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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Distress of Ariel
28:1 to 29:24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Book of Woes
28:1 to 35:10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You Who Dwell in the Dust
Will Wake Up and Shout for Joy
26: 19

You who dwell in the dust will wake up and shout for joy DIG: Why the vineyard symbolism? How had Isra’el failed to bear fruit in the past? Why do you think the Ruach Ha’Kodesh inspired Isaiah to write this verse? In what ways are ideas about the afterlife in the B’rit Chadashah foreshadowed here?

REFLECT: What hope is held out to you here as you consider your failure in life? How might this hope affect your view of yourself? Your willingness to take risks? Your sense of God’s call on your life and ministry? How does ADONAI’s Word lift your spirits when you are discouraged or down in the dumps?

In the previous section (to see link click Ff – LORD, You Established Peace for Us), Isaiah declared that in the far eschatological future Isra’el would become the fruitful vineyard that ADONAI had intended (27:2-6). One day Messiah will be crowned on Mount Tziyon and invite all believers to feast with Him. But the hearers of Isaiah’s message centuries before the Second Coming of Messiah probably thought, “But what about me and my loved ones? How is that supposed to offer me any hope today when my life looks so bleak with no relief in sight?” At that time, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh inspired the human author to write a response to such a poignant question: the dead will rise from the grave with shouts of joy to share in the festivities of God’s final triumph.

Again and again the Scriptures appeal to us to endure hardship, contradictions and unanswered questions in this life because of what is laid up for us beyond this life (Romans 8:18-25; First Corinthians 15:20-28; Hebrews 12:1-2; Revelation 2:7, 10-11, 17, 26-29 and 14:13). So be encouraged and encourage others with these words. Your struggles, hardships, disappointments and tragedies are not in vain.

This verse is one of the few that specifies a coming resurrection of the righteous of the TaNaKh, at the end of the Great Tribulation (see the commentary on Revelation Fd – The Resurrection of the Righteous of the TaNaKh). Because the Rapture includes only New Covenant believers and Tribulation martyrs, the righteous of the TaNaKh, the holy ones (Deuteronomy 33:2-3; Job 5:1; Psalms 16:3 and 34:9; Zechariah 14:5) will not be resurrected until after the Great Tribulation.

Elsewhere, the resurrection of the righteous of the TaNaKh is found in only a few places: first, in Dani’el 12:2, and secondly, in Hosea 13:14 and Ezeki’el 37:1-14, where it describes the restoration of the nation and not a resurrection of individuals per se. It was because of the scarcity of such passages that when we get to the New Covenant, the Sadducees debated and doubted that there would be such a thing as a resurrection. The Pharisees believed it, but the Sadducees did not (Acts 22:30 to 23:10).

Even though Isra’el was not a fruitful vine in his day (5:1-7), Isaiah saw a time in when she would bear fruit. He was probably so excited that he spoke directly to the LORD, saying: But your dead will live. “Those who believe in You will not be abandoned. They still belong to You.” Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His holy ones (Psalm 116:15). Their bodies will rise when they are resurrected (26:19a).

You who dwell in the dust (26:19b) is a common description of the underworld in the ancient Near East. Not only was it in the dust, in the sense of being underground, it was also a gray, shadowy, dusty place (Job 21:26; Psalm 22:15). But those who love the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob need not worry. The stillness of the grave will give way to jubilant singing. For all the stale, crumbling dust of the tomb, there is the fresh, hopeful dew of the morning (Job 14:7-12). The most the pagans could hope for was to be remembered fondly by those left behind, but biblical faith states that we are important to God and live forever in His memory (Psalm 1:6; Isaiah 49:16; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5).

Isaiah saw a day when God will declare to his faithful nation: Wake up and sing (26:19c KJV). The previous verse talked about the dead, now they are spoken to. The message progresses from theory to fact. ADONAI is our Promise Keeper. When they are resurrected they will be refreshed in the way the morning dew refreshes the grass (Hosea 14:5). Darkness is death; light is life (Job 3:16; Psalms 49:19, 56:13) and salvation (Psalms 27:1 and 104:2; Second Samuel 23:4; Isaiah 9:2, 59:9, 60:1 and 3). That is, they will experience God’s blessings during the Messianic Kingdom.

And the earth will cast forth the shadows (26:19d KJV). The righteous of the TaNaKh that have been mere shadows of existence in sh’ol will take on flesh and blood again by means of the resurrection. Or, as the NIV says: the earth will give birth to her dead, or shadowy ones (26:19e), like the dew of the morning, literally lights. God’s dew will rest upon the dead as He will force the earth to give them up to life in His presence forever. The principle is this: God brings the dead to life as the dew revives vegetation. The rabbis teach that there is a “dew of life,” a supernatural dew, which will descend on the dead and bring them back to life.

Not only will Isra’el be revived, but also this future renewal will remove the internal schism that resulted in the splintering of the nation in 931 BC into the two kingdoms of the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah (First Kings 11:26-40). This aspect of the prophecy is not being fulfilled today but will be fulfilled in conjunction with the national regeneration (Ezeki’el 37:20-23). This will be when national Isra’el recognizes that Jesus was and is her promised Messiah.⁹¹

Isaiah tells the nation to awake and sing (KJV). The resurrection will lead to a new spiritual life; the resurrected engaging in devotional exercises and in the singing of hymns and praises to God. Early believers sang a song using this verse, which the inspired Rabbi Saul summarized when he wrote: For it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you (Ephesians 5:14).

LORD, You Establish Peace for Us
26: 7-18

Lord, you establish peace for us DIG: How is God contrasted to the other lords (of Assyria and Egypt)? What image of faith is projected over these foreign powers? Contrast 26:14 to Dani’el 12:12. Are these other lords to be awakened to everlasting contempt, or to everlasting life? Why? What does the imagery of the pain of childbirth add to your understanding of faith – its pain and purpose (Ezeki’el 37:11-12)?

REFLECT: When has God smoothed your path? While you are waiting on the LORD, who has their hands on the steering wheel of your life? The LORD spoke to Moses as His friend (Exodus 33:11). How does God speak to you? When has the pain in your life caused you to seek the LORD with all your heart? Israel was supposed to be a blessing to the nations around her. Who are you blessing in your sphere of influence?

The poem now moves from thanksgiving to an expression of dependence. Isaiah declares that it is only as ADONAI demonstrates His power on the earth that mankind learns the level path of righteousness. Anticipating the lament in 26:18, the prophet insists that it is only through the LORD’s grace that peace and understanding can come. The righteous of the TaNaKh can only wait for Him.

The image of the feet of the poor and the needy (25:6) naturally lead to a discussion of the road they walk. The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, You make the way of the righteous smooth (26:7). In a land where the roads went up and down with grueling regularity, the most pleasant thought was of a road that was level and smooth. So here the righteous remnant confesses that it is good to live righteously, because ADONAI smooth’s out their path. It is smooth because of the character of the One who formed it (40:3-5). That does not mean that righteous people never have any problems. Isaiah was reflecting on the principle that there are eternal consequences for our actions. The possibility of a Job like experience always exists, and Jesus said: In this world you will have trouble (John 16:33). But if we live according to God’s Word, we will generally have favorable consequences; however, if we, like sheep, go our own way (53:6), then we will eventually face dire consequences.

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your commandments, we wait for You. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts (26:8). The remnant will walk according to God’s commandments, or God’s Word and yearn for Him. Going back to 24:14-16a, the faithful remnant has been waiting throughout the judgments of the Great Tribulation for Messiah to return. They cry out: Walking in the way of your commandments, we wait for you. On the surface, walking and waiting seem contradictory. However, the biblical concept of waiting is a way of thinking. It is not doing nothing, but it is doing what you know is right while you wait. It is refusing to run ahead of God to try to solve your problems for yourself. In other words, to trust God is to obey Him by following God’s Word. This is what the writer of Proverbs is talking about when he says: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You (26:9a). The Jewish day begins at sundown. So, the believing remnant says, “We eagerly wait for your return all day long.” To trust the LORD is to show we know Him in our paths, that is, by the way we live. We trust in the LORD when we are honest in situations where it would be to our advantage to cheat. We trust in the LORD when we refuse to break faith with our spouse by flirting with someone who is obviously interested. We trust in the LORD when we give valuable time to work for the poor. We wait for the LORD, believing He will act in our behalf in His own best time, by obeying His Word, and not making up our own to serve ourselves as we go along. This is how the believing remnant will wait during the Great Tribulation.

When your judgments come upon the earth, introduces a shift in emphasis. The Holy Spirit now gives us another reason why God will sometimes send judgments. It is by means of judgments that the unbelievers of the earth learn righteousness (26:9b). One of the three purposes of the Great Tribulation is to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones (13:9, 24:19-20). One of the factors that will bring about God’s judgments is a worldwide revival of the 144,000. Those who are righteous will respond, and those who are not righteous will not. The same sun that hardens clay also softens wax. Only one third of the Jews, still alive at the end of the Great Tribulation will respond (Zechariah 13:8-9), two-thirds will have been killed by the antichrist.  And the Gentiles who refuse to take the mark of the beast will be beheaded (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Fe – I Saw Those Who Had Been Beheaded Because of Their Testimony for Jesus). But even if God Himself shows grace to the wicked, the unrighteous do not respond. Even if they were living where everyone else is righteous, they will still live sinfully.

Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of ADONAI (26:10). This will be tested and proven to be true after the Great Tribulation, in the Millennial Kingdom. During that time, Satan will be bound and the living conditions on the earth will be perfect. The world says that people rebel against all authority because of their environment. They say if a murderer had just been raised in a different environment that things would have turned out differently. They do not attribute their sin as being evil. But the Millennial Kingdom will dispel that notion. After a thousand years of perfect environment, they will still rebel against the LORD’s authority. Individual responsibility will be the basis for judgment in the Kingdom of God (Ezeki’el Chapter 18). If it were true that our environment was the determining factor in the outcome of our actions then we could not have any responsibility for them. People could say, “It wasn’t my fault that I was born in this place,” or “It isn’t my fault I had this father or this mother.” But if environment is eliminated as the basis for individual sin, what is left? At the end of the Great Tribulation it will be made clear that it is not environment, but wickedness or sin that causes rebellion against ADONAI, His Word, and His plans. There is never enough evidence for unbelief.

As Isaiah looks into the far eschatological future he is troubled. He sees that the wicked are not responding during the Great Tribulation. He declares: ADONAI, Your hand is lifted high against Isra’el’s enemies (Isaiah 26:11; 20-21 and Malachi 3:16-18). But they do not see it (26:11a) because Satan, the Adversary, 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). The prophet begs: Let them see Your zeal for Your people and are put to shame. In other words, “Give the lost a moment of spiritual clarity so they can see their sin for what it is and be ashamed.” But, if they refuse to see the light of the Gospel, Isaiah concludes, “Treat them as Your enemies and let the fire reserved for those who hate you consume them (26:11b). For anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).

And while there is war for Isra’el’s enemies, there is peace for Isra’el’s people. LORD, you established peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us (26:12). Although Isra’el’s immediate future was dark, Isaiah was certain of the ultimate outcome. God’s upraised hand would set up holiness and comfort (40:1-3) for His people. Comfort is just as much the product of righteousness as destruction is the result of wickedness (Psalm 1:1-6). More than that, Isaiah realized that God was responsible for everything good that Isra’el had, and He had not lifted them up, to let them down.

ADONAI, our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us, but Your name alone do we honor (26:13). Isra’el has had many other lords, or masters, in the times of the Gentiles (see the commentary on Revelation An – The Times of the Gentiles). But now the LORD will be the only One to rule over them and He will be the only One they will worship. In the past it was Isra’el’s sins that caused her to be dominated by these other lords, but that is over now. They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them (26:14). All these past lords were now dead and they would not live again. The phrase departed spirits is the Hebrew word that means the shades of Sheol. They have been reduced to mere shadows of existence.

In contrast to this, the nation of Isra’el will increase. You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the Land (26:15). Because Isra’el had worshiped other lords, her population had decreased. But when God reigns over her, this will be reversed. Isra’el’s new growth involves two things: first, population (anti-Semitism is eliminated) and secondly, for the first time, they will live within all the borders of the Promised Land (see the commentary on Genesis Eg – I AM the LORD, Who Brought You Out of Ur of the Chaldeans).

Today all the trouble in Palestine and Isra’el revolve around a twisting of God’s word by Muslim scholars, motivated by Satan. Lucifer did the same thing in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:4), and tried to do so again with Christ in the wilderness after His baptism (Matthew 4:1-11). If the Bible clearly states that the Jews will inherit the Promised Land (Genesis 15:18-19), how can the Muslims claim that Palestine is theirs? They do this by substituting Ishmael for Isaac in the Bible. Because they claim that Ishmael was really the son of promise, they attribute all the promises God made to Isaac to Ishmael and the Muslims. How could they possibly come to that conclusion?

This is what the Muslims teach: Isaac was about two years old when he was weaned. Ishmael was about sixteen years old because Abraham was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael and was a hundred years old when Isaac was born according to Genesis 16:16. Then according to the Islamic version (of the story), Abraham took Ishmael and Hagar and made a new settlement in Mecca called Paran in the Bible (Genesis 21:21), because of a divine instruction given to Abraham as a part of God’s plan. Hagar ran seven times between two hills, Sofa and Marwa, looking for water; this then became an Islamic ritual for the annual Pilgrimage in Mecca by millions of Muslims from all over the world. The well mentioned in Genesis 21:19 is still present today, now called Zamzam. Both Abraham and Ishmael later built the holy stone Ka’bah in Mecca. The spot where Abraham used to perform prayers near the Ka’bah is still present, now called Maqom Ibrahim, or the Station of Abraham. During the days of pilgrimage, pilgrims in Mecca and Muslims all over the world commemorate the offering of Abraham and Ishmael by slaughtering cattle.⁸⁹

There are two problems here. First, they obviously have the ages of the boys wrong. This is crucial to their interpretation. The reason it is wrong is that the Bible clearly states that the birth of Isaac happened before Hagar and Ishmael were sent away (Genesis 21). And in Genesis 21:9 it says that Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking Isaac. That is the reason Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. Secondly, this entire episode contradicts the Biblical account, because Genesis 21:14-21 does not mention Abraham going with Hagar and Ishmael. It says: Abraham sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. Abraham did not go with them; he sent them off. But even more obvious, it says in Genesis that it was Isaac that was sacrificed, not Ishmael. Then God said: Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about (Genesis 22:2). With this being so clear, how could this be misinterpreted?

This is what the Muslims teach: The Islamic version (of the Bible) states that the covenant between God, Abraham, and his only son Ishmael was made and sealed when Ishmael was supposed to be sacrificed. But the Bible teaches that on the same day Abraham, Ishmael and all men of the household were circumcised while Isaac was not even born yet (Genesis 17:24-27). Muslims say the descendants of Ishmael, including the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH], and all Muslims remain faithful even today to this covenant of circumcision. In their prayers at least five times a day, the Muslims include the praise of Abraham and his descendants with the praise of Muhammad [PBUH] and his descendants. But if you say Genesis 22 says Isaac was to be sacrificed, they will say, “I know it, but you will see the contradiction there. It is mentioned there: your only son, Isaac. Should it not be written: your only son, Ishmael because Ishmael was thirteen years old and Isaac was not yet born? As I said, they obviously have the ages of the boys wrong. Muslims say that because of chauvinism (or prejudice) the name Ishmael was changed to Isaac in all of Genesis 22! They say that God has preserved the word only to show us that it should have said Ishmael and not Isaac.⁹⁰

Therefore, the Muslims take all the promises for Isaac, the son of promise, and credit them to Ishmael. And they believe the land of Palestine was promised to Ishmael. This is the basis of the argument that the Jews are on their land. They count on ignorance of the Bible and deception to promote this point of view.

One of the three purposes of the Great Tribulation is to break the stubbornness of the Jewish nation (Dani’el 11-12; Ezeki’el 20:34-38). It is through the crucible of the Great Tribulation, the distress that it brings being compared to childbirth, that Isra’el will be brought to repentance. LORD, Isra’el came to you in their distress; when You disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer (26:16).

As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD (26:17). It is Isra’el’s prayer at the end of the Great Tribulation that brings about the Second Coming of Christ. The actual words of this prayer are found in four key passages of Scripture, first in Psalm 79, secondly in Psalm 80, thirdly in Isaiah 53:1-9, and lastly in Isaiah 63:7 to 64:12. The agony of the times is compared with the agonizing pains of a woman in travail. Other prophets also use this comparison (Hosea 8:13 and Micah 4:10).

In the past, Isra’el has failed to produce a delivery. We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world (26:18). ADONAI had told Abram that all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3b). She has had birth pains, and birth pains and birth pains (see the commentary on Revelation, to see the first of ten birth pains, click Bq – For Seven Months the house of Isra’el Will Bury Them in Order to Cleanse the Land), but has failed to produce what God had intended for her. But that would change in the far eschatological future.

The hearers of Isaiah’s message centuries before the coming of the Messiah might have thought to themselves, “That’s great for those Jews living then. But what hope is there for me and my loved ones today?” That question is answered next.

We Have a Strong City;
God Makes Salvation It’s Walls
26: 1-6

We have a strong city, God makes salvation it’s walls DIG: How does this city of God contrast with the cities of the world mentioned in 24:10-12 and 25:2-3? What characterizes the inhabitants of God’s city (see verses 3-4 and 7-9)? What qualities mark those upon whom judgment comes (see verses 5 and 10-11)? What makes the LORD worthy of our trust? Does this reversal of human fortune underscore, or undermine either God’s justice or His love? What do you learn about faith from the images of the ramparts (26:1), the gates (26:2), a steadfast mind (26:3), the Rock (26:4), level paths (26:7), walking, waiting, and yearning (26:8-9)? With these images in mind, is faith active, passive or both? How so?

REFLECT: Of the qualities of God’s people (26:3-4 and 7-9), what one or two do you yearn for now? How might you go about having them? What would it be like to always be a credit to God’s name and reputation? What things do you do that you’d just as soon not have the LORD’s name dragged into? What are some current examples of the reversal in 26:5-6? Why are these examples of ADONAI’s judgment ultimately a cause for joy? How might this prophecy serve as a model for how you could pray for oppressive governments today? When you pray the Lord’s Prayer, do such judgments come to mind? Why or why not? How would you feel about God if He did not answer prayer in that way?

What will this victory in the far eschatological future mean for Isra’el? In a sense, the Little Apocalypse of Isaiah (24:1 to 27:13), is like a tale of two cities: the millennial Jerusalem and mystery Babylon (Revelation 17:5). In place of the city of confusion, God has another City, whose walls are salvation, one whose gates are open to all who will enter, a City whose might is not arrogant (24:10, 25:2) but humble (26:5). As always, ADONAI destroys the false, only to rase up the true. The first city that the Holy Spirit describes is the millennial Jerusalem.

In that day, a new song will be sung in the land of Judah (26:1a), and rejoicing over the strong city that the righteous will enter in. Throughout the world the redeemed will live in cities and towns, but the strong city of Jerusalem is where the Messiah will live and reign during the thousand years of His millennial reign (to see link click Db – The Nine Missing Articles in the Messiah’s Coming Temple). The city is so strong that Isaiah says that salvation actually protects it, and in fact, because of Messiah’s presence there, the city is figuratively said to have salvation for its walls and ramparts (26:1b). Millennial Jerusalem will need no material defenses, for God will be its guardian and protector.

Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith (26:2). The inhabitants of the city are the righteous nation that has kept the faith. Because the millennial Jerusalem first has to be built before it can be occupied, it is initially empty. But the Jews who survive the Great Tribulation eventually inhabit it. The strong city pictured here has now been opened up so that the remnant of Isra’el can inhabit it. The Gentiles will have their nations to live in during the Messianic Kingdom, but Jews will live in the land of Isra’el (see Ge – Your Eyes Will See the King in His Beauty).

The means of their living in this strong city is their trust in the LORD. Isaiah says: You will keep the believing remnant in perfect peace, those whose mind is steadfast, because the steadfast person trusts in You (26:3). The phrase perfect peace is just a doubling, shalom, shalom. And because the faithful remnant trusted in the LORD, and the mind of the remnant focused on Him in spite of what was happening around them, they will enter the millennial Jerusalem. Principles can be taken out of this verse and applied to us today, but the context dictates that Isaiah has the Jewish remnant in mind here.

Since it is true that trust in God results in a steadfast mind that is kept in perfect peace, then everyone should be urged to trust in Him. Isaiah says: Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD (again a doubling to emphasize the point), is the Rock (26:4a). Here Isaiah uses the proper name in its most emphatic form. Many times in the TaNaKh, the use of the word the Rock is a picture of the Messiah (Genesis 49:24; Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8; Deuteronomy 32:4 and 13; Second Samuel 22:2; Psalm 18:2, 10:14, 40:2, 61:2, 92:15; Isaiah 8:14). And the Rock is eternal (26:4b). The Bible teaches that Messiah Yeshua is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf (Romans 8:34 CJB).

The contrasting city is Babylon. In contrast with Jerusalem, the City that will be rebuilt, Babylon will not be rebuilt. He humbles those who dwell on high, He lays the lofty city of Babylon low; He levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust (26:5). It will be leveled to the ground and cast down to the dust never to rise again (see the commentary on Revelation Er – Babylon Will Never Be Found Again). This is the third time Isaiah has made reference to a city that will not be rebuilt again (24:10-12, 25:2-3, and here).

The very ones that Babylon sought to destroy, the faithful remnant, are the ones that will end up trampling her down (see Di – I Have Commanded My Holy Ones). The sages teach that the poor in 25:6 is an allusion to the Messiah. Feet trample it down – the feet of the oppressed the footsteps of the poor (25:6). Therefore, in words that remind us of the Beatitudes (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Da – The Sermon on the Mount), Isaiah reminds us that it is better to be among the poor and the needy believers that will triumph (see Fa – You Have Been a Refuge for the Poor and the Needy), than to be among the mighty unbelievers who will be thrown down to the dust. This is contrary to all human wisdom, but it is true wisdom nonetheless (James 3:13-18 and 5:1-11).

Here is a true story of a woman and her sister that exemplifies the difference. I squirmed a bit as I forced myself to listen to my friend cataloging her problems. After three hours, I interrupted her gently to ask, “If you were to draw a circle to represent your life, what would be in the center?” She thought a moment, and then said, “My problems.” My friend spoke the truth. A week later, I sat across the hospital bed on which lay my younger sister, Joye, who had just been diagnosed with acute leukemia. Gray and perspiring, with a swath of bandages encasing her throat from a biopsy, Joye talked to a student nurse who was interviewing terminally ill people to see if there was any way she could help them. “Oh, I’m a bit fearful of the pain and process of dying – but I’m not afraid of death! It’ll just be a change of residence for me,” I heard my sister, her face radiant from within, say this to this student nurse. And for forty-five minutes, Joye explained the good news of Jesus Christ to the student nurse. Afterward, I thought, both my friend and sister have serious problems. Yet one’s walking in despair, and the other in joy. What was the difference in their state of mind? Then I realized what it was. My friend’s heart was occupied with her problems; my sister’s heart was occupied with the Living God.

The Song of Salvation in the Land of Judah
26: 1-19

Although Chapters 24-25 focus on the victory for the believing remnant and the feast that follows, Chapters 26-27 reflect soberly on the meaning of this victory for Isra’el. The prophet wrote a song that will be sung by the redeemed when Messiah establishes the Messianic Kingdom. Isaiah was picturing himself standing in the redeemed land with the remnant, listening to the people express their thanks to, and confidence in ADONAI, making special use of the imagery of a vineyard. This chapter is about perseverance in spite of hardship and uncertainty. We in the west know little of this. For two hundred years we have experienced a rarity on the face of the earth: a culture profoundly influenced by biblical ethics from top to bottom. To be sure, there was plenty of corruption. But when such was revealed, it was not winked at or taken for granted. It was reviled and rooted out as much as possible. As a result, we have inherited a culture where courtesy and respecting God’s commandments had been “givens.”

Now, however, since the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s in America, when parents began to give up their responsibilities, and when the Jesus Movement produced a feel-good revival instead of a moral overhaul, our entire heritage has begun to be quickly eroded. Believers are finding themselves with less and less influence while cultural wise men spend millions of foundation dollars (often earned by hard-working believers) trying to find out what is the missing glue that once held American society together.

How shall believers respond to circumstances like these? There is a degree of escapism involved, because it is hard to keep one’s focus when we are neither popular nor overtly persecuted. So, we fantasize about a time when everything will be perfectly clear, when the lines will be drawn so that everyone can see them. But these verses in Isaiah are written for just such a hazy time as ours, when the lines are not clear. They tell us to do four things: Trust God in an active way (26:8), honor the LORD’s name alone (26:13), believe ADONAI can do what we cannot (26:11, 20-21), and do not let go of the resurrection (26:19).⁸⁸

Surely This Is Our God; We Trusted In Him
25: 9-12

Surely this is our God, we trusted in Him DIG: What will be the effects of Messiah’s reign on those who submit to Him and on those who do not? How is Mo’ab used as an example?

REFLECT: What is your attitude toward Isra’el? Do you pray for the peace of Jerusalem? In whom, or what, have you placed your faith, trust, and belief? How can we keep our lives in true perspective?

This third section is in the form of a song and once again turns to the salvation of some of the nations and to the destruction of others. Mo’ab symbolizes the nations who are destroyed. God does wish to save all the nations, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:9). But this does not mean all will respond to His invitation. For those who refuse to do so, the final grim word is judgment. Those who oppose the will and purposes of the Lord with regard to Isra’el will eventually be crushed. They will live apart from the love of ADONAI for all eternity. There is no other way.

In that day, the believing remnant will be delivered and they will affirm their faith, trust, and belief in the LORD who saved them, saying: Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him and He saved us. There is rejoicing, because salvation had come from God and the enemy of Isra’el had been trampled down. In response they will say: This is the LORD, we trusted in Him, let us rejoice and be glad in the salvation He provided (25:9).

Isaiah referred to Mo’ab as representing those who oppose God and will be judged by Him. The same hand of ADONAI that will lift up Isra’el will strike down Mo’ab (25:10a). This is not the result of favoritism on God’s part, but the result of two different attitudes. Those who put their faith, trust, and belief in YHVH will be lifted up. However, those who lift themselves up against God in their own self-sufficiency will, at some point, be crushed under the power of His hand (Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:29; Zeph 2:10). Stated another way, God’s deliverance must come to those who trust Him, but those who oppose Him cannot escape His judgment.

Here He centers His attention on Mo’ab; because Mo’ab can be used as a representative of Isra’el’s enemies, because it is characterized as having a continual hatred of Isra’el. Isaiah gets very graphic; he says: Mo’ab will be trampled under Him as a straw is trampled down in the manure (25:10b). Madmen (madmen) is the capital city of Mo’ab mentioned in Jeremiah 48:2; it also rhymes with straw (matben).

They will spread out their hands in it, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim (25:11a). As we saw in Chapters 15-16, Mo’ab was known for its pride. The Bible teaches us that pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). So here we see Mo’ab’s pride was destroyed. The picture is one of a man trying to swim in a cesspool and the more he struggles, the more he sinks in. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands (25:11b). The way to avoid Mo’ab’s fate we must stay humble by continually giving praise to the LORD, and deflecting any glory to Him. Then we can point others to ADONAI and at the same time, keep our lives in true perspective.

He will bring down the high-fortified walls and lay them low; He will bring them down to the ground to the very dust. The change from third person to second person in this verse seems to shift the focus from Mo’ab back to Babylon, the political/economic capital of the antichrist. ADONAI will humble those who dwell on high, He will lay the lofty city of Babylon low. He will level it to the ground and throw it down to the dust (25:5). All its towering pride, with its supposedly unshakable walls will be brought down to the dust (25:12). Only God’s people, both in Isra’el and in the world, will enjoy the LORD’s time of prosperity and blessing.

The LORD Will Provide a Feast of Rich Food for All Peoples
25: 6-8

The LORD will provide a feast of rich food for all peoples DIG: Kings would often hold inaugural and wedding feasts for their subjects. For whom is this feast on Mt Zion given? Who will be excluded from this feast and why? In what ways are New Covenant ideas about the afterlife foreshadowed by 25:8?

REFLECT: What applications does the B’rit Chadashah make of this great feast (see First Corinthians 15:54; Revelation 9:9, 21:4)? What will be the effect of Messiah’s coming in that day? In coping with death, disappointment or disgrace, what does the promise of 25:7-8 mean to you? When has that promise been made real to you? Or does it seem so distant in its fulfillment that it is not much help to you here and now?

After praise for deliverance, our attention turns to the wedding feast of the Lamb (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Fg – Blessed and Holy are Those Who Have Part in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb). It will take place on Mount Zion, the millennial Jerusalem, from which Christ will rule, and it will last seven days and inaugurate the Messianic Kingdom. Contrary to popular belief, this celebration does not take place in heaven during the Great Tribulation. The Bible teaches that the righteous of the TaNaKh will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Messianic Kingdom (Mt 8:11). Dani’el teaches us that they will not be resurrected until after a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until the Great Tribulation.⁸⁵ The rabbis teach that this banquet celebrates the inauguration of a new and happy era for all mankind. Similar imagery is employed in rabbinic literature of the bliss in store for the righteous in the hereafter.

In addition, the Jewish wedding feast of the first century itself demonstrates the fact that the wedding feast of the Lamb takes place on the earth after the Great Tribulation and not in heaven during the Great Tribulation. In a Jewish wedding, which is always a picture of the Kingdom of God, or the Messianic Kingdom.

As Arnold Fruchtenbaum states in his classic book The Footsteps of the Messiah, “Jewish marriage included a number of steps: first, betrothal (which involved the prospective groom’s traveling from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride, paying the purchase price, and thus establishing the marriage covenant); second, the groom’s returning to his father’s house (which meant remaining separate from his bride for twelve months, during which time he prepared the living accommodations for his wife in his father’s house); third, the groom’s coming for his bride at a time not known exactly to her; fourth, his return with her to the groom’s father’s house to consummate the marriage and to celebrate the wedding feast for the next seven days (during which the bride remained closeted in her bridal chamber).”

“First, the father of the groom made the arrangements for the marriage and paid the bride price. The timing of the arrangement varied. Sometimes it occurred when both children were small, and at other times it was a year before the marriage itself. Often the bride and groom did not even meet until their wedding day. The second step, which occurred a year or more after the first step, was the fetching of the bride. The bridegroom would go to the home of the bride in order to bring her to his home. In connection with this step, two other things should be noted. First, it was the father of the groom who determined the timing. Second, prior to the groom’s leaving to fetch the bride, he must already have a place prepared for her as their abode. This was followed by the third step, the wedding ceremony, to which a few would be invited. Prior to the wedding ceremony, the bride underwent a ritual immersion for ritual cleansing. The fourth step, the marriage feast, would follow and could last for as many as seven days. Many more people would be invited to the feast than were to the marriage ceremony. In the Marriage of the Lamb all four of these steps of the Jewish wedding ceremony are evident.” Therefore, if you are consistent with what the Bible teaches, the engagement is like the Rapture because the bride goes to the Bridegroom’s home. Then, at the end of the Great Tribulation, the Bridegroom comes with His bride to her home”, the earth, where the wedding feast takes place and the Messianic Kingdom begins (Matthew 22:1-14, 25:1-13). With it, all four stages will be complete.

On this mountain the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples (25:6a). This does not mean that everyone who lives in the Millennium will be saved; instead all peoples means that people from everywhere in the world will be saved. Food will be provided for all peoples, for believers from all over the world who are gathered at the feast. This banquet includes the best of meats so there may not be any animal rights people there: the KJV says a feast of fatness. To the Jews the fat portions were the best. Thus it is not surprising that these were the portions of the sacrifices reserved for God (see the commentary on Leviticus Ak – The Peace Offerings).

This would also be a banquet of aged wine that picture God’s ability to supply the needs of His people during the Messianic Kingdom. A feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined (25:6b KJV). This refers to wines that are kept long with the dregs (lees) mixed with them, and therefore old and strong. They are refined or filtered by being strained through a cloth sieve, thus separating the liquor from the lees. The wine in the East is said to be usually turbid (having foreign particles stirred up or suspended in it), and requires straining before it is fit for use.⁸⁶ The wine was to be strengthened by leaving the lees in the wine after the fermenting process. But what the LORD gives in 25:6 He takes away in 25:7-8.

On this mountain He will destroy, or take away, the shroud that enfolds all peoples, and the sheet that covers all nations (25:7). There is also a play on words between the shroud and the sheet. The difference is one letter. The shroud is shma-neen, and the sheet is shma-non. They sound almost identical. These are not symbols of mourning and affliction, but of spiritual blindness, like the veil upon the heart of Isra’el mentioned in Second Corinthians 3:15. The only difference between the two nouns is that in the shroud the leading idea is that of the completeness of the covering, and in the sheet that of its thickness. The removal of the veil, as well as of death, is summarized in First Corinthians 15:54.⁸⁷

He will swallow up death forever (25:8a). Death is not used just in the sense that every life is stained by sin, but more importantly as the evidence of the curse imposed as consequence of sin (Genesis 2:17; Romans 3:23; Hebrews 2:15; Revelation 21:4). Not only that, but Adonai ELOHIM will wipe away the tears from all faces (25:8b). When compound names of God are used they emphasize His relationship to man or the nation of Isra’el in particular. So here, it’s emphasized with the removal of death and wiping away of tears that will take place at the end of the thousand-year reign of Messiah when death, Satan, and hell will be thrown into the lake of fire (see the commentary on Revelation Fp – The Second Death: The Lake of Fire). At that time, a new heaven and a new earth will be established (see the commentary on Revelation Fr – Then I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth). Therefore, wherever there is a tear, the Lord wipes it away. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He removes the cause, the sin, as well as the outward symptom, the tear (Revelation 21:4).

In addition, He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth (25:8c). Isra’el’s disgrace (reproach KJV) will be removed. In that day, as the nations turn toward Zion, all the shame, failure and loss will be made up for. In fact, it will be known that the salvation of the world exists only through God’s chosen people Isra’el.

You Have Been a Refuge for the Poor and the Needy
25: 1-5

DIG: What mood shift do you sense in this chapter? What leads Isaiah and his people to exclaim: ADONAI, You are my God? The city and fortified town symbolize all the things in which people have placed their pride and confidence. What will be the result of God’s judgment upon these things? How does this relate to 19:23-25? Who are the poor and the needy and how does God shield them?

REFLECT: What is the storm or heat of the desert that is affecting you right now? How has God sheltered you in the past? Where do you need a shelter or cloud cover now? How do you respond to the LORD’s faithfulness to you? When was that last time you did so? Who can you point to His faithfulness?

Speaking in the first person, Isaiah describes the situation that will exist when the Messianic Kingdom is established on the earth. Like Chapter 12, which follows the similar announcements of the destruction of His enemies in Chapters 10 and 11, this song is deeply personal. ADONAI’s righteousness and authority will have been vindicated at that time, and the prophet expresses gratitude on behalf of himself and the one-third of the Israelites who will have survived the Great Tribulation (Zechariah 13:8-9). When Paul says: And so all Isra’el will be saved (Romans 11:26a), he meant the faithful remnant, the righteous of the TaNaKh, or the poor and the needy, that will survive the Great Tribulation. This is the appropriate response to God from a people who know Him personally and are in love with Him.

ADONAI, you are my God. Isaiah’s intensely personal testimony sets the tone for the entire song. He continues: I will exalt You and praise Your name (25:1a). Instead of the rowdy drinking songs of the lost during the Great Tribulation, here we see the true love of the saved for his King. Here Isaiah seems to be saying, “I want someone like you to be my God. You have shown me that You really belong to me because You have not walked out on me when the times got tough. You have been faithful to me when I was so afraid You had not forgotten me.” You are my God. He says he will praise God’s name and he gives three reasons for it.

First, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things (25:1b). Isaiah praised God because of His wonderful counsels (NKJ), or perfect faithfulness (NIV). The LORD does marvelous things to save His people. In 9:6 the prophet told us that Messiah would be called Mighty Counselor. Here Isaiah is praising Yeshua for His wisdom when He rules as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords (Rev 19:16). During the Millennial Kingdom Jesus will rule and reign the entire world from His Temple in Jerusalem (to see link click Db – The Nine Missing Articles in Messiah’s Coming Temple). Disputes will be brought to His attention and His counsel will be more astounding than that of Solomon (First Kings 3:16-28).

Isaiah praised God for things planned long ago (25:1c). The LORD does not make things up as He goes along. His plan doesn’t include improv. Idols, on the other hand, have no plan. This should not be surprising, because the wind and the rain from which the idols come have no plan. But all believes know a God who, with perfect timing, does something that from our perspective is completely new, but from His perspective was planned before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4). Isaiah knew, and we should know, that He is the only One in whose hands it makes sense to entrust ourselves. No other plan makes much sense.

The second reason Isaiah praises ADONAI is His judgment on the city of Babylon (see Chapters 13, 14, and 24:20). You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigner’s stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt (25:2). It will never be inhabited or rebuilt again. God’s prophet tells us that desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about (13:21). Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces (13:22a). Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged (13:22b). 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 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 commentary on Revelation Fq – The Eternal State) will be Babylon and Edom (34:13b-15).

Therefore, this will cause the unbelievers who did not die during the Great Tribulation, and the ruthless and rebellious nations of the world, to honor and revere ADONAI during the thousand years of the millennial Kingdom (25:3). Their worship will be mandatory (Zechariah 14:16-19), and those unregenerate peoples will have one hundred years to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master or perish (65:20). Isra’el will be a fruitful vineyard during that time and will fulfill the promise given Abraham that all the world’s people will be blessed through her (Genesis 12:3). This theme of the Gentiles knowing and worshiping God in the messianic Kingdom is common to the prophets (Isaiah 2:3, 11:9, 49:7; 55:6, 66:20-21; Malachi 1:11).

The third reason is for the deliverance of the faithful remnant. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in His distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat (24:4a). When the LORD establishes His Kingdom on the earth, a reversal of fortunes will occur. The poor and the needy will be rescued and the ruthless will be stilled. Whenever you see these two groups together, the poor and the needy, it is always a reference to the faithful remnant of believers of the Great Tribulation. But this is true only if they are used together. If they are used separately this principle does not apply. God’s care for the poor and the needy is mentioned many times in both the TaNaKh and the B’rit Chadashah. The reversal of fortunes, in which those who depend on God are helped and those who depend on themselves are judged, is a major theme of Scripture (First Samuel 2:1-10 and James 5:1-6). The ruthless in their harsh treatment of others are like a storm and are oppressive as desert heat. Just like a cloud that slips in between the earth and the sun produces moments of respite, God interposes Himself in hopeless situations so that life can go on. Because if those days were not cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:22).

During the Great Tribulation there will be four groups of Jews. First, there will be apostate Jews (about two-thirds of the nation) who enter the covenant with the antichrist. Second, the 144,000 will function as the evangelists of the period. Third, there will be messianic Jews who are saved by the 144,000 but not part of that number. And lastly, there will be the faithful remnant (about one-third of the nation) that will go through the Great Tribulation as unbelievers in both Messiah and antichrist. They are the ones who end up in Bozrah (Hebrew) or Petra (Greek) who ask the Messiah to come again (see the commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ), and are saved. The poor and the needy when used together are a reference to this group.

The theme of God as a refuge is a favorite one in the Bible (Psalm 46:1). The context here is the protection of the faithful remnant of the nation of Israel, which includes the tribe of Judah, through which the Messiah will come. This is part of God’s plan for salvation. But as far as individuals are concerned, once we are saved, the LORD is not obligated to protect us physically from harm. Our salvation is secure (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), but our safety in this world is not. He is our spiritual refuge, and our physical refuge when He chooses to be. Satan is still the god of this age (2 Cor 4:4a), the prince of this world (Jn 12:31, 16:11), and the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 Jn 5:19).

In the last analysis, we can only be sure of this: we know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (First John 5:19). What do you say to the believer whose spouse has an affair that destroys the family? What answer is there for the parents whose twelve-year-old boy was sexually abused in a shopping mall bathroom? Where is the LORD when a teenager dies of cancer? The head on collision? The rape? It never ends. It is important to understand that we will never know the answer to these tragedies until we see His face (Revelation 22:4). Neither should we blame God for the work of the devil. Our only response can be: Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him (Job 13:15)!

The context here, however, is the believing remnant of Isra’el. Isaiah uses two extremes of weather in the Near East to picture the trials from which the LORD longs to defend us. They are the thunderstorm and unrelenting heat. In either the sudden intensity of the cloudburst or the constant, debilitating heat, life is threatened. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert (24:4b). Therefore, during the Great Tribulation, the ruthless and rebellious nations of the world will be ruthless in their treatment of the faithful remnant. Their persecution of the Jews in the second half of the Great Tribulation will be like a storm or the oppressive heat of the desert. But ADONAI will silence the uproar of those foreigners to the land of Israel. The prince of this world is great, but God is greater (51:12-13). As heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is quickly overcome by the LORD (25:5). Just as a cloud slipping between the earth and the sun produces relief from the scorching heat, so God will intervene on behalf of the faithful remnant just as the armies of the antichrist have them surrounded and closing in for the kill (see Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah).

The Song of Praise
25: 1-12

This chapter puts the choices that face the human race very simply. No matter what we have done to one another, if we turn to God in trust, there is hope for us. Death, the last enemy, has been conquered. But those who refuse the offer of the Lamb, namely Messiah, will go down to a worse fate than death, namely, the second death (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Fp – The Lake of Fire is the Second Death). ADONAI offers deliverance from death to all, but those who refuse His offer will find an eternity of torment. But judgment and destruction are never God’s intended last words. Rather, His plan is that those harsh words will pave the way for joy, hope, and redemption. This is the case here. From the silence of the shattered Babylon (see my commentary on Revelation Er – Babylon Will Never Be Found Again) we move to the joy of a feast where God is the host.

Chapter 25 develops a response to the announcement of the destruction of Satan’s capital city of Babylon. This is a psalm that praises the LORD’s deliverance of His people. After YHVH puts an end to wickedness during the Great Tribulation, His glorious Messianic Kingdom will begin. This poetry is written in three parts. First, Fa – You Have Been a Refuge for the Poor and the Needy, is praise for the deliverance of His people. Secondly, Fb – The LORD Will Provide a Feast of Rich Food for All Peoples, is praise for Millennial blessings. Thirdly, in Fc – Surely This Is Our God; We Trusted In Him, is praise for judgment on Isra’el’s enemies.