Babylon, the Jewel of Kingdoms,
Will be Overthrow
13: 17-22

Babylon, the Jewel of Kingdoms, will be overthrown DIG: How will the Day of the LORD be both a time of rejoicing and a time of sorrow and despair? Is God fair in these results? Why? What will Babylon be like during the thousand years of the messianic Kingdom? What are the six results of the Day of the LORD?

REFLECT: The Babylon of the end times will reflect wealth, refined culture, and political power. What twentieth century culture holds these values as the most important ones? How have you seen these values blind people to the reality of God’s values such as truth, justice, and love? How are you experiencing the tension between this dual set of values today? What helps you to keep God’s values first in your life?

Babylon will be the capital city of the antichrist during the Great Tribulation (see my commentary on Revelation, to see link click Em – Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great). Her invasion would be unrelenting and the holy invaders (13:3) would have no need for her money. Isaiah lists six results of the Day of the LORD.

The first result deals with the leader of the confederacy. See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold (13:17). Although Gentile nations and armies are gathered from all over the world, they will have a leader. The leader is the Medes, what’s now Iran, part of southern Russia and Afghanistan (Jeremiah 50:41; 51:11, 27-28).

The second result is the destruction of the population. Their blows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children (13:18). This city will be under the cherem judgment of God, meaning everything in it must be destroyed. Achan learned that lesson the hard way (Joshua 7:1-26). During the Great Tribulation men and women will have plenty of opportunities to accept Messiah as Lord, but they will steadfastly refuse. As a result, all those in Babylon will have chosen their own death sentence (see my commentary on Revelation Ex – The Eight Stage Campaign of Armageddon). This will not be cruelty, it will be holy justice. If the One True God cannot punish evil, then there is no justice.

The third result is the ultimate picture of destruction of the city itself. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah (13:19). Because of their pride, ADONAI will overthrow them. Just as God overthrew the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25), so He will overthrow the wicked city of Babylon. There were none left in Sodom and Gomorrah, and there will be none left in Babylon.

The fourth result reinforces why this has to be far eschatological Babylon, because this Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there (13:20). Translating this verse in Hebrew, it could be put this way: She will not be inhabited for a long time and she will not be lived in for generation after generation (see my commentary on Revelation Er – Babylon Will Never Be Found Again).

This could not be the near historical Babylon because after the Medo-Persian takeover in 539 BC there was very little change in the city. When Babylon fell by the hand of Cyrus, Babylon was not destroyed. It was taken without any resistance. Only King Belshazzar was killed and that was by an execution, not in battle (Dani’el 5:30). Babylon continued to exist up until about 500 AD or so. Then it became a ghost town. Babylon has been rebuilt today. Therefore, it never suffered the kind of destruction the prophets demanded. It also mentions that the Arabs will not pitch their tents there. But the Arabs do pitch their tents there today in what was ancient Babylon. Arabs do graze, or rest, their flocks there. The fact is, Babylon has grown over the past 100 years and now houses over 250,000 people. Therefore, this verse has never been fulfilled. This verse describes the non-inhabitants, but the next two verses describe who will live there.

The fifth result mentions who will inhabit Babylon. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ad – The Owl as a Symbol of Judgment), and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged (13:21-22). Wild goats will inhabit it. The Hebrew word means demons in goat form. Goats were used as a form of demon worship in places like Leviticus 17:7 where it says: They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. Jeremiah says the same thing. So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns, declares the LORD. So no one will live there; no man will dwell in it (Jeremiah 50:39-40).

These desert creatures, the wild goats, the jackals, owls and hyenas are not literal animals. There is something uncanny about these creatures. In regards to the fall of Babylon, Jeremiah tells us that no one will live in it; both men and animals will flee away (Jeremiah 50:3). After the fall of Babylon, it becomes a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. But the emphasis is on demons in goat form (see Gi – Edom’s Streams Will Be Turned into Pitch). The only two places that will never be inhabited again by human beings during the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom and Eternal State (see my commentary on Revelation Fq – The Eternal State) will be Babylon and Edom (34:13b-15).

The sixth result is that when God begins His last judgment on Babylon there will be no delay in its execution. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged (13:22). Once again, it is the pride of humanity that provokes this disaster. They will not bend the knee to Yeshua Messiah, they will not confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). They will have chosen their own destruction. This will not be cruelty, it will be holy justice. If God cannot punish evil, then there is no justice.

Mankind will have waited a long time for this wonderful day. David would cry out: How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me (Psalm 13:1-2)? In the far eschatological future, the Tribulation martyrs (see my commentary on Revelation Cp – The Fifth Seal: The Tribulation Martyrs Under the Altar) will call out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood” (Revelation 6:10)? Here, ADONAI allows Isaiah to see that dreadful and wonderful Day. Where will you be?

Wail, for the Day of the LORD is Near
13: 6-16

Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near DIG: What is meant by the Day of the LORD (13:6,9; also 2:11, 17 and 20), and what will it be like for Babylon? For whom is it a cruel day? For whom is it a wonderful day? What poetic and cosmic images in verses 6 to 16 graphically communicate its power to you? What should the Jews have learned about God from this prophecy against such a powerful nation?

REFLECT: What does the Day of the LORD have to do with you? Is it something to be feared, or to look forward to? Why? Who do you know that will be wailing at the Lord’s return? Who do you know that will be rejoicing? Are you praying for those who are lost? What are you doing in preparation for this Day?

Wail, for the day of the LORD is near (13:6a). Here Isaiah deals with the issue of the day of the LORD, which refers to the time of the LORD’s judgment on the wicked world and the deliverance of His people during the Great Tribulation. It will come like destruction from Shaddai, the Almighty (136b). Here we see the terror of the LORD as He announces its approach. Again, Isaiah is using his knowledge of Hebrew for alliteration. The translation (to bring out the sounds of the alliteration) in Hebrew is “the destruction of the destroyer.”

The immediate result of the attack of ADONAI and His holy ones (13:3) will be complete helplessness on the part of the proud. Isaiah lists seven results of the destruction: (1) all hands will go limp, or their courage will fail (see Jeremiah 6:24), (2) every man’s heart will melt, (3) terror will seize them, (4) pain and anguish will grip them, (5) God’s judgment will cause people to be in extreme distress, they will writhe like a woman in labor, (6) they will look aghast at each other, and (7) their faces will be aflame from total disbelief (13:7-8). Human greatness will be reduced to nothing. Their nerve will leave them, and their weapons will fall from their limp hands. They will stare at each other in disbelief, because they will recognize that everything they trusted in was worthless to them as they stand defenseless before God’s piercing gaze.

In the next three verses Isaiah deals with the destruction of humanity. See, the day of the LORD is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it (13:9). ADONAI, expressing His anger (13:3 and 13) against sin, will destroy sinners and punish the world for its evil and its proud attitude toward God. The three purposes of the Great Tribulation are: first, to make an end to wickedness and wicked ones (13:9 and 24:19-20), secondly, to bring about a worldwide revival (Revelation 7:1-17 and Matthew 24:14), and thirdly, to break the power of the holy people (Dani’el 12:7b and Ezekiel 20:34-38). The first of the three is emphasized here.

Isaiah deals with blackouts that will be a characteristic of the Great Tribulation. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light (13:10). There are five blackouts mentioned in the Bible in the last days. The first one comes just before the Great Tribulation in Joel 2:31. The second one comes in the first quarter of that Day of God’s judgment in Revelation 6:12. The third one comes in the second quarter in Revelation 9:2. The fourth one comes in the second half of the Great Tribulation in Revelation 16:10-11, and the fifth one comes right after the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24:29. Here Isaiah merely summarizes that the Day of the LORD is characterized by blackouts.

Once again we see that the purpose is to punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their sins. The sin of pride is identified as the cause of God’s wrath. ADONAI said: I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless (13:11). It is ironic that man expects to take advantage of others without being taken advantage of by others (33:1). In the Day of the LORD the results will be opposite of what pride expects. A case in point would be the pride of Hitler’s thousand-year Reich that ended in complete destruction about ten years after he proclaimed it. Instead of the earth being full of the glory of man, mankind will be hard to find.

I will make man scarcer than pure gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir (13:12). The result is that men and women become more and more scarce because so many are destroyed in the course of God’s judgments in the Great Tribulation. The survivors will be so few that they will be rarer even than the rare precious metal (fine gold).

Isaiah deals with the destruction of Babylon in the Day of the LORD. There is interplay between the destruction caused by ADONAI and the devastation caused in the midst of the chaos of that Day. The magnitude of the destruction is seen. Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD of heavens angelic armies (CJB) in the day of His burning anger (13:13). Altogether, four results follow. ADONAI causes the first two and the last two perpetrated by men in the midst of anarchy, their sin unhindered.

First, we see the flight of all foreigners from the city to where they came from (Jeremiah 51:9). Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will flee to his native land (13:14). The people attacked would be utterly powerless to stop the invasion. They would be like gazelle and sheep, defenseless creatures that are easy prey for hunters. Although Isaiah doesn’t emphasize this point here, he and other prophets tell us that any Jews in Babylon will also get out of the city before its destruction (Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 50:8 and 28; 51:6 and 45; Zechariah 2:6-7; and Revelation 18:4).

The second result is the violent death of Babylonians themselves. There will be no escape. Whoever is captured will be thrust through by God’s holy ones. All who are caught fleeing from the city will fall by the sword (13:15). Truly, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a). Even their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes (13:16a). Thirdly, with their sin unchecked in the chaos of that day, houses will be looted by the Babylonians themselves, their fury turned inward. And fourthly, their lust unleashed, they would rape each other’s wives in the resulting anarchy (13:16b).

To many, the dashing of infants, does not seem to be anything that God would have a part in. But we need to remember that coming into the land of Canaan, Joshua was instructed by God to kill every one of God’s enemies (see the commentary on the Life of David, to see link click Af – The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh). Little Amalekites grow up to be big Amalekites. Saul was ordered to do the same thing in First Samuel 15: 1-3. He failed to obey ADONAI with tragic results for both the nation and himself. When God decrees a total destruction of a people, a cherem judgment (Joshua 6:21) that includes everyone – men, women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. Achin learned that lesson the hard way in Joshua 7. But some would respond, “Are we not to love one another, even our enemies (Luke 6:27)? And is this not because God is love? Can God be both loving and warlike?” A solution to this problem is required which will enable us to understand the meaning of the conception of God the Warrior.

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or our enemies?’ ‘Neither, He replied, ‘but as commander of ADONAI’s army, I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for His servant?’ The commander of the LORD’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13-15).” Who was that warrior? It was a theophany, or a pre-incarnate appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. Who is the King of Glory? ADONAI, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8). Once again we are told that God is a warrior, and when He returns to the earth a second time, with justice He judges and makes war (Revelation 19:11b), out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. . . He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of ADONAI, God of heaven’s armies (Revelation 19:15).

Two points can be made. First, war appears to be an ever-present reality of historical experience, both ancient and modern. If God is King, the ultimate Ruler of human history, it is to be expected that He will stand in some kind of relationship to war. We perceive, though not always clearly, that war is a form of evil human activity in which YHVH participates actively for the purposes of both redemption and judgment; in this participation, God is a Warrior.⁴⁷ Secondly, we must be reminded that this is a time of judgment. One of the purposes of the Great Tribulation is to make an end to wickedness and wicked ones (13:9 and 24:19-20). All the opportunities for repentance have passed. Untold millions will have accepted Christ during the Great Tribulation and been martyred (Revelation 6:9). The ones who are left have chosen to be there. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven, but they refused to repent of what they had done (Revelation 16:10-11). The results of the Day of the Lord will be clear.

I Have Commanded My Holy Ones
13: 1-5

I have commanded My holy ones DIG: Is this the near historical Babylon or far exegetical Babylon? How can we tell who these holy ones are? Where are they coming from? What is their purpose?

REFLECT: Isaiah tells us that God will gather His holy ones, His set apart ones to carry out His wrath. How do you feel about being set apart for the holy purposes of the LORD? Is that exciting to you, or scary. Why? Are you set apart today? What is the evidence of that? If you were put on trial for being a believer, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Why or why not?

This is an introductory section and is ascribed to Isaiah son of Amoz, who is allowed to look down the halls of history to witness the destruction of Babylon the Great. The King James uses the phrase the burden of Babylon. The word burden is a Hebrew word that means to lift or carry a heavy weight, or a heavy message. The word carries within it the meaning of an oracle, or vision (13:1). In this entire segment of Chapters 13 through 23, Isaiah uses the word oracle frequently (14:28; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1; 11, 13; 22:1; 23:1). God has some heavy messages and visions against these nations. Oracle is Isaiah’s key word in this segment of the book.

Babylon deserved the wrath of Ha’Shem, for that city had long been a rallying point against the Holy One of Isra’el. From the very beginning it had been characterized by rebellion against the LORD (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Dm – Let Us Build a City and Make a Name for Ourselves). Over the centuries, as various dynasties ruled over that city, it was always viewed as a place that hated the God of Isra’el.

The oracle begins with a call to arms. Isaiah returns to symbol he uses frequently, a banner on a barren hilltop where it can be seen by all around (5:26, 11:10 and 12, 18:3, 49:22 and 66:10). Rise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles (13:2). Gates are the symbol of defense. When the enemy enters the gates, the city has fallen. The banner is used here for gathering military troops and this army will be called to defeat the proud nobles (Proverbs 3:34).

There is a three-fold summons. First, raise the banner. Second, shout out a military command, and third, beckon to them, in the sense of directing the army the way it should go. This international army will move toward Babylon. The purpose for the three-fold summons was that they could enter the city gates as conquerors. The name, the gates of the nobles, is suggestive of the name of Babylon, which is derived from Babel, or gate of god. The traditional Hebrew understanding of the name is confusion (Genesis 11:9). The three-fold summons is followed by a three-fold command in the next verse.

But this is not just any army. ADONAI, speaking through His prophet, declares: I have commanded My holy ones; I have summoned My warriors to carry out My wrath – those who rejoice in My triumph (13:3). This command concerns God’s holy ones, God’s warriors, and those who rejoice in His triumph. The implication is that those who are gathering against the city of Babylon are God’s people who are set apart for His use. We know from Matthew 25:31-46 that during the Great Tribulation Gentiles will fall into two camps, the goats (anti-Semites) and the sheep (pro-Semites). What we have here is the sheep Gentiles gathering and destroying the capital city of the antichrist. This is the second of eight stages of the Campaign of Armageddon (see the commentary on Revelation Ej – They Will Make War Against the Lamb, But the Lamb Will Overcome Them).

Lastly, we have the answer to the call in words that convey the sense of gathering doom, Isaiah begs us to listen to a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together. The LORD of heavens armies is mustering an army for war (13:4). Because it is a gathering from many nations, it is an international call. This army will be a great multitude, like an amassing of entire nations. The commander of the LORD’s army (Numbers 21:4; Joshua 5:15), none other than Yeshua Messiah, is the One who is preparing that future holy army for battle.

They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens – the LORD and the weapons of His wrath – to destroy the whole country (13:5). That army will come from all over the earth, even as far as the ends of the heavens, the place where the earth and sky meet at the horizon. The purpose of the gathered army will be to destroy the whole country, or the entire land of Babylon. ADONAI is the Master of history. How foolish it is to put one’s trust a man like the antichrist, rather than the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB).

The Fall of the City of Babylon
13: 1-22

The fall of the city of Babylon REFLECT: How is the destruction of Babylon connected with the judgment God will bring upon the whole earth (see Revelation 6:12-13; 18:2)? Why should we have a light touch of the things of this world? What does this passage teach us about where we should place our trust?

Satan chose Babylon, the second most-mentioned city in the Bible, from which to launch his ancient evil attack on mankind (Genesis 11:1-9). There he lied to humanity about ADONAI, creation, sin, salvation, moral values, culture, and eternity. His primary objective was to get people to worship and serve him. It is there that he introduced idolatrous religions, both polytheistic and naturalistic, based on the theory of evolution. These false religious systems are the source of all idolatry in the world today. Satan sought to get man to fulfill his hunger for YHVH through idols that could be seen and touched. Through these religions, Satan taught that humanity, not the LORD, is “the measure of all things” – man is the center of the universe. Therefore, anything people want is okay. There are no rights and wrongs, nor a here-after.⁴⁵

As a result, Babylon deserves the wrath of Ha’Shem for it had long been a center for the enemies of the LORD. Over the centuries, as various dynasties ruled over that city, it was viewed as a place of hatred against the God of Isra’el. Even in the Great Tribulation, it will be a center of hatred toward YHVH (Revelation Chapters 17 and 18).

It is all too easy to get blown away by the glory of this world. We see the glamour of the movie stars; we see the power that wealth gives; we see aircraft carriers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and we think, “Ah, there is reality.” But that is not where glory resides. Isaiah heard the seraphim correctly when they sang: The whole earth is full of His glory (6:3b). With the atomic weapons of today, New York City could vanish in a day. Babylon will be destroyed in one hour during the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ep – Woe! Woe, O Great City, In One Hour She Has Been Brought to Ruin). So what will survive the wreck of all human accomplishments? Nothing!

Once again, Christ’s words come to mind. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them to practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24). If we put our trust in ADONAI and give our lives to finding out His nature and purposes, nations may rise and fall, but we will stand (Second Peter 1:10-11).⁴⁶

An Oracle Concerning Babylon
13:1 to 14:23

An oracle concerning Babylon DIG: Since this is the Babylon of the Great Tribulation, what does this city symbolize that is timeless and bigger than itself? What characterizes this Babylon (13:11, 19; 14:13-14)? What should the Judeans have learned about God from this prophecy against such a powerful nation?

REFLECT: Where in our culture, and in your life, do you see the attitudes typified by Babylon? What do you learn about Ha’Shem’s response to these attitudes from this prophecy? Does this change your actions?

The first nation that he deals with, and the one he spends the most time on is Babylon. When we look at the entire book of Isaiah and his oracles against Babylon, sometimes he deals with the near historical Babylon of his own day (21:1-10), the one that was rising in power and would not reach its zenith for another hundred years. But sometimes he deals with the far eschatological Babylon of the end times, because the city of Babylon is to be rebuilt and become the capital of the antichrist. The Babylon that Isaiah writes about in 13:1 to 14:23 is the Babylon of the Great Tribulation.

How can we determine this? What criteria do we use in our interpretation? The most important criteria is the context. There are three rules of interpreting the Bible: context, context, and context. Therefore, what clues, what verses, in this section set the context? In 13:6 it says: Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near. In 13:9 we read: See, the day of the LORD is coming. In 13:13 Isaiah writes: Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of ADONAI-Tzva’ot, in the day of His burning anger. We have to ask ourselves, did these things happen about a hundred years after Isaiah had died, or in the last days during the Great Tribulation? The Day of the LORD clearly sets the context as the Great Tribulation.

But there is more evidence. In 13:19 God tells us through the prophet Isaiah that Babylon will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. And the very next verses, 13:20 through 22 describe a Babylon that will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations. This can only mean that Babylon will be destroyed at the end of the Great Tribulation and uninhabited during the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom. How can we say that? We can say that because the Medes and the Persians inhabited Babylon after its destruction. In fact, Babylon is inhabited today! But that is just in Chapter 13. There is another verse in Chapter 14 that helps us set the context as well. In 14:2 Isaiah tells us that the house of Isra’el will possess the Gentile nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors. During the height of Solomon’s reign, Isra’el was a very powerful country, as powerful as any in the world at that time. But they never possessed the Gentile nations. Therefore, the context, especially the Day of the LORD, is clearly the Babylon of the Great Tribulation.

Other prophets that had messages against Babylon would include Lamentations 2:14; Jeremiah Chapters 50 and 51; and Nahum 1:1. Besides these two chapters that we will take a look at, Isaiah prophesies against Babylon in Isaiah 21:1-10 (there he deals with the Babylon of his own day); 43:14-15 (the Babylonians become fugitives); 46:1-2 (the gods of Babylon are judged); 47:1-15 (judgment against Babylonian occultism), and 48:15 and 20 (judgment on Babylon). Jeremiah also prophesies against Babylon in Chapters 50 and 51 (the totality of Babylon’s destruction). In Zechariah 5:5-11 the rebuilt Babylon will become the economic capital of the world. The remaining references are in the book of Revelation. In 14:8 and 16:19 there is rejoicing over the fall of Babylon. In 17:1-18 the fall of religious Babylon is seen, whereas, in 18:1-24 the fall of political and economic Babylon is seen (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click El – The Fall of Commercial and Political Babylon). But these and other prophecies require the rebuilding of the city of Babylon to become the capital city of the antichrist. So there are many prophecies against Babylon, but the context determines which Babylon the author is talking about.

Our wise God has everything in control and will fulfill all His promises at the perfect time. Nothing that the LORD has ever promised will go unnoticed nor unfulfilled. We serve a wonder working YHVH who can be totally trusted to fulfill every promise!

The Oracles Against the Nations
13:1 to 23:18

The oracles against the nations DIG: Who is the intended audience of these prophecies? Why might God lead Isaiah to pronounce judgment upon all these nations if only Judah, and not the nations themselves, would have heard them? What does this say about Judah’s tendency to trust in alliances with lesser nations for protection? Why is ADONAI not merely just one more god, added to all the others?

Isaiah now turns his attention away from his own people and begins to deal with nine surrounding sinful Gentile nations or cities around Judah. These messages were probably not written for them to read. The messages were probably to be read by God’s people to show that He would judge the southern kingdom of Judah’s enemies. As in the other oracles, the historical situation, the impending Assyrian advance throughout the whole region, serves as a backdrop for the prophecies. The Hebrew word for oracle is related to a Hebrew verb meaning to lift up or carry and is possibly to be understood as either lifting up one’s voice or carrying a burden. Such an oracle often contains a message of doom.

Furthermore, the section continues with the treatment of pride that appears in the first chapters of the book. It is the arrogance of the nations that will finally bring them down (13:11 and 19; 14:11; 16:6; 23:9). Because they have exalted themselves in the face of ADONAI, creating gods in their image (2:6-22; 17:7-11), they will not endure.⁴⁴ But he deals with those nations as they come in contact with Judah, moving westward from Babylon to Tyre, and the effect they have on the Jewish nation.

There is one central theme in Chapters 1 through 39, the trustworthiness of God. If Judah places her trust anywhere but ADONAI, she will be destroyed. Both Chapters 7-12 and 36-39 make this same point. Ahaz trusted in Assyria and guaranteed destruction. Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, and Assyria was destroyed. Between those two extremes we see the oracles to the nations. God’s message of doom to the nations demands our attention just as much today as it did then. We must either trust in God, or the nations. ADONAI, through His prophet Isaiah, makes this case forcefully.

There are two series of oracles. The first series, from 13:1 to 20:6, is marked by great optimism. Even the world’s super powers are subject the ADONAI and His word is full of promise. The second series of oracles, 21:1 to 23:18, is very different. Even though the content of each oracle makes its subject clear, each oracle has an air of mystery, even foreboding. There is, in fact, an all-encompassing sense of doom and darkness.

In Chapters 13 to 35 Isaiah seeks 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? But here in the Oracles to the Nations, the specific question that begs for an answer is this, “Is God Lord over All the nations?”

God Is My Salvation,
I Will Trust and Not Be Afraid
11:11 to 12:6

God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid DIG: Once before, God saved His people by the Exodus. How will this happen a second time? How might 11:11-12 relate to the imagery of 11:6-9? To the promise of 19:24-25? How certain will all of this be (see 9:7)? Why? How does this song of God’s deliverance from Assyria compare with the way Isra’el celebrated God’s deliverance from Egypt (see Exodus 15:2ff)? How deeply does Isra’el respond to the LORD’s salvation here? What is the real deliverance, for which Isra’el is only an example, that God has in view here? What is the ultimate reason for Isra’el’s joy?

REFLECT: The root that was planted into the ground in 11:1-2 eventually becomes a banner on a high mountain and is the center of Gentile attention. Does 11:12 compare at all with John 12:32? Why? How well does your joy match your walk and your talk for God? When have you most keenly felt God’s anger? God’s goodness? Which are you sensing now?

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 beginning of the Millennium. These references are not being fulfilled by the modern state of Isra’el. Some of them include Deut 4:29-31; 30:1-10; Isaiah 27:12-13, 43:5-7; Jer 16:14-15; 31:7-10; Ezeki’el 11:14-18; Amos 9:14-15; Zechariah 10:8-12 and Matthew 24:31.

The fact that the last fifty 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 significant. Dr. Walvoord, past president of Dallas Theological Seminary, says, “Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal impact as far as biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Isra’el to their Land. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age, the setting for the coming of the LORD for His Church made up of Jewish and Gentile believers, and the fulfillment of Isra’el’s prophetic destiny.” 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.⁴⁰ There are four things we need to understand about reclaiming the remnant.

First, in that day the LORD will reach out His hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of this people from the four corners of the earth: from Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and from Cush to the south; Assyria, Elam and Babylonia from the east; Hamath from the north and the islands of the sea from the west (11:11). This final restoration under the Messiah will be a second worldwide regathering. If this is the second regathering, when was the first? It could not merely be the return from Babylon because that was hardly a regathering from the four corners of the earth. Other prophets spoke of the first worldwide regathering, which was a regathering in unbelief in preparation for judgment (Eze 20:33-38; 22:17-22; and Zeph 2:1-2).

The present nation of Isra’el is the fulfillment of the first regathering in unbelief in preparation for the judgment of the Great Tribulation. But that worldwide regathering is to be followed by a second one, because Isra’el will collapse in the middle of the Great Tribulation and there will be another dispersion. That will be followed by this second worldwide reclaiming in faith, in preparation for the blessings of the Millennial Kingdom. And that is the final regathering of the remnant that Isaiah is talking about here. He will raise a banner for the Gentile nations and gather the exiles of Isra’el; He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth (11:12). Furthermore, the reason for the assembling of the Gentile nations in 11:10 is that they are to aid in the reclaiming of the remnant into the Land and the destruction of Babylon (13:1-5). The fact that both Isra’el and Judah are mentioned is significant. Jews will be gathered from the whole earth. There are no “lost tribes.” All those of faith will be redeemed.

Secondly, Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, and Judah’s enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim (11:13). There will be a restoration of unity between the northern kingdom of Ephraim, or Isra’el, and the southern kingdom of Judah (Ezeki’el 37:15-23). The question is, what is meant by Ephraim’s jealousy of Judah? Why was she jealous of Judah? Look at Psalm 78:9-11. It tells us that the men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His commandments. They forgot what He had done and the wonders He had shown them. Not only was Ephraim not willing to help out the other tribes in time of danger (some examples of this are in the book of Judges), but they also tended to fall away from following the LORD. As a result, in Psalm 78:67-69, we read that God rejected the tents of Joseph (meaning Ephraim and Manasseh his sons), He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; but He chose the tribe of Judah, on Mount Zion, which He loved. He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that He established forever.

Therefore, when God finally decided to establish a place for His Temple He chose Judah over Ephraim. Ephraim had their chance first because Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was originally established, was in their tribal territory. But because of Ephraim’s actions during the period of time when the Tabernacle was in Shiloh, God ultimately decided to build a permanent dwelling: He chose Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, and Judah over Ephraim. As a result, there has been jealousy ever since. In fact when the split of the kingdom came, the very reason why Jeroboam set up the two golden calves was to keep the people of the northern Kingdom from worshiping God in the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:25-33). But Isaiah tells us that during the messianic Kingdom this jealousy will cease and there will be a restoration of peace between the two Jewish kingdoms.

They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them (11:14). The theme of the Messianic Kingdom continues. It was King David who conquered Philistia (Second Samuel 5:17-25), and the east: (Second Samuel 10:6), Edom (Second Samuel 8:14), Moab (Second Samuel 8:2-13), and the Ammonites (Second Samuel 10-12). Because there will be no war in the Messianic Kingdom, a literal interpretation here is not possible. As a result, this must be a metaphor of a conquering hero. When the King of kings comes again, Isaiah envisions the spreading of His Kingdom. The force to which these nations fall will be the Prince of Peace and His gospel. The two regathered nations will assist in the worldwide expansion.

Thirdly, when Isra’el returns to her Land at the beginning of the Millennium, God will provide the way for her. The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; 
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals (11:15). The reclaiming of the remnant will be accompanied by miracles. As he does frequently, Isaiah recalls the exodus. As at the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 14:21-22), a highway will be prepared for the returning exiles. The Gulf of the Egyptian Sea is now known as the Gulf of Suez. The Euphrates River is broken up into seven smaller streams so that it is much easier to cross. This will allow Jews in Egypt and in the Mesopotamian area to return much more easily.

Fourthly, there will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Isra’el when they came up from Egypt (11:16). Finally, the remnant will return. The concept of the reclaiming of the remnant being a greater Passover than the previous one, like a new exodus, is brought out in Jeremiah 16:14-15 and 23:7-8. What is the first thing the Jews did after they crossed over the Red Sea out of Egypt? They sang hymns (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Ck – Then Moses and the Israelites Sang This Song and Cl – Then Miriam the Prophetess Took a Tambourine in Her Hand). So the future remnant of Isra’el will sing a song of salvation and trust.

God is the One who initiates salvation. There was nothing Isra’el did to earn God’s grace toward them. If there is to be reconciliation, it will have to come from God. Trust in God, faith in God, or belief in God does not produce reconciliation but is a response to the reconciliation announced. When God Himself has satisfied His own justice and invites us to trust Him, what else can we say? I will trust and not be afraid.

Scripture points to the fact that our response normally is expressed in song. No other form of human expression so captures the whole human psyche as does singing. Furthermore, there is a continuity in the songs of Zion that flows from the shores of the Sea of Reeds to the glassy sea around which all the saints will gather: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men and women for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth (Rev 5:9-10).⁴¹

Throughout Chapters 7 to 11 there is the recurring appeal to the house of David and to Judah to put aside their fears of the nations around them and to focus their primary attention upon God, who is Master of the nations and who is utterly trustworthy. That trustworthiness is underlined by the promise that, although their refusal to trust will (result) in defeat and despair, it will not result in the complete destruction of Isra’el as a people.⁴² The two stanzas in this chapter are each introduced by the words: In that day you will say. This refers to the time of deliverance when the nation is regathered and the Messiah reigns.

The first stanza in 12:1-3 looks back on God’s judgments and resulting salvation. The central focus of these verses is upon God. That is what Isaiah has been appealing for. Whenever Isra’el focuses primarily on her needs, she ends up in trouble and God becomes merely the means to that end. This attitude is a sure prescription for spiritual disaster. The source of the praise is the fact that God’s anger has been turned away. The former enemy has become a source of comfort. But how can this be? The comfort of God comes only after the sin and wickedness have been punished. Where will the atoning sacrifice come from? You will draw water from the wells of salvation. The answer will not come until Chapters 40 to 55, but is introduced here and forces us to begin to think about it. The phrase God is my salvation is Isaiah’s name. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9b). Liberation is found in God or it is not found at all. Isaiah has been trying to get his people to understand that. Now he foresees a day when they will finally grasp this truth.

I will trust and not be afraid, is what Isaiah was trying to get Ahaz to say in 7:2-9. In fact, Ahaz could not say it. Overcome by her fear of Ephraim and Syria, Judah could not believe that God was with her. As a result, she put her trust in an alliance with her ultimate enemy, Assyria. How can God get Judah to trust in Him? To believe in Him? To put their faith in Him? Those who can leap across the chasm of fear to trust will find what they have in the LORD. He is their strength, He is their song, and He will become their salvation. Should we not trust a God who would give (up) His Son for us? Only fear, fear that God will not keep His word, fear of giving up control, can keep us from trusting.⁴³ To draw water from the wells of salvation pictures living according to God’s principles and thus participating with joy in the blessing He will provide.

The second stanza in 12:4-6 tells us that the remnant will thank the LORD and call on each other to let the world know what God has done for Judah (7:1-9:7) and Isra’el (9:8-11:16). Each verse starts with a command. In 12:4 it is: Give thanks to the LORD. This verse has many parallels in the Psalms. Psalm 105:1 and 148:13 are almost identical. The remnant will thank the LORD and will call on each other to let the world know what God has done for Judah and Isra’el. God’s name, His revealed character, is to be exalted, or vindicated, before the world so that people everywhere will see that He fulfills His promises. In 12:5 the people will sing to ADONAI because of His glorious deeds. In 12:6 they will shout aloud and sing for joy. The remnant will also remind themselves of the greatness of God. It is hardly a coincidence that the final verse of this section closes with the phrase K’dosh Yisra’el, the Holy One of Isra’el. This phrase occurs 29 times in the Bible. Of these, 26 times are in Isaiah: 13 in Chapters 1-39 and 13 in Chapters 40-60. The remaining 3 occurrences are in the Psalms (Psalm 71:22, 78:41 and 89:19). Because of the holy nature of God there is hope, hope for Isaiah, and hope for everyone. Therefore, in spite of all the hardships ahead for both Isaiah and the nation the prophet could believe in, and look forward to, a day when His restored people would be able to shout aloud and sing for joy.

ADONAI, You alone are holy. Awesome God, creator of Your people Isra’el, You are worthy of our worship and praise.

At the beginning of the Book of Immanuel, the question was posed: Is God Sovereign over all the nations? Can God deliver from Assyria? Can He be trusted? Or is He just one more god, added to all the others? Ruach ha-Kodesh has answered that question through His prophet with a resounding, YES. ADONAI, who is Master of the nations, is utterly trustworthy.

The Wolf Will Live with the Lamb
11: 6-10

The wolf will live with the lamb DIG: These verses portray a very peaceful kingdom. What types of people or situations may Isaiah have in mind here (see 19:23-25)? What does this scene tell you about human relationships under the rule of this King? About the cause and extent of His reign? When and where did this Root of Jesse come from (see 11:1-5)? Who exactly are these nations? What is the difference between the sheep Gentiles and the goat Gentiles? What is a banner?

REFLECT: What will it be like to experience complete safety because of a world based upon God’s teaching and ways? What Good News can you bring to others who do not yet know the LORD? This picture of the Messiah’s reign is both deeply personal and widely social. What would a new society specifically look like under the Messiah’s reign?

Many passages in the TaNaKh speak of a yet future time of true peace and prosperity for the righteous followers of God under the benevolent physical rule of Yeshua Messiah on earth. Zechariah 14:9 says: ADONAI will be king over all the earth; in that day ADONAI will be the only One, and His name the only One (also see 65:17-25). The reason such tranquility is possible is that all the earth will be full of the knowledge of ADONAI (Isaiah 11:9, Jeremiah 31:34; Habakkuk 2:14). This means more than people knowing intellectually about God. The idea is that people everywhere will live according to God’s principles and His Word. With a classic set of images, Isaiah pictures the kind of safety and security that will be seen in the Messianic Kingdom. The most helpless and innocent will be comfortable with those who used to be the most voracious and violent.

Isaiah described the righteous Kingdom that Messiah will set up. All animals will revert to the way they were before the fall. The curse on the earth will be lifted (Genesis 3:15), therefore, peace and harmony will be present. Animals, which are now carnivorous, will become vegetarian in the millennial Kingdom. Wild animals will be present, but will again be tame and harmless to domesticated animals and humans. The wolf, leopard, lion, and bear are mentioned as examples of wild animals that will dwell safely with farm animals like the lamb, goat, calf, cow, and ox. Old hostilities and fears are reconciled and put to rest. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child, not a strutting monarch, will lead them (11:6). The salvation of the world will depend on innocence, simplicity and faith rather than sophistication, cynicism, and violence.

Natures are transformed. The Ruach ha-Kodesh makes this point when He says that the cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox (11:7). They all eat the same food. Meat eaters will become herbivores. The young are mentioned, showing that the change will become inherited.

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest (11:8). There is something about a child playing around the den of poisonous snakes can almost be felt physically. You almost want to snatch the child away from danger. In what more effective way could a writer communicate that death itself would be conquered in the Millennial Kingdom (Hosea 13:14; First Corinthians 15:55).

This is a summary and an explanation of 11:6-8. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain. In 2:2 the LORD’s mountain was the gathering-point for all the earth; now all the earth is ADONAI’s mountain, entirely transformed to His holiness. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD (Jeremiah 31:34, Habakkuk 2:14) as the waters cover the sea (11:9).

This knowledge goes beyond “knowing about” Him. According to First Samuel 3:7, the young Samuel, for all his religious training and the “knowledge” it must have brought (First Samuel 2:11, 18, 21, 26) did not yet know the LORD, for knowledge implies a personal, intimate relationship with a Person. At Mount Sinai, God said to His covenant people: Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am ADONAI their God (Exodus 29:45-46).

The animals that are now natural enemies will lie down with each other, and a little child will lead them. The child and the snake will get along. Here we have two of the oldest enemies, the snake and man, getting along with one another. Isaiah says a similar thing later when he says: The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food (65:25a). The reason for all this is the reign of the Messiah. The expression holy mountain refers to the mountain that will be in the center of the kingdom, in reference to the Messianic Kingdom in which Christ will rule over the entire world.

Here Isaiah deals with Messiah’s relationship with the Gentile nations during the Messianic Kingdom (see the commentary on Revelation Fk – Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom). He will be the center of Gentile attraction: In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the Gentile nations. They will rally to Him and His place of rest, the messianic Temple, will be glorious (11:10).

The term banner refers to a high pole, with waving banners, usually erected on a very high hill to serve as an assembling point for people. As far as biblical history is concerned, the banner was used for four different reasons: first, for the purpose of communicating information (Jeremiah 50:2), secondly, for the gathering of military troops (Isaiah 13:2, 18:3 and Jeremiah 4:21), thirdly, for the gathering of fugitives (Jeremiah 4:6), and fourthly, for the gathering of people or peoples (11:10; 5:26; 49:22; 62:10). Isaiah will have a lot more to say about the Messianic program later in his book.

In that day, the day of Immanuel’s reign, the Root, or Shoresh, of Jesse, or Yeshua Messiah will serve as a banner for the peoples, which are the Gentile nations. The Root of Jesse emphasizes His First Coming. Elsewhere the Messiah is called the Root of David (Revelation 5:5 and 22:16), which emphasizes His Second Coming. The Root that was planted into the ground in 11:1-2 eventually becomes a banner on a high mountain and is the center of Gentile attention. What we have here is the fulfillment of Genesis 49:10, where the obedience of the Gentile nations will be His. When the plural, nations, is used it is always a reference to Gentile nations.

Just as the roots of a tree provide stability, nourishment, and a firm foundation for growth, our Messiah, the Root of David, provides all this and more in our lives.

The Gentiles will be judged at the end of the Great Tribulation and the results of that judgment are given in Matthew. The Judge, the judgment and those judged are identified in Matthew 25:31-33. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne as the Judge in heavenly glory. All the Gentiles still living on the earth will be gathered before Him for judgment, and He will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats based on their treatment of the Jewish people during the Great Tribulation. He will put the pro-Jewish, the sheep, on His right and anti-Jewish, the goats, on His left (see the commentary on Revelation Fc – The Sheep and the Goats).

Matthew 25:34-40 concerns the pro-Jewish sheep. They will provide help to the Jews during the Great Tribulation, at a time when it will be extremely dangerous to do so. Those Jews who will have to flee into the wilderness without anything with them will often be provided with food, clothing and shelter by the sheep Gentiles. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison for not taking the mark of the beast and you came to visit me. Because of these acts of kindness, they will be allowed to enter the Messianic Kingdom. Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” It will be the sheep Gentiles who will play a part in the destruction of Babylon (13:1-5). They will reach the 1,335^th day (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ey – The Seventy Five Day Interval), and will be the ones who will populate the Gentile nations during the thousand-year reign of Christ.

As far as the anti-Jewish goats, Matthew 25:41-45 states that all who aid the antichrist in the Jewish destruction will be killed and sent to hell. Then He will say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They will fail to reach the 1,335^th day and, as a result, will lose out on the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.

The basis of judgment will not be salvation or lack of it, but being pro-Jewish or anti-Jewish. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Matthew 25:46). The goats will go to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15), whereas the sheep will inherit eternal life. So is their eternal destiny based upon works? Not at all. The Bible is clear the salvation equals faith plus nothing. Salvation is totally apart from works. During the Great Tribulation the Jews will become a dividing line between those who are believers and those who are not. Only the believers will dare to violate the rules of the antichrist and aid the Jews. As James would say they will show their faith by their works (James 2:14-26 NKJ). But the unbelievers will prove their unbelief by their anti-Jewish acts.

The sheep Gentiles, who survive the judgment of the Gentiles at the end of the Great Tribulation, are the ones who will enter and populate the Gentile nations during the Messianic Kingdom. Because of their faith and help to the Jewish people, they will be able to participate in the blessings of the Kingdom. However, the children born into the Millennial Kingdom will inherit a sin nature from their parents and will need to accept Yeshua as Messiah to be saved. They will have a hundred years to become believers or they will die (Isaiah 65:20). Thus, there will be death in the Kingdom. But if they do accept Christ, they will live throughout the Kingdom and never die. Therefore, death will be greatly reduced in the Millennial Kingdom because it will be for unbelievers only.

Isra’el will have a special place in the Messianic Kingdom because of God’s Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21, 17:7-8, 22:17-18), the LORD’s Covenant with David (Second Samuel 7:16), and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). But the Gentiles will also benefit from the Kingdom. ADONAI had also promised Abraham that through Isra’el, all the Gentile nations of the world would be blessed. He said: I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3).

A Shoot Will Come Up from the Stump of Jesse
11: 1-5

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse DIG: Whereas the mighty tree of Assyria was destroyed in 10:33-34, what will happen to the stump of Jesse? How is this Branch different from that mentioned in 4:2? What does it mean that the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him (see Second Kings 2:15)? What knowledge, ability, or motivation do you see here? What will this reign be like (compare with 9:6-7; contrast with 1:17-23 and 5:12-23)?

REFLECT: The New Covenant interprets the Branch as Jesus Christ (Romans 15:12 and Revelation 5:5). What stories, teaching, or sayings about Jesus come to mind as you consider the qualities described in this section? Which aspect of the Holy Spirit has particularly made a difference in your life? How would you like to grow under the Lordship of Messiah?

The Messianic Hope that began to be expressed in 7:14, and was intensified in 8:23 to 9:6, is now clearly seen. Christ is not only promised, but is seen as ruling. Instead of the cowardly house of David, or the arrogant and oppressive Assyrian empire, we see a King who will protect the weak and lowly. This segment brings to a close the judgment of Assyria that began in 10:5. This entire section makes the point that although Isra’el would be totally subdued, and Judah nearly so because of their lack of trust in ADONAI, destruction was not God’s final word. Assyria would also be judged, and out of that judgment a remnant of the twelve tribes of Jacob would return to the Land. But as 9:1-6 suggested and 11:1-9 will confirm, that such a return could only come under the protection of a descendant of David.

The contrast between 11:1 and 10:34 is that while the Assyrian forest is cut down forever, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Assyrian slaughter would leave nothing but a field of stumps. The same would be true of God’s people (6:11-13). Both Assyria and Jacob were under the judgment of the LORD. But there was a difference. When Assyria was finally cut down in 609 BC by the combined forces of Babylon, Media and Persia, nothing ever came from those stumps again. But that was not true of Jacob. From one helpless shoot (53:1-2) would come the restoration of the nation, the end of war (9:5), and the establishment of that which the world has always desired but never attained, namely, genuine security.

Why would Isaiah use Jesse rather than David? When you think of David, you think of a king. When you think of Jesse, you think of the common man. He was a shepherd in a small village in Bethlehem. Through Isaiah, ADONAI makes the point that only when the glorious house of David is reduced to what it was in Jesse’s day, nothing but a cut down stump, would the Messiah appear.

Isaiah had prophesied: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from His roots, Tzemach Tzadik, a righteous Branch will bear fruit (Isaiah 11:1). As Arnold Fruchtenbaum points out, Isaiah prophesied that the shoot, or the Messiah, would appear only when the house of David had been reduced down to where it was, not in David’s day, but in his father Jesse’s day. That is why Isaiah mentions Jesse rather than David. He pictures the great house of David as a mighty tree that had been reduced to a mere stump (6:13). But while it appeared to be nothing but a dead stump, there was a secret vitality within it. Suddenly a shoot will begin to grow and produce life. The point that the Ruach ha-Kodesh made through Isaiah was that when the house of David had been reduced to poverty again, to what it was in Jesse’s day, and then the Messiah would appear. From Joseph and Mary’s economic status it was clear that Jesus came when the house of David had been reduced once again to poverty.

Olive trees go through a season when they appear dead. But even after several years of seeming lifelessness, a branch will sprout because the roots are still alive. According to God’s perfect plan, at His plan, at His appointed time, Messiah, the Righteous Branch appeared, bringing new life.

At that point, the Levitic dynasty had lost its power and glory. A similar picture is given in Amos. In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be (Amos 9:11). This Branch will not stop budding from its lowly beginning, but will continue to grow. From humble beginnings a power will begin to develop into great heights, and a shoot ultimately becomes a tree. A state of humiliation will be followed by a state of exaltation, glorification, and perfection. In 53:2 Isaiah brings out the same point. The Messiah will have lowly beginnings. He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. This is the same picture as in Amos 9:11; the Messiah comes on the scene when the once mighty house of David is reduced to a stump.

But his lowly beginnings give way to glory, and the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him (11:2). There is a close association of the Ruach ha-Kodesh with the messianic promise. The seven attributes of the Holy Spirit are given. This is what it means elsewhere that He receives the fullness of the Spirit. This is a picture of a menorah with its seven branches (Revelation 4:5). The middle stem is what he calls the Spirit of the LORD. Then he will use the word Spirit three more times after that, and each time two attributes are given: first, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, second, the Spirit of counsel and of power, and thirdly, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. In Revelation 3:1 and 5:6 we are told that the Messianic Person has the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In John 3:34-35 it says that this Person receives the Spirit without limit. This is because Christ alone will have the fullness of the Spirit. Everyone else receives the Spirit with limits; some greater than others, which is why people have different gifts and different numbers of spiritual gifts (every believer has at least one spiritual gift). But in the case of Christ, He is given the Spirit without limit.

The qualities of His messianic reign are then revealed (11:3-4). He is characterized by the fear of the LORD and He has delight (literally His smelling of satisfaction) in it (11:3), just as we should have. To fear God is to respond to Him in awe, trust, obedience, and worship. Messiah would seek to do what God the Father wanted Him to do. This contrasted with the religious leaders in Isaiah’s day that sought only to please themselves. As world ruler, Messiah will judge the world from the Temple in Jerusalem (to see link click Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple). But He will not be like an ordinary judge who judges by what he sees or hears. He will judge on the basis of righteousness. With the rod of His mouth, with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (Second Thessalonians 2:8).

Lastly, His character is displayed (11:5). Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist. Paul would later take this verse and use it when describing the armor of God. He said we should stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist (Eph 6:14). Paul was not describing a Roman soldier, because there were no Roman soldiers when Isaiah wrote these words. All the armor mentioned in Ephesians 6 is either a direct quote or a paraphrase from the TaNaKh. His point is that we should resist Satan with Scripture as Christ did in the wilderness (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bj – Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness).

The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple
11: 1-10

The coming Messianic Kingdom will be totally different from anything that this world has yet experienced. According to Dani’el 2, it will be a time of culmination – to bring all things into conformity with the will of ADONAI. Consequently, it should not surprise us that certain changes will be necessary in order to accomplish this. The prophet Zechariah writes of some of these changes that will occur in connection with the worship of God in the messianic Kingdom (Zechariah 8:19). It will also bring about certain changes in the land of Isra’el (Zechariah 4:4; Ezekiel 47:1-10). Therefore, changes in the structure of the Temple should not come as a total surprise to us. It is exciting to discover that every one of these changes is a result of the messianic and prophetic fulfillment that we find in Jesus Christ; the picture will be gone and the reality will have come. So the millennial Temple will be missing nine items that were essential in the second Temple before its destruction by the Romans:

1. The dividing wall of partition will be missing, because Jewish and Gentile believers are united into one Body (Ephesians 2:14).

2. The bronze basin will be missing because of the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5), which believers receive through faith in Yeshua; ceremonial cleansing will be unnecessary when Messiah returns (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Fh – The Bronze Basin in the Tabernacle: Christ Our Cleanser). However, it is interesting that the bronze altar will be present because sacrifices will be offered on it at that time (Isaiah 56:7b; Ezeki’el 44:11, 45:13-25 and 46:2). The millennial sacrificial system will not be a reinstitution of the sacrificial system seen in the TaNaKh that merely covered sin (Hebrews 10:4). It will be a totally new system that will contain some things old and some things new, instituted with an entirely different physical and visual picture.

While the writer to the Hebrews teaches us that Christ’s death on the cross was the final sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10), sacrifices in the Kingdom will serve a different purpose. They will serve as a physical and visual picture of what Jesus did (see Jd – Yet It was the LORD’s Will to Crush Him and Cause Him to Suffer).

The Church has been commanded to keep the Lord’s Supper as a physical and visual picture of what Christ did on the cross (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kk – The Third Cup of Redemption). And ADONAI intends to provide a physical and visual picture of what Messiah accomplished on the cross for Isra’el in the messianic Kingdom. For Isra’el, however, it will be a sacrificial system instead of communion with bread and wine. The purpose of the sacrificial system will have the same purpose as communion. It will be a memorial: Do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19b).

3. The court of the women will be missing, because there is neither male nor female in the Kingdom of the One True God (Galatians 3:27-28).

4. The golden menorah will be missing, because Jesus, the light of the world (Isaiah 9:2, 49:2; Ezeki’el 43:1-5; John 1:4, 8:12), will take its place (see the commentary on Exodus Fn – The Menorah in the Sanctuary: Christ, the Light of the World).

5. The bread of the Presence will be missing, because Christ, the bread of life (John 6:35; Ezeki’el 34:23) will feed the people and be their Shepherd (see the commentary on Exodus Fo – The Bread of the Presence in the Sanctuary: Christ, the Bread of Life).

6. The altar of incense will be missing, because as the incense served to illustrate the prayers of His people and were something like a sweet perfume to God, it will be unnecessary since Christ Himself will be present in Zion (Zechariah 8:20-21, 23; Ezeki’el 48:35), and available to hear the petitions of His people (see the commentary on Exodus Fp – The Altar of Incense in the Sanctuary: Christ, Our Advocate with the Father).

7. The inner veil that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Sanctuary will be missing, because our Savior will be present in Jerusalem. Once a year the high priest was allowed to pass through the inner veil on the Day of Atonement to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat for the sins of the people. He was their representative. When Messiah died, the curtain of the Temple in Jerusalem was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51a), because every believer then had personal access to ADONAI. But when the messianic Temple comes, Yeshua Himself will fulfill the prophetic significance (see the commentary on Exodus Fq – The Inner Veil of the Sanctuary: That is Christ, His Body).

8. and 9. The ark of the Covenant (see the commentary on Exodus Fr – The Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place: Christ at the Throne of Grace), and the mercy seat (see my commentary on Exodus Fs – The Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place: Christ at the Throne of Grace) will be missing, because the Lord Himself will be present there (Jeremiah 3:16-17; Ezeki’el 43:5-7). Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, shall sit upon His throne as King in Ezeki’el’s Messianic Temple.

Not only are there nine items missing from Messiah’s Temple, but another extremely significant change also occurs. This change has to do with the bronze altar that will stand in the inner court (see the commentary on Exodus Fa – Build an Altar of Acacia Wood Overlaid with Bronze). Every previous bronze altar in Isra’el’s Temple history was approached from the south, apparently by a ramp. Yet, Ezeki’el specifically states that the steps of the messianic bronze altar shall face the east (Ezeki’el 43:17). The direction, and means by which one approaches the bronze altar, will be changed! Instead of using a ramp from the south, the bronze altar in the Kingdom will be approached from the east.

There is a specific reason why the Israelites were never allowed to approach the bronze altar of sacrifice from the east. The pagans approached their altars from the east to worship the sun. God wanted a clear distinction between pagan worship and the worship that He accepted from His people.

During the Messianic Kingdom, many things will be different. Idolatry will not be a problem as it was for ancient Isra’el. Also, since Jesus Himself will have His throne in the Temple it will be most appropriate for those officiating at the bronze altar to be facing Him in the Temple. Those offering a sacrifice will approach the bronze altar from the east side, moving in the direction of the Lord who will be sitting in His Temple on His throne.³⁹

The Dispensations of God

One of the most important things in understanding the Bible is rightly dividing the word of truth (Second Timothy 2:15 NJK). There are a number of ways we can divide the Bible to understand the different parts of the whole. One of the ways is by the dispensations contained in God’s Word. To understand what a dispensation is, we need to take a look at two Greek words. The first word is oikumenei from which we get our English word ecumenical. It means to manage, to regulate, to administer, or to plan. The second word is aion and it means age. It emphasizes the time element of the dispensation. So the term dispensation refers to a specific way by which God administers His program, His will, His rule, and His authority. Each dispensation is an age, because each dispensation covers a period of time. Dispensations are periods of time in which YHVH governs in a different way than He did previously.

There are seven dispensations described in the Bible: (1) the Dispensation of Innocence (Genesis 1:28 to 3:8); (2) the Dispensation of Conscience (Genesis 3:9 to 8:14), (3) the Dispensation of Civil Government (Genesis 8:15 to 11:32), (4) the Dispensation of Promise (Genesis 12:1 to Exodus 18:27), (5) the Dispensation of the Torah (Exodus 19:1 to Acts 1:26), (6) the Dispensation of Grace (Acts 2:1 to Revelation 19:21), and (7) the Dispensation of the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:1-10). The name Messianic Kingdom emphasizes the fact that God will return to the earth and reign as the Messiah, and the name Millennial Kingdom emphasizes that it will last for a Millennium or a thousand years. Different aspects of the Messianic Kingdom are discussed in other books of the Bible, especially the TaNaKh, one of those being Isaiah.

The key person in the dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom will be Jesus Christ, because Messiah Himself will be providing direct new revelation (2:2-4). This new revelation will be the basis of this new dispensation.

Mankind’s responsibility will be to the B’rit Chadashah, which was the same as in the sixth dispensation. This means accepting the gift of righteousness, which God offers to all mankind, through faith in Yeshua Messiah. But, in addition, obedience to the King and the new commands He will issue will be added. Therefore, in the dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom there will be something old and something new.

The test during that period will be for each one born in the Kingdom to personally receive and accept the King as his or her personal Lord, not in place of the gospel but with the aide of the gospel. To accept the gospel means that one believes that Jesus died for his or her sins, was buried, and rose again (First Corinthians 15:3b-4).

There will also be a failure during the Messianic Kingdom. At the end of the Millennium men and women will fail to recognize Satan’s deception as he leads a rebellion against God and His authority. So many will be deceived, that in number, they will be like the sand on the seashore (Revelation 20:8b). They will be so bold as to try to invade Isra’el and Tziyon.

The judgment will be the total destruction of all these invading armies from around the world by fire out of heaven (Revelation 20:9).

The grace of God will be displayed during the dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom in three major ways. First, there will be the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the TaNaKh (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Mu – 354 Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus Christ). Every prophecy that has remained unfulfilled will find its fulfillment during the Messianic Kingdom. Secondly, it will be a period of prosperity for everyone. Thirdly, there will be immortality for the saved, in that believers will not die. Only unbelievers in the Kingdom will die if they do not accept Christ by the time they are one hundred years old (65:20).

This is the seventh and final dispensation. When it ends, history will move from time to eternity, as it enters the Eternal State (Revelation 21:1 to 22:5).

The Reign of Immanuel
11:1 to 12:6

The Assyrian Empire would fall, but another empire will arise. This section is about the Messianic Kingdom. The final segment of the Book of Immanuel is a development of 9:7. There are three lines of messianic development; a messianic person (to see link click Dc – A Shoot Will Come Up From The House of Jesse), a messianic program (see Dd – The Wolf Will Live With The Lamb), and a messianic people (see De – God Is My Salvation, I Will Trust and Not Be Afraid). Besides contrasting God’s Kingdom with the Assyrian kingdom, Isaiah also contrasts it with the sinful actions of Judah in his day. The sages teach that the prophecy belongs to the reign of Ahaz or, according to others, to the latter days of Isaiah’s life, thus, stealing the future hope of a literal return and reign of Yeshua Messiah from Jerusalem. Rabbi Sha’ul was right when he wrote: The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (Second Corinthians 4:4). Before we proceed, it is important to understand where the Messianic Kingdom fits into the dispensations of God.

Lebanon Will Fall Before the Mighty One
10: 28-34

Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One DIG: These verses recount the Assyrian army’s approach from a point about ten miles north of Yerushalayim. Substitute the names of cities and towns near you. Does this help you to understand how the people of Jerusalem must have felt? What will the King of kings and Lord of lords do to this army? How were they killed? How quickly did it happen? Now if this were your city, how would you feel after God’s intervention?

REFLECT: How has YHVH cut down an “Assyrian army” that has threatened to overwhelm you? What army seems to be breathing down your neck now? How can you deal with it? Who is there to help you? There are natural consequences to our sinful behavior. Is the Lord obligated to rescue us from our own wrongdoing? Can we be forgiven and still have to suffer natural consequences of our sin? If we are living holy lives and are not rescued from disaster, does that mean that God doesn’t notice or love us? Where does faith come into the picture (Hebrews 11:1)?

After describing the ultimate survival of the faithful remnant in 10:20-27, Isaiah returns to his own time and shows the arrival of the Assyrian army just prior to its destruction (37:36). It is not unusual for Isaiah to abruptly switch back and forth between the near historical future and the far eschatological future.

This is a graphic description of the march of the Assyrian army through various towns on the northern approaches to Jerusalem. The net effect is to picture an army, like a tsunami, which is all but unstoppable. They entered Aiath (another name for Ai); then they passed through Migron and after marching another seven and a half miles, they reviewed their weapons in preparation for the final assault 300 feet down the pass at Micmash. They decided not to stop but to push on over the pass and camp overnight at Geba a mile up the other side. At that point, they had entered Judah. Yerushalayim was but six miles off and the fortress towns of Ramah and Gibeah were outflanked and offered no resistance (10:28-29).

The news that the enemy is in Geba, with no significant barriers between them and Jerusalem, struck terror into the hearts of the neighboring villages. Ramah and Gibeah are outflanked. Gallim, Laishah, Anathoth, Madmenah and Gebim lie directly in the path of the juggernaut as it made its final march to the outskirts of Jerusalem the following day. Therefore, the LORD said to them: Cry out, literally scream at the top of your voice, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! Poor Anathoth! Madmenah is in flight; the people of Gebim take cover. The description conjures up the picture of the arrival of the merciless Assyrian army, with the daughters of Zion their most prominent victims. And finally they will halt at Nob (10:30-32a).

Isaiah lists a number of cities and each one moves you closer to Jerusalem. Aiath is thirty miles away, Migron is fifteen miles away, Micmash is seven and one-half miles away, the pass is seven miles away, Gibeah is six miles away, Ramah is five miles away, Gibeah of Saul is three miles away, Gallim is two and three-quarters miles away, Laishah is two and one-half miles away, Anathoth is two miles away, Madmenah is one mile away, Gebim is one-half mile and finally to the gates of Yerushalayim at Nob, where the Hebrew University is built today.

This is where the Assyrians will shake their fists at the Holy City. This day they will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem (10:32b). And while the Assyrians were capable of destroying all the Jewish cities mentioned in this paragraph, they destroyed many others because they destroyed forty-six of Judah’s fortified cities. They got to the very neck, the City of David herself. But Tziyon would stand, because once they get to her gates which they do at Nob (described as the city of the priests in First Samuel 22:11), the Assyrian forest would be destroyed.

When Isaiah starts this section with the words: See, ADONA-Tzva’ot, he introduces a sudden and dramatic change. The short, curt phrases describing the Assyrian army’s progress toward Jerusalem (10:28-32) are substituted by long, dignified sentences that tell of its swift end. In this way Isaiah strips away the picture of the Assyrian defeat only to reveal who was behind the scene, namely, the LORD of the universe who judges all humanity equally. Assyria was subject to God and her arrogance would not go unpunished (2:12-13). Sennacherib would soon learn that any calculation that leaves ADONAI out of the picture is doomed to fail (8:12-15, 47:8-9).

The words here refer to the narration of the actual event later in the book. Shortly after the fall of the northern kingdom of Isra’el, Sennacherib, king of Assyria descended on Judah. His assault came in 701 BC, during the reign of Ahaz’s son King Hezekiah (to see link click Gp – The Timeline of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah). At that time, Isaiah will record: 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! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there (37:36-37). The Angel of the LORD is always the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Assyria would not succeed in its plan to take Jerusalem. Instead, it would be ADONAI-Tzva’ot (CJB) who would cut down the lofty trees (10:33a), or the Assyrian army (10:18). Some question how God could do such a thing. But when it comes to the LORD we must never confuse grace and mercy with weakness. It was a theophony, or a preincarnate vision of the Son of Man, that confronted Joshua before the fall of Jericho, saying: I am the commander of ADONAI’s army (Joshua 5:14 CJB), and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5) will fill the Valley of Jehoshaphat with blood as high as the horses’ bridles when He returns (Revelation 14:17-20). There is no “mean” God of the TaNaKh, and a “loving” God of the B’rit Chadashah. Love and judgment are seen in both Covenants.

The tall one, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was brought low (10:33b). Like Pharaoh of Egypt, the king of Assyria thought he was a god. He was full of pride, and as Solomon tells us, pride goes before destruction, an arrogant spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Therefore, this egotistical king would be humbled and brought low before the King of kings and Lord of lords (First Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14 and 19:16).

ADONAI, God of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) will cut down the forest thickets with an ax (10:34a). Isaiah had already reminded the people that they didn’t need to worry about the Assyrian invasion, because ADONAI was on their side (10:24-27). Even Lebanon, known for its thick forest of cedar trees, would fall before YHVH. Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One (10:34b). Certainly, Assyria could not think she could possibly escape. The Assyrian army’s destruction at the very moment when it believed itself to be knocking at the gates of victory is described here. The metaphor is that of a forest being cut down by the ax of the woodsman. The falling of a great tree is always spectacular. This one is even more so, following the picture of Assyrian pride (10:28-34).

The Remnant Will Rely on the Holy One of Isra’el
10: 20-27

The remnant will rely on the holy One of Isra’el DIG: What price is paid for this object lesson? The remnant theme has appeared before (see 1:9; 4:3 and 6:13). How does this theme show both God’s judgment and His mercy? What attitudes characterize the remnant? What hope does Isaiah provide here for the people even before these events take place? How do these stories of Gideon, as when He struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb, (Judges 7) and Moses, as he raised his staff over the waters as he did in Egypt, (Exodus 14:21ff) comfort them?

REFLECT: When was the last time you relied on the promises of God when things were really tough? Is it a comfort to you that the LORD is a promise keeper? Why or why not? Why is it critically important to you that YHVH keep His promises to Isra’el? Isaiah looked back to the stories of Gideon and Moshe to provide hope and comfort for the people. What stories of God’s grace and deliverance can you look back upon to find hope in times when it is hard to trust Him?

The focus suddenly changes from Assyria to the surviving remnant of the far eschatological future. While Assyria seemingly marched toward victory (10:28-34), her arrogance would not go unpunished (10:20-27). The emphasis here, however, is on the regeneration of the remnant of Isra’el that would ultimately survive the attack in the Great Tribulation (see my commentary on Revelation, to see link click Ev – The Basis of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).

In that day the remnant of Isra’el, the survivors of the house of Jacob will trust, or rely on the LORD (10:20a). The phrase, in that day, identifies a time when ADONAI intervenes in human history. Normally, this is the hand of judgment, as here and in 4:2, that judgment is not only seen in destructive terms, for there will be a remnant of believers in Yeshua that will emerge from the chaos (Malachi 4:1-3). They will return to God, and henceforth, place their trust in Him alone. In addition, the expression, in that day, puts it beyond the time of the Assyrian Empire and into the prophetic future. The words Isaiah uses here are the same as those he uses to describe the Great Tribulation in Chapter 28. Therefore, having outlined the invasion of the Assyrian army and its subsequent destruction in 10:5-19, Isaiah now turns to the far eschatological future and Isra’el’s ultimate survival in 10:20-27. Then he returns to his own time in 10:28-34, and shows the arrival of the Assyrian army just prior to its destruction (37:36). It is not unusual for Isaiah to abruptly switch back and forth between the near historical future and the far eschatological future.

The remnant will be the survivors of the house of Jacob, or Isra’el. The number of those who escape is given to us in Zechariah 13:7-9. There we are told that only one-third of the Jews who begin the Great Tribulation will survive it seven years later. They will no longer rely on him who struck them down, and from Dani’el 9:26-27 we know this to be the antichrist. But the righteous of the TaNaKh will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Isra’el (10:20b), which will lead to a national regeneration (Zechariah 12:7 to 13:1).

Isaiah has already told us that a remnant will return (shuwb). Here he makes direct use of the name of his son Shear-Jashub (7:3). There is a negative and positive meaning to this name as it applied to King Ahaz. Negatively, it points to a destruction from which only a portion of Ahaz’s people will return. Yet, there is a positive implication in its promise that some will survive. In this sense, although the word remnant does not appear again after 17:3, it is still possibly the most appropriate summary of the entire book, because it captures the combined themes of redemption and judgment that continue from the beginning of the book to end.

God’s prophet declared that a remnant of Jacob will return from the northern Kingdom (10:21a). Although it will only be a remnant, nonetheless, it will represent all twelve tribes and the descendants of Jacob. As such, it will fulfill all the ancient promises of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It will not only be those from the southern Kingdom, but the faithful from all the twelve tribes. The Mighty God came as meek as a lamb, and the remnant would have faith in Him (10:21b). There will come a day when the millennial Kingdom will be established, and ADONAI’s might will be demonstrated in Messiah.

Nevertheless, despite this word of assurance that the Jewish people would not be annihilated; it would still be true that the remnant would be only a fragment of the original number. The promises to Abraham would not be annulled; they will certainly be fulfilled (Genesis 15:9-21 and 17:19). Though Isra’el had many people, like the sand by the sea (Genesis 22:17 and 32:12; Second Samuel 17:11), only a few would return. Destruction, although overwhelming, would be fair, or righteous (10:22).

But whether in the near historical future and Israel’s confrontation with Sennacherib, or the far eschatological future and her confrontation with the antichrist, Adonai, the ELOHIM of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB), must carry out His promises in a way that is consistent with His holiness. Therefore, the destruction decreed, due to sin, cannot be withheld, and it will come upon the whole land sooner or later (10:23).

Isaiah continues to look to the far eschatological future and Israel’s ultimate survival in the Messianic Kingdom of the righteous of the TaNaKh. These verses speak a message of comfort and hope, addressed to the faithful remnant facing the Assyrian menace. As Sennacherib fought his way toward them with his superior army, the Jews living in Jerusalem knew that he had conquered the northern kingdom of Isra’el some twenty years earlier. Isaiah’s message was comforting in the fact that if a remnant could indeed come out of the northern kingdom of Isra’el, then there was hope for them, staring down the bow of the Assyrian army.

Therefore, this is what Adonai, ELOHIM-Tzva’ot says (10:24a CJB). The word Therefore, based upon the previous paragraph, means because of the promise of a final restoration do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did (10:24b). The righteous of the TaNaKh will survive. The fact that there will be a final restoration means that Isra’el will survive every invasion sent against it. While individual Jews are not indestructible, Jews, nationally, are indestructible. This gives promise to the remnant of his day that God’s promises are sure. Neither Sennacherib, nor the antichrist can destroy ADONAI’s promises, because a remnant will survive.

Very soon My anger against you will end and My wrath will be directed to their destruction (10:25). This gives us a further explanation of the command not to fear. The problem is not with the Assyrian invasion, but God’s anger and wrath. It is as if the LORD was saying to the Israelites then, and says to us today, “Don’t worry about the enemy who is about to overcome you, because in this world you will have trouble, focus instead on Me, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

ADONAI, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies will lash them with a whip, as when He struck down Midian at the rock of Orab (10:26a). Isaiah talks about the destruction of Assyria and likens it to the destruction of the Midianites in the book of Judges. They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan (Judges 7:25). Ironically, those who live by the whip, die by the whip.

God also likens it to the Egyptians. As He will raise His staff over the waters as He did in Egypt (10:26b). Egypt drove Isra’el into the sea, and Assyria will drive Israel into a sea of suffering. Moses lifted his staff over the sea and now God will raise His staff over Assyria. As the waves swallowed up the Egyptians under pharaoh, waves will now swallow up the Assyrians. They will both be punished in a like manner. Thus, the historical analogy becomes a reason for hope. What God has done once, He can and will do again.

As a result, there is the removal of the yoke over Isra’el. Assyria’s destruction by God means there is hope for the righteous of the TaNaKh. When ADONAI destroys Sennacherib’s army, their burden (implies being under obligation) will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke (implies being under orders) from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat (10:27). The picture is drawn of an ox who has eaten so well and been worked so little that the very fat of its neck, breaks the yoke away. An odd picture to be sure, but an extremely graphic one, for God promises to bless His people. Consequently, Isaiah assured his readers that the Assyrian burden would not last forever. They would need this comfort in light of the coming invasion.

We need the same comfort. If we are to keep the faith in times of stress and difficulty we must remember what YHVH has not only done for all believers in Yeshua, but what He has done for us personally. We can ill afford to have a form of spiritual Alzheimer’s disease. When our spiritual memory is secure, so is our spiritual identity.

The Light of Isra’el Will Become a Fire
10: 12-19

The light of Isra’el will become a fire DIG: Read 9:13-14 aloud, accenting the tone of voice and attitude expressed in the many times the words I and my are used. What root problem does this reveal? According to verse 15 what have they gotten backwards? What is Ha’Shem’s response to their pride in verses 15-19? Compare 9:16 with 37:36; what do you think happened here? How is God both like a light and a fire in 10:16-19? What is the truth about the LORD expressed in each idea?

REFLECT: When was the last time you tried to accomplish something through your own strength and wisdom? How did it work out? Did it last? Was it satisfying? Why or why not? Who has the power in your life? Who holds the steering wheel of your life? Who sits on the throne of your heart? Do you know someone who believes the lie? Does YHVH seem more like a guiding light or a consuming fire right now? How so? When have you experienced Him in the other way? What have you learned about the LORD from these experiences?

The indignant answer of the prophet interrupts the blasphemy of the Assyrian king who ventures to compare the God of Isra’el with the useless heathen idols. Isaiah declares that Assyria was not acting out of ignorance. Rather, she was strutting around like a peacock, arrogant and cruel. So when Ha’Shem has finished all his work against Mount Tziyon and Yerushalayim, He will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes (10:12). The word finished is a tailor’s term, meaning to snip off a thread when the sewing is done. After using Assyria to punish Jerusalem, YHVH would then punish Assyria because of the king’s willful pride evidenced by his haughty look (Psalms 18:27 and 101:5; Proverbs 6:17 and 30:13). This transitional sentence makes it perfectly clear that the punishment Samaria and Jerusalem endures (10:5-11) will not be done in spite of God, but because of Him. In addition, Assyria’s judgment will be fully justified as a result of her greedy and arrogant attitude.

The Assyrian king bragged about his abilities and achievements when he said: For by the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a Mighty One I subdued their kings (10:13). The ease at which Assyria conquered other nations made her prideful. The king assumed the victories were a result of his own skill, intelligence and cunning. Six times he said I, and three times he used the word my. The king felt that what was achieved had been done by his strength and wisdom.

Then he boasted about his irresistible power. As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapping a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp (10:14). It was like stealing eggs when the mother bird was gone from her nest. It was that easy. None of these nations offered any effectual opposition.

The king of Assyria believed the lie that he controlled his own destiny. The more his pride swelled, the more he took the place of God. He grabbed the steering wheel of his own life and in effect said, “I’m driving now!” When he said: like a Mighty One I subdued their kings (10:13), he usurped ADONAI’s authority and position, because that phrase is a description of the LORD Himself (Genesis 49:24; Isaiah 1:24, 10:34; 33:21, 49:26, 60:16). This produced a sense of self-entitlement, thinking that he could justify anything he did. If he wanted to reach for the wealth of the nations, as men gather abandoned eggs (10:14), then that was his right. But it didn’t make it right. Superior skills and abilities are a gracious gift from God given for His purposes. They do not represent an innate superiority over others to do with as you please. Believing the lie would lead to Assyria’s destruction.

Because of Assyria’s pride, the LORD said He would judge the king and his empire. Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood (10:15)! Assyria was merely an ax, or saw, or a rod in God’s hand; Assyria’s strength was really her weakness. When she boasts, it is like a tool boasting against its maker. It is not the rod who lifts up the man, but the man who lifts up the rod. Ultimately, the strength is not in the rod, but in the hand of the man who swings it. By itself it will lie still on the ground. Therefore, this is Assyria; she is a rod in the hand of God. And since Assyria did not know that, the judgment must come.

Ha’Shem said He would destroy the Assyrian army by a wasting disease and fire. All health, vigor and glory in which Assyria exulted will be eaten away and all that will be left will be a wasted, burning carcass. Isaiah prophesied: Therefore, ADONAI, the LORD of heaven’s armies, will send a wasting disease upon His sturdy warriors; under His pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame (10:16). First, God will send a wasting disease upon them (to see link click Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put To Death a Hundred and Eighty Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp). This is among the punishments mentioned in the Torah. The LORD said: Then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life (Leviticus 26:16). In another verse Moses announced: The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish (Deuteronomy 28:22). Therefore, to show the uniqueness of the punishment, God will not use a second army to wipe out the Assyrians but strike them with wasting disease.

Isaiah stresses ADONAI as the ultimate authority. God is the ruler of the world, not Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon or Sennacherib. Heaven’s armies belong to the LORD and they march to His call (Joshua 5:15). For one who had seen the LORD high and exalted (6:1), Assyria’s enormous army, and suffocating pride, meant very little. Before the consuming reality of ADONAI, all human works are merely timber to be burned up.

Secondly, the Assyrians, marching on Jerusalem, were walking straight into the fire! The wrath of God will burn against the thorns and briers. The Light of Isra’el will become a fire, and their Holy One a flame and Assyria would fall in a single day (see Gp – The Timeline of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah). It will burn and consume their thorns and their briers, pictured as common soldiers. The splendor of His forests, or generals, and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick man wastes away (10:17-18). So although some are counted as thorns and briers (5:6), while others are seen as mighty forests, the difference doesn’t mean much to a raging fire.

And the remaining trees (soldiers) of his forests (army) will be so few that a child could write them down (10:19). The result is that there will be so few soldiers’ left that a child could write all of their names. There is a rabbinical tradition that only ten men survived and, as this number is represented in Hebrew by the letter yod, which is a mere stroke, a little child could do it. The motif that connects the punishment of Assyria with the remnant of Isra’el that survives is seen next.

The Judgment of Assyria
10: 5-34

The judgment of Assyria DIG: While 9:8 to 10:4 conveys God’s judgment against Isra’el, what is the focus of His judgment here? What was the LORD’s purpose in allowing Assyria to overrun the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah (see 10:5-6 and 7:17)?

At this point, the tone of Isaiah’s message changes drastically. Assyria continues to be a central figure (10:5, 12, 24, 11:11 and 16), but now the hunter becomes the hunted. While it is true that what we trust, in place of the LORD, will destroy us (7:1 to 8:22), it does not mean that the destroyer is victorious in the end. If we are saved and belong to Him (First Corinthians 15:3-4), no matter what happens to us, it is still God who is supreme because He has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, “ADONAI is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me (Hebrews 13:4b-6)? This is the theological issue that is emphasized in Chapters 7-12. Who do the people of Judah trust? Assyria or YHVH?

From 10:5 to 12:6 Isaiah again contrasts the Assyrian Empire to the Millennial Kingdom of Messiah. Even though Assyria’s aggression was used by God to punish His people for their rebellion (9:8 to 10:4), Assyria would also eventually be punished. This is another instance of the outworking of the Abrahamic Covenant, which says: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse (Genesis 12:3a). This segment brings out the meaning of Isaiah’s first son’s name Shear-Jashub, meaning a remnant will return.

One of the great issues in the evangelical Church is the security of the believer, meaning the absolute unfailing and permanent possession of eternal life guaranteed to the true believer by God Himself (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). Jesus said it this way: My sheep hear My voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one (Yochanan 10:27-30). But all too often holy living is neglected because heaven is certain. By contrast, churches and messianic synagogues that have been more influenced by Arminius have tended to preach a kind of eternal insecurity, in which a believer’s eternal state depends on whether or not the most recent sin has been confessed; that you can be unsaved and need to be resaved. Their tendency is to focus on one’s behavior rather than on one’s relationship to God.

These issues seem to be the very ones underlying this passage. On the one hand, Isaiah is intent on assuring the people that the future of the nation is secure. Isra’el would survive. The Assyrians would not be able to destroy Judah. The people could live confidently. They did not need to surrender their trust in ADONAI in order to secure the outcome. Nevertheless, that confidence in the future was never meant to replace their relationship with the LORD. Just because Judah was secure, did not mean individual Israelites would not believe in Him. It is the same with us today. The Church will survive, but only those with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will be saved with it.³⁸

Woe to Those Who Make Unjust Laws
10: 1-4

Woe to those who make unjust laws DIG: What was the purpose of the laws made by the rulers of Isra’el? What did the Torah have to say about this? What three questions did the LORD ask the leaders of the northern Kingdom?

REFLECT: Understanding what the Torah says about the poor, the widow, and the orphan, what is your responsibility toward them? What darkness reached its greatest extent before God came to you?

In the final stanza of his poem, Isaiah described the corrupt leaders in Isra’el who were perverting the cause of justice and righteousness (9:6-7). This was, and is, especially offensive to ADONAI who is just and seeks to protect the helpless. It is one thing when competition pits brother against brother. It is quite another, consciously, to enrich themselves at the expense of the helpless. As a result, a woe was pronounced on them. If the leaders of the northern Kingdom refused the rule of the Word of God, they would end up under immoral human rule.

The emphasis is on the unjust legality. Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees (10:1). The word oppressive translates amal, and gives the sense of being unbearable. In the book of Judges we read: But the Israelites said to ADONAI, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And He could bear Isra’el’s misery no longer (Judges 10:16). The woe was decreed upon the unjust legislators. The judges made unrighteous decrees, and the scribes wrote them into law to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, making widows their pray and robbing the fatherless (10:2). The aim of this legislation is to allow them legally to exploit the poor, the widow, and the orphan, all under the mask of legality. While the Torah decreed special protection for these groups (Deuteronomy 10:18, 26:5-7; Psalms 10:14, 68:5, 146:9; Exodus 22:22), these unjust judges made them a special object of unjust laws.

The judgment itself is given in the sense of three rhetorical questions. First: What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar (10:3a). In other words, what good will all of your ill-gained wealth do you when the Assyrian army comes? Secondly: To whom will you run for help? They will have no one to run to, because they had already made Judah, the one place where they might have found refuge, their enemy. And thirdly: Where will you leave your riches (10:3b). Created beings are under the hand of the Creator to whom they must, sooner or later, give account. To think otherwise, is at best, foolishness, and at worst, insanity.

There will be no place to hide their ill-gained wealth. Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain (10:4a). And if they thought that there might be a pause in judgment after this, Isaiah prophesied: Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised (10:4b). The privileged of society who had enriched themselves at the expense of the helpless would suffer the same fate as everyone else. They would be huddled among the captives, lying in heaps of the dead. Before the upraised hand of the LORD, status, power and wealth mean nothing.

The point of this, and the previous three stanzas’, is that darkness must reach its greatest extent before the great light can come (9:2). Even though ADONAI would send His judgment against Isra’el, the promise of the return of the remnant would hold true. Two points must be remembered about the remnant. First, a remnant will always survive, and secondly, God always punishes the Gentile nation that He uses to punish the Jews.

Manasseh Will Feed on Ephraim
9: 18-21

Manasseh will feed on Ephraim DIG: What pictures come to mind as Isaiah describes the wickedness of the people here in these verses? What is the point of comparing their wickedness to a raging forest fire or people eating their own family?

REFLECT: When has sin by someone in your immediate or extended family led to the destruction of natural affection for family members? What was that darkness outcome? Was there civil war in your family? Was the root of the sin dealt with so that peace could be restored? How was the LORD involved?

In the third stanza of his poem, Isaiah envisions a devastation of the Land, civil war, confusion, and anarchy. Here he exposes the true nature of sin. It is not a little misguided playfulness. It is rebellion against God and His order of life. As such, it can only be destructive. So here the people’s wickedness is pictured as burning them up like a huge fire with a large column of smoke.

The prophet talks about a wickedness that burns like a fire, and fire destroys from within. The failure of leadership (9:13-17) led to a desperate need to look out only for oneself, but without satisfaction. Surely wickedness burns like fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke (9:18). The Hebrew word wickedness means rebellion. When man rebels against God he starts a fire within himself, which, if allowed to continue burning will ultimately destroy him, because sin carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Wickedness cannot be contained once it is unleashed. As a result, Isaiah says if the fire continues to burn in Isra’el it will destroy the briers and thorns, the common people, and the forest thickets, the elders and rulers. There are two fires being described here. They are two sides of the same coin. One is the consuming fire of sin and the other is the fire of God’s wrath.

By the wrath of the LORD of heavens angelic armies (CJB), the Land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire (9:19:a). The judgment would not only come from God (9:11), and the enemies of the nation (9:12), but from within. Another result of rebellion is the destruction of natural affection for family members. For Isra’el, the end result was anarchy; no man will spare his brother (9:19b).

Relationships, either from the immediate or extended family, no longer meant anything. On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring (9:20). Cannibalism was not present in the northern kingdom of Isra’el, so this verse must be taken figuratively. Everyone only looked out for themselves. The postmodern world of individualism is as old as Isaiah himself. Its best opportunity to flourish comes with social collapse; its root cause is seen in the rejection of the Word of God.

Sin destroys human relationships, so it is no surprise that this wickedness, this rebellion, led to civil war. Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh. Manasseh and Ephraim were the two largest northern tribes. They symbolized the fratricide that had characterized so much of Isra’el’s existence. Like fighting brothers, their intertribal hostilities, which began in the wilderness, would culminate in civil war. In the end, the only thing that would cause them to stop fighting each other was their hatred of Judah and together they would turn against her (9:9:21a). Only then would they be united in their hate.

After the first wave of judgment (to see link click Cq – The LORD Has Sent a Message Against Jacob), and the second wave of judgment (see Cr –The LORD Will Cut Off the Head and the Tail), this third wave of judgment still offered no sigh of relief. Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised (9:21b). Without repentance, the discipline of a loving God would continue.

The LORD Will Cut Off the Head and the Tail
9: 13-17

The LORD will cut off the head and the tail DIG: What are the specific charges the LORD lays against the leaders of Isra’el in 10:1-2? What will be the result of refusing to provide justice and peace for the people? How is the finality of this judgment emphasized?

REFLECT: What signs do you see today that God still cleans house (see verses 13-21), beginning with His own people? How might allowing the effects of wickedness to grow actually serve as part of God’s judgment upon that evil (see Romans 1:21-17)?

The reason for this second wave of judgment is that the leaders of the northern kingdom of Isra’el were responsible for leading the nation astray. In their pride and arrogance they exalted themselves. But the more they sought adulation, the less able they became to lead their people. For just leadership can only come from people who know their own weakness and corruptibility. In addition, when people know that they are ultimately responsible to God, they approach their task with reverence and dedication. But if they start to believe the glowing things people say about them because they have favors to give, then government disappears and leaders pander more and more to people who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear (Second Timothy 4:3). This is the situation Isaiah describes here.

In his second stanza, Isaiah declares: But the people have not returned to Him who struck them, nor have they sought ADONAI-Tzva’ot (9:13 CJB). After godly discipline, the people had not responded. They alone should have been able see past their corrupt leaders. The purpose of the judgment in these verses was to get Isra’el to see her need to turn to Him. But she does not and God’s anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised. The expression turned away is the Hebrew word shuv, which carries with it the sense of repentance or conversion. It is the key word in the book of Jeremiah. Isra’el was like a child who stubbornly refuses to obey his or her parents and therefore is punished more severely. There was no repentance, so there would be more punishment.

Here Isaiah, with dry humor, describes the oppressors as the tail. Thus, ADONAI will cut off from Isra’el both head and tail, both palm branch and reed (9:14a). These are contrasts expressing totality: head (leader) and tail (follower), in other words, from one end to the other; palm branch, the tallest of plants, (upper class) and reed, the lowest of plants, (lower class) in other words from top to bottom. Because of no repentance from previous judgments, further judgment is necessary: both palm branch, the tallest of plants (upper class) and reed, the lowest of plants (lower class).

This judgment will happen in a single day, possibly the fall of Samaria in 722 BC or death of Jeroboam II that marked the end of stable government; at any rate, it was that crucial moment when ADONAI determined that the people’s rebellion had reached the point of no return (9:14b). This metaphor is explained in the next verse.

The elders and prominent men are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail (9:15). Because of their self-serving attitude on the part of the leaders of Isra’el, they cannot shepherd the people. As a result, the false leaders only did and said what they needed to do to keep themselves in power. Sound familiar? A good example of prophets only telling elders and prominent men what they wanted to hear is found in First Kings 22:5-23. We see here Isaiah’s main theme in Chapter 5 in the Song of the Vineyard. The elders of Isra’el were guilty of leading the nation astray. Jesus said it this way: Leave them, for they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Fs – Why Do Your Disciples Break the Tradition of the Elders).

Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray (9:16). Unless leaders constantly acknowledge their dependency on God, the possibility of corruption increases. Leaders will believe the adulation that fallen humans will give to them. Then they will begin to believe that they have “the right” to their position of prominence and power. Soon they will be leading not for the sake of the people, but for themselves. Their actions are tailored to maintain themselves in power. They are unwilling to make the hard decisions that are necessary, but instead, make decisions that only consolidate their power. They govern by polls, trying to decide where the people are going and then running ahead to get in front of the crowd. As a result, those types of leaders mislead the people, and those who are led are led astray.³⁷

Therefore, ADONAI will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will He pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness (9:17a). There would be no rejoicing in the young men. This is an expression meaning those of military age. Many of them would die. What was the cause of this judgment? Isra’el had failed to have compassion for two classes, the fatherless orphans and the widows. According to the Torah, they were to receive special attention (Deuteronomy 10:18).

As the second wave of judgment passed, some must have thought they could sigh in relief. But because of its wicked leadership, the northern Kingdom had come to a point of complete corruption. Like rotten, stinking fruit, the decay had reached every level of society. As a result, Isaiah prophesied: Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised (9:17b). A third wave of judgment was still to come.

The LORD Has Sent a Message Against Jacob
9: 8-12

The LORD has sent a message against Jacob DIG: From 7:1 and 9:10-11, what must have happened in Isra’el? (Note: The opposition of King Rezin of Syria in 9:11-12 indicates this prophecy was given before the alliance described in 7:1). How did the people of Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria respond to these attacks in 9:9-10 and 13? How should they have responded? For this reason, what will God do to their leaders in 9:14 to 17? With what result? The repetition in 9:12, 17, 21 and 10:4 shows that this is a poem or song. From this refrain, what do you think the poem is about?

REFLECT: From these verses, what attitudes and actions do you see are particularly offensive to ADONAI? Are any of these evident in your life? In the life of our nation? God’s final judgment came only after many attempts to warn the people about the consequences of their deeds. What has the LORD brought into your life recently as a warning of the consequences of where you are heading? How have you responded to those warnings?

The doublet, generally saying the same thing over twice from different perspectives, is one of Isaiah’s traits. The second element in the doublet always gives clearer meaning to the first. For example, Chapters 28-29 mirror 30-35, and Chapters 42:18 to 43:21 reflect 43:22 to 44:23. In this case 9:8 to 11:16 runs parallel with 7:1 to 9:7. The prophets recognized, but never accepted, that the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah were divided. But one day they will become one kingdom under God and Messiah will reign forever. Under the inspiration of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, Isaiah has just traced this course of action for Judah in 7:1 to 9:7. Now he does the same for Isra’el.

God’s Word had been rejected in favor of Isra’el’s self-will. Her internal collapse (9:10) would be followed by external invasion (9:11). When the vineyard produced stinking fruit, the wild animals were allowed to come in and trample it (5:4-5). The only way a nation can recover from this kind of devastation is returning to the Word of the LORD. They had truly built an amazing capitol city of Samaria, and humanly speaking, had much to be proud about. But to leave God out of the equation only invites disaster (Amos 5:11).

In the first part of his four-stanza poem, Isaiah prophesied: ADONAI has sent a message against Jacob; it will fall on Isra’el (9:8). The word message is in the emphatic, meaning that the LORD had spoken! Would His people live by His Word or not? This message came through the ministries of Amos and Hosea from 760 BC onward. Although writing to the nation of Judah, Isaiah often used the northern kingdom of Isra’el, also called Jacob, as an example of the fact that God judges His sinful people. The message was one of coming judgment on the northern kingdom of Isra’el. The last part of the verse is a Hebrew idiom meaning soon to be realized. The coming fall of Isra’el would be realized very shortly. She would soon realize that her boasting was only hollow words. This was also a not so subtle message to the southern kingdom of Judah, who should have realized that she too would be destroyed if she persisted in her sin.

Pride was the main reason that the LORD’s message would fall on Isra’el. Ephraim, with its capitol of Samaria, was one of Isra’el’s largest tribes. It often represented the entire Northern Kingdom (7:2 and 17). With the immediate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy all the people will know it was the word of ADONAI. Sadly, they will realize this too late. Their pride would be their downfall. Isaiah makes his point more forcefully by means of a metaphor. All the people will know it – Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria – who say with pride and arrogance of heart, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars” (9:9-10). Their pride was seen in the fact that they thought they could experience only temporary setbacks (the bricks have fallen) if the Assyrian army would attack them. ADONAI was using Assyria to discipline Isra’el, to humble her so that she would return to Him. But it was as if Isra’el shot back at God, saying, “We’re not going to repent, we’re just going to rebuild. And we don’t need You to do it.” The northern Kingdom had a spirit of defiance and rebellion in this response.

They felt that they would be able to make their nation better than ever. The expressions here go from that which is cheap to that which is expensive, from bricks to dressed stone (So what if the Assyrians break down our homes made of brick, we will rebuild them with new dressed stone), and from fig trees to cedars (So what if the Assyrians cut down all our fig trees, we will replace them with cedars). But sadly, this was not to be the case.

Jeroboam II (782-753 BC) gave the northern kingdom of Israel prosperity, restoring the boundaries that King Solomon had established (Second Kings 14:25). But he led the nation into spiritual adultery (First Kings 12:25-33), and eventual political collapse (Second Kings Chapters 15:31 and 17:1-41). Of the last six kings reigning during the final twenty years of Isra’el, four died of assassination and only one passed the throne to his son. So much for replacing fig trees with cedars!

Finally, the first wave of judgment hit. But the LORD has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them and has spurred their enemies on. Assyrians from the east and Philistines from the west have devoured Isra’el with open mouth (9:11-12a). On every hand adversaries would arise, not in spite of ADONAI, but at His bidding. From the east and west they would come, before them and behind them. It would be Magor-Missabib (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Da – Jeremiah and Pash’chur), meaning terror on every side, and a foreshadowing that Judah would eventually experience. The mouths of their enemies open wide to devour those who had been so confident in themselves. Having taken themselves out from under the hand of blessing, they would find that the hand of God was still outstretched, but then it would be for judgment.

But even this judgment did not appease the wrath of Ha’Shem, because the people refused to deal with their sin. As a result, just as they thought their judgment had come to an end and breathed a sigh of relief, Isaiah prophesied: Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised (9:12b). This refrain is repeated three more times (9:17, 21, 10:4) and increases the effects of God’s intense anger, highlighting the certainty of continued judgment.

Where is the line between “decent self-respect” and pride, or between “healthy self-esteem” and self-conceit? The answer is deceptively simple. It all depends on what the “self-respect” or the “self-esteem” is based. If it is based on placing ourselves at the center of our world, as the world does (First John 2:15-17), then it is deadly. Such an attitude is nothing other than pride and conceit, because we are trying to make ourselves the basis for our own existence. That is not possible in this world God has made. As a result, to say, “I am somebody important because I say so,” is ridiculous.

We are not complete in ourselves. As charming as the story of The Little Engine That Could may be, saying, “I think I can, I think I can,” does not create the ability to do anything. Only when we surrender to the love of ADONAI and learn that we are worth the life and death of the Prince of Peace, will we discover how much we are really worth. Only when we have admitted to ourselves that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature (Romans 7:18) will we be able to know the inner strength that enables us to say: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).³⁶