfillment served to illustrate its future and ultimate fulfillment. When Isaiah made the prophecy, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was planning to conquer Judah. The LORD told His prophet not to fear because the king’s plan would fail. But it would not fail because of the strength of Judah’s army or because of the strategy of King Hezekiah or his advisors. No, Judah would be saved solely by God’s power, with no human help. Human wisdom said that little Judah had no chance against the most powerful army known to the world at that time. However, the wisdom of the wise perished, and the intelligence of the intelligent vanished when ADONAI personally destroyed the Assyrians in a single night (see Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put To Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp).

Rabbi Saul used this quotation of Isaiah in First Corinthians 1:19 to emphasize that the wisdom of men will be destroyed. Isaiah’s teaching will have its ultimate fulfillment in the last days, when all men’s philosophies and objections to the gospel will be done away with. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Then Paul goes on to say: Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world (First Corinthians 1:20)? Mankind is inclined to try to solve their problems and fight their battles by their own cleverness and in their own might. But human cleverness and might only get in God’s way, they only hinder Him rather than help Him. Solomon tells us that there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). One of the things that keep people away from Christ is their disagreement with the Bible. It does not agree with their way of thinking. Even if they were confused over what it is that they believe, they would rather be confused than simply take God at His Word. This willful unbelief is described by Paul in Romans 1:18-23. Pretending to be wise, these people are fools.

God pronounced a woe on those who thought He did not see their actions. The context to the accusation of human planning that excludes ADONAI from the equation is the Egyptian alliance (30:1 to 31:9). God’s prophet declared: Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know” (29:15)? They attempted to hide their plans from God by doing things at night. But they had it backwards. God can hide His plans from man (29:10-12), but man cannot hide their plans from the LORD.

Such thinking twisted the facts and confused the potter with the clay (41:25; 45:9 and 64:8). You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! A pot cannot deny that the potter made it, or say the potter is ignorant (45:9, 64:8). Shall what is formed say to him who formed it. “He did not make me?” Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing” (29:16)? They tell God what to do rather than seeking His direction. Then they tell Him that He lacks understanding! Despite this confusion, Isaiah encouraged the nation next with the knowledge that in the far eschatological future, things will be different. Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, normally follows up discouragement with encouragement.

Although we today no longer offer blood sacrifices, we run the same danger as the people in the Dispensation of Torah. That is, because we have performed certain religious activities, we believe ADONAI must do our will. We have prayed long and hard; therefore, God must heal our child. We have gone to church or messianic synagogue for months; as a result, the LORD must give us a good job. We have read the Bible daily; consequently, God must lift our depression. These are not acts of worship but attempts at manipulation. Worship should be a free expression of praise and thanks because of what God has already done for us. Of course, He wants to bless us even further, but all too often our attempts to use Him, while still maintaining control of our lives, only serve to block the very blessing He wants to give.¹⁰⁰

Woe to You, Ariel, Ariel, the City Where David Settled
29: 1-8

Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the City where David settled DIG: What happened regularly on the temple’s altar that Isaiah is warning is mere “lip service,” and unintelligible at that (verses 4 and 13)? Who is being criticized in this mockery of the city’s unwarranted hope in their immunity from God’s judgment? Although it will be the Assyrian army outside their gates, who is really “encamped against” Jerusalem (29:3, also see 28:21)? How would this realization affect the city’s proud leadership (29:4, compare with 28:14-15)?

REFLECT: When has ADONAI turned things around for you, suddenly, in an instant? What were you doing when this happened? How did God show His love to you in a special way? What does this show you about the LORD’s grace? Were your parents believers? What legacy are you leaving for your children?

This is the second woe in the Book of Woes. Jerusalem prided herself on her pure worship as opposed to the idolatrous Samaria, but in fact, pure worship does not replace a pure heart. It turned out that pride led to her downfall. But God would not only be responsible for her downfall, He would also be able to restore her. Throughout Isaiah, a word of judgment (8:1-4) is very quickly followed by a word of redemption (8:5-8).

The corrupt leadership of Judah was apparently urging an alliance with Egypt specifically because they did not believe that the LORD could save them (5:18-19, 7:12, 30:2, 31:1). So, Isaiah cries out: Woe to you Ariel, Ariel (29:1a) the city where David settled (29:1b)! Ariel means two things, the lion of God and the burning altar-hearth of God. The word is used in the lion of God sense in Second Samuel 23:20 and Isaiah 33:7. The word is used in the burning altar-hearth of God sense here in Isaiah 29:2 and Ezeki’el 43:15-16. Isaiah will use both figures. He will view Ariel as a burning altar-hearth and he will view Ariel as a lion.

We learn that Ariel means Jerusalem because this is the city where David settled (Second Samuel 5:6-10). Her close association with David was another expression of Jerusalem’s pride. To the Jewish mind, David was the ideal man of God. The rabbis taught that all Jews would enter the Messianic Kingdom, while all Gentiles (unless they converted to Judaism and took on the yoke of the Torah), were doomed to sh’ol. Ezeki’el understood that the soul who sins is the one who will die (Ezeki’el 18:1-32). For every righteous father like king like Uzziah, there was a wicked son like Ahaz; for every Ahaz, there was a righteous son like Hezekiah. For every Hezekiah, there was a wicked Manasseh. Association guarantees nothing. Salvation is individual and personal. Going to church or messianic temple does not guarantee personal righteousness. Just because you sit in the garage doesn’t make you a car!

The LORD chided the Jews living in Jerusalem, saying: Add year to year and let your useless cycle of festivals go on (29:1b). Adding year to year seems to be a sarcastic invitation by Isaiah to have the citizens of Jerusalem go right ahead with their useless cycle of festivals. They were useless because their hearts were far from God. Although they would continue with their cycle of festivals, they could not avert the attack by Sennacherib and the Assyrians (36:1-22). The feasts may have pleased the Judeans, but they did not please ADONAI. As opposed to the covenant signed with the antichrist (28:14-29), this was the near historical covenant with Egypt.

God’s response was to put Jerusalem under siege! Yet I will lay siege to Ariel (29:2a). Just when we think we have God figured out, He pulls the rug out from under our feet. He is the Maker, not us, and He can use His power anyway He wants (29:16). There is no mention of Assyria here because she irrelevant. The focus is not on Assyria but on Jerusalem. The human author wants to make it clear that ADONAI is no mere spectator in the theater of human history. It will be God who puts Jerusalem under siege when the Assyrians are at the gate. He is the One controlling Judah’s future.

Then Isaiah uses another play on words when he says: She will become mourn and lament (29:2b CJB). These two words sound virtually the same with just one small change of vowel pattern, mourning and moaning. The impact of God’s actions here are emphasized by the use of haya, Ariel will not merely mourn and lament, she will become them when she becomes the sacrifice. She will come to Me like an altar hearth (29:2c). We learn that she will be to me like an altar hearth, or the burning altar-hearth of God. The reason for the woe is that the cities pride will be brought down to the ground. She will be so low that her voice will mumble out of the dust like a ghost in 8:19. If we dismiss the sacrifice ADONAI has made available to us, then we ourselves become the sacrifice. If we do not accept God’s substitution (Genesis 22:1-19), then we must carry the burden of our own sin (Hebrews 10:26-27; Romans 8:11-13).

I will encamp against you all around. David may have encamped within Jerusalem, but the LORD will encamp against her. As Sennacherib laid siege to Ariel, walling it off so no one could enter or leave, it would in fact be ADONAI in the form of the Assyrians. God Himself declared: I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you (29:3). The Assyrians developed many ingenious devices to break down the walls of cities they wanted to pillage. Among the greatest were great wheeled towers that included a battering ramp on the bottom and spaces for attacking soldiers on the top. These were pushed up against the city walls on ramps of earth and wood.

Brought low, or humiliated, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. This is probably an allusion to the notion, which was common to the ancient peoples, as well as to the Hebrews, that the souls of the dead had a weak, strident sound, entirely different from the voices of living people. The mourners, who were mostly women, spoke in a shrill, feigned voice, and may have practiced ventriloquism; in which case the voice would seem to come from the ground, where it was popularly supposed the disembodied spirits were.⁹⁸ Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper (29:4). Thus, God has the power of life and death. It was He that the Judeans needed to pay attention to, not the Assyrians. Messiah warned them: I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has the power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him (Luke 12:4-5).

Next, the tone shifts from judgment to redemption (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Bz – Redemption). Isaiah wants the Judean’s to know that they can trust Him when they are faithful and they can trust Him even after they have experienced His discipline. How foolish they were to trust Egypt instead.

When my son was very young and I had to discipline him, I always tried to reassure him how much I loved him when the discipline was over. I would hold him and spend some time with him. I didn’t want to leave him emotionally hurt and distant from me. I wanted him to be secure in our relationship. So when the discipline was over, I would hold him in my arms and tell him how much he meant to me, and how much I loved him. This is what God is doing here.

Once the threshing and the plowing of Ariel are over with, as the parables in the previous section pointed out (28:14-29), they will give way to planting. Isaiah tells us that God is going to punish Ariel’s enemies. But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff (29:5a). The many enemies of Ariel are, in reality, no more than fine dust or windblown chaff. While Tziyon would be surrounded by one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian troops, she would not be taken at that time (see Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put To Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp).

ADONAI will come to His people as they cry out to Him for mercy (Ruth 1:6; First Samuel 2:21; Psalm 8:4, 106:4, Jeremiah 15:15, 29:10). Suddenly, in an instant, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire (29:5b-6). He comes to His people to right their wrongs. If they are wrong, His coming means punishment (24:21), but if they were being wronged, He comes to deliver. He is the God of the exodus, delivering His people and destroying His enemies. This judgment will be in the form of convulsive judgments and will cause Ariel’s enemies to disappear. The phrase, a devouring fire, is used specifically of the Sh’khinah glory.

Then the hordes of all the Gentile nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night. As when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched (29:7-8a). By means of these judgments the enemies of Ariel who brought her down, will themselves be destroyed. The result will be that they will be so completely destroyed that they will appear to be only a dream (Zechariah 12:2-4, 14:1-3). In one sense, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh speaks in general terms of all the Gentile nations that fight against Jerusalem over the centuries, but the specific context is Sennacherib and the Assyrians. Compared to the terrifying reality of ADONAI, the mighty Assyrian army will only seem like a dream. Here today, gone tomorrow. Then the Angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies (37:36)! So, will it be with the hordes of all the Gentile nations that fight against Mount Zion (29:8b).

When the Assyrian soldiers were destroyed in Isaiah’s day, no doubt the people of Jerusalem were overjoyed. But shortly the difficulty subsided and life returned to normal. Rather than turning back to God, the nation sunk more deeply into sin. Assyria came against Yerushalayim and was destroyed accordingly. This assurance should have encouraged the people to trust ADONAI and worship Him properly, but it didn’t.

Your Covenant of Death Will Be Annulled
28: 14-29

Your covenant of death will be annulled DIG: Isaiah now applies the lesson of Ephraim rejecting God’s rest to Judah. What is their covenant with death? In contrast to lies and falsehood, what is the sure foundation of God’s Kingdom? What promise is given to those who will trust in that cornerstone? What is the warning given to those who do not? How will their covenant prove too short? What was God’s work at Mount Perazim and in the Valley of Gibeon (1 Chron 14:8-11)? What is the point of the two farming parables?

REFLECT: In what dead-end covenant (money, relationships, power, etc.) do people today try to find refuge? From what overwhelming scourge (poverty, loneliness, insecurity) are they hiding? What is the good news for them in this passage? What is the accompanying warning? What would it take for you to learn to trust God as your resting place instead of these things? What use has the B’rit Chadashah made of 28:16 (see First Corinthians 3:11 and First Peter 2:4-8)? What are some of the implications of saying that Jesus is the foundation stone for your life? How will you determine that in a practical way this week?

The previous section (28:1-13) was merely introductory, showing the root cause of Judah’s decision to reject Isaiah and make a covenant with Egypt. The leaders of Judah, like the leaders of Isra’el, were drunk with wine, being both spiritually and morally bankrupt, they aligned themselves with the world (First John 2:15-17) rather than with God. Isaiah declared that ADONAI would eventually bring about the Assyrian invasion of Judah. This is the introduction of the entire section of Chapters 29 to 35.

This section deals with the third purpose of the Great Tribulation, which is the far eschatological covenant with the antichrist that will break the power of the holy people (Dani’el 12:7b; Ezeki’el 20:34-38). We can be confident of that interpretation because four times Isaiah uses the names: overwhelming scourge, His strange work and His alien task, which are merely different names for the Great Tribulation, in this section. Dani’el tells us in Dani’el 9:27 that the one act that begins the last seven years of the 490-year cycle (decreed about the Jewish people beginning in Dani’el 9:24) was a covenant made with the antichrist. In Dani’el 9:27, the covenant is made with many Jews (including the Jewish leadership), but not all Jews because there is still a believing remnant that does not go along with it. The covenant will be broken in the middle of it, resulting in devastation to the Jewish nation. With that background, look back to Chapter 28 because Isaiah is talking about the same covenant with the same results, but in a more expanded form.

Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem (28:14). The scoffers, or the leaders of Yerushalayim sign this covenant (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Bz – The Signing of the Seven-Year Covenant with the Antichrist). They mock at any warning against the signing. The leaders include the many of Dani’el 9:27 who enter into this covenant.

The signing of the covenant is described. You boast, that you have made a covenant with life. But in reality, they should be saying: We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement (28:15). The purpose of the covenant is to gain security and avoid any more military invasions against the land of Isra’el. Therefore, when an overwhelming scourge (one of the names of the Great Tribulation) sweeps by, it will not touch them. But ADONAI says they are fools for thinking this way because this is not a covenant of heaven, but of hell. It is not a covenant of life, but a covenant of death. The antichrist will turn on you to kill you.

Therefore, this is what the Adonai ELOHIM says: See, I lay a stone in Tziyon, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation? When the name of God is compounded, there are two emphases: first, the relationship of God to man, and secondly, the relationship of God to the nation of Isra’el. The context here is clearly the nation of Israel. But within the nation, the call to salvation is personal. Isaiah reminds those Jews at that time: The one who trusts in the Messiah will never be dismayed (28:16). This will be a double-edged sword for them. Those who believe will be comforted, but those who refuse to believe will be judged. Is it not the same for us today?

Isaiah assures us that not every Jew goes along with this evil covenant, because there is a faithful remnant. This remnant’s security is not in a covenant, but is security in a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation. According to Romans 9:33 and First Peter 2:6-8, this stone is Messiah. Also, in Matthew 16:18 Yeshua states that He is the precious cornerstone that the Church would be built upon. And the gates of sh’ol or the Jewish expression for death, could not overcome it. Clearly, it was upon the truth that Peter had expressed, the deity of Messiah, and not upon the weak, vacillating Peter, that the Church would be founded (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Fx – On This Rock I Will Build My Church).

The Messiah is repeatedly called the Rock. The background for this is that thirty-four times God is called a Rock or Rock of Isra’el in the TaNaKh. It was a designation of God. In the Messianic passages, 8:14, 28:16; and Psalm 118:22, Christ is called a Rock or Stone upon which we should believe. These passages are quoted in the B’rit Chadashah and for that reason Christ is called a Rock several times. It designates Him as divine. For that reason, every Jew, knowing the TaNaKh, would refuse the designation to Peter or to anyone except God Himself. He is the Rock. We are the living stones built upon Him. Ephesians 2:20 says this plainly. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Paul says that the Rock from which the Israelites drank was Christ (First Corinthians 10:4).⁹⁷

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line. Even though events will seem out of control to the Jews, ADONAI will still be behind the scenes, orchestrating every event that will result in a believing remnant and His Second Coming. Speaking in righteousness, mighty to save (63:1-6). But in the mean time, hail would sweep away their refuge. The lie of the antichrist and his forces will persecute the Jews, symbolized by a flood of water that will overflow their places of hiding (28:17).

In Dani’el 9:27 the covenant was broken and that is the case here. The truth will eventually come out as to the nature of this covenant. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand (28:18a). It is not of life, but of death. It is not of heaven, but of hell. And here we learn that the covenant with death will be annulled or broken. Half way through the seven years the antichrist will walk into the Most Holy Place of the rebuilt Temple (see the commentary on Revelation Bx – The Tribulation Temple) and declare himself to be God (Dani’el 9:27 and 12:11). When this happens, the Jews will realize they have been fooled and break the covenant.

When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it (28:18b). The signing of the covenant is described. The purpose of the covenant is to gain security and avoid any more military invasions against the Land. So, when an overwhelming scourge (one of the names of the Great Tribulation) sweeps by, it will not touch them. But God says they are fools for thinking this way because this is not a covenant of heaven, but of hell. It is not a covenant of life, but a covenant of death.

It is during the second half of the Great Tribulation that the world persecutes the Jews. They flee to Petra, when military invasions will come against the Land. As the world-wide army of the antichrist tightens the noose around their collective necks, the spiritual scales fall off their eyes they repent and ask Messiah to come back (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ). He does, and initiates the campaign of Armageddon (see Kh – The Eight Stage Campaign of Armageddon). Therefore, those who believe in the Messiah will not want to be a part of that covenant.

The worldly leaders of Judah will enter into the covenant with the antichrist because of security (28:15), but three results of that document will have unintended consequences. All of which point to the fact that there will be insecurity instead of security. First, there will be an invasion. As often as the invasion comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through. The steady attack will strike fear into the hearts of the Jews. Not only that, there will be a lack of preparedness both militarily and spiritually. The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror. To seek protection from the antichrist would be as futile as lying in a bed that is too short or trying to cover oneself with a blanket that is too narrow. The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you (28:19-20).

Secondly, the wrath of God will put pressure on the Jews to choose between Christ and the antichrist . . . the Messiah or the anti-messiah. As a result of the making of this covenant with death, Isaiah declares that ADONAI will rise up in judgment against His own people. The opening ki, or for, means to put it simply. For the LORD will rise up just as He did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim (Second Samuel 5:20; First Chronicles 14:11), and He will rouse Himself just as He did against the Canaanites in the Valley of Gibeon (Joshua 10:11). To put it simply, He would fight against His enemies again. But who are God’s enemies? Those who do not obey Him (Psalm 139:19-24). Therefore, God will do His work, His strange work, and perform His task, His alien task (28:21). Of the many names that we have in Scripture for the Great Tribulation (see Eu – The Rapture and the Great Tribulation), here Isaiah gives us two of them. His task will be strange and alien because it will be against His people, not for them. James said it this way: You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).

Thirdly, this destruction will also be against the whole world. Isaiah continues addressing the Jews: Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; Adonai ELOHIM of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB), had told me of the destruction decreed against the whole earth (28:22). As I mentioned above, when the name of God is compounded, there are two emphases: first, the relationship of God to man, and secondly, the relationship of God to the nation of Israel. Here, the Holy Spirit has directed Isaiah to talk about the whole earth, so the audience is mankind in general. As a result of the making of the covenant back in 28:14-15, as in Daniel 9:27, a decree of destruction is contained in that seventh sealed scroll of Revelation, Chapters 4 and 5, because when those seven seals are broken, one by one, judgment is poured out against the earth. By the time the Great Tribulation ends, the whole earth is in total chaos and desolation.

The Great Tribulation begins with the signing of this covenant with the antichrist. Let me reemphasize something. It is not the Rapture that begins the Great Tribulation, but rather the signing of this covenant with the antichrist. The Rapture will come sometime before the Great Tribulation, we do not know when.

Isaiah then inserted a word of comfort into this message of woe and judgment. He called the leaders of Judah together to tell them two parables. He said to them: Listen and hear My voice; pay attention and hear what I say (28:23). The purpose of these parables is to show the necessity of the coming judgment. But these parables also show why this judgment is going to be tempered with mercy. The LORD is going to use the example of a farmer’s treatment of the land and apply that to God’s wisdom in dealing with Isra’el.

The first parable discusses the concept of plowing before planting. When a farmer plows for planting does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? The very fine black cummin is scattered on the ground, whereas the larger seeds are planted in marked rows and plots. Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot? Finally, spelt is planted at the edge of the field, perhaps partly to block the view of the neighbors who might be tempted to steal, or maybe to divide on person’s property from another’s. God instructs him and teaches him the right way (28:24-26). The plowing does not continue forever, because planting eventually follows the painful process of plowing. And that is the case of Judah, who must undergo some painful plowing. It would last for only a short time as it was designed to purge the people. Only then will she be ready for some fruitful planting.

In the second parable, threshing harshly or lightly is the lesson being taught. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod and cumin with a stick (28:27). Different types of seeds require different types of threshing. Some seeds need to be threshed hard; other seeds need to be threshed softly.

Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it (28:28). These parables offer a note of hope for the Jews going through the devastation of the Great Tribulation. Despite their sin, ADONAI will not continue to plow His people under forever, nor will He drive His threshing wagon over them until they are crushed. This threshing will be necessary, but it will not last forever. And so it is with God’s dealing with them during the Great Tribulation. She will be threshed according to her need. But it will not last forever.

Therefore, the Jews during the Great Tribulation should submit to ADONAI. All this also comes from the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB), because He is wonderful in counsel (9:6) and magnificent in wisdom (11:2). Now having been given these two parables that explain, on the one hand, that judgment was necessary, but on the other hand, would be tempered by mercy, the Holy Spirit suddenly directs our attention to the near historical prophecy during Isaiah’s ministry.

With Foreign Lips and Strange Tongues
God Will Speak to This People
28: 1-13

With foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people DIG: Isaiah singles out Ephraim and Samaria as an example of God’s judgment. What will happen to the wreath in which the Israelites have taken such pride? What are the reasons for God’s judgment upon Isra’el (1:12-17, 10:1-4)? What light does Second Kings 17:1-6 shed on the fulfillment of this prophecy against Samaria? What will be different when God is truly the crown of His people? What is Isaiah saying about the visions and decisions of the religious leadership of Isra’el by the severe way he describes them? What is the effect of their drunken excesses on Isra’el? To what spiritual reality does this vivid imagery point? How do these leaders receive Isaiah’s message? Why would they mock him and his warnings, much like a rebel teenager does his parents? How were their very words turned around against them? What is God’s basic message to Isra’el, which they are ignoring, to their detriment? What kind of rest was Isaiah talking about here?

REFLECT: Isra’el’s kings often lacked the strength to oppose evil. Where do you need, like Israel did, the word of the LORD to strengthen you to turn back the battle at the gate of your life? Have you ever responded to the LORD’s message as the leaders of the northern kingdom of Isra’el did? How long did that rebellious phase last? What was the result? How did God break through your cynicism?

This section is a warning to Judah; however, God uses Ephraim (28:1-6), the largest tribe in the northern kingdom of Isra’el, to provide a negative example of what could happen to her if she didn’t change her ways (28:7-13). After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided; Isra’el to the north and Judah to the south. Ten tribes made up the nation of Isra’el, and two tribes, (Benjamin and Judah) made up the nation of Judah. Ephraim was the largest tribe in the northern Kingdom. That is why the Ruach used that name to represent the entire nation of Isra’el. Benjamin was the smallest tribe, dwarfed by Judah, hence the name Judah.

Unfortunately, the northern kingdom of Isra’el was founded upon idolatry. Jeroboam corrupted the worship of God (1 Kings 12: 25-33). As Isra’el continued to corrupt His worship, and as God brought the Assyrians closer and closer to punish Ephraim for her sins, more and more of this faithful remnant moved south to the nation of Judah, and back to the true worship at Jerusalem. So by the time the Assyrians destroyed Isra’el, a believing remnant of all twelve tribes lived in Judah. Therefore, no tribes were lost. Today, some Jews refer to themselves as M.O.T. or members of the tribe. To which tribe do they belong? Only God knows (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Cd – And There Before Me was a Throne in Heaven).

This is the first woe in the Book of Woes. Isaiah declares that Ephraim was characterized by drunkenness: Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards (28:1a). She was throwing away the blessings of God like a drunk throws away money on wine. As a result, ADONAI directed His message to the fading flower, His glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley – to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine (28:1b). There is a word play with the word head. The capital city of the northern kingdom of Isra’el was Samaria. And Isaiah, the master of the Hebrew language, said it was both the head of a fertile valley and the head of those laid low by wine. King Omri had built it on the hill of Shemer (First Kings 16:24). It rose about 300 feet above the surrounding fertile valleys and seemed to be impregnable. But both the drunkards and the fertile valley, as it were, wore faded wreaths.

Because of Samaria’s beauty it was called a wreath. It became the center of Ephraim’s pride. In their own eyes, they were strong and beautiful. The possibility of material prosperity was great. But as far as Isaiah was concerned, Samaria was in the process of dying like a fading flower. The party was over. At the time of Isaiah’s writing, the Assyrians had not yet conquered the northern Kingdom. But all of it was about to be destroyed.

See, ADONAI has one, the king of Assyria, who is powerful and strong (28:2a). Two illustrations from nature depict the total destruction of the city of Samaria. First, is the hailstorm. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, He will throw it forcefully to the ground (28:2b). One of the characteristics of the Jewish people seems to have been their ability to ignore the signs of the times (see El – An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem). Isaiah tried to alert his people to their danger. But they would not listen. So, Isaiah predicted that Assyria would be the coming storm of invasion. They would be incredibly violent, unrelenting and would burst upon Isra’el like a hailstorm, stripping the plants of their leaves and washing away the devastated stalks. Everything would be flattened under the tyrant’s hand. This is the reason for the first woe. The pride of Ephraim, or Samaria, would be trampled underfoot.

Isaiah is concerned with the root cause of the problem, not the symptoms. That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot (28:3). Consequently, whenever pride leads people into moral decay, the LORD has the authority to deal with it. After the hailstorm had swept through, nothing would be left but a few broken-down wreaths trampled in the mud. Again, double imagery is present (28:1) because Samaria was also included, as the next verse makes clear.

The second illustration from nature is that of a fig tree. Samaria would become like a ripened fig that was eaten by a stranger before it could be harvested. That fading flower, His glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley will be like a fig ripe before harvest – as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it (28:4). The first ripe fig comes out in June, while the main crop is not until September or October. The first fig crop is unusually tender and is quickly eaten (Hosea 9:10; Micah 7:1; Nahum 3:12; Jer 24:2). Isaiah said Samaria would be like that. Although the siege took three years, it was but an instant in the big picture of things. Isaiah was using this illustration to emphasize the suddenness of the coming destruction. The pride of Ephraim would collapse very quickly unless the drunkards, who were her leaders, would soon come to their senses.

Another reason some people say the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom were lost was because of their assimilation by the Assyrians. The Assyrians, who captured the Northern Kingdom, and the Babylonians, who captured the Southern Kingdom, treated their captives differently. They had different philosophies of how to eliminate their foes. They assimilated their captives. They moved some Assyrians into the captured land and eliminated the culture of the captured people. And they brought some of the people to Assyria to assimilate them. They intermarried with them, so that the captured people became Assyrian also (Second Kings 15:29). The Babylonians, on the other hand, destroyed the lands of their captives, killed most of them, and brought “the best and the brightest” back to Babylon to help elevate the Babylonian culture. Dani’el is an example of this. But the Assyrians intermarried with them. This is why the Jews of Judah hated the “half-breeds” from the north. They called them Samaritans and no respectable Jew would even travel through their territory, let alone talk to one (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Gw – The Parable of the Good Samaritan).

Nevertheless, despite the present failure, there would always be a believing remnant. Even in the drunken nation of Isra’el there was such a remnant. In that day, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of His people (28:5). Here Isaiah describes what the effect will be on them. The coming destruction of Samaria will be a comfort to the believing remnant because it would mean that God’s prophecies were being fulfilled and He would punish sin accordingly. For the remnant, God is always a glorious crown and a beautiful wreath. He, not the beautiful city, should be honored. In that day, when the LORD establishes the Messianic Kingdom He will honor the remnant.

In the context of that day, or the far eschatological future, ADONAI will be a spirit of justice to Him who sits in judgment (28:6a). All judgment has been given to Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). During the Messianic Kingdom there will be a spirit of justice rather than the spirit of evil in the present day (Ephesians 2:2). Where the Messiah is lifted up, there is a whole new spirit about whatever we undertake (4:4, 11:2-3, 30:1, 37:7, 54:6, 57:15, 65:14). We may dare to be just, because He is just (Deuteronomy 17:8-12; Second Chronicles 19:5-8); we may fight with courage because we know that ultimately, in this life or in the next, Yeshua will overcome (Revelation 2:7, 17, 26 and 3:21). There is a divine empowerment. He will be a source of strength to those who stand up for righteousness and turn back the battle at the gate (28:6b).

Isaiah has been dealing with the northern kingdom of Isra’el. But now he gives application to Judah (28:7-13). As he turns to her, he finds the very same spiritual adultery that brought about the destruction of the Northern Kingdom! Not only are the rulers drunken and foolish, but also the religious leaders, the priests and scribes, upon whom the nation depends for divine guidance, are in the same condition. And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer. These verses read as if Isaiah was actually watching the despicable scene firsthand. Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when they see visions, they stumble when rendering decisions (28:7).

Here Isaiah describes the decadence in the strongest terms. They were so drunk that all their tables were covered with vomit. They were drunk even when supposedly seeing visions (the false prophets) or when rendering decisions (the false priests). There was no attempt to hide their self-indulgence. As Isaiah looks over the place where the leaders were drinking and vomiting, there was not a spot without filth (28:8). No wonder the nation was ripe for judgment!

Having spelled out these words of judgment, in particular against the leaders of Judah who were pushing for a covenant with Egypt, those drunken leaders turned on Isaiah and mocked him, saying: Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast (28:9)? They mock Isaiah’s apparent simplicity, but he turned their words right back on them to give them a picture of their own fate. The atmosphere was grim, but realistic. There is not a more hardened or cynical person in the world, than a religious leader whose conscience is seared (Second Timothy 4:2). For them, Isaiah’s tender appeals were only a source of amusement. They had learned to rationalize everything and to believe nothing (see the commentary on Hebrews Ci – If We Deliberately Keep On Sinning, No Sacrifice For Sins is Left: The Danger of Apostasy: Apostate Jews), and were really only hypocritical liars (James 3:13-18).

The speakers were probably the drunken false priests and prophets pictured in 28:7-8. They responded and said they didn’t need to be taught because they are not children in need of a tutor. Then they begin to mimic Isaiah’s message as if he were speaking baby talk, words that could not be understood. Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule is a series of one syllable words in Hebrew. They acted as an adult lecturing a child. A little here, a little there was a method used in teaching children, indicating a little at a time (28:10). They said Isaiah was the one who was talking like a baby, using words that could not be understood. But in truth, it was their words that were slurred and stammering. They wanted nothing to do with Isaiah’s message or his ministry. Ironically, however, they had just passed judgment on themselves.

Isaiah had been accused of using words that could not be understood. So he turned it around and said to the drunks: Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people (28:11). The foreign lips and strange tongues he was referring to were the Assyrians. Because the Jewish religious leaders did not believe the prophet’s message that they shouldn’t enter a covenant with Egypt (in 30:1-17 we will see that they go ahead with the covenant against Isaiah’s warning), the Assyrian army would invade Isra’el. And when they heard those strange tongues, the Assyrian language that they did not understand, it would sound like their own mocking words. The hearing of the Assyrian tongue would be a sign of their own unbelief.

This passage is referred to in the B’rit Chadashah where Paul quotes from Isaiah and says: Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, specifically unbelieving Jews, the unbelievers of this people (see the commentary on First Corinthians Do – Tongues are a Sign). The purpose of tongues, or languages in a church or synagogue is not to bring unbelievers to faith. It has the same purpose it had in Isaiah 28. It is a sign of Jewish unbelief. It is not to bring them to Messiah, because Paul, quoting from this verse says, that even then they will not listen. Therefore, tongues are a sign of cursing because of Jewish unbelief, a sign of blessing because the Church Age had begun, and a sign of authority (from apostles, prophets, or a nation, authenticating that it was God who was speaking). Peter, for example, had the keys to the Kingdom and would be responsible for ushering in the three major ethnic groups to the faith in the first century, Jews, Samaritans, and the Gentiles (see the commentary on Acts Bg – Peter Goes to the House of Cornelius).

Moses said that if the Israelites did not serve God joyfully and gladly then they would serve the enemies of the LORD. Isra’el’s enemies would put an iron yoke around their necks until they were destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:32). He continued to say: Yes, ADONAI will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand (Deuteronomy 28:49). If Isra’el had believed Isaiah’s message and not aligned with Egypt there would not have been any invasion. So just as Isra’el’s disobedience in Deuteronomy led to the use of tongues as a sign of Jewish disobedience in the Land, so Isra’el’s disobedience in the rejection of Messiah led to the use of tongues as a sign of Jewish disobedience in the Church Age.

To whom He said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest,” and, “This is the place of repose – but they would not listen (28:12). The reason for this coming judgment was their failure to enter into rest. The kind of rest that Isaiah is speaking of is that of obedience to the word of the LORD. They had rejected the message of rest. Therefore, they would have no rest, only judgment. The word of the LORD would indeed seem like an endless series of trivial commandments and sufferings to them, just like Moses said it would (Deuteronomy 28:32-49). So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there (28:13a). The way the rabbis teach this verse is this: Do and do, line upon line of retribution, for every rule upon rule they have broken. Here a little, retribution will come in a very short time, there a little, you will survive the captivity. You can reject the word of God, but you cannot escape it. You can compromise with a lie, but you can’t argue with the truth.

When Isaiah came to the nation of Judah they would not listen. God sent the Assyrians against Judah, but she was spared by His grace. But about a hundred years later God would once again send His prophet, this time being Jeremiah, who would say: O House of Isra’el (meaning both the northern and southern kingdoms), declares the LORD, “I am bringing a distant nation against you – an ancient people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand” (Jeremiah 5:15). But that time ADONAI’s patience had run out. The spiritual adultery became to repulsive to Him and He allowed King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to destroy the nation of Judah, the Temple and take all the best and the brightest with them back to Babylon for seventy years.

So that they go and fall backward, be injured, snared and captured (28:13b). Therefore, in stead of living free, in stead of living in a place of rest, Isra’el would fall backward and be injured (as against a rock), they would be snared (as in a net). The tragic end result was that they would be captured by the Assyrians (as in a trap); the people whose language they did not understand.

The Distress of Ariel
28:1 to 29:24

In this section Isaiah continues his discussion, begun in Chapter 7, of the foolishness of trusting in other nations instead of the LORD. Here he deals with the specific political situation in Judah, rather than with the worldwide picture. The same approach was seen in Chapters 13 to 27 where specific situations were addressed (Chapters 13 to 23) before a general truth was revealed (Chapters 24 to 27). There the purpose was to show God’s lordship over the nations. The timeline is after the events in Chapters 7 to 12. Here the focus is on Judah’s decision to trust, or not trust ADONAI. Now the threat, which Isaiah had predicted at that time, has come to pass. Assyria, with which Ahaz had allied himself, is finishing up with Samaria (28:1-13) and then turning its unwanted attentions on Judah (29:14-29). The flood, which Isaiah had predicted earlier (8:6-8), is about to burst with full force against the southern kingdom of Judah.

The entire account of the distress of Ariel, or Tziyon, follows a parallel structure where the first letter is parallel to the second letter, and so on, with C being the turning point.

A Warning to Judah Through Ephraim (28:1-13)

B Far Eschatological Covenant with the Antichrist (28:14-29)

C Near Historical Covenant with Egypt (29:1-8)

C Near Historical Covenant with Egypt (29:9-16)

B Far Eschatological Covenant with the Antichrist (29:17-24)

A Warning to Judah Through Egypt (30:1 to 31:9)

The Book of Woes
28:1 to 35:10

The key issue in these chapters is whether Judah, especially her leaders, will rely on Egypt or on the LORD in the face of the ever-increasing Assyrian threat. Chapters 30 and 31 are entirely devoted to this issue, with 31:1 providing the most pointed and succinct statement of it. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots, and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Isra’el, or seek help from ADONAI.

This is the eighth major segment in the book of Isaiah. The crisis itself will be told to us in Chapters 36 and 39, in the ninth segment of the book. But the eighth segment is concerned with the prophecies called forth because of that particular crisis. What was the crisis? In Isaiah, Chapters 7 through 12 we talked about the Book of Immanuel. There, Ahaz chose not to trust God, but to seek help from the Assyrians. The Assyrians did come and destroy the two kingdoms of Syria and Isra’el, but then they continued south into Judah. Sennacherib then destroyed forty-six Jewish cities. Therefore, under Ahaz the nation of Judah became subservient to the Assyrian Empire. This continued for fourteen years with Hezekiah, the son of King Ahaz.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah a crisis developed, because there were two opposing political forces in his government. There was the pro-Egyptian party, and the pro-Assyrian party. The pro-Assyrian party was led by Isaiah the prophet. He told Hezekiah that Judah should not rebel against the Assyrians because this was part of God’s divine judgment against Judah because of his father Ahaz. On the other hand, there were those who were anti-Isaiah and Assyria and they wished to join up with the Egyptians in a revolution against the Assyrian Empire. Finally, Hezekiah sided with the pro-Egypt partly and against Isaiah. This is one of the few lapses in judgment that Hezekiah would make. To the prophet, the thought that someone would commit himself to fickle Egypt instead of to God, who had proven Himself again and again, was simply unbelievable. But Hezekiah took his army and heads north to join up with the Egyptians against the Assyrians. Instead of Egypt helping Judah, she was devastated. Thus, God, through the prophet Isaiah, announces the six woes in this section.

Isaiah not only deals with the near historical covenant between Judah and Egypt that leads to the devastation of Judah, but he also points us to the far eschatological covenant between Isra’el and the antichrist that begins the Great Tribulation, with similar devastation to the people of Isra’el, and the people of the entire world. Hence, in these chapters Isaiah is speaking of two covenants. One covenant is with the antichrist, which he will start with in Chapter 28 and 29, and will bring about worldwide devastation. Then, in Chapters 30 and 31 he will primarily deal with the covenant with Egypt and the devastation of Judah. Consequently, we have two covenants, and two devastations. The crisis of the fourteenth year of Hezekiah is what brings it about. As Isaiah is given these prophecies, the covenant with Egypt is being made. Isaiah warns of the coming judgment, which will be the total devastation of the Land by the Assyrians. When we come to Chapters 36 through 39 the devastation will occur with several of these prophecies being fulfilled.

In Chapters 13 to 35 Isaiah sought to answer these questions: Can God deliver Isra’el from those who would harm her? Can He be trusted? Or is He just one more god, added to all the others? Is ADONAI Lord over all the nations? But here in the Book of Woes, the specific question that he answers is, “Is God’s counsel and His wisdom superior to human leaders?” and the answer is a resounding, Yes!

In Days to Come Jacob Will Take Root
27: 2-13

In days to come Jacob will take root DIG: As God sings from His vineyard, what chords does He strike? Major or minor? Harmony or discord? High notes or low notes? How does this song harmonize with 5:1-7? What accounts for the change in tune? How fruitful has Isra’el been? What is the fruit that will eventually fill all the world (see 2:1-5, 19:23-25, 26:18 for possibilities)? What has been the cause and purpose of God’s judgments against Judah (compare 27:7-11 to 11:11)?

REFLECT: Is the fruit of your life mostly taking root (present, but unseen)? Or is your fruit budding and blossoming (it’s beginning to show its God-given potential)? This past year, have you sensed ADONAI singing about your garden? Or have you felt God was disciplining you in some way as in 27:7-9? Why? In retrospect, what do you see as the purpose of such discipline? What is your part, and what is God’s part in being fruitful and multiplying for God? Asherah poles and incense altars were idolatrous; even so, Isra’el used them. What things have possibly taken the place of God as the desire of your heart (26:8)?

Isaiah says: In that day, sing about a fruitful vineyard (12:2). There was a previous song of the vineyard (to see link click Ba – The Song of the Vineyard). The vineyard symbolizes Isra’el. The point then was that God planted the vineyard so that it would produce good grapes, but Isra’el produced only bad grapes. Therefore, God left it unprotected to be trampled down, allowed weeds to grow up in it, and He withheld rain from it. But now with Isra’el’s regeneration there is another song of the vineyard, which is in contrast to the previous one. In that day, in Israel’s far eschatological future, the nation of Isra’el will be regenerated. At long last, there will be good fruit in the vineyard.

This result will be completely the ADONAI’s doing. He will watch over it, water it continually and also guard it day and night so that no one may harm it (27:3). It is not some lesser laborer, but the LORD Himself who will watch over His own (John 10:11-13). In contrast to Chapter 5, where the rain and the dew no longer fell on the vineyard, here, God waters it continually. What’s more, instead of abandoning Isra’el to her enemies, ADONAI will be her watchman day and night (Psalm 121:4; Isaiah 5:2; Matthew 21:33).

Here He will declare war on the briers and thorns, saying: I am no longer angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting Me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them on fire (27:4) However, in Chapter 5 He allowed the briers and thorns to spring up. Isra’el had not been a fruitful vine and was therefore judged. Here the LORD wishes they were present so He could defend His vineyard from their advancement. Like a young lover wanting to defend his beloved, so it is here. God’s love for His bride is the same, and will be the same on the last day (Ephesians 5:25-27; Second Corinthians 11:2).

The contrast is that now Isra’el will be fruitful. God wants to restore that relationship with Him that they once had. He says: Let them make peace with Me. During the messianic Kingdom, Jacob, another name for Isra’el, will be productive again (Isaiah 35:1-3 and 6-7; Amos 9:13-14; Zechariah 14:8), and the blessings conferred upon Isra’el will be enjoyed by the whole world (Genesis 12:3).

Or else let them come to Me, yes, let them make peace with Me (27:5). The scene changes back to Isaiah’s day (27:7-8). If Isra’el feels unfairly treated by God and wonders how the prophecy of 27:2-6 could ever come true, she is invited to compare herself to her enemies, to discover that they have ultimately suffered worse than she. That this has happened is evident if one looks at Nineveh and Babylon today. The horrible slaughters, which have taken place in and around Jerusalem, have been multiplied in those places. God’s instruments of judgment are not exempt from judgment themselves.⁹³ And if they punish Isra’el beyond which they are allowed, their punishment is even more severe (10:5-19, 33:1, 47:5-9).

Since God will be Isra’el’s keeper in the last day, supplying her needs and subduing her enemies, she will spread out to cover the whole earth (Hosea 14:5-7). In days to come Jacob will take root, Isra’el will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit (27:6). She will fulfill her calling, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through her (Genesis 12:3b).

Has ADONAI struck her as He struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her (27:7)? In other words, has God devastated Isra’el the way He devastated Isra’el’s enemies? The literary structure in Hebrew demands a negative answer. No! Then how has He punished her? God answers through His prophet, “By warfare and exile you contend with her – with His fierce blast He drives her out” (an allusion to the captivity of the northern kingdom of Isra’el after the conquest of Samaria by the Assyrians), as on a day when the east wind blows (a reference to Assyria which lay to the east of Judea). Israel’s punishment was tempered by measure, to just as much as Israel’s sins deserved; but no more. This was necessary so that Isra’el would not have been totally destroyed. The sin of the nation had to be atoned for and Jerusalem destroyed (27:8).

Now Isaiah jumps forward 115 years to a near historical prophecy. By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of sin: When He makes the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing (27:9). The sin of the nation had to be atoned for. Of course, atonement for all sin is through the death of Yeshua Messiah. But in view of Isra’el’s covenant relationship with God, she had to be driven out of the land because of her disobedience to the Torah (Deuteronomy 28:49-52 and 64). Evidence of that atonement would be her destroying her altar stones dedicated to false gods, and removing the Asherah poles, the wooden symbols of the Canaanite pagan goddess of fertility.

Because of Judah’s sin, her City Jerusalem would be destroyed and its people removed. True to God’s word Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and was left desolate (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC). The fortified City stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the desert; there the caves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. Isaiah said calves would graze in Jerusalem’s ruins and being hungry, would strip tree branches of their bark. When its twigs are dry, then are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator show them no favor (27:10-11). Women would cut off the branches and use them for firewood. In judging His senseless people, God, their Maker and Creator, temporarily withdrew His compassion on them and would show them no favor.

God’s actions in our lives today continue to be for the purpose of refinement, not for destruction. If trouble and adversity have come our way, our attitude about God will make all the difference in how we receive them. If we think of God as passionately loving us, then His refinement will be easier to bear. But if we think of Him as the cruel judge determined to wring the last ounce of retribution out of us, the blows will be heavy indeed.

Participating in the sufferings of Christ (First Peter 4:12-13) is not easy for us who are tempted to avoid pain at all costs. But we must realize that God does not have destruction in mind when He allows suffering to come across our path. If it is not for discipline, it may well be for a testimony of His grace in the conflict with evil. At any rate, we can know that just as Messiah’s suffering led to glory, so may ours (First Peter 5:10), for God’s final purpose is to lead us beyond judgment to the hope of heaven.⁹⁴

Isaiah now reverts back to the far eschatological future. There are two regatherings for Isra’el. In the first, she will be regathered in unbelief, before the Great Tribulation (Ezeki’el 20:33-38; 22:17-22; Zephaniah 2:1-2). What is in view here is the second, where she will be regathered in belief, after the Great Tribulation (Deuteronomy 4:29-31; 30:1-10; Isaiah 11:11-12; 27:12-13; 43:5-7; Jeremiah 16:14-15; 31:7-10; Ezeki’el 11:14-18; 36:22-24, and Ezeki’el Chapters 38-39; Amos 9:14-15; Zechariah 10:8-12; and Matthew 24:21). The sages teach that even those that were exiled in the distant parts of Assyria, or dispersed in the remotest corners of Egypt, will be brought back. Thus, they see the current state of Isra’el as the fulfillment of these verses.

In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites will be gathered up one by one (27:12). These form the farthest limits of the boundaries of the land of Isra’el (Genesis 15:18; Exodus 23:31). Notice they are gathered into all of the Promised Land. They will dwell from Egypt in the south to the Euphrates in the north. For the first time in all Jewish history the Jews will dwell in all of the Promised Land. Not only will all of their boundaries of the Land be inhabited, but also every Jew will be regathered. The emphasis here is one by one. No Jew living at the time of the Second Coming is left outside the Land. The regathering is worldwide with every nation helping the Jews to return to Isra’el, especially those nations that were once their enemies.

Many passages in the Bible speak of Isra’el’s regathering, in belief, at the end of the Tribulation, in conjunction with Christ’s Second Coming and in preparation for the commencement of the Millennium. These references are not being fulfilled by the modern state of Isra’el. The fact that the last 50 years have seen a worldwide regathering and reestablishment of the nation of Isra’el, which is now poised in the very setting required for the revealing of the antichrist and the start of the Tribulation, is God’s grand indicator that all the other areas of world development are prophetically lined up. As I previously mentioned, Isra’el, God’s “super sign” of the end times, is a clear indicator that time is growing shorter with each passing hour. With what we have already seen, we can be assured that God is now preparing the world for the final events leading up to Isra’el’s national regeneration.⁹⁵

Like the raising of a flag, a sign of the final gathering, on that day a great shofar will sound. Those lost in the land of Ashur will come, also those scattered through the land of Egypt; and they will worship ADONAI on the holy mountain in Jerusalem (27:13 CJB). God will call His own home. But this return will not be merely a physical one. Rather, the LORD’s people will be fully restored when they worship Him on the holy mountain (2:2-4, 24:23, 25:6 and 10). What a day that will be!

In contrast to the devastation of Babylon, there is the regathering of Isra’el. In that day, points to the fact that Isaiah is prophesying about the far eschatological future of Isra’el when God’s shofar will sound. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage each other with these words (First Thessalonians 4:16-18). The fulfillment of Rosh ha’Shanah (Trumpets) is going to be the Rapture of the Church (First Corinthians 15:50-58), which will include Jewish and Gentile believers (Ephesians 2:14-18). The order of the seven feasts of Isra’el are important to understanding God’s plan for His chosen people.

The first four festivals all come closely together, within fifty days of each other: the feasts of Pesach (Passover), Hag ha’Matzah (Unleavened Bread), Resheet (Firstfruits), and Shavu’ot (Weeks). All four of these were fulfilled in the program of Yeshua’s First Coming. Pesach was fulfilled by the death of Christ. Hag ha’Matzah was fulfilled by the sinlessness of His sacrifice. Rasheet was fulfilled by the resurrection of Messiah. And Shavu’ot was fulfilled by the birth of the Church.

Following the first cycle of feasts came a four-month interval separating the first cycle of feasts from the second cycle of feasts (Leviticus 23:22). During the pause between the two sets of festivals, life is to continue as normal. This interval is pictured as a summertime of labor in the fields in preparation for the final harvest of the summer and before the fall harvest. This verse is not related to any feast. Unless one understands what is really happening, it almost seems like an unnecessary interruption. However, it is the pause between the festivals that fulfilled the program of the First Coming as opposed to the festivals to be fulfilled by the program of the Second Coming. This four-month interval is fulfilled by the Church Age. God’s program for the Church interrupts His program for Isra’el as revealed in the order of the feasts and the purposes of His plan.

Just as the first four festivals come close together so do the last three; they come within two weeks of each other. The program of the Second Coming will fulfill the last three. Rosh ha’Shanah will be fulfilled by the Rapture of the Church. The Great Tribulation and Isra’el’s national salvation at the end of that period will fulfill the Festival of Yom Kippur. The  Festival of Sukkot will be fulfilled by the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. Rosh ha’Shanah will be fulfilled by the Rapture while Yom Kippur will be fulfilled by the Great Tribulation. Just as Rosh ha’Shanah occurs before Yom Kippur, even so the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation.⁹⁶ So while the sound of a great trumpet reveals nothing about the timing of the Rapture, the very sequence by which the feasts of Isra’el will be fulfilled teaches that the Rapture will occur before the Great Tribulation just as Rosh ha’Shanah precedes Yom Kippur.

Go, My People,
Enter Your Rooms and Shut the Doors
26:20 to 27:1

Go, My people, enter your rooms and shut the doors DIG: What does Isaiah mean by his advice in 26:20? What are they to hide from (see 24:21-22)? How long will the antichrist’s persecution and the believing remnant’s hiding last? How is this related to waiting on the LORD for you today (26:8)? Who is Leviathan synonymous with? Who is really responsible for the misery in this world?

REFLECT: When you are under attack from Satan, the world and your flesh, were do you go (Matthew 6:6)? The Bible tells us about our hiding place. David said: You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7; also see Psalms 18:1-3, 28-36, 31:20 and 119:114). After reading these Scriptures, how has God been the hiding place in your life? If you have been eaten up and spit out by this life, who is to blame?

In these verses Isaiah continues to deal with the far eschatological future. He wrote that the believing remnant of Isra’el should hide during the Great Tribulation, knowing that deliverance of Messiah would come. Go, My people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while. They are instructed to hide until His wrath has passed by (26:20). The Day of His Wrath was one of the names for the Tribulation in the TaNaKh (to see link click Eu – The Rapture and the Great Tribulation).

Other scriptures in both Covenants describe a similar picture. So When you see standing in the Holy Place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15-16). The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days (Revelation 12:6). The place of hiding is found in Micah 2:12, ancient Bozra (the Hebrew name), or modern Petra (the Greek name). It is from Bozra that Isaiah will see the coming Messiah to punish the people of the earth for their sins (see Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah). Some might ask, “How can this place where they flee to be both in the mountains and in the desert.” Bozra is a mountainous area in the desert.

Why does Isra’el need to be in hiding? Because the LORD is coming out of His dwelling in heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer (26:21). These words would have encouraged the believing remnant during Isaiah’s day to remain faithful to the LORD, knowing that He would eventually judge sin. In that day, when things seem to be at their darkest hour, all Isra’el will be saved (Romans 11:26). There will be a national regeneration of Isra’el (Ezeki’el 37). Therefore, remember that the book of Revelation is based upon the book of Isaiah. The context here is the national regeneration of Isra’el, the Campaign of Armageddon, at the end of the Great Tribulation and the resurrection of the righteous of the TaNaKh.

Paul wrote that the Church was a mystery to the righteous of the TaNaKh. The Church is a profound mystery – hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed (Ephesians 5:32; Colossians 1:26). This mystery does not mean something that can never be discovered, as I have previously mentioned. It means something hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known (Romans 16:25-27). The Jews in Christ’s day were spiritually blinded, just as the Jews of today are (Second Corinthians 4:4). So, it is not a surprise that the current rabbinical interpretation is quite different than the biblical interpretation. As a result of being blinded, they have spiritualized these Scriptures because they cannot accept them in a literal sense. Therefore, the rabbis interpret enter your rooms as places of worship and study. Similarly, the words shut the doors behind you are interpreted as the doors of one’s mouth, the lips. They say one must not question or doubt the justice of the divine decree.

When Messiah returns after the Great Tribulation, He will punish Leviathan. This will be the culmination of judgment (26:1). In that day, the LORD will punish with His sword, His fierce, great and powerful sword; Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; Messiah will slay the monster of the sea (27:1). Here we see the punishment of Leviathan, which is a reference to Satan (Revelation 12:9 and 20:1-3; Job 26:12-13; Psalm 74:12-14, and Isaiah 51:9). God’s sword is given three descriptions, and Satan is given three descriptions. God’s sword is: fierce, great and powerful, and Satan is: a gliding serpent, a coiling serpent (which the sages teach are symbols of Assyria and Babylon), and the monster of the Sea. They also teach that the allusion to the sea here means Egypt and the Nile. But like they say, denial is not a river in Egypt!

When I say that Leviathan and Satan are one and the same, it is important to remember, in addition to the Scriptures above, that the book of Revelation is based upon the Little Apocalypse of Isaiah. In Isaiah, after the national regeneration of Isra’el, the Campaign of Armageddon, the end of the Great Tribulation, and the resurrection of the righteous of the TaNaKh, God punishes Leviathan. In Revelation, after the Great Tribulation, the regeneration of Isra’el and the return of Messiah, He punishes Satan. Therefore, the future defeat of this enemy of ADONAI is carried through from the Apocalypse of Isaiah to the Apocalypse of John. In book of Revelation, Satan is described both as the great dragon (Revelation 12:3,9) and as the ancient serpent (KJV) or gliding serpent (NIV) who will receive his eternal end (Revelation 20:10). This will be the decisive, final victory of Christ over the Adversary (see Do – All Your Pomp Has Been Brought Down to the Grave).

One serious danger in times of uncertainty and doubt is to begin looking for enemies, for those whom we can blame for our troubles. Many times, even believers blame the LORD for their troubles. They ask, “Why would God do this to me?” At those times, it is helpful to remember Satan and ourselves. Yes, Satan opposes ADONAI and His people (First Peter 5:8). But he is not responsible for the existence of sin in the world. Eve, our first mother and Adam, our first father chose to sin against God of their own free will (Genesis 3:6). We must be careful not to excuse immorality of every sort in ourselves and say, “The devil made me do it!” When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death (James 1:13-15).

The Restoration of Isra’el
26:20 to 27:13

In Chapter 24, Isaiah dealt with the Great Tribulation as it affected mankind in general. In Chapters 25 and 26 there are two songs regarding God’s feelings. In this section, Isaiah alternates between the glorious hope of Isra’el’s far eschatological future during the Messianic Kingdom and the grim reality of her near historical destruction by the Babylonians. This movement from the future to present to future has the function of assuring the reader that (future) promises are not merely rosy daydreams which ignore the contradictory present (of the Assyrian threat). The book of Revelation served a similar purpose in B’rit Chadashah times. It assured the people that God was aware of the present but was not defeated by it, and it called them to continued steadfast trust (Isaiah 7:4, 10:24, 37:6, 40:9, 41:14, 43:5, 44:2 and 8, 54:4; Revelation 2:10-11). We are called to the same kind of confidence today. We do not deny the present, nor do we know of any power to help ourselves. But we know a God whose strength is as limitless as His love and whose purposes remain steadfast: to bless all those who will commit themselves to Him.⁹²