# comment

text:
<p>It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail- Moab was intended to have realized that the gods of their high places would not save them; but they refused to perceive that, wearying themselves in endlessly begging the gods for help as in <a href='B:110 18:26'>1Ki 18:26</a>; and then still went to their sanctuary to pray to their idols. They thereby refused the possibility of their judgment being averted. The sanctuary sounds like the sanctuary Mesha writes about on the Moabite stone, Beth-Bamah. However there is again an ambiguity in the text which could hint at the possibility of their repentance; Ewald translates it:"…and prevails nothing, then he shall be ashamed of Chemosh, and turn to Jehovah".</p>


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<p>This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past- AV"long ago". But surely not that long ago- the prophecy against Moab was in chapter 15. But the three years grace (:14), the gap between statement and fulfilment, was a relatively long time in the sense that God was allowing for repentance when repentance had already been refused by Moab. Or the’long ago’ prophecy could be Balaam’s in <a href='B:40 24:17'>Num 24:17</a>. All that time, Moab had had the opportunity to repent and make history work out a different way to that prophesied. But still they would not. But"in time past"can refer to the recent past (<a href='B:100 15:34'>2Sa 15:34</a>) and the distant past (<a href='B:230 93:2'>Psa 93:2</a>).</p>


text:
<p>But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble- Perhaps the sense is that as a hired hand counts the days of required service exactly, so this calamity would happen within exactly three years. I noted on the prophecies of Isaiah’s children in <a href='B:290 7:16'>Isa 7:16</a>; <a href='B:290 8:1'>Isa 8:1</a>; <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a> that there was the potential of a very speedy fulfilment of the prophecies, before the newborn child could even speak; and we have a similar period in <a href='B:290 21:16'>Isa 21:16</a>. And out of all those judgments, a repentant"remnant"were envisaged as emerging, who could join with Judah in the reestablished Kingdom of God. But the complex network of possibilities alluded to be Isaiah were precluded by the lack of repentance by both Judah and Moab.</p>


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<p>The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap- I have commented through Isaiah 13-16 upon the conditional nature of these prophecies. They envisage a situation in which Babylon and / or Assyria will judge Judah and the surrounding nations, and a repentant remnant from all of them will unite in a multi-ethnic, reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah. But this scenario was precluded by various factors, not least the impenitence of all the peoples; and perhaps foreseeing this, God did not bring about all the judgments to the extent spoken of. The essence of the prophecies however will come true in the last days. Here we have an example- Damascus continued as a city and does to this day, being one of the oldest continually occupied cities on earth.</p>


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<p>The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid- See on :1. The LXX make this read on as part of the burden upon Damascus in :1. There is no"Aroer"near Damascus.</p>


text:
<p>The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel, says Yahweh of Armies- And that glory was to be brought down (:4). Here there is envisaged the judgment together of Israel, Syria and Judah. This was the Divine perspective on Judah’s fear of a confederacy against them by Israel and Syria- they were all to perish together (<a href='B:290 7:1-5'>Isa 7:1-5</a>). I explained on <a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a> that it was one of the various prophetic potentials that Assyria would destroy these three nations together during the same campaign. This didn’t come about; partly because there was enough response in Judah to Isaiah’s prophecies that the Assyrians were stopped short and destroyed. Or it could be that the overweening pride of Assyria and their revolt against Yahweh was such that He destroyed to destroy them anyway and not allow them to destroy Jerusalem. Hence LXX:"And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for thou art no better than the children of Israel". The Syrians did remain and the kingdom of Damascus did continue, because the potential scenario was precluded from happening. We also note that Israel are again presented as no better than the Gentiles, and therefore shared similar judgments.</p><p>It could be argued that this chapter is largely about the judgment of"Jacob", but Damascus is mentioned because Syria would no longer be a fortress or"bulwark"/ source of strength for them. The idea is that Damascus and the ten tribes were to be destroyed together in the same campaign by Babylon or Assyria. Whilst this scenario didn’t quite work out as it could have done, the abiding reality is that all human sources of strength fade to nothing before Divine judgment. This is the same situation as in Isaiah 7, where Israel and Syria united against Judah and their judgment by Assyria / Babylon is prophesied. Syria was not so strong; Damascus had recently been ransacked by the Assyrians (<a href='B:120 16:9'>2Ki 16:9</a>). But still they seemed to Israel such a relative source of strength.</p>


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<p>It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean- The fatness of the Assyrians was to become lean (<a href='B:290 10:16'>Isa 10:16</a>); but here, fatness becoming lean is the very language used of what was to happen to the glory of Jacob. By their arrogance they proclaimed themselves as no better than Gentiles, meriting the same judgment. See on :3.</p>


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<p>It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim- This is the language of judgment day, a harvest in a valley. But from that judgment there was intended to be a gleaning, a remnant of good corn would emerge. This reflects the continual Divine hope that a remnant of Syria as well as of Ephraim and Judah would repent (:5). For the subject of the prophecy merges from Syria to Ephraim and now to Judah- the valley of Rephaim or giants was just south of Jerusalem in Judah(<a href='B:60 15:8'>Jos 15:8</a>; <a href='B:60 18:16'>Jos 18:16</a>). The idea was that remnants of all these peoples would unite in repentance in the reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah.</p>


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<p>Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree, says Yahweh, the God of Israel- The idea is that the tree was"fruitful"[potentially] but only a very few bits of fruit would be found. This finding of this tiny remnant"there", in a valley near Jerusalem (see on :5). This didn’t happen at the time, <a href='B:400 7:1'>Mic 7:1</a> says that actually no gleanings of the vintage were found; but all this will be transferred, reapplied and rescheduled to the outcome of the final judgment in a similar valley near Jerusalem at the Lord’s return. Olives were struck down from the higher branches with a stick, and that rod or stick which was to beat Judah and the nations is clearly defined as Babylon / Assyria in Isaiah 10. <a href='B:290 24:13-15'>Isa 24:13-15</a>; <a href='B:290 24:21-23'>Isa 24:21-23</a> clearly applies this scenario to the last days.</p>


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<p>In that day, a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes shall perceive the Holy One of Israel- This envisages the remnant of the Syrians, Israel and Judah turning to Yahweh, God of Israel. At their nadir, like men today, they will reflect on the most basic fact of human existence- that they were created by God. Man cannot see God, and yet eyes can perceive Him- if they are penitent. The contrast is with how they had previously focused their mental attention on what they had ’made’, their idols (:8); rather than upon their personal maker. This is the wonderful imperative of believing that we were made, created; the works of our hands become less appealing.</p>


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<p>They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, neither the Asherim nor the incense altars- The Syrians, as well as God’s people, would repent of their idolatry and turn to Yahweh alone (:7). And this shall come supremely true in the last days. When a man looks to his maker,"he shall not look to the altars [of] the work of&nbsp;his hands, neither shall he have respect to that which&nbsp;his fingers have made". God’s fingers made the stars and all of creation (<a href='B:230 8:3'>Psa 8:3</a>). By focusing upon&nbsp;God’s works in creation, we will not be focused upon our works, but rather trust in God’s creative grace.</p>


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<p>In that day their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation-"Strong"is the same word used in :10 of how God was to be their strength. Instead, Israel had trusted in the strong cities of the Syrians such as Damascus. This is the trouble with trusting in human strength and even having access to it; our trust in God’s strength is thereby so easily diminished:&nbsp;</p>


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<p>For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength- They saw salvation in an alliance with Syria to destroy Judah with Egypt’s help and thus form a united buffer against Assyria. All these kinds of petty politics and desperate dreams are just as much a part of our thinking today. And it is all a forgetting of Yahweh as the rock of our strength and salvation. Syria was not so strong; Damascus had recently been ransacked by the Assyrians (<a href='B:120 16:9'>2Ki 16:9</a>). But still they seemed to Israel such a relative source of strength.</p><p>Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings- RVmg."thou plantest plantings of Adonis". This was a Syrian god. The alliance between Israel and Syria against Judah (Isaiah 7) required Israel to accept Syrian gods. And therefore they had effectively resigned their belief in Yahweh although they would never have admitted that in so many words. We can not serve two masters.</p>


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<p>In the day of your planting, you hedge it in; in the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow- The idea is that no matter how successful the alliance with Syria appeared to be initially, it would not prosper when it came to term, and the harvest of it would be a day of terrible judgment. This is the end of all ways around problems which are anything less than a complete falling upon Yahweh in our hearts."Desperate sorrow"and"grief"in Hebrew mean incurable illness; the tragedy was that the opportunity for healing had been givenbut they had refused it, and therefore so many potentials were thereby disallowed.</p>


text:
<p>Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!- The judgment upon Syria and Israel (and probably Judah is also in view here (see on :5), would be like the rushing of waters- representing the various nations in the Assyrian or Babylonian confederacy. But this strange rush of nations against them would be strangely stopped (:13), by grace."The roaring of the seas"is the term used for the Babylonian invasion of Judah (<a href='B:300 5:22'>Jer 5:22</a>; <a href='B:300 6:23'>Jer 6:23</a>). What began as a prophecy of judgment against Syria and Israel at the hands of the Assyrians now morphs into judgment against Judah at the hands of the Babylonians; see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>. The phrase is also used of Yahweh’s victory at the roaring Red Sea (<a href='B:290 51:15'>Isa 51:15</a>; <a href='B:230 65:7'>Psa 65:7</a>), implying again that this invasion is going to be destroyed as the Egyptians were. This didn’t happen at the Babylonian invasion, although potentially it could’ve done had Judah repented.</p>


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<p>The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but He will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm- LXX"as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel". This is the language of the cherubim, implying God would intervene directly. The Assyrian invasion of Israel and Syria (see on :12) could have been averted, but it wasn’t, because they didn’t repent. But it was averted against Judah because a minority repented; the same word for"rush"is used of the tumult of that invasion (<a href='B:120 19:25'>2Ki 19:25</a>; <a href='B:290 6:11'>Isa 6:11</a>). But the Babylonian invasion of them some time later wasn’t, although it would’ve been had they repented. The chaff being blown before the wind recalls the vision of Daniel 2, whose primary potential fulfilment was in the fall of Babylon and the little stone of the repentant exiles returning to reestablish God’s Kingdom in the land. See notes on Daniel 2. But that too was precluded by Judah’s impenitence. And so it will come to fulfilment in the last days, when again the nations will"rush"to their judgment (<a href='B:290 13:4'>Isa 13:4</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p>At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us- LXX"that robbed you of your inheritance". The primary allusion is to the robbery of Judah by the Assyrians (<a href='B:120 18:13-16'>2Ki 18:13-16</a>), resulting in the Angel smiting their army so that"before the morning"they were all dead corpses (<a href='B:290 37:36'>Isa 37:36</a>).</p>


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<p>Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia- I have commented through Isaiah 13-17 upon the conditional nature of these prophecies. They envisage a situation in which Babylon and / or Assyria will judge Judah and the surrounding nations, and a repentant remnant from all of them will unite in a multi-ethnic, re-established Kingdom of God in Judah. But this scenario was precluded by various factors, not least the impenitence of all the peoples; and perhaps foreseeing this, God did not bring about all the judgments to the extent spoken of. The essence of the prophecies however will come true in the last days. Here we have an example- the people of Cush didn’t respond to their judgment by coming to Zion in repentance (:7).</p><p>The land shadowed by wings may again be a cherubim allusion, suggesting that God’s purpose was potentially with them too if only they would respond; for it was His intention that the reestablished Kingdom should include repentant remnants of all the surrounding nations. Or perhaps there is simply a reference to the swarms of buzzing flies, especially the tsetse, which Cush was famous for. Those swarms might also represent their hosts of warriors (cp. <a href='B:290 7:18'>Isa 7:18</a>). We can also read this as a reference to God's land of Judah, shadowed by the wings of the cherubim. The rivers of Ethiopia would then refer to the armies of the Ethiopians, upon which Judah were tempted to trust against the Babylonian threat. The idea would be that they were "beyond" those rivers of human help, because they were surroudned by the wings of God's cherubim, with their associated Angelic chariots.</p>


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<p>That sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!-"The sea"is the Nile (Isa 19:5; Nah 3:8). The reference is apparently to the huge power of the Ethiopian army (2Ch 14:9-13). The terms used here for this nation are legitimately translated otherwise by the AV:"That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!". The language here would be more appropriate to Judah. See on :7. The ambassadors in this case would then be representatives of Cush coming to the restored remnant of God’s people in Zion, seeking Yahweh of Israel. See on :3,4. And if we read the verse as the modern versions, we appear to have Cush sending ambassadors to her own people which makes little sense. But if (as discussed on :1) the land shadowed with wings is Judah- then the reference here is to the people of Judah sending messengers to Ethiopia and Egypt, asking for their help against Babylon. When in fact they should have trusted instead upon the shadowing of the wings of the Angel cherubim. They were in any case appealing to a nation "scattered and peeled" (AV), a nation that was to be destroyed, so certainly that their future destruction was spoken of in the past tense. This is the theme of Jer. 46- that Babylon was going to decimate the Egyptian-Ethiopian army at Carchemish. And that indeed happened. Judah's hope was to be in Yahweh, not in the armies of north Africa.</p>


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<p>All you inhabitants of the world and you dwellers on the land, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!- The ensign or banner set up on mount Zion in <a href='B:290 13:2'>Isa 13:2</a> would refer to the"pole"upon which the serpent was lifted up, representing the crucified Lord Jesus (<a href='B:40 21:8'>Num 21:8</a> s:w:). In the latter day application, this is to be the spiritual rallying point for the repentant remnant of both Judah ("the land") and the surrounding nations of the"world"(s:w. <a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>; <a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:290 18:3'>Isa 18:3</a>; <a href='B:290 30:17'>Isa 30:17</a>; <a href='B:290 31:9'>Isa 31:9</a>; <a href='B:290 49:22'>Isa 49:22</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>). Although this was precluded from happening at the time because those remnants didn’t repent, it will become gloriously true in the last days. Cush at the time could have repented and come to Zion; see on :7. We could also read this as an appeal to Judah; not to look to Egypt and Ethiopia for help (see on :2), but to realize that their help was right next to them, in Zion, where Yahweh's banner or ensign was to be lifted up.</p>


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<p>For Yahweh said to me, I will be still, and I will be seen in My dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest- The reference may be to the cloud of glory which was to appear over Zion in the reestablished Kingdom when Yahweh would literally dwell in Zion (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>) and men would see His face (<a href='B:730 22:4'>Rev 22:4</a>) after the final"harvest"of judgment; this was intended to be a place of refuge for the remnants of the surrounding nations (<a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>). The"clear heat"would refer to the full reestablishment of David’s Kingdom in the time off a Messianic descendant of his (<a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a>). In <a href='B:290 16:3'>Isa 16:3</a>, Moab had been invited to come to this refuge, and the envisioned outcome here was that the repentant remnant of Cush would also respond to their judgment by coming to Zion in repentance (:7). So very much was precluded from fulfilment by their impenitence. Or we can read this as meaning that if Judah had eyes of faith, and stopped trusting upon Egypt-Ethiopia for help against Babylon (see on :2), then Yahweh would visibly appear. The heat of harvest refers to His judgmet of His people; but He would appear like a cloud of dew to save them. In some form this happened, by grace, when Yahweh's Angel saved Zion from the Assyrians- although they generally didn't have faith. Perhaps He saved them by grace anyway. Or maybe the faith of the small remnant was accepted, and salvation was given to them because of that.</p>


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<p>For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and He will cut down and take away the spreading branches- Here and in :6 we are reading of how the situation of :3,4 will come about. Firstly there must be a gleaning of the potentially fruitful tree, and only after that the remnant would be harvested (both of Cush and Judah), after the rest of the branches are destroyed by the wild beasts of the earth / land (:6). The Lord may allude here when He taught that the blossom on the fig tree (Judah) and all the trees (such as Cush) would be the sure sign that the final harvest is about to begin (<a href='B:490 21:29-31'>Luk 21:29-31</a>). The latter day application is to the"pruning hooks"of the surrounding nations ranged against Israel (<a href='B:360 3:10'>Joe 3:10</a> s:w:). The cutting off of the twigs and branches implies they had been unfruitful (cp. <a href='B:500 15:2'>Joh 15:2</a>; <a href='B:520 11:18'>Rom 11:18</a>). I discussed on :4 the reference here to the gracious deliverance of Zion at the time of the Assyrian invasion. But ideally, that deliverance was to be predicated upon faith and spirituality in Zion. This was not generally forthcoming; and so the vine of God's people were pruned before the harvest, the coming of judgment, so they would repent and the full extent of judgment need not come upon them. These things will have their latter day equivalent in Israel.</p>


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<p>They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them- See on :5. This devastation was to be necessary so that the final harvest could come (:5). The ravenous birds would have been the Babylonian confederacy (s:w. <a href='B:300 12:9'>Jer 12:9</a>), along with the beasts of the eretz promised to Abraham; but Judah weren’t repentant and neither were the Cushites as a result of that. And so the fulfilment is in essence transferred to events of the last days. It would be a tiny harvest; but that small remnant would be enough for the reestablishment of the Kingdom of God in Judah. The reference to summer and winter could suggest that there is a one year period in view, after which Cush would repent (:7).</p>


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<p>In that time, a present will be brought to Yahweh of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of Armies, Mount Zion- The envisioned outcome here was that the repentant remnant of Cush would also respond to their judgment by coming to Zion in repentance (:4). This didn’t happen at the time, but it has a deferred fulfilment in the last days, when repentant Jews are sent to call in to Zion these peoples; those who make tall the bow (Isa 6619, s:w."tall"). But I noted on :2 the alternative translation and interpretation of this nation as referring to Judah. In this case the"present"brought to Yahweh in Zion would be the Cushites / Ethiopians bringing their Jewish remnant back to Zion- the latter day fulfilment of this would then perhaps have a foretaste in the return of the Falasha Jews from this area to the state of Israel. Gentiles bringing presents to Zion is the language of the reestablished kingdom (<a href='B:230 68:29'>Psa 68:29</a> s:w:). It could have come about then, when the surrounding nations brought presents to Hezekiah; but human pride and impenitence precluded it. And Hezekiah and his descendants adopted the ways of those nations rather than ruling over them and helping them toward Israel’s God. Another take on this verse would be that as a result of Yahweh's chastening of His people (see on :5), they would become "smooth", the Hebrew meaning 'polished'. And a repentant Judah would be an acceptable sacrifice to Yahweh in Zion. Despite the terrible beginnings of God's people in the furnace of Egypt, they would eventually be perfected through suffering and repentance.</p>


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<p>The burden of Egypt: Behold, Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt- The Old Testament describes Yahweh, the one true God, as riding through the heavens on chariots to the help of His people Israel (<a href='B:50 33:26'>Deu 33:26</a>; <a href='B:100 22:11'>2Sa 22:11</a>; <a href='B:230 18:10'>Psa 18:10</a>; <a href='B:230 104:3'>Psa 104:3</a>; <a href='B:290 19:1'>Isa 19:1</a>; <a href='B:420 3:8'>Hab 3:8</a>). But Baal was known as the rkb ’rpt, the one who rides upon the clouds. We noted on <a href='B:290 17:13'>Isa 17:13</a>; <a href='B:290 18:1'>Isa 18:1</a> that the language of the cherubim is used in these judgments upon the nations, because God was potentially at work with them to move them towards a position whereby His Kingdom would be reestablished, including the repentant remnants of Israel, Judah and the surrounding nations like Egypt. I have commented through Isaiah 13-18 upon the conditional nature of these prophecies. They envisage a situation in which Babylon and / or Assyria will judge Judah and the surrounding nations, and a repentant remnant from all of them will unite in a multi-ethnic, reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah. But this scenario was precluded by various factors, not least the impenitence of all the peoples; and perhaps foreseeing this, God did not bring about all the judgments to the extent spoken of. Here we have an example- Egypt didn’t suffer all the things prophesied in this chapter. The essence of the prophecies however will come true in the last days.</p><p>The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst- “Even the demons believe and tremble” (<a href='B:660 2:19'>Jas 2:19</a>) may allude here. The idols of the first century Middle Eastern world were made to demons; and the ultimate non-existence of idols therefore proves the non-existence of demons. See on <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a>.</p>


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<p>I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight each one against his brother, and each one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom- God prefers to use the wicked to punish themselves; the Lord maybe alludes here in speaking of how kingdoms divided against themselves will fall, whereas His Kingdom stands because it is ultimately undivided. This is a powerful exhortation to unity; disunity in the community makes us as Egypt. God worked directly on their hearts, causing fallout between them, as He did in <a href='B:70 9:23'>Jdg 9:23</a>. He can work directly on the human heart, even on the hearts of Gentiles like Egypt, to bring about His purpose. And He can work positively too, to create the unity of the Spirit. All these things are done by His Spirit working directly upon the human spirit.</p>


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<p>The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst; I will destroy its wisdom. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards- The allusion may be to how Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled at the failure of his magicians to explain the dreams (<a href='B:10 41:8'>Gen 41:8</a>); with the implication that if they accepted the Hebrew Joseph / Jesus as Saviour and source of wisdom, then far better times could come. See on :7.</p>


text:
<p>I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord Yahweh of Armies- Presumably a reference to the Assyrian domination of Egypt under Esarhaddon in BC 672 and again by Asshurbanipal in BC 662. He ravaged the country but only as far as Thebes; and in BC 645 Psammetichus succeeded in shaking off the Assyrian yoke and uniting Egypt under his rulership. The permanent nature of Egypt’s destruction was not therefore fulfilled at the time, and Egypt survives as a nation to this day. As explained on :1, the potential prophetic scenario was that the Assyrian crushing of Egypt could have led to their repentance and participation in a restored kingdom of God in Judah. This was the same potential scenario for the other surrounding nations, as noted throughout Isaiah 13-18.</p>


text:
<p>The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry-"The sea"may refer to the Nile as in <a href='B:410 3:8'>Nah 3:8</a>; but the LXX has"And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up". This total drying up of the Nile suggests direct Divine intervention; see on :6.</p>


text:
<p>The rivers will become foul; the streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up, the reeds and flags will wither away- There is no evidence that the Assyrian invasions produced this result (see on :4). The implication is that there would be direct supernatural judgment upon the physical land of Egypt as at the time of Joseph (see on :7). It was God who would directly dry up the Nile (<a href='B:330 30:12'>Eze 30:12</a>). As explained on <a href='B:290 13:13'>Isa 13:13</a>, what was in view was judgments on the scale of Sodom’s destruction coming upon the surrounding nations to bring them to Yahweh and to join with a repentant Judah in a restored Kingdom of God. But this didn’t come about at the time, not only because the Gentiles were impenitent, but because Judah were too, and the Kingdom was not to be restored at the time. See on :16.</p>


text:
<p>The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more- LXX"everything sown by the side of the river, shall be blasted with the wind and dried up". Blasting by the wind recalls Pharaoh’s dreams of Egyptian corn blasted by the wind (<a href='B:10 41:6'>Gen 41:6</a>); with the implication that if they accepted the Hebrew Joseph / Jesus, then far better times could come. See on :11,20.</p>


text:
<p>The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish- A drought would damage the flood plains upon which Egyptian agriculture depended. But in drought, the Egyptians depended on fishing. It’s not that there would simply be no fish in the river; there would be no river at all. That is the implication, implying major Divine intervention with supernatural judgments. This was the potential envisaged, but it didn’t happen because various preconditions weren’t fulfilled; see on :1.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover those who work in combed flax and those who weave white cloth will be confounded- Egyptian linen was renowned (<a href='B:110 10:28'>1Ki 10:28</a>; <a href='B:330 27:7'>Eze 27:7</a>). But all her glory was to come to an end.</p>


text:
<p>The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul-"Pillars"alludes to the Egyptian idea that their nation was held up by special pillars. The judgments of the nations in Isaiah 13-19 are often expressed in terms understood by them; but the concepts they held are not necessarily correct. But no correction is offered in the text, because it is assumed we understand that God uses the language of the day in talking to people.</p>


text:
<p>The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish, the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?- This may continue the similarities with the situation in Joseph’s time (see on :7), when the Egyptian wise men were unable to provide wisdom, and Joseph had to teach these wise counsellors Divine wisdom (<a href='B:230 105:22'>Psa 105:22</a>. Always in these judgments there is the hope that spiritual reformation will come out of them, in this case that a Hebrew Joseph / Jesus figure would be accepted by the Egyptians as their saviour; see on :16,20. They believed that wisdom was inherited, and they were the sons of the wise; and the priesthood and royal family were related. Hence Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife from the priesthood. The point is clearly made here, as it is in Matthew’s genealogy of the Lord, that spirituality and wisdom is not inherited, but is a personal matter.</p>


text:
<p>Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt- These rhetorical questions can be read not as sarcasm but as an actual appeal for the Pharaoh to repent. For that was the intention of the judgments, as this prophecy later makes clear.</p>


text:
<p>The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, they who are the cornerstone of her tribes- The"tribes"may refer to the ruling castes, or to the cantons of the empire. They were"deceived"by Yahweh. He confirms sinful people in the way they wish to go, and likewise opens the eyes of those who genuinely look towards Him. See on :14.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh has mixed a spirit of division in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit- The princes of Zoan became fools because of the"perverse spirit"(LXX"spirit of error") the LORD had mingled in their hearts- presumably through the work of His Angels, seeing that God makes His Angels spirits. Through the work of the Angels or directly, God can work directly on men’s hearts, and sometimes he does send an"evil spirit"(an"Angel of evil"?) on men, like He did to Saul. See onEze 14:9. Intellectual confusion is therefore a judgment from God. God acted upon their minds and perceptions to confuse them."The spirit of error"is a phrase used in 1Jn 4:6 as being given today. When we read that God gave His good spirit (Angel?) to instruct Israel, the implication perhaps is that He was and is just as capable of giving an evil or confusing spirit to others (Exo 9:20). The same language of judgment is used about Judah in Isa 29:10; they acted and thought like Egypt, and so they received Egypt’s judgment; just as the unfaithful of the new Israel will be"condemned with the world"(1Co 11:32).</p>


text:
<p>Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do- The same words are used for God’s judgment upon His people in <a href='B:290 9:14'>Isa 9:14</a>; as noted on :14, they acted and thought like Egypt, and so they received Egypt’s judgment.</p>


text:
<p>In that day the Egyptians will be like women, they will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Yahweh of Armies which He shakes over them- The trembling of women may imply they are about to give birth; always in these judgments there is the hope that spiritual reformation will come out of them; see on :7,11. The trembling suggests literal earthquakes, confirming my suggestion on :6 that what was in view was judgments on the scale of Sodom’s destruction coming upon the surrounding nations to bring them to Yahweh and to join with a repentant Judah in a restored Kingdom of God. But this didn’t come about at the time, not only because the Gentiles were impenitent, but because Judah were too, and the Kingdom was not to be restored at the time.</p>


text:
<p>The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of Yahweh of Armies which He determines against it- The allusion is to the effect of the plagues at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 10; Exodus 7; <a href='B:20 11:3'>Exo 11:3</a>; <a href='B:20 12:33'>Exo 12:33</a>; <a href='B:20 12:36'>Exo 12:36</a>). There could have been supernatural divine judgments upon Egypt at this time, to result in the deliverance of Judah and the repentance of a remnant amongst the Egyptians as happened at that time. But there were not those supernatural judgments at the time because the repentance was not going to be forthcoming; see on :1,6,16.</p>


text:
<p>In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of Armies- Five is a number simply representing a remnant or small number (<a href='B:290 30:17'>Isa 30:17</a>; <a href='B:30 26:8'>Lev 26:8</a>; <a href='B:120 7:13'>2Ki 7:13</a>). The great prophetic theme is that a remnant shall repent and turn to Israel’s God. However what could also be in view is the repentance of the Jewish communities in Egypt (<a href='B:300 44:1'>Jer 44:1</a>) who were starting to forget Hebrew and assimilate into Egypt. This would be the situation of :25&nbsp; LXX"Blessed be my people that is in Egypt, and that is among the Assyrian".</p><p>The potential here would connect with that spoken of in <a href='B:300 12:14-17'>Jer 12:14-17</a>:"Thus says Yahweh against all My evil neighbours, who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his inheritance, and every man to his land. It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught My people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of My people. But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh". Sadly this didn’t happen at the time; for neither God’s people nor the nations like Egypt repented. The Jews mixed with the people of the land of their exile, they didn’t teach them the Name, and so the prophecy didn’t come true- they weren’t built up in the midst of Israel as intended. Prophecies like <a href='B:290 19:18'>Isa 19:18</a>; <a href='B:290 19:24'>Isa 19:24</a> were thereby disabled from fulfilment at that time- “In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that… swear to the Lord… in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria”. <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>, <a href='B:450 8:21-23'>Zec 8:21-23</a> etc. speak of how Gentile nations would desire to learn the ways of God and come up to a temple in Zion for this purpose. Could it not be that these passages are to be read in the context of <a href='B:300 12:14-17'>Jer 12:14-17</a> - that all this was only possible if at the time of the restoration the nations had learnt God’s ways from the Jews?</p><p>One will be called The city of destruction- Another reading is"the city of the Lion,” i:e. Leontopolis, where a Jewish Temple was built in BC160. Perhaps at that time there was a potential for the fulfilment of the prophecy. But the LXX has “city of Righteousness”.</p>


text:
<p>In that day there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border- Josephus claims that this verse was used by the Egyptian Jews as justification for building a Jewish temple at Leontopolis in Egypt in BC160. But this would have merely been an attempt to force the fulfilment of a Kingdom prophecy, and as such it was irrelevant. As explained on :18, this was to happen when Judah was penitent and the Kingdom of God had been reestablished there. But that potential didn’t work out as was possible. And so the detail of this prophecy wasn’t fulfilled, although the essence of it will be in the last days. Under the Mosaic law, there was to be only one altar to Yahweh, in Jerusalem. And under that law, "pillars" were forbidden (<a href='B:50 16:22'>Deu 16:22</a>). This therefore envisages a situation when Zion’s temple would be rebuilt but the law of Moses would not be in force. The potential was that the temple and worship system of Ezekiel 40-48 would have been built and operated by the Jews; and although that system included sacrificial worship, it is clearly not the law of Moses. It was all part of a new deal offered to Judah, a new covenant to replace the old which they had broken; and they refused that:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and He will send them a saviour and a defender, and He will deliver them- The historical saviour of Egypt had been Joseph, Zaphnath Paaneah, ’saviour of the world’. Their judgments were intended to lead them to accept him; see on :7,11. Egypt were intended to turn to Yahweh as saviour due to their oppression at the hands of the Assyrians (:4). But they didn’t. In the latter day application this refers to the acceptance of the Lord Jesus by the nations around Israel after their experience of judgment.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will vow a vow to Yahweh, and will perform it- The process of Egypt’s conversion is planned here in detail. The Jewish exiles in Egypt were to repent and make known the Yahweh Name to those around them in Egypt; then the Egyptians would respond to their oppression by quitting their idols and turning to Yahweh in prayer (:20), making animal and vegetable offerings to Him ("sacrifice and offering") as a result of His making Himself known to them (RVmg:), then undergo further discipline (:22), and then they would fully turn to Yahweh. Likewise God has prepared detailed potential scenarios for repentance in trillions of lives, and the tragedy is that as here, the majority of those scenarios never come about. He must watch with great joy as we at least show willingness to respond to those plans for us.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and He will be entreated by them, and will heal them- See on :21. As in <a href='B:350 6:1'>Hos 6:1</a>, the striking of them was in order to heal them. This was the intention of the Assyrian invasions of Egypt (see on :4); but Egypt didn’t spiritually respond to the striking, and so the Divine healing didn’t happen.</p><p>An indication that all men who hear the Gospel have the potential to respond to it is perhaps seen in the parable of the prodigal son. His ‘coming home’ to the Father is just that- a coming home, a being received back, to all we were created to be from the very beginning. And perhaps this explains the odd reference to how ultimately, Egypt shall "return unto the Lord" (<a href='B:290 19:22'>Isa 19:22</a>). For Egypt were never ’with’ the Lord. But in prospect, Egypt along with all humanity were redeemed, and they have to be brought by us to Him in actuality.</p>


text:
<p>In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with theAssyrians- A highway from Egypt to Assyria would have to pass through Judah, and Jerusalem in particular. This was the Divine potential at the time- that a remnant from Assyria and Egypt would repent, and would come to Zion to worship. The Jerusalem temple was to be the central point of their fellowship with each other. This highway is alluded to in <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>; the highway was to be prepared in a spiritual sense in that the people would repent and be spiritually levelled out, so that the glory of Yahweh in Messiah could come over it to Zion. That would then be reflected in a literal highway leading the nations and repentant exiled Jews to Zion (<a href='B:290 49:11'>Isa 49:11</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>).</p><p>This prophecy clearly connects with <a href='B:290 11:16'>Isa 11:16</a>: "There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria [LXX"Egypt"], like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. Egypt was always attractive for the Jews; they trusted in Egypt and some even fled there, seeking help from Egypt rather than from their God. The significance of the highway is therefore that God would give the opportunity for spiritual repentance and return to Him; playing on the idea that the Hebrew word for"return"is also used for repentance. Just as He could dry up the Euphrates for the return to happen from there, so He could build a highway in the desert. But there was no literal highway built for Israel when they left Egypt. Yet they had God’s guidance, and therefore the unchartered desert was in fact a direct highway- for those with faith to perceive it. And the apparent random twists and turns of our lives must be understood by us in that same way. It’s all in fact a direct highway.</p>


text:
<p>In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth- The idea of each having a third is to demonstrate that ethnic differences will not be significant in the restored kingdom. Israel would have an equal part with the repentant remnants of Egypt and Assyria. This would have been hard to swallow for nationalistic, xenophobic Jews who hated the Assyrians. See on :25."The midst of the land"often refers to Jerusalem and the temple; this was the point at which there would be no Jew nor Gentile but all would be united in the Messiah. These things didn’t happen at the time but look forward to their essential fulfilment in the things of the Lord Jesus Christ in future times.</p>


text:
<p>because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance- LXX"Blessed be my people that is in Egypt, and that is among the Assyrian". The idea is that the exiled people of God in Assyria and Egypt would repent and join with their captors in repentance and acceptance of Yahweh. This was the potential possible at the time, but as explained on :1, it didn’t happen because they refused to repent. But in essence it will do so in the last days. The same possibility is alluded to in :18, where what could have been in view was the repentance of the Jewish communities in Egypt (<a href='B:300 44:1'>Jer 44:1</a>) who were starting to forget Hebrew and assimilate into Egypt. It was Israel who are called the work of God’s hands, but now the repentant remnant of the Egyptians and Assyrians were to be called that too. All this would have been hard to swallow for nationalistic, xenophobic Jews who hated the Assyrians. And perhaps that was one reason why they didn’t preach to them. Jonah’s refusal to preach to Nineveh is the parade example of their attitude.</p>


text:
<p>In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it- Tartan took Ashdod just east of Judah on his way down to attack Egypt. This prophecy was therefore given when the power of Egypt was about to fall to the Assyrians. Judah were trusting in Egypt for help against the Assyrians, and so Isaiah’s message is that Egypt were not to be trusted upon in any case, as they were about to fall. They were to trust in Him alone. Tartan was also sent against Judah, later; although"Tartan"may be a title rather than a personal name.</p>


text:
<p>At that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet. He did so, walking naked and barefoot- This extraordinary effort was not only to warn Judah that Egypt was going to fall and therefore should not be depended upon for help against Assyria (:1). It was also to appeal to Egypt to repent and turn to Israel’s God; for it was the Divine intention that the reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah would include a repentant remnant from all the surrounding nations.</p><p>LXX"loose thy sandals from off thy feet"is what was spoken to Moses at the burning bush, because he was on holy ground. The implication could be that if Egypt repented and trusted in Israel’s God, then their land too would be incorporated in the holy land of God’s reestablished Kingdom, as envisaged at the end of the previous chapter.</p><p>God spoke “by Isaiah” when he walked naked and barefoot. Who he was, was to be their example and thereby God’s message. &nbsp;Receipt of God’s true revelation involved dialogue with God, even disagreement with Him for a moment, response, pleading, speech and counterspeech. It wasn’t a case of merely passively hearing a voice and writing it down. Part and parcel of hearing the word of God and being inspired with it was to react to it in daily life- hence Ezekiel couldn’t mourn for his wife, Hosea had to marry a whore as a reflection of God’s love for Israel, Isaiah had to walk naked, reflecting how Zion would be stripped naked, the punishment for a whore (see on <a href='B:290 3:17'>Isa 3:17</a>). Truly “The prophet threw his whole self into his prophecy, and made not his lips alone, but his whole personality, the vehicle of the divine ‘word’” (H:H. Rowley, The Servant Of The Lord (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1965) p. 118:). The inner accord which the prophets had with the mind and word of God led to their personalities being like God’s. And mankind’s laughing them off as crazy, as mentally disturbed, was effectively their rejection and mocking of God Himself. We’re reminded of how the suffering Son of God in His time of dying, the highest and most intense expression of God’s love, was “the song of the drunkards” (<a href='B:230 69:12'>Psa 69:12</a>). The prophets"spoke from the mouth of Yahweh"Himself; and yet the people scoffed at them (<a href='B:140 36:12'>2Ch 36:12</a>; <a href='B:140 36:16'>2Ch 36:16</a> RV). The power of inspiration was and is so great; and to not heed God’s word is therefore a personal affront to Him.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh said, As My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia- LXX"As my servant Esaias has walked naked and barefoot three years, there shall be three years for signs and wonders to the Egyptians and Ethiopians". This would imply that they had a period of three years to repent. As explained on <a href='B:290 19:1'>Isa 19:1</a>, the prophetic scenario here with Egypt didn’t exactly fulfill at the time. This three year period will perhaps have some fulfilment in the last days, when there appears to be a period of three and a half years testing before the Lord Jesus is revealed.</p>


text:
<p>so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt- This predicted captivity of Egypt was that which would come upon Judah at the hand of the Assyrians. But a minority did repent and so this was averted; Isaiah’s appeal therefore did achieve something. This mass captivity of Ethiopians and Egyptians didn’t really happen at the hands of the Assyrians; as explained on <a href='B:290 19:1'>Isa 19:1</a>, the prophetic scenario here with Egypt didn’t exactly fulfill at the time.</p>


text:
<p>They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory- The grammar is ambiguous. For how could Egypt and Ethiopia be ashamed of trusting in themselves? The ambiguity is because this is an appeal to Judah not to trust in those nations because they would fall, and Judah would be ashamed of their trust in them. The LXX has"And the Egyptians being defeated shall be ashamed of the Ethiopians, in whom they had trusted; for they were their glory". In this case the lesson would be that as Egypt had trusted in Ethiopia and been ashamed, so if Judah trusted in Egypt they would be ashamed.</p>


text:
<p>The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?’- The Philistines were the inhabitants of the coast land, and they had trusted in Egypt to save them from Assyria. But now Ashdod had fallen (:1). The men of Judah had likewise fled to Egypt and Ethiopia for help against Assyria (<a href='B:290 10:3'>Isa 10:3</a>)- rather than to their God. They had ignored ’Hezekiah’, ’Yah is my help’. In other words, Judah gave in to the temptation which we acutely face today- to deal with our fears in the same way as the surrounding world does, rather than fall upon our God. For they had tried to meet their fears of Assyria in the same way as the Philistines had</p><p>A desire to escape but having no place to run is a feature of all Divine condemnations (<a href='B:650 2:3'>Heb 2:3</a>, quoting <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a> concerning the inability of men to escape from the approach of the invincible Assyrian army). The rejected will see that the Lord is coming against them with an army much stronger than theirs, and they have missed the chance to make peace (<a href='B:490 14:31'>Luk 14:31</a>).</p>


text:
<p>The burden of the wilderness of the sea- Babylon is clearly referred to; the plain of Babylon was as it were covered with the water of the Euphrates so that it could appear as a sea (<a href='B:300 51:13'>Jer 51:13</a>; <a href='B:300 51:36'>Jer 51:36</a>). When the Euphrates was diverted to dry up the river protecting Babylon, the water flooded into the area, turning it into a huge"sea"of marshland.</p><p>As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land- A whirlwind coming from the desert, sweeping up sand before it, recalls the cherubim. I have noted that often the visions of judgment allude to the cherubim obliquely, whereas Ezekiel states their presence specifically. The idea is that God’s Angelic chariots were at work preparing and moving the nations; in this case bringing the Medes across the desert area between Elam and Babylon. This whirlwind would be similar to those experienced in"the south"of Israel, the Negev (as in <a href='B:450 9:14'>Zec 9:14</a>). So this prophecy of Babylon’s fall was largely for the benefit of the Jews who could recall the whirlwinds in the Negev.</p>


text:
<p>A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack!- The vision reads as if Isaiah is the sufferer, as if he feels the grief and tragedy of this judgment to come upon Babylon; he so identifies with the object of the prophecy, even though they are Gentiles being judged for their sin. Our identity with this world and the objects of judgment should be the same; for this was the essence of the cross, where the sinless Lord Jesus identified with every sinner, to the death. This is clear in :3, and in this verse 2 is clearer in the LXX:"The Elamites are upon me, and the ambassadors of the Persians come against me: now will I groan and comfort myself".</p><p>GNB has"a vision of betrayal". There is good evidence that when Darius took Babylon, this was as a result of betrayal from within. Layard reports inscriptions which report the pro-Darius supporters within Babylon opening the gates. The scenario here and throughout Jeremiah 50 concerning Babylon didn’t come true as [potentially planned. Her judgment was partly dependent upon Judah’s repentance. And there were various other factors which preclude the scenario being fulfilled at the time it could have been. The scale of devastation and"grief"intimated here, rather like <a href='B:300 50:26'>Jer 50:26</a> saying that the Medes would turn Babylon into"heaps", just didn’t happen when the Medes took the city. It was only some time later that Cyrus further demolished parts of Babylon’s wall, and there was a rebellion of Babylon at the time of Darius Hystapses. The deportation of some of the population happened even later in the time of Seleucus Nicanor. Apart from the murder of Belshazaar and a few others, it seems that there was little bloodshed and many within Babylon welcomed the Medes. But the impression is given that all this grievous judgment happen immediately at Babylon’s fall. It didn’t, because the preconditions related to Judah’s repentance didn’t come about. And so the prophecies were reapplied and rescheduled to the last days, and are alluded to throughout Revelation 18 with reference to the fall of latter day Babylon; which appears to not refer to the literal city of Babylon.</p><p>I have stopped all of Media’s sighing- At the burden imposed by Babylon (<a href='B:290 14:7-8'>Isa 14:7-8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish, pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labour. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear; I so am dismayed that I can’t see- In the same way as Moab would weep for their slain sons, so God says that His heart would cry out for Moab,"therefore I weep [along] with the weeping of Jazer... my soul moans like a lyre for Moab"(<a href='B:290 15:5'>Isa 15:5</a>; <a href='B:290 16:9'>Isa 16:9</a>; <a href='B:290 16:11'>Isa 16:11</a>). God"pitied"Nineveh- a Hebrew word meaning to pity with tears (<a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>). The mourning of the prophets over Tyre (<a href='B:330 27:1'>Eze 27:1</a>) and Babylon (<a href='B:290 21:3-4'>Isa 21:3-4</a>) was an embodiment of God’s grief even over those not in covenant with Him. And how much more does He weep and suffer with His people Israel in their sufferings (<a href='B:300 12:12'>Jer 12:12</a>; <a href='B:300 23:10'>Jer 23:10</a>; <a href='B:350 4:2-3'>Hos 4:2-3</a>);"my heart yearns / moans for him"(<a href='B:300 31:20'>Jer 31:20</a>). Perhaps there was indeed some remission of the full extent of Babylon’s potential judgment at the time; see on :2. The image of a woman in labour again implies that new birth could still come out of the judgments; the hope was that a remnant of Babylon would repent, and that a reborn Judah would emerge. Neither of these things happened and so perhaps foreseeing that, God didn’t bring the full extent of the judgments at the time.</p>


text:
<p>My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The evening of my pleasure has been turned into trembling for me- The LXX speaks as if Isaiah totally identified with them to the point of feeling their sin as his; just as the Lord did supremely on the cross:"My heart wanders, and transgression overwhelms me; my soul is occupied with fear". In speaking of"the night of my pleasure"Isaiah is totally identified with Belshazzar, who was dethroned by Darius on the night of his pleasure, probably his birthday celebration.</p><p>Having prophesied the fall of hated, pagan Babylon, which was to happen well after his death, Isaiah responded: “Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me... I am pained so that I cannot hear [the message he had to tell]... my heart panteth, horror hath affrighted me” (<a href='B:290 21:3-4'>Isa 21:3-4</a> RV). Such was his sensitivity for his enemies, and for things which would happen in the future. It would be rather like us grieving deeply for the fact that within 200 years, millions of human beings may die because of global warming.</p>


text:
<p>They prepare the table, they set the watch; then they eat and drink! But ‘Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!’- The GNB seeks to clarify how Isaiah was as it were projected forward to the feast of Belshazzar in Daniel 5 :"In the vision a banquet is ready; rugs are spread for the guests to sit on. They are eating and drinking. Suddenly the command rings out: "Officers! Prepare your shields!"".</p>


text:
<p>For the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees- LXX"declare whatever thou shalt see". Isaiah was the watchman, for the prophets are the watchmen.</p>


text:
<p>When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness- LXX"And I saw...". As noted on :6, Isaiah is as it were a watchman on the walls of Babylon; he the Hebrew prophet had a heart that bled even for the enemies of Judah, and he imagines himself on the walls of Babylon seeing the attack coming. The Medes apparently used donkeys and camels to transport their generals and military hardware.</p>


text:
<p>He cried like a lion- This prophecy didn’t come fully true at the time and so it has been reapplied to the last days; and so this phrase is quoted in <a href='B:730 10:3'>Rev 10:3</a> in a latter day context.</p><p>Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post- Crying on the watchtower is the language of prayer; perhaps Isaiah was as it were praying Babylon might repent so that this grievous situation and the human tragedy of it all need not happen. This is the heart that bleeds for humanity. But the idea may be that the prophetic watchman feels that he has been carefully watching for the fall of Babylon, and it hasn’t come. But then it does.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. He answered, Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground- The claim is made that the Persians apparently despised images and therefore broke them. But that is questionable. The Pulpit Commentary notes:"Cyrus was not an iconoclast; he did not break into pieces, or in any way destroy or insult the Babylonian idols. On the contrary, he maintained them in their several shrines, or restored them where they had been displaced; he professed himself a worshipper of the chief Babylonian gods—Bel, Nebo, and Merodach—he repaired the temple of Merodach; he prayed to Bel and Nebo to lengthen his days; he caused his son, Cambyses, to take part in the great religious ceremony wherewith the Babylonians opened the new year". So this is yet another aspect of the prophecy which was not literally fulfilled at the time. And so the prophecies were reapplied and rescheduled to the last days, and are alluded to throughout Revelation 18 with reference to the fall of latter day Babylon; which appears to not refer to the literal city of Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>You are My threshing, and the grain of My floor! That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared toyou- This could be addressed to the righteous remnant, those who had come through the threshing experience as grain. Hence LXX"Hear, ye that are left, and ye that are in pain". Or GNB"My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news". The good news was the fall of Babylon; the Gospel is the good news of God’s reestablished Kingdom, which could then have been established at the time Babylon fell. But most of the Jews preferred to remain in Babylon, and they didn’t repent; so that possibility was precluded and delayed until the last days, as the descriptions of"Babylon"being judged and God’s Kingdom being established in Revelation 18 makes clear. The language is applied to the repentant remnant of Jewry in <a href='B:470 3:12'>Mat 3:12</a>.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?- The theme of the prophecies upon the nations beginning in Isaiah 13 is that after the judgment they experienced from the Assyrians or Babylonians, a remnant of them would repent and join repentant Judah in a reestablished, multi ethnic Kingdom of God in Judah; see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>. So the LXX here reads simply"Call to me out of Seir", as if this is an invitation for Seir or Edom (GNB) to repent."Turn back"in :12 would then also be an invitation to repentance."Dumah"means"silence"and implies a total destruction of Edom; but this kind of total wiping out, presumably by supernatural Divine judgment such as came upon Sodom, didn’t happen at the time. Again, the scenario presented here is a potential, but the various human preconditions didn’t allow it to happen then.</p>


text:
<p>The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night- The idea may be that the morning for Judah was to be the night for her enemies like Edom; just as Yahweh was a light to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. Or we could paraphrase with GNB"I answer, "Morning is coming, but night will come again. If you want to ask again, come back and ask"". The idea might be that Edom’s judgment could have come, but it was deferred due to the various preconditions discussed on :10 and <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a> not being fulfilled. Judah’s morning, in the sense of the light of Zion rising as the dawn, also didn’t come at that time. When it does, in the last day, then"Edom"will be destroyed and have its"night".</p><p>What hour of the night will it come?- God’s purposes at the time were open ended; see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>. Many human variables were preconditions for the various prophetic scenarios which could have come about. The hour of judgment, as in the last days, was therefore variable. So, appropriate to that, we could have here a reference to the meaning of time being collapsed around the time of the Lord’s return, when these prophecies shall come to their final fulfilment. Depending how one reads the Hebrew text of <a href='B:450 14:6-7'>Zec 14:6-7</a>, this idea of collapsed time at the Lord’s return is Biblical:"It shall come to pass in that day, that it shall not be clear in some places, and dark in other places of the world; but the day shall be one, in the knowledge of the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light"(AV mg:). The RVmg. speaks of"the planets shall contract"- the times and seasons they control would somehow contract. <a href='B:290 21:12'>Isa 21:12</a> RV has a similar idea, again in the context of a judgment day: “The morning is come and also the night”. This collapsing of time would also explain why it is impossible to construct a chronology of events in real time for the coming of Christ; the various prophecies of the last days just don’t seem to fit together in chronological sequence. If indeed time is collapsed, this would enable all these prophecies to come true, but not in real time. Babylon is to be punished with famine in one day; yet famine is a process (<a href='B:730 18:8'>Rev 18:8</a>). In one day her judgments come, and yet also in one hour (18:10). Surely&nbsp; the lesson is that time is compressed.</p><p>Turn back again- I noted on :11 that this could be read as a call to Seir / Idumea to repent. Hence LXX"If thou wouldest enquire, enquire, and dwell by me", in the restored Zion; the same invitation to come dwell in Zion is made to the other nations in <a href='B:290 16:3'>Isa 16:3</a>; <a href='B:290 18:4'>Isa 18:4</a>.</p>


text:
<p>The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites- There are no forests in Arabia so the reference may be to brushwood scrub. Sargon did make an incursion into Arabia, but probably as noted on :12, this was part of the potential scenario which didn’t fully happen then, and will be fulfilled more completely in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread- The LXX reads this as a command to meet the fugitives with bread and water. The remnant of the Arabians who survive are significant to God because it was that remnant ofall the nations who are envisaged as repenting and turning to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle- But no trace of such a battle or war has been found on the Assyrian inscriptions. So probably as noted on :12, this was part of the potential scenario which didn’t fully happen then, and will be fulfilled more completely in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>For the Lord said to me, Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail- Perhaps the sense is that as a hired hand counts the days of required service exactly, so this calamity would happen within exactly three years. I noted on the prophecies of Isaiah’s children in <a href='B:290 7:16'>Isa 7:16</a>; <a href='B:290 8:1'>Isa 8:1</a>; <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a> that there was the potential of a very speedy fulfilment of the prophecies, before the newborn child could even speak; and we have a similar period in <a href='B:290 16:14'>Isa 16:14</a>. But the complex network of possibilities alluded to be Isaiah were precluded by the lack of repentance by both Judah and the Gentiles</p>


text:
<p>and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it- Again we note the emphasis upon the remnant or"residue". The remnant of the people of Kedar who survive are significant to God because it was that remnant of all the nations who are envisaged as repenting and turning to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of the valley of vision- LXX"the burden of the valley of Zion". Perhaps Isaiah gave this prophecy in one of the valleys around Jerusalem, perhaps the Kidron valley from where the water from the Gihon spring was brought into the city (alluded to in :9). But it could equally have been the valley of Hinnom, which became the symbolic place for the final judgment of the condemned. It was from a valley like this that Ezekiel saw the dry bones of Israel being revived from their condemnation (Ezekiel 37).</p><p>What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?- I suggest this could be Israel’s question to Isaiah, as he went up on the flat roof to weep for them. And thus he replies in <a href='B:290 22:4'>Isa 22:4</a>: “Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people”. But this can also be read as being addressed to the people of the city. There is a strong association between their housetops and idolatry. As they had kindled fire on their roofs in offering sacrifices to Baal, so Yahweh through the Babylonians would set fire to those same houses (<a href='B:300 32:29'>Jer 32:29</a>). Hence LXX"that now ye are all gone up to the housetops which help you not?".</p>


text:
<p>You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle- This is the idea of <a href='B:310 4:9'>Lam 4:9</a>, that the people of Zion died by famine and disease rather than the quick death of the battlefield. Isaiah is complaining that the people were feasting instead of fasting in repentance (as in <a href='B:290 32:13'>Isa 32:13</a> and cp. <a href='B:290 23:7'>Isa 23:7</a>), and he juxtaposes their present feasting with the painful and slow death threatened. But it seems there was repentance amongst a minority and so the threatened destruction of Zion’s population at the hands of the Assyrians was averted; but it was actually only deferred to the time of the Babylonians. This explains the connections between this prophecy and Jeremiah’s lamentations, as he weeps for what was then done to Zion.</p>


text:
<p>All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away-LXX"All thy princes have fled, and thy captives are tightly bound". This didn’t happen at Isaiah’s time because there was some repentance; and so the words were reapplied to the destruction by the Babylonians and the fleeing of Zedekiah and the rulers.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore I said, Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labour to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people- Jeremiah in his prophecy and Lamentations often uses this phrase"daughter of my people". The whole verse sounds like Jeremiah mourning the Babylonian destruction of Zion (<a href='B:310 1:4'>Lam 1:4</a> etc:). But it is actually Isaiah lamenting the threatened and envisaged destruction of Zion by the Assyrians. Due to the intercession and repentance of the remnant, the Assyrian destruction was averted; but it was actually deferred to the timeof the Babylonians. So the feelings of the prophet Isaiah are transferred to the prophet Jeremiah; just as prophecies whose fulfilment was deferred or averted at the time were transferred to other persons, entities, times and contexts.</p><p>When it came to prophesying the doom of Jerusalem, people came to comfort Isaiah in his grief and breakdown, not perceiving the heart that bled within him. He wept, because of how they would weep in future (<a href='B:290 22:4-5'>Isa 22:4-5</a>). Such was his passionate identity with them. The prophets weren’t merely informing men ahead of time that God’s judgments were coming; rather were they sharing with the people the Divine pathos, His feelings and sense of tragic rejection; and they were deeply aware of His openness to changing His plans in response to human repentance (<a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>). The prophets were therefore not mere fax machines; their own feelings were involved in the act of transmission of God’s feelings to men through words. Even despite the special psychological strengthening which they received, sometimes the whole prophetic experience seemed too much for them, as it does for us. The prophets believed their own message, to the point that it overcame them with grief that men wouldn’t heed them. Is this how we feel at the rejection of our message? Is our testimony to Jesus really in the spirit of these prophets…?</p>


text:
<p>For it is a day of confusion and of treading down and of perplexity from the Lord Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains- This clearly had application to the Assyrian invasion; Hezekiah may allude to this prophecy when he says that"This is a day of trouble... rebuke... and of blasphemy"(<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>). But he looked up from the valley where he was (:1) and foresaw the breaking down of the walls above him, and the valley echoing with the crying of the people to their gods of the high places. But all that was averted by some measure of repentance. The day of"treading down"was in order to humble their pride (as in <a href='B:290 2:12'>Isa 2:12</a>), but it seems there was some humbling before Isaiah’s words and so humbling by condemnation was therefore not seen as necessary at the time.</p>


text:
<p>Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield- These were part of the Assyrian alliance which came against Jerusalem. But not an arrow was fired by these archers against Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 37:33'>Isa 37:33</a>); the catastrophe was averted. But it was deferred until these same nations came with the Babylonians against Jerusalem at a later date (<a href='B:300 49:35'>Jer 49:35</a>). See on :7.</p>


text:
<p>It happened- The idea may be that Isaiah is transported in vision to see these things happening.</p><p>That your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate- In reality, the Assyrians didn’t"come before"the city (<a href='B:290 37:33'>Isa 37:33</a>). But it was deferred until the Babylonians against Jerusalem at a later date. It is all a great lesson in the power of the repentance and intercession of a minority.</p>


text:
<p>He took away the covering of Judah- This idea is repeated in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who speak of Judah being stripped naked and judged as a whore, stoned to death by her lovers after gang raping her. This could have happened at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but it was averted by repentance and deferred to the Babylonian time.</p><p>And you looked in that day to the armour in the house of the forest- To trust in weapons, foreign powers etc. rather than on God alone was something about which Isaiah wailed and lamented (<a href='B:290 22:8'>Isa 22:8</a>; <a href='B:290 22:11'>Isa 22:11</a>). In our terms, this may translate into situations like what we do when we feel the first onset of an illness; when our car won’t start… do we trust on human strength, on the pretensions of science, and turn to God if all else fails? There can scarcely be one of us who doesn’t see this pattern of response in our lives. And yet, in prophetic terms, this is awful! That we don’t first and totally turn to our God.</p><p>LXX"they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city". Perhaps they looked to those wealthy families for help; or that they looked to break down those houses"to fortify the wall"(:10). But the same lesson emerges, of not trusting in human strength. The records stress that at the time of the Babylonian invasion, it was these great houses which were also destroyed along with the temple (<a href='B:300 52:13'>Jer 52:13</a>).</p>


text:
<p>You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool- See on :1. LXX"And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David:and they saw that they were many, and that one had turned the water of the old pool into the city". The person who did this was Hezekiah (<a href='B:120 20:20'>2Ki 20:20</a>). But here it appears to be criticized as a trusting in human strength. Perhaps this is why <a href='B:120 20:20'>2Ki 20:20</a> says it was done in his might- not Yahweh’s.</p>


text:
<p>You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall- This appears to be cited in the context of criticizing Hezekiah and Shebna for fortifying the city in human strength rather than in trust in God. See on :8. Numbering the houses recalls David’s numbering of Israel rather than trusting in the Angelic armies. <a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a> likewise criticizes the breaking down of the houses to fortify the city wall. Jeremiah elsewhere criticized the building of these great houses on the walls of Jerusalem- for they were built on the back of abusing the poor for material and labour. They were finally torn down by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 52:13'>Jer 52:13</a>), but even before that, the owners themselves broke them down and the materials were used to shore up the breaches in the city walls. Likewise there are foretastes of judgment ahead of time in the lives of all God’s people.</p>


text:
<p>You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool- This would have been in the Kidron valley, perhaps the scene of this prophecy (:1). The person who did this was Hezekiah (<a href='B:120 20:20'>2Ki 20:20</a>). But here it appears to be criticized as a trusting in human strength. Perhaps this is why <a href='B:120 20:20'>2Ki 20:20</a> says it was done in his might- not Yahweh’s.</p><p>But you didn’t look to Him who had done this- Perhaps the one they didn’t"look to"who had done this was Hezekiah, who had made the pool / reservoir. They didn’t accept his spiritual leadership and purge of idolatry. But of course it may be that the"Him who had done this"was God. They did not look to / regard Yahweh, and so He rejected them by no longer regarding or looking at them (s:w. <a href='B:310 4:16'>Lam 4:16</a>). As so often in the prophets, condemnation was articulated in language which showed it to be but a continuation of attitudes and positions the condemned had already adopted in their lives.</p><p>Neither did you have respect for Him who purposed it long ago- The idea of God ’preparing’ implies that there is therefore a gap between the plan being made, and it being executed- hence “The Lord has both planned and done what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon” (<a href='B:300 51:12'>Jer 51:12</a>; <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a>; <a href='B:310 2:17'>Lam 2:17</a>; <a href='B:290 22:11'>Isa 22:11</a>; <a href='B:290 37:26'>Isa 37:26</a>; <a href='B:450 1:6'>Zec 1:6</a>; <a href='B:450 8:14'>Zec 8:14</a>). This ‘gap’ is significant when we come to consider the idea of God’s ‘repentance’ or change of mind- stating something is going to happen, but then changing His mind because of human behaviour during the ‘time gap’ between the statement and its’ execution.</p>


text:
<p>In that day, the Lord Yahweh of Armies called to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to dressing in sackcloth- The call to repentance was apparently not being heard (:13). But the Assyrian destruction of Jerusalem was still averted. We can conclude that this therefore was due toGod’s extreme sensitivity to the intercession and repentance of a minority. And this is a challenge and encouragement to us today.</p>


text:
<p>and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die- See on :12. Esau’s desperate pleading for Jacob’s pottage at the cost of his birthright seems to be the background for <a href='B:530 15:32'>1Co 15:32</a> which quotes this verse; those without the hope of covenant resurrection are described as saying"Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die", just as the faithless in Israel did in Hezekiah’s time. Instead of weeping in repentance, their attitude was"Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die". This category is associated with Esau, craving for the things of today at the cost of an eternal tomorrow. And it is the spirit of our age, although as Paul shows, the resurrection of Jesus guarantees ours and therefore this should not be our attitude.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh of Armies revealed Himself in my ears, Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies- The implication is that what Yahweh discreetly and intimately told Isaiah, he was preaching. It seems the Lord Jesus alludes to this in <a href='B:470 10:27'>Mat 10:27</a> and asks us each one to live in the spirit of prophets like Isaiah:"What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops". The death of these sinners was required; and yet the Assyrian destruction was averted by the repentance of a minority. But although these sinners didn’t die when and as potentially planned, they still died. The idea however may be as in <a href='B:90 3:14'>1Sa 3:14</a>; their sin could not be purged by sacrifice. If they were truly penitent, then like David they would be drive to throw themselves upon God’s grace outside of the Mosaic system.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say- LXX"Go into the chamber"suggests Isaiah was sent to meet Shebna in the burial vault he was preparing for himself (:16)."Shebna"is an Egyptian name and may have been installed in office by Hezekiah as part of his deal with Egypt, upon whom he trusted rather than solely in Yahweh. He had the office of being"over the house"but by the time of the Assyrian invasion Shebna had been replaced in this office by Eliakim (:20; <a href='B:290 36:3'>Isa 36:3</a>; <a href='B:290 37:2'>Isa 37:2</a>). However, Shebna had not been completely ’hurled away’ as required by :17, because he is mentioned there as being the"scribe", a senior secretary, although Eliakim was"over the household". This seems typical of the partial response made to Isaiah’s prophecies. But it seems Yahweh accepted that partial response and repentance of a remnant, and so the invaders were destroyed and the awful outcome threatened upon Jerusalem in this chapter was averted or at best deferred. For more condemnation of Shebna, see on <a href='B:290 32:5'>Isa 32:5</a>.</p><p>The idea of prophecies and scripture being re-written under inspiration shouldn’t come as strange to us. Many of the Psalms are clearly relevant to David, and yet just as clearly relevant to Hezekiah and other Kings. Thus Psalms 41 is David’s reflection on the situation of 2 Samuel 15 - but evidently it’s been re-written with reference to Hezekiah, also afflicted with an “evil disease”; and Ahithophel’s part in David’s life was perhaps played out in Hezekiah’s life by Shebna (<a href='B:290 22:15'>Isa 22:15</a>).</p>


text:
<p>‘What are you doing here? Whom do you have here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’. Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiselling a habitation for himself in the rock!- As explained on :15, Isaiah was sent to meet Shebna in the burial vault he was preparing for himself. To be buried in a specially dug tomb in Jerusalem was for the kings of Jerusalem; the force of"what are you doing here"[asked twice] may be that he was preparing a tomb for himself amongst those of the former kings; so perhaps by preparing his tomb there, Shebna was politically asserting himself as the effective king of Judah, although he was likely an Egyptian (see on :15,17). Perhaps he was planning on acting like this during Hezekiah’s sickness."On high"would then refer to the choice of the highest tombs- amongst the former kings.</p><p>The question"What are you doing here?"was that asked of Adam and Elijah in their moments of weakness. In each case, the question was intended to elicit repentance; and the same here. See on :19. Presumably Shebna made no response, and so his condemnation is stated in :17. Shebna was happy to die in glory; he had the attitude explained on :13, that he was happy to live for today and then eternally die. Sadly despite the warning from the example of Shebna and the specific command not to just live for today and resign ourselves to an eternal death (:13), Hezekiah at the end of his life gave in to just this same mentality (<a href='B:290 39:8'>Isa 39:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, He will grasp you firmly-This is effectively a command to hurl Shebna out of his position of power. As explained on :15, this was only partially obeyed. But at least there was some response, and even that partial response was so pleasing to God that the Assyrian invasion was averted. We too should not despise the partial response of others to God’s word. The LXX offers:"And will take away thy robe and thy glorious crown". This would connect with the suggestion made on :16, that the Egyptian Shebna was pretending to the throne, and perhaps in Hezekiah’s weakness and illness he was even wearing the crown; or a crown and robe which signalled his pretension to the throne.</p>


text:
<p>He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord’s house- LXX:"And he will bring thy fair chariot to shame, and the house of thy prince to be trodden down". Shebna was pretending to the throne (see on :15-17) and was acting as if he was the effective king; perhaps riding in the royal chariot whilst Hezekiah was indisposed. Shebna’s prince would have been Pharaoh of Egypt as he was an Egyptian (see on :15). Perhaps part of the political deal for Egyptian support was that Shebna would come to Jerusalem and be the effective ruler on Egypt’s behalf, and a"house", perhaps an idol temple, built on behalf of the Egyptians. There is no evidence however that Shebna was taken captive into Assyria. It could be that he was to thrown out by the leadership of Judah- and they didn’t do this. The prophetic scenario here was however ameliorated by the repentance of a remnant in Judah.</p>


text:
<p>I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station- As explained on :17, this is effectively a command to hurl Shebna out of his position of power. As explained on :15, this was only partially obeyed:&nbsp; There is no evidence however that Shebna was treated like this; the prophetic scenario here was however ameliorated by the repentance of a remnant in Judah. The LXX has"And thou shalt be removed from thy stewardship"- quoted by the Lord in His parable of the unjust steward (<a href='B:490 16:4'>Luk 16:4</a>). It seems He saw Shebna as a bad man, who all the same could have repented. This would explain why"What are you doing here?"was a call for him to repent (:17).</p>


text:
<p>It will happen in that day that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah- Eliakim is being set up as a potential Messiah figure according to the following verses. See on :15. He was to replace Shebna, and as noted on :15, this was obeyed by the leadership of Judah; although they did not expel Shebna as they were intended to."My servant"may imply Eliakim was one of the school of prophets headed by Isaiah (<a href='B:290 20:3'>Isa 20:3</a>).</p>


text:
<p>and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah- During Hezekiah’s indisposition and illness, Shebna angled to take over the kingship. But God wanted Eliakim to do so. The language here is exactly that of <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>. Eliakim could have become a Messiah figure at the time, but he failed (<a href='B:290 22:25'>Isa 22:25</a>). So the prophecies were reapplied to the Lord Jesus."Belt"is the word for the High Priest’s girdle (<a href='B:20 39:29'>Exo 39:29</a>). Shebna had blasphemously set himself up as a king-priest; but this was to be the characteristic of Messiah, and God wanted Eliakim to be that figure.</p>


text:
<p>I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open- Again, the Messianic language of <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> is applied to Eliakim. In the same way as Solomon could have been the Messiah, so perhaps could men like Eliakim; for the language of <a href='B:290 22:20-25'>Isa 22:20-25</a> is later transferred to the Lord Jesus. For all God’s foreknowledge otherwise, so the Messianic Kingdom could have come at the time of the restoration from Babylon. But Eliakim failed (:25), and so this verse is quoted about the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:730 3:7'>Rev 3:7</a>) to whom the Messianic hope was reapplied. See on <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>.</p>


text:
<p>I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house- God would have established Eliakim, fastening him like a nail. He could have been the"pin"(s:w."nail") of <a href='B:330 15:3'>Eze 15:3</a> who although weak was strengthened by God to be able to bear any weight."Sure"is the word for faith or belief; the place of belief or faith was surely the Jerusalem temple. Eliakim as a descendant of David could have been the fulfilment of the prophecies that David’s throne was to be made glorious. But he snapped (:25). But there were later possibilities too- who also likewise failed. I submit that the Messianic prophecies of the restoration prophets could have had their fulfilment in Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel, or some other Messianic figure at that time. Everything was made possible to enable this- Joshua, who couldn’t prove his Levitical genealogy, was given “a place of access” amongst the priesthood, those who “stood” before the Lord (<a href='B:450 3:7'>Zec 3:7</a> RV). Ezra thanked God that they had returned and that they had “a nail in his holy place” (<a href='B:150 9:8'>Ezr 9:8</a>), a reference surely to a Messiah figure whom he felt to be among them, the “nail in a sure place” of <a href='B:290 22:23'>Isa 22:23</a>. According to <a href='B:470 1:12'>Mat 1:12</a> and <a href='B:490 3:27'>Luk 3:27</a>, Zerubbabel was the Prince of Judah, and the rightful heir to David’s throne. But due to his weakness, the fulfilment was deferred to Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers- The Hebrew word for"glory"is literally"weight", that which is heavy. He could have been the promised seed of David,"his father’s house", who reigned on David’s glorified throne. But the idea is that even the lightest small vessels caused him to snap (:25). He was fastened and strengthened by God to bear the glory; but he snapped at the slightest load.</p>


text:
<p>In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it- LXX"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed". I suggest that the idea is that a potential Messiah figure would be raised up, but he would fail, and would not function as intended. This was what happened to Eliakim, Hezekiah, Zerubbabel and others who were set up as the potential Messiah figures. The impression is given that an awful lot ’hung’ on that one individual; the reestablishment of the Kingdom was going to depend upon this one individual because the people generally were spiritually weak. But all would fall, because he would not be strong enough. And so this all will come to fulfilment in Messiah Jesus. He would be cut down and would fall- the language of the invasion and destruction of Zion (<a href='B:290 9:10'>Isa 9:10</a>). But that was not how Eliakim came to his end; the idea may simply look forward to how the true Messiah would never be cut down or fall but would last eternally.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them- LXX has"Carthage"for"Tarshish". Carthage was a colony of Tyre, and so they would mourn the fall of their mother city; and therefore as LXX"men no longer arrive from the land of the Citians".</p><p>This chapter seems to imply that if Tyre had howled in repentance and then been silent and ashamed, she would be ‘forgotten’ 70 years and then become devoted to Yahweh. This never happened. Yet the 70 year period is of course analogous to Judah’s 70 years in captivity, also without repentance; see on :17.</p><p>It’s impossible to choose which of the various sieges of Tyre this chapter may refer to. And the later references to a 70 year period don’t fit anything [so far as we currently know]. Such prophecies as this could be an example of apocalyptic imaging, whereby a picture is presented of a panorama of events, although each element of the panorama may be fulfilled at a different time. This would mean that the entire prophetic picture presented here never happened all together at one time to Tyre. However I discern in many prophecies elements which simply were never fulfilled and by their nature, will not be. And so I prefer to consider these prophecies as conditional, and they present potential scenarios which factor in a whole range of human responses, both obedient and disobedient. Not all of them will therefore fulfill, according to the principle of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>, that God’s stated intentions about the nations may notcome about if there is repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished- Tyre was originally a colony of Sidon; the terms are at times interchangeable (:4). Ethbaal is called"king of Tyre"by Josephus (Antiquities 8:3:2), but"king of the Sidonians"in <a href='B:110 16:31'>1Ki 16:31</a>. Some of Tyre’s coins celebrate it as"the metropolis of the Sidonians".</p>


text:
<p>On great waters- Or,"by the great waters", the Mediterranean.</p><p>The seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations- The seed in view is the grain of Egypt, transported to the mouth of the Nile [here called the Sihor] where the Phoenicians bought it and then sold it throughout the nations.</p>


text:
<p>Be ashamed, Sidon- The reference is still to Tyre; see on :2.</p><p>For the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins- Their pride was in the claim that they were full of young men and women and wealth which they hadn’t had to labour for. This is effectively a denial of the curse in Eden; but judgment would come for them all the same. And :10 LXX says that the collapse of trade would mean they would have to"till thy land", returning to working the land in the sweat of their face as prophesied in Genesis, rather than boasting that they had avoided that aspect of the curse. This is strangely relevant to our society, where again every effort is vainly made to try to overcome that ancient curse.</p>


text:
<p>When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre- Perhaps because there were colonies of Tyre there, or because the Egyptian merchandise of :3 was no longer being bought by the Tyrians. And the fall of Tyre would be a message to the Egyptians that the northern invader would soon reach them. In Isaiah’s context he is teaching Judah the weakness of Egypt, upon whom they were always inclined to trust.</p>


text:
<p>Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!- LXX"Depart ye to Carthage". The people of Tyre fled to their colonies such as Carthage when the city was besieged. There is historical evidence for this. We see here that"Tarshish"referred to the colonies of Tyre, reached by the long distance ships called"ships of Tarshish"just as fast British merchant boats were known as"Indiamen"; and was where they fled to by ship when they were besieged. This ought to close down all speculation that"Tarshish is Britain". This fleeing of refugees by ship from Tyre is noted in history, especially when Alexander finally ruined Tyre. And Layard found representations of it on the monuments of Nineveh, suggesting this also happened when the Assyrians of Isaiah’s time besieged the city. We see the prophecy having multiple fulfillments over time; see on :1.</p>


text:
<p>Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?- The sense may be a mixture of the Hebrew and LXX, in that she was to flee into exile in her own ships, which had once been her pride:"Was not this your pride from the beginning, before she was given up?". The condemnation of Tyre as being a joyous city which would be ruined is intended to connect with Isaiah’s condemnations of Jerusalem for feasting rather than fasting (<a href='B:290 22:2'>Isa 22:2</a>; <a href='B:290 32:13'>Isa 32:13</a>). He intends them to look at the fall of others for the same behaviour; and we too can look at the fall of others contemporary with us as well as in history, and take warning.</p>


text:
<p>Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?- The answer of"Yahweh"is given in the next verse, but the question is perhaps posed in this way in order to elicit repentance. For in all the oracles against the nations which began in Isaiah 13, there is always an appeal for repentance. For it was God’s hope that a remnant of repentant Gentiles would join a remnant of His repentant people in His reestablished Kingdom in Judah. She was to understand that her giving of crowns to her colonies and declaration of her merchants as royal princes was all just playing around at creating a kingdom. She needed to humble herself beneath the reality of Yahweh’s Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth- We note that the primary issue with the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 27, 28 was not his idolatry, but his pride and playing God. This is what is so utterly abhorrent to God. And we must have that same perspective. Throughout Ezekiel 27 and Ezekiel 28 Tyre is portrayed as having a fake tabernacle and temple, an imitation Zion; and her prince was therefore enthroned there as if he were Yahweh. He consciously"set his heart"on this fantasy. The Ugaritic documents reveal that the kings of that time considered themselves to be Divine, the human reincarnation of a god who had died and was now rising again. But the king of Ezekiel 28, perhapsItobaal II or Azemilcus, was consciously impersonating the Yahweh religion of Zion:&nbsp;Isaiah begins his prophecy with the statements that all pride in the eretz promised to Abraham was to be brought down- whether in Judah or in the Gentile nations such as Tyre within that territory. But this bringing down of pride was in the hope that they might repent.</p>


text:
<p>Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more- The text is very obscure here, and the LXX makes more sense:"Till thy land; for ships no more come out of Carthage". They could no longer rely upon trade between Tyre and her colonies, so they must till their own land, returning to agriculture for their basic needs. This would then connect with my suggestion on :4 that the people of Tyre were boasting they need not"till their land"in the spirit of the curse in Eden, but rather considered they had rather cleverly got around that curse by their trading. It would also make sense why the fall of the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 is described with allusion to the fall of Adam in Eden; Tyre was to suffer the same judgment as Adam, for all their boasting that they had avoided it.</p>


text:
<p>He has stretched out His hand over the sea, He has shaken the kingdoms. Yahweh has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds-"Canaan"can be translated as AV"the merchant city", referring again to Tyre. Or it could be that Tyre is being likened to one of the cities of Canaan, all of which were to fall before Joshua-Jesus. Note that the&nbsp;"Syro-Phoenician woman"of <a href='B:480 7:26'>Mar 7:26</a> is"a woman of Canaan"in <a href='B:470 15:22'>Mat 15:22</a>. The shaking of the kingdoms may have in view an earthquake from Yahweh which would destroy Tyre (rather than a protracted siege); and Yahweh’s stretching out His hand over the sea recalls the Red Sea and His miraculous intervention to judge Egypt. This kind of thing features in all the prophecies against the nations from Isaiah 13 onwards. There was the potential that they would be destroyed by supernatural Divine judgment as Sodom was. This didn’t happen, because the potential prophetic scenario didn’t come about; not least because Judah didn’t repent and the Kingdom of God was not reestablished there as potentially possible. Judgment still came upon Tyre but in a somewhat reduced and different form to that originally intended.</p>


text:
<p>He said, You shall rejoice no more, you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim. Even there you will have no rest- As explained on :2, Tyre was the"daughter of Sidon"in that originally she had been a colony of Sidon. With the city besieged, the people of Tyre would flee by boat to their colonies in Kittim (Cyprus) and also Carthage (see on :6). But they had no rest on Cyprus because Sargon and Esarhaddon both conquered it; and when Abdi-Milkut, King of Sidon, fled there, Esarhaddon had him beheaded. There are inscriptions which call it"the usual refuge of the Phoenician kings". But Cyprus was included in the dominions of Asshurbanipal and so was never a stable place of rest for Tyrians.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not until the Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers; they overthrew its palaces, they made it a ruin- Although Babylon later conquered Assyria, initially Assyria conquered Babylon. It was made ’not a people’ by the Assyrians, and they made Babylon deserted, a place for the wilderness dwellers, i:e. the wild animals. This judgment of Babylon by Assyria was to be repeated when Babylon fell much later (<a href='B:290 13:21'>Isa 13:21</a>; <a href='B:290 34:14'>Isa 34:14</a>)."They set up their towers"in the sense that they ’made them bare’ (as in <a href='B:420 3:9'>Hab 3:9</a>) and overthrew it until it was just a ruin. The implication is that the Assyrians were to do this to Tyre, and would move on from there to do the same to Jerusalem, who should likewise not trust in its apparently impregnable defences. But Assyria didn’t destroy Tyre as envisaged here. This didn’t happen, because the potential prophetic scenario didn’t come about; not least because Judah didn’t repent and the Kingdom of God was not reestablished there as potentially possible. Judgment still came upon Tyre but in a somewhat reduced and different form to that originally intended. Various Assyrians besieged Tyre at different times (Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal); as did the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II, and then Alexander of Macedon. As explained on :1, elements of this prophecy came true in those various invasions, but the intended scenario was the direct destruction of Tyre by Yahweh. And this didn’t happen. See on :14.</p>


text:
<p>Howl, you ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste!- The destruction of Tyre was tragic for the people in the ships of Tarshish, for they were the people of Tyre who had used their ships to flee into exile (:6,12). There is no way that these ships of Tarshish refer to the shipping of the British empire. The context here makes them clearly refer to the vessels belonging to Tyre. The language of ships and mourning is all used in Revelation 18 of the fall of latter day Babylon. My suggestion is that the judgments upon Tyre didn’t fully come about at the time and was therefore transferred, reapplied and rescheduled to latter day Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute- As demonstrated on :17, the 70 years is meant to connect with the 70 years exile of Judah. But that 70 years was not a literal period because it was dependent upon Judah’s repentance. It could be that during that same period, Tyre was to be"forgotten", also in exile in places like Carthage (:6,12). The 70 year period was also to be the length of Babylon’s dominion; Judah’s revival was to coincide with the fall of Babylon."The days of one king"may refer to one dynasty or kingdom,"king"being put for"kingdom"as in <a href='B:340 7:17'>Dan 7:17</a>; <a href='B:340 8:21'>Dan 8:21</a>. And this may have been the intention here too; that Babylon was to dominate Tyre for 70 years and then she would revive. Their revival and turning to Yahweh in covenant relationship was intended to coincide with Judah’s acceptance of the new covenant at the restoration (:18). But this was the prophetic potential; none of the parties concerned repented.</p>


text:
<p>Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered- This may be a quotation from the song or ballad of the prostitute in :15. The song of the elderly prostitute may be a song of repentance, regretting a profligate life that now cannot serve her. She had been forgotten by God as Judah were during the 70 years of exile (s:w. <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>). And Judah like Tyre was forgotten of all her former lovers (s:w. <a href='B:300 30:14'>Jer 30:14</a>). In response to singing this song, Yahweh visits Tyre in mercy and restoration (:17); we can therefore assume that this song is one of repentance. The songs make her"remembered"- before God. For that is how the word is generally used, many times."Sweet melody"is used of singing to God in a way He finds sweet (<a href='B:230 33:3'>Psa 33:3</a>).</p>


text:
<p>It will happen after the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre- God gave a prophecy about Tyre the generation before Judah went into exile for 70 years. He said that Tyre would be forgotten for 70 years and then would be visited by Yahweh and revived (<a href='B:290 23:17'>Isa 23:17</a>). Surely this was in order to prepare those who had ears to hear to the fact that if God could operate like this with Tyre, how much more could He revive and"visit"His beloved people after 70 years. For the same language of visiting after 70 years is used about them (<a href='B:300 27:22'>Jer 27:22</a>; <a href='B:300 29:10'>Jer 29:10</a>); divine visitation can be in mercy, grace and revival, and not always in judgment.</p><p>We note that the later prophecies about Tyre in Ezekiel state that Tyre is to be permanently destroyed and not revived. We can assume therefore that what we read here about Tyre’s revival and entering covenant with Yahweh, donating her wealth to His people (:18 LXX) was command more than prediction. Or at best it was conditional prophecy, requiring Tyre’s repentance. But this didn’t happen, and the projected reestablishment of God’s Kingdom in Judah under a Messianic ruler was precluded anyway by Judah’s impenitence. Hence Ezekiel’s later prophecies of total destruction of Tyre, with the implication in <a href='B:330 47:20'>Eze 47:20</a> that the territory of Tyre would be incorporated within the borders of Israel’s revived Kingdom.</p><p>And she shall return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth- LXX"And she shall be a mart for all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth". This makes more sense, seeing that her profits are to be devoted to Yahweh (:18).</p>


text:
<p>Her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to Yahweh. It will not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Yahweh, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing- Unless we read with the LXX here and in :17, we have the situation of a prostitute’s earnings being devoted to Yahweh, which was forbidden under the law. So LXX:"And her trade and her gain shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be gathered for them, but for those that dwell before the Lord, even all her trade, to eat and drink and be filled, and for a covenant and a memorial before the Lord". This would then be saying that the Divine intention would be fulfilled- Tyre would repent and enter the new covenant with Yahweh which His repentant people would also enter; and they would not keep their restored wealth for themselves, but rather donate it to"those who dwell before Yahweh"in Zion. This never happened after seventy years nor at any time, because Tyre didn’t want to repent and neither did Judah; and so the barest essence of it will be fulfilled in the latter day repentance of all nations around Israel, and their entering covenant relationship with Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, Yahweh creates the earth empty, creates it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants- I have noted through Isaiah 13-23 that the judgments upon Judah and the surrounding nations all featured supernatural Divine intervention after the pattern of His judgment of Sodom; and also there is an appeal for repentance to all of them. The prophetic potential was that a remnant from all those nations including Judah was to repent, although the majority would be destroyed. Those remnants would then unite together in a multiethnic revived Kingdom of God in Judah led by a Messianic figure (see on <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>). That scenario was potentially possible, but didn’t come about. Those prophecies are now brought together in what has been termed Isaiah’s"little apocalypse"in Isaiah 24-26, a picture of judgment upon the entire eretz focusing upon Judah. Perhaps it was given just before Shalmaneser destroyed Moab (<a href='B:290 25:10'>Isa 25:10</a>), before Samaria and the ten tribes were taken into captivity, and perhaps therefore delivered soon after Hezekiah became king. There were primary fulfillments but all the prophecies remained unfulfilled in toto. They are to be reapplied to the last days.</p><p>The earth or land promised to Abraham was to be"created"empty; there was to be a return to the"without form and empty"state of that same eretz or land presented in Genesis 1. There was therefore the impression given that the destructions were to clear the land for a new creation. The envisioned wide scale destruction was in fact creative.</p>


text:
<p>It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest- The judgments were to affect all of society and not just the leadership. Isaiah began his prophecy by making this same point, in saying that both heavens and earth were to be judged.</p>


text:
<p>The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste- This utter emptying is the word used of the judgment of Egypt in <a href='B:290 19:3'>Isa 19:3</a>, as well as about Judah . As explained on :1, the various scenes of judgment on the nations in Isaiah 13-23 are here presented as coming upon the entire eretz promised to Abraham:&nbsp; Likewise"laid waster"is used of both Judah and the surrounding nations.</p><p>For Yahweh has spoken this word- This may appear axiomatic until we appreciate the allusion to the Genesis creation noted on :1. As creation was performed by a word, God said and it was done, so this uncreation was to be performed by a word, and likewise that same word would bring a new creation.</p>


text:
<p>The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the proud people of the earth languish- The intention of the large scale judgments upon the entire eretz were in order to humble pride. Out of all the sins present in that territory, it is pride which is repeatedly stated as the parade example of their sins. We too need to perceive that in all things humility is of the essence and pride is so abhorrent to God- and it will be judged. There is a conscious parallel between the earth and the world; the reference may be to the earth / land of Israel (see on :5), and to the"world"as the nations around Israel. Those nations have been mentioned so far in the judgments of Isaiah- Assyria, Babylon, Egypt (at least from the Nile northwards), Tyre etc. They were"the world"known and experienced by Isaiah and his audience. And yet this scenario could have come about at the time of the Assyrian invasion; for it was then that the earth / land mourned and languished (s:w. <a href='B:290 33:9'>Isa 33:9</a>; see note there).</p>


text:
<p>The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant-"The earth"therefore seems to specifically refer to Israel, both the ten tribes and Judah. For it was they who had broken God’s law and the eternal covenant. We note that the"everlasting covenant"could be broken; God was willing to eternally honour it, but Israel broke it. Any claim that the Jewish laws are eternal because the covenant was eternal must factor this in. That covenant is not now operative; it was broken. But the judgment here spoken was long delayed; for the same words are used in <a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a> about Judah’s pollution of the land and the judgment that was to come through the Babylonians. So the judgment scenario presented here in Isaiah didn’t fulfill at least until the Babylonian invasion; and indeed even then it didn’t fully. It is all reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left- I suggested on :1 that what is in view is supernatural Divine judgment upon the entire territory, and not simply one group within it invading other areas. The burning by fire didn’t happen; but the vision was that it would, and that very few would survive. And they would be the repentant remnant. This is the language of Revelation, where a series of judgments are poured out upon the earth / land, destroying everything and leaving a very small repentant remnant. The evident connections with Isaiah 24 suggest that what is primarily in view in Revelation is a situation in the eretz promised to Abraham.</p>


text:
<p>The new wine mourns, the vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh- This is the language of <a href='B:360 1:10'>Joe 1:10</a>, which is in the context of Joel appealing for desperate repentance in order to avert this scenario. So it could be that the non-fulfilment of this prophecy of mass destruction of the eretz was not simply because Judah had failed to repent and so the reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah was not to come at that time; the suspension or delay of the judgments could also be because a minority did repent and intercede, and this led to the judgments being averted. Even if the potential of the Kingdom being restored was not then realized.</p>


text:
<p>the mirth of tambourines ceases, the sound of those who rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases- Jeremiah foresaw the repentant remnant taking the tambourine again and going forth in the dance, when they enter the new covenant. But as explained on :1, this uncreation was required before that new creation could come.</p>


text:
<p>They will not drink wine with a song, strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it- Babylon, Tyre and Judah are all condemned for feasting rather than fasting in repentance (<a href='B:290 22:2'>Isa 22:2</a>; <a href='B:290 23:7'>Isa 23:7</a>; <a href='B:290 32:13'>Isa 32:13</a>). And as noted on :1, they were all therefore to meet similar judgments. God’s people acted as the world and were therefore"condemned with the world", as the rejected of the new Israel will be (<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>).</p>


text:
<p>The confused city is broken down, every house is shut up so that no man may come in-"Confused"is the word used in <a href='B:10 1:2'>Gen 1:2</a> for the eretz being"without form". As noted on :1, the land is being decreated, as it were, in preparation for a new creation, albeit from a very small seed which would abide the judgments. The assurance of <a href='B:290 45:18'>Isa 45:18</a> was to be that God had not created the earth / land"in vain"(s:w."confused"). His intention was that it would be eternally inhabited by His reformed people. But firstly it had to be made"without form"("confused", s:w:) and this is what was to happen in the Babylonian desolation of the city of Jerusalem (s:w. <a href='B:300 4:23'>Jer 4:23</a>). Likewise the houses being shut up spoke of the Babylonian aftermath (s:w. <a href='B:330 3:24'>Eze 3:24</a>):&nbsp; So the judgment scenario presented here in Isaiah didn’t fulfill at least until the Babylonian invasion; and indeed even then it didn’t fully. It is all reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>There is a crying in the streets because of the wine- all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone- Jerusalem was condemned for feasting rather than fasting in repentance (<a href='B:290 22:2'>Isa 22:2</a>; <a href='B:290 32:13'>Isa 32:13</a>). It was the wine they had drunk and abused which had led to their"crying in the streets". This was the fruit of enjoying the good life of hedonism for the moment; there would be a terrible ending."Darkened"continues the idea noted on :1- that the earth / land is returning to the darkness and formless (:10) state before creation began. The darkness had to come before Zion’s light could arise and shine upon that darkness.</p>


text:
<p>The city is left in desolation, and the gate is struck with destruction- Desolation of the city is the very term used often about Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 19:8'>Jer 19:8</a>; <a href='B:300 25:18'>Jer 25:18</a>) but also about Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:43'>Jer 51:43</a>) and the cities of Edom (<a href='B:300 49:13'>Jer 49:13</a>) and Moab (<a href='B:300 48:9'>Jer 48:9</a>). Again we note that the judgment scenario presented here in Isaiah didn’t fulfill at least until the Babylonian invasion; and indeed even then it didn’t fully. It is all reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>For it will be so in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done- Jerusalem was to be desolate (:12), and a repentant remnant of Judah"among the peoples", perhaps implying there would be a repentant remnant amongst the peoples too. That repentant remnant is what would be left after the judgment was over. Olives were struck down from the higher branches with a stick, and that rod or stick which was to beat Judah and the nations is clearly defined as Babylon / Assyria in Isaiah 10. This is the scenario we have in <a href='B:290 17:6'>Isa 17:6</a>:"Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or threeolives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree, says Yahweh, the God of Israel". The idea is that the tree was"fruitful"[potentially] but only a very few bits of fruit would be found. This finding of this tiny remnant"there", in a valley near Jerusalem (see on <a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, <a href='B:400 7:1'>Mic 7:1</a> says that actually no gleanings of the vintage were found; but all this will be transferred, reapplied and rescheduled to the outcome of the final judgment in a similar valley near Jerusalem at the Lord’s return. And this is the context here too (:21-23).</p>


text:
<p>These shall lift up their voice, they will shout for the majesty of Yahweh, they cry aloud from the sea- This seems to speak of the joy of the repentant Jewish remnant as they see the majestic glory of Yahweh literally revealed. Their joy will be matched by that of the repentant Gentile remnant (:15). It will have arisen as a direct result of the judgment / vintage which will destroy the majority:"But when the vintage is done, these shall cry aloud; and they that are left on the land shall rejoice together in the glory of the Lord: the water of the sea shall be troubled"(LXX). But"the sea"is the same word translated"west", and this would match the glorification of Yahweh in the east of :15. A primary fulfilment could have come at the restoration from Babylon; the same words are used about the shouting for joy when Yahweh returned the people of Zion (<a href='B:290 52:8'>Isa 52:8</a>). But again the potential wasn’t realized; the final fulfilment will be at the Lord’s return."The majesty of Yahweh"will be revealed when the earth is riven with earthquakes in a theophany and ’coming down’ of Yahweh greater than Sinai (s:w. <a href='B:290 2:10'>Isa 2:10</a>; <a href='B:290 2:19'>Isa 2:19</a>; <a href='B:290 2:21'>Isa 2:21</a>). This could have happened at Isaiah’s time but it clearly didn’t, and thus becomes the language of the last days.</p>


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<p>Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!- The eretz Israel is sometimes presented as an island, surrounded by the"sea"of Gentiles, her immediate neighbours. It is they who are envisaged here as joining in with the repentant remnant of Judah in glorifying Israel’s God."The God of Israel"underlines this point. These people emerge from the judgment period on the whole eretz, having lost the majority of their compatriots. And it is they who turn to Israel’s God.</p>


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<p>From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs of glory to the righteous!- Songs of glory of Israel’s God were to come from every corner of the Gentile nations within the eretz promised to Abraham. But this is juxtaposed against Isaiah’s lamentation and complaint at ’treachery’ later in this same verse. Perhaps we should understand these songs of glory to God as being hypocritical and insincere. When Isaiah grasps that, he is heartbroken that the Kingdom potential isn’t going to happen. And there’s in this case a lesson for us. We tend to think that if others are hypocrites, well, I’d better ensure I’m not. But this indicates a lack of perception of the glory of God, and omits the factor of how He must feel at all those other peoples’ hypocrisies; the glory that is intended to be given to Him, that isn’t. Because of hypocritical “songs of praise” to God, Isaiah felt physically ill- “I pine away, I pine away” (<a href='B:290 24:16'>Isa 24:16</a>). The prophets felt for God, seeing things from His viewpoint.</p><p>But I said, I pine away! I pine away! Woe is me!- Isaiah speaks of“My leanness… I pine away” (RV), as he spoke about Israel’s future glory and the inevitable judgments upon the enemies of his people. He didn’t gloat over the prospect, as some Christians appear to gloat over any defeat suffered by their nations’ enemies. Isaiah’s heart bled for humanity, he so believed his message that he emotionally responded to it himself. He too bled for the people whose doom he had to foretell.</p><p>The treacherous have dealt treacherously, yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously- It could be that Isaiah perceived that things weren’t going to work out as prophesied in his lifetime. He felt deeply, therefore, a sense of betrayal and treachery from his own"treacherous"people (s:w. <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:8'>Jer 3:8</a>). Or he could simply be distraught at the degree of treachery which was being practiced, against Jew (s:w. <a href='B:290 33:1'>Isa 33:1</a>) and Gentile (s:w. <a href='B:290 21:2'>Isa 21:2</a>) alike.</p>


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<p>Fear, the pit and the snare are on you who inhabit the earth- I explained on :1 that the judgments here were intended to come upon Judah and all the surrounding nations. And so we note that this very verse is applied to Moab in <a href='B:300 48:43'>Jer 48:43</a> - although this implies that the prophecy of Isaiah 24 wasn’t fulfilled in Isaiah’s lifetime. This language is clearly reapplied to the last days. For the day of the Lord will be a snare to the unsuspecting worldling, who will suddenly find that the Lord has come and destroyed him (<a href='B:290 8:14'>Isa 8:14</a>; <a href='B:290 24:17-18'>Isa 24:17-18</a>; <a href='B:300 50:24'>Jer 50:24</a>; <a href='B:490 21:35'>Luk 21:35</a>). Yet the materialistic believer falls into the snare of riches here and now. Surely the point is that our attitude to riches is a preview of the judgment; the materialistic believer has condemned himself, right now. <a href='B:290 8:14'>Isa 8:14</a> has used the same word for"snare"in describing how the rejected Messiah figure would be a snare who would catch most of God’s people. This is going to be the case in the last days, and is already the case- for it is literally a case of"believe or perish".</p>


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<p>It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit will be taken in the snare- Whilst the snare could refer to the Lord Jesus (see on :17), the same word for"snare"is applied to the priests (<a href='B:350 5:1'>Hos 5:1</a>) and false prophets of Israel (<a href='B:350 9:8'>Hos 9:8</a>).</p><p>For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble- As noted on :1, this is language which implies more than a military invasion of one people by another. It gives the impression of direct, Divine supernatural judgment and intervention. This scenario isn’t what happened at the time; it was deferred or reapplied to the last days.</p>


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<p>The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart, the earth is shaken violently- These Hebrew words and phrases are used about the Gentile nations (<a href='B:400 5:6'>Mic 5:6</a> re Assyria) as well as Judah (<a href='B:300 25:29'>Jer 25:29</a>). As explained on :1, the envisaged scenario was the judgment of Judah, Israel and all the nations within the eretz at the same time, involving supernatural Divine judgments such as earthquakes shaking the land, resulting in the destruction of the majority and the repentance of a minority."Torn apart"however is a term usually used about Israel’s breaking the covenant with God. Their tearing apart was because of how they had torn apart the covenant.</p>


text:
<p>the earth will stagger like a drunken man- The whole land was to tremble or stagger under judgment when it came; the same word is used of the trembling state of Judah’s unbelieving hearts (<a href='B:290 7:2'>Isa 7:2</a>). Judgment was but the articulation of the state of their faithless hearts. They were judged for the state of their hearts. Spiritual mindedness is of paramount significance to od. It seems extreme literal earthquakes are also in view (see on :1).</p><p>And will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again-"Hammock"is"hut". The word is only used elsewhere in <a href='B:290 1:8'>Isa 1:8</a>:"The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field ... like a besieged city":&nbsp; This could refer to how the Assyrians would take the whole land apart from Jerusalem. The entire"vineyard"of God’s work was to be destroyed, apart from a"shelter"- which was Zion. But it is the"daughter of Zion", the faithful remnant, and not the literal Zion which is in view here. They were to be a"shelter", a place of refuge, for others (<a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a> s:w:):&nbsp; As explained on <a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>, Zion was intended to become not only a place of spiritual refuge, but the capital of a revived Kingdom of God in Judah. That didn’t happen, Zion was saved by grace alone from the Assyrians; and so the"hut"was destroyed.</p>


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<p>It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth- LXX"And God shall bring his hand upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth". The idea may be that the kings of the earth / land are the ’heavens’, the rulers. And they will be particularly judged. All the rulers of the eretz were not judged together at any time, although this is required here. But it will happen in the last days. Revelation is full of information about how"the kings of the earth"/ land are to be judged (<a href='B:730 6:15'>Rev 6:15</a>; <a href='B:730 16:14'>Rev 16:14</a>; <a href='B:730 17:2'>Rev 17:2</a>; <a href='B:730 17:18'>Rev 17:18</a>; <a href='B:730 18:3'>Rev 18:3</a>; <a href='B:730 18:9'>Rev 18:9</a>; <a href='B:730 19:19'>Rev 19:19</a>; <a href='B:730 21:24'>Rev 21:24</a>).</p>


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<p>They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited- This didn’t happen at the time, but is transferred to the last days. The whole book of Revelation is full of allusions to the Old Testament prophecies. <a href='B:730 20:1-3'>Rev 20:1-3</a> is surely based upon <a href='B:290 24:21-22'>Isa 24:21-22</a>, which prophesied that the kings of the earth will be gathered together, imprisoned in a pit and punished. It is these very human “kings of the earth” who are described in the more figurative language of Revelation as “Satan”.</p>


text:
<p>Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before His elders will be glory- The end result of the majority of the people being destroyed in the eretz was that the repentant remnants of the peoples, including Judah, would see the literal coming of Yahweh to Zion and His reigning from Zion, the temple mount. This is the Kingdom scenario of Isaiah 2 and many other passages. The existing ’heavens’ of Judah would be confounded and ashamed, and replaced by a new set of"elders". And perhaps in a literal sense there will then be no need of sun and moon; for that is how things shall be in the Kingdom of God (<a href='B:730 21:23'>Rev 21:23</a>).</p>


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<p>Yahweh, You are My God. I will exalt You!- This is an allusion to the Song of Moses; and there are many others (<a href='B:290 12:2'>Isa 12:2</a>; <a href='B:290 25:1'>Isa 25:1</a> =&nbsp; <a href='B:20 15:2'>Exo 15:2</a>; <a href='B:290 13:16'>Isa 13:16</a> = <a href='B:20 15:6'>Exo 15:6</a>; <a href='B:290 47:14'>Isa 47:14</a> = <a href='B:20 15:7'>Exo 15:7</a>; <a href='B:290 46:5'>Isa 46:5</a> = Exo 1511; <a href='B:290 8:13'>Isa 8:13</a> = <a href='B:20 15:16'>Exo 15:16</a>; <a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a> = <a href='B:20 15:18'>Exo 15:18</a>). Following on from the vision of a radical supernatural Divine judgment of the entire eretz / land promised to Abraham, Isaiah feels it is as if the world (cp. Egypt) has been permanently judged and now Israel are free to inherit the land and kingdom; see on <a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>. But as explained on Isaiah 24, that was a potential scenario which didn’t then come about. The fall of Babylon or Assyria (cp. Egypt) was intended to coincide with the freedom of Judah / Israel from captivity; but most of them didn’t even want to leave.</p><p>I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth- Isaiah perceived that the destruction of both Judah and the surrounding nations was to bring about the Kingdom of God in Israel which He had long planned in the promises to the fathers ("faithfulness and truth"often alludes to these); he comes to a very mature understanding of the problem of evil. All those painful judgments were the"wonderful things"of the Song of Moses (<a href='B:20 15:11'>Exo 15:11</a>). For the judgments of Isaiah 24 which lead up to this hymn of praise were major and would mean the destruction of all which Isaiah and his people had once held dear. But he can wholeheartedly praise the God who was to do this, because he perceives its place in His far greater plan. They were all for the sake of the eternal salvation of the remnant who wanted that great salvation.</p>


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<p>For You have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it will never be built- <a href='B:300 50:26'>Jer 50:26</a> speaks of Babylon being turned into heaps, and"never be built"again is the language of the prophecies against Babylon too. The impression is given there that the famed storehouses of Babylon were to be opened at the same time as she was turned into heaps with nothing left. But this didn’t happen when the Medes took the city. It was only some time later that Cyrus further demolished parts of Babylon’s wall, and there was a rebellion of Babylon at the time of Darius Hystapses. The deportation of some of the population happened even later in the time of Seleucus Nicanor. But the impression is given that all this would happen immediately at Babylon’s fall. It didn’t, because the preconditions related to Judah’s repentance didn’t come about. And so the prophecies were reapplied and rescheduled to the last days, and are alluded to throughout Revelation 18 with reference to the fall of latter day Babylon; which appears to not refer to the literal city of Babylon.</p>


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<p>Therefore a strong people will glorify You, a city of awesome nations will fear You- The LXX focuses upon the way that the humbled, poor remnant, even if they were injured from the judgments, would be the ones led to eternally glorify Yahweh:"Therefore shall the poor people bless thee, and cities of injured men shall bless thee". The city in view may be Babylon, which was the city of :2. What was envisaged was the repentance of a remnant from there, and this likewise was the prophetic vision of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But as Ezekiel demonstrates, the first generations of exiles were worshipping the idols of Babylon; they made no witness to Babylon. And so the potential scenario didn’t work out.</p>


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<p>For You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall- This is the same scene as in <a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a> about the restored Zion:"There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain"."Shade from the heat"is the same phrase. The"heat"in the last days could refer to some kind of localized nuclear holocaust. Zion will become the shelter for the repentant remnant of the Gentile nations in the eretz, even if they have themselves been damaged and injured during the terrible judgments poured out; hence LXX"a shelter of them that thirst, and a refreshing air to injured men". I noted on :3 the recurrence of this phrase"injured men"in the LXX. Salvation for the"poor [and] needy"was to be a feature of the Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a> s:w:). This blessing of the poor and needy was to come about when Babylon fell (<a href='B:290 14:30'>Isa 14:30</a>), which was the time when the repentant exiles were supposed to leave Babylon and reestablish God’s Kingdom in Judah. Babylon fell, but not as dramatically as prophetically envisaged; and Judah weren’t repentant. And the Jewish leadership abused the"poor and needy"(<a href='B:370 4:1'>Amo 4:1</a>; <a href='B:370 8:6'>Amo 8:6</a>). The storm or rivers of judgment was to that to come upon Israel at the hands of the Assyrians (<a href='B:290 28:2'>Isa 28:2</a> s:w:). The Messianic figure of the time was to be a covert from this storm (<a href='B:290 32:2'>Isa 32:2</a>), and to bring forth a"storm"of judgment against the Assyrian(<a href='B:290 30:30-31'>Isa 30:30-31</a> s:w:). The"blast of the terrible ones"uses the same word as in <a href='B:290 37:7'>Isa 37:7</a> about the Angelic"blast"sent upon the Assyrians, outside"the wall"of Jerusalem. The collateral damage of all this was to be huge. But the restored Zion was to be the place of safety from all this. The potential fulfillments all failed; Eliakim could have been the Messianic figure at the time of the Assyrian invasion but he failed (see on <a href='B:290 22:25'>Isa 22:25</a>); Hezekiah turned away from Yahweh in his later life. And so it shall all come to final fulfillment at the Lord’s return.</p>


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<p>As the heat in a dry place will You bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low- This may refer to the cloud of glory to appear over the reestablished Zion (<a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>), which was to be a refuge for the repentant remnants of the various nations of the land. The reference seems to be to a supernatural heat which would be so intense that the mocking noise and songs of the invaders would be brought to nothing. I have noted through Isaiah 13-23 that the judgments upon Judah and the surrounding nations all featured supernatural Divine intervention after the pattern of His judgment of Sodom; and also there is an appeal for repentance to all of them. The prophetic potential was that a remnant from all those nations including Judah was to repent, although the majority would be destroyed. Those remnants would then unite together in a multiethnic revived Kingdom of God in Judah led by a Messianic figure. That scenario was potentially possible, but didn’t come about.</p><p>But the LXX&nbsp; has particular relevance to Isaiah and the faithful in a Jerusalem surrounded by the Assyrians:"We were as faint-hearted men thirsting in Sion, by reason of ungodly men to whom thou didst deliver us".</p>


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<p>In this mountain- Sometimes the artificial chapter breaks (which were added by man) break up a parenthesis. <a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a> speaks of how"the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem"; the following first five verses of Isaiah 25 are a parenthesis; and then <a href='B:290 25:6'>Isa 25:6</a> continues:"in this mountain... He will destroy...". If we fail to realize the parenthesis, and if we only started reading at chapter 25:1, we would be thinking:"Which mountain?". But if we realize the parenthesis, and if we disregard the chapter division, all is plain:" …in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a>)... in this mountain... (<a href='B:290 25:6'>Isa 25:6</a>)".</p><p>Yahweh of Armies will make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines- The future Kingdom of God was spoken of as a meal on a mountain, “a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, for all peoples” (<a href='B:290 25:6-8'>Isa 25:6-8</a>). Then, death itself will be on the menu and God will swallow it up (:8). It is pictured as an eternal feast which will last eternally. People from all nations of the earth are to be God’s guests. No one is to be excluded. The records of the feeding miracles are presented in terms of this Messianic banquet. The Messianic banquet was"to all peoples"- the repentant remnants of all the Gentile nations around Judah, eating together in celebration of entry into the new covenant. This didn’t happen at the time, but in essence is realized in the breaking of bread service today; and will come to literal fulfilment at the Lord’s return.</p><p>One of the many ways to understand the breaking of bread meeting is as a victory celebration. The parables of Luke 14, 15 speak of eating with Jesus as being a celebration of the salvation of the lost and as a celebration of marriage. Jesus spoke of how in the Kingdom, He would dine with the faithful (<a href='B:470 8:11'>Mat 8:11</a>; <a href='B:490 13:28-29'>Luk 13:28-29</a>); and He clearly had in mind the Kingdom prophecies of a Messianic banquet found in <a href='B:290 25:6-8'>Isa 25:6-8</a> and <a href='B:450 8:7-23'>Zec 8:7-23</a>; <a href='B:450 9:16'>Zec 9:16</a>. I have elsewhere pointed out that the feeding miracles, with the crowds described strangely as “reclining” as if at a feast, also has this final banquet in mind. But that banquet is a victor’s celebration; the breaking of bread clearly has elements of this within it.</p><p>
Taking the cup of wine is a double symbol: of blessing (1 Cor. 10:16; 11:25), and of condemnation (Ps. 60:3; 75:8; Is. 51:17; Jer. 25:15; Rev. 14:10; 16:19). Why this use of a double symbol? Surely the Lord designed this sacrament in order to highlight the two ways which are placed before us by taking that cup: it is either to our blessing, or to our condemnation. Each breaking of bread is a further stage along one of those two roads. At the last day, the Messianic banquet will feature fine wines: "In this mountain Yahweh of Armies will make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines" (Is. 25:6); but at the same time, the rejected will be made to drink the wine of God's wrath (Rev. 14:10). As we hold the memorial cup of wine in our hands, we make the answer now.</p>


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<p>He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations- This may be a reference to the vision for the restored temple and kingdom of God in Israel, described in more detail in Ezekiel 40-48. In Ezekiel’s system there is no veil; as well as no Laver (see <a href='B:330 36:24-27'>Eze 36:24-27</a>, <a href='B:500 15:3'>Joh 15:3</a>); no Table of hewbread (see <a href='B:400 5:4'>Mic 5:4</a>, <a href='B:500 6:35'>Joh 6:35</a>); no Lampstand or Menorah (see <a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>, <a href='B:500 8:12'>Joh 8:12</a>); no Golden Altar of Incense (<a href='B:450 8:20-23'>Zec 8:20-23</a>, <a href='B:500 14:6'>Joh 14:6</a>); and no Ark of the Covenant (<a href='B:300 3:16'>Jer 3:16</a>, <a href='B:500 10:30-33'>Joh 10:30-33</a>). But the returned exiles didn’t build that kind of temple as specified. They installed a veil- for it tore when the Lord died.</p><p>The veil and covering may be paralleled with death in :8."Destroy"is the same word as"swallow up"in :8, and is another allusion to the Song of Moses (see on :1), as it is also the word used of how the Egyptians were ’devoured’ or swallowed up at the Red Sea (<a href='B:20 15:12'>Exo 15:12</a>). And Zion will be the place where it is removed, finally because it is there the Lord Jesus will judge men and immortalize His people from all nations. The word for"destroy"or"swallow up"is also used of the ’covering’ [’swallowing up’ by hiding from vision] the things of the tabernacle (<a href='B:40 4:20'>Num 4:20</a>)."Covering"is parallel with the"veil"which is"spread", a word also used for the covering of the tabernacle furniture (<a href='B:20 37:16'>Exo 37:16</a>). The overall idea is that the swallowing up of death through the work of the Lord Jesus was the hidden message of the tabernacle, and this will then be openly revealed. It will be revealed to the nations in that no longer will the tabernacle system be solely for the Jews and their priests. It was clearly demonstrated in the rending of the veil when the Lord Jesus died, opening up the Most Holy to all men of every nation.</p><p>The LXX reflects the obvious need for Isaiah and all of us to share this good news with the nations:"they shall anoint themselves with ointment in this mountain. Impart thou all these things to the nations; for this is God’s counsel upon all the nations".</p>


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<p>He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces- These phrases are all interpreted in the New Testament as referring to the resurrection from the dead to immortality at the last day (<a href='B:530 15:54'>1Co 15:54</a>; <a href='B:730 7:17'>Rev 7:17</a>; <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>). And this will be done by God through His work in His Son, the Lord Jesus. In some way, these things were all capable of fulfillment in Isaiah’s time, had the judgments of Isaiah 24 come upon the earth. I noted on <a href='B:290 22:25'>Isa 22:25</a> that Eliakim could have been the Messiah figure in Isaiah’s day, but he failed; and his name means"God of raising / resurrection". Perhaps he could have been used for even this. Such huge potential was wasted. But God’s saving plan is not to be ultimately frustrated; it will come true in the last days through the Lord Jesus.</p><p>He will take the reproach of His people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it- This only has power if we read it as meaning that Israel’s reproach was to be permanently removed. But that didn’t happen in Isaiah’s day. It will be fulfilled when Israel eternally enter a new covenant, and the nations who once mocked them are eternally converted to Israel’s God.</p>


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<p>It shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God! We have waited for Him, and He will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for Him- The restored Zion would have Yahweh literally living there (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>), and Revelation states simply that the faithful will then see His face."Our God"is a phrase sometimes used to contrast Yahweh with the idols of the nations (e.g. <a href='B:300 3:23'>Jer 3:23</a>). This is the confident message of the redeemed remnants of Judah, Israel and the nations to whoever is left in the world who still hasn’t accepted Yahweh. All idols of whatever kind will be declared eternally nothing compared to Yahweh. Twice they exult that they"have waited for Him", and this was exactly he position of Isaiah’s family and school of prophets (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). That righteous remnant would finally have their faith and expectation rewarded:&nbsp;</p><p>And we too by grace shall be there and feel these same things. Then our fuller mental comprehension of the Father will be reflected in our physical vision of Him:&nbsp;There is a&nbsp; parallel between physically seeing God and having the veil of our present incomprehension removed. The fuller understanding which we will then have will be reflected in our literal seeing of God.</p><p>We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!- This situation could have arisen at the restoration (s:w. <a href='B:230 14:7'>Psa 14:7</a>; <a href='B:230 53:6'>Psa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:290 66:10'>Isa 66:10</a>). But the exiles returned in fear of what might meet them on the journey, and were soon disappointed and sad that there was a famine in the ruined land they had come to. Their impenitence and self-seeking precluded this joy. And so it will happen fully in the fuller salvation of the last day.</p>


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<p>For in this mountain the hand of Yahweh will rest- Yahweh’s hand speaks of His activity and protection; and it will"rest"permanently there, fulfilling the prophecy inherent in the Sabbath. Never again will God’s people be in fear. His activity will be focused in Zion, His eternal dwelling place in the transfer of heaven to earth spoken of in the final chapters of Revelation.</p><p>But Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill- We wonder why Moab is singled out. Perhaps they were seen as the bitterest of all the enemies of the Jews (<a href='B:120 24:2'>2Ki 24:2</a>; <a href='B:330 25:8-11'>Eze 25:8-11</a>):&nbsp; The dunghill connects with the prophecy of <a href='B:230 83:10'>Psa 83:10</a> concerning the destruction of&nbsp; the latter day invaders of Israel, including Moab as one of the"children of Lot". The Hebrew for “dunghill” is a play on the Moabite name Madmen (<a href='B:300 48:2'>Jer 48:2</a>); and also resembles the word for “straw”.</p><p>Isaiah’s love for the Gentiles whom he condemned (see on <a href='B:290 16:7'>Isa 16:7</a>) is remarkable. For as Moab cried out like a three year old heifer (<a href='B:300 48:34'>Jer 48:34</a>), so did Isaiah for them (<a href='B:290 15:5'>Isa 15:5</a>). All this was done by Isaiah (and later by Jeremiah), knowing that Moab hated Israel and is singled out for His specific condemnation here. But all the same they loved them, in the spirit of Noah witnessing to the mocking world around him. Our knowledge of this world’s future means that as we walk the streets and mix with men and women, our heart should cry out for them, no matter how they behave towards us, and there should be a deep seated desire for at least some of them to come to repentance and thereby avoid the judgments to come. Particularly is this true, surely, of the people and land of Israel. It ought to be impossible for us to walk its streets or meet its people without at least desiring to give them a leaflet or say at least something to try to help them see what lies ahead.</p>


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<p>He will spread out his hands in its midst, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands- The idea is that Moab will desperately seek to swim to survive the lethal water of the dung-pit (:10); but in vain. All attempts to avoid Divine condemnation will fail.</p>


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<p>He has brought down the high fortress of your walls, laid them low and brought them to the ground, even to the dust- The language of Jerusalem’s humiliation is here applied to Moab (e.g. <a href='B:290 26:5'>Isa 26:5</a>). Finally, what was done to Zion and Israel shall be done to those who did it, and Moab is singled out as representative of them all. This is the extended message of Revelation; the seals of judgment upon the land brought about by her invaders are then poured out upon those invaders, as the vials.</p>


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<p>In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and defences- The day in view is the time after the projected judgments on the entire eretz in Isaiah 24 which have left most dead, but the repentant remnants of the Gentiles and Jews will have come to Zion for salvation. The restored Kingdom of God is likewise described in Revelation in terms of a city, the new Zion with walls and defences which are not so much literal as spiritual. The Jews are condemned in the prophets for trusting in the physical defences of Jerusalem; Yahweh’s salvation will then be perceived as their defence and strength. The physical"walls and defences"will have been destroyed, as they were by the Babylonians (s:w. <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>)- so that they might now trust in Yahweh’s salvation. This could have happened at the restoration; but the walls were rebuilt in human strength and without this faith in Yahweh. The final fulfilment therefore will be in latter day faith in Jesus,’Yah’s salvation’.</p>


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<p>Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith- The idea is that although the physical walls and defences are destroyed (see on :1), the gates of salvation of the city will open to the returning exiles, who are described as"righteous... [keeping] faith"; see on :7. The exiles would only be described like that because their faith had led to righteousness being imputed to them (<a href='B:290 60:21'>Isa 60:21</a>) through the work of the suffering servant (<a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>),"the righteous branch"(<a href='B:300 23:5'>Jer 23:5</a>). The gates are opened by the same Messianic figure who opens and nobody shuts (see on <a href='B:290 22:22'>Isa 22:22</a> for a possible primary application in Eliakim)."Keeps faith"is literally"keeps truth"and may be a reference to how they have held on to their faith in the covenant based upon the promises to Abraham, which imply this imputed righteousness.</p>


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<p>You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in You- The LXX understands this to be a description of the"righteous nation"of :2. They are saved from their traumas by the state of their mind. And Yahweh will respond to this through the work of His Spirit on the human spirit, to keep their mind in perfect peace. This is the peace which comes from knowing sin is forgiven."Mind"here is literally ’imagination’. We must ask what are our fantasies, our hopes, according to which we live, think and feel day by day. If they are above all for the Kingdom, then we will be ’kept’ in this."Steadfast"is literally to lean, and in Isaiah’s immediate context this was in contrast to leaning upon Egypt for salvation (s:w. <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a>). The great salvation of the restored Kingdom could have come apart at that time, but it was precluded by a lack of real faith and focus on the Kingdom in the majority of Israel.</p>


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<p>Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock- The"eternal / forever age"of the Kingdom of peace could have come at that time, with the Messianic son of Isaiah as the father of that eternal age (see on <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>). But it didn’t. An eternal Messianic kingdom could then have been established; here, Judah were urged to repent and believe&nbsp; / trust in order to allow it to happen. And the same potential was there for the exiles who returned from Babylon (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>). And the"father"of that could have been a Messianic figure who arose in Jerusalem. But they preferred to look to Egypt as their rock (see on :3). But these potentials have been reapplied and rescheduled to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus to be established in Zion in the last days.</p>


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<p>For He has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low, He lays it low even to the ground, He brings it even to the dust- This refers to the city dominating Jerusalem; it had short term reference to Nineveh (Assyria) and Babylon. The Jews in Zion surrounded by the Assyrians were to imagine Nineveh as already ruined, and downtrodden by themselves (:6). This was the significance of Nahum’s prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh, and Isaiah’s earlier prophecies of the fall of Babylon. The language here and in :6 repeats the grand prophetic theme with which Isaiah began his prophecies- that the purpose of judgment is to bring down human pride and to exalt the humble.</p>


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<p>The foot shall tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the footsteps of the needy- See on :5. As Zion had been trodden down by Babylon and others (s:w. <a href='B:290 16:4'>Isa 16:4</a>; <a href='B:340 8:10'>Dan 8:10</a>), so the righteous remnant would tread down Babylon and the nations (s:w. <a href='B:400 5:8'>Mic 5:8</a>). It was the poor and needy who were trodden down by the Jewish leadership; and they finally were to be exalted:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p>The way of the just is uprightness; You who are upright make the path of the righteous level- LXX"The way of the godly is made straight: the way of the godly is also prepared". This is the language of Isaiah 40. The way was open for the exiles to return as righteous, justified by faith, to a restored Zion; and if they made that journey, Zion’s gates were open to them (see on :2). That way was potentially prepared at the restoration, but the exiles chose to remain in Babylon and Assyria, and those who did return did so without accepting the call to repentance which is part of the making straight of the path to Zion. But it was all potentially prepared. It s for us now to walk in that path likewise to Zion. In the future it seems there may be literal highways prepared leading to Zion for the repentant remnants of the nations (see on <a href='B:290 11:16'>Isa 11:16</a>; <a href='B:290 19:23'>Isa 19:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>).</p>


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<p>Yes, in the way of Your judgement, Yahweh, have we waited for You. Your name and Your renown are the desire of our soul- The faithful live now according to the principles which will be openly articulated at judgment day; hence LXX"For the way of the Lord is judgment". In the final glory of salvation revealed upon Zion, they exult that they"have waited for Him"(see on <a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a>), and this was exactly the position of Isaiah’s family and school of prophets (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). That righteous remnant would finally have their faith and expectation rewarded:&nbsp;</p>


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<p>With my soul have I desired You in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek You earnestly; for when Your judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness- Isaiah personally is speaking here. As noted on :8, Isaiah and his family were the parade examples of waiting for the Lord. Continually we see the importance of spiritual mindedness, where the imagination of our innermost heart is set;&nbsp; see on :3.</p><p>The Kingdom, 99:99% of our future, will be purely spiritual, and therefore the Hope of the Kingdom must be the center of our present existence. Isaiah realized this when he said that the total devotion of the righteous now is because ultimately, devotion to God’s ways will be what eternity is all about. We must come to appreciate this; that in real terms, the Lord can’t be only part of our lives. And as we do, He will become, quite artlessly and naturally, the master passion of our souls.</p><p>God’s judgments lead to the nations learning righteousness, or ’being taught righteousness’. The practical outcome of that judgment will be that therefore they will beat their swords into plough shares; and devote themselves to learning of God (<a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>) rather than of war. His judgments are always ultimately creative in spiritual terms. But the LXX&nbsp; sees this as an appeal to the nations:"for thy commandments are a light on the earth: learn righteousness, ye that dwell upon the earth".</p>


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<p>Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not perceive Yahweh’s majesty- LXX offers:"For the ungodly one is put down: no one who will not learn righteousness on the earth, shall be able to do the truth: let the ungodly be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord".</p><p>To know God is to love Him, and to want to be like Him; there is something compulsive and magnetic about who He is. The knowledge of God elicits quite naturally a merciful spirit (<a href='B:350 6:6'>Hos 6:6</a>). To “learn righteousness” is the result of beholding [after the pattern of Moses] the majesty of the Name (<a href='B:290 26:10'>Isa 26:10</a>). And so <a href='B:290 46:5-9'>Isa 46:5-9</a> appeals for Israel to repent simply because God really is God; they were to “remember this” that they already knew, and “bring it again to mind” that God is really the great eternal, and His Name is as it is. And they that know His Name will put their trust in Him, day by day, as we cough and hack our way through these few years towards His eternal Kingdom.</p><p>To commit violence to others’ persons is to live a lie (<a href='B:350 12:1'>Hos 12:1</a>). Truth is not therefore merely a set of doctrines; it refers to an obedient life. The LXX uses the phrase ’to do truth’, which John uses, in passages like <a href='B:140 31:20'>2Ch 31:20</a> (about Hezekiah’s obedience to commandments), or in <a href='B:10 47:29'>Gen 47:29</a>; <a href='B:290 26:10'>Isa 26:10</a> to describe simply doing and living what is right. The fact truth must be done indicates it is not merely correct academic interpretation of doctrine.</p><p>"Yahweh’s majesty"uses the same word as in <a href='B:290 12:5'>Isa 12:5</a>, where the repentant people of Israel, Judah and their attackers would behold these things and see Yahweh in their midst (<a href='B:290 12:6'>Isa 12:6</a>). The prophetic vision was of Yahweh Himself dwelling in Zion, so that the city would be called"the Lord is there"(<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>). But the exiles failed to rebuild Zion and operate the services there as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48, and so this literal dwelling of God amongst His redeemed people is alluded to in Revelation 21, 22 as being only fulfilled at the return of the Lord Jesus to earth. This would all be the result of grace being shown; but the wicked turn down even such an amazing offer. This is the power of entrenched sinful thinking.</p>


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<p>Yahweh, Your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see Your zeal for the people, and be disappointed; yes, fire will consume Your adversaries- The idea is that they don’t see / know it when they could, so they will see / know it too late, in the day of condemnation. Yahweh’s lifted up hand could refer to His offer of a new covenant, by grace (:10; <a href='B:50 32:40'>Deu 32:40</a>) which was also offered to the Gentiles at the restoration (<a href='B:290 49:22'>Isa 49:22</a>), and His offer of the Kingdom (<a href='B:330 20:6'>Eze 20:6</a>; <a href='B:330 20:28'>Eze 20:28</a>; <a href='B:160 9:15'>Neh 9:15</a> s:w:):&nbsp; This uplifted hand of Yahweh in offering covenant relationship was seen but not seen; only too late will it be perceived. The Lord Jesus died with uplifted hands, beckoning all men to accept the new covenant offered; but it is seen but not seen.</p>


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<p>Yahweh, You will ordain peace for us, for You have also worked all our works for us- This is a&nbsp; significant statement of humility. For trust in human works is the epitome of pride. Idols are so often called the work of men’s’ hands, and this is the abiding idolatry of our age. Only a complete trust in Yahweh’s peace which comes by grace will empower us to never trust our own works. And we will realize that any works we do are His working through us. But"the works"in view here are of salvation and the gift of eternal peace.</p>


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<p>Yahweh our God, other lords besides You have had dominion over us, but by You only will we make mention of Your name- This could be read as a statement and admission of their historical submission to other gods. Or it could mean that despite the remnant’s domination by others, the remnant had refused to accept their gods but had retained Yahweh as"our God"and unlike the majority of God’s people, they had only made mention of Yahweh’s Name.</p>


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<p>Their dead shall not live, their deceased shall not rise. Therefore have You visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish-"Deceased"is the word used in <a href='B:290 14:9'>Isa 14:9</a> of the dead people of the nations within the eretz. The context is their praising the God who has resurrected the faithful dead (<a href='B:290 25:7-8'>Isa 25:7-8</a>). At that glorious day it will be so apparent that Yahweh alone is the God of life and resurrection."Memory"is the word just used in :8 of how God’s Name has been the memory or"renown"of the faithful. And likewise they abide in His memory. The perishing of their memory may refer to the memory of God, as well as their being left without any human memorial on the earth.</p>


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<p>You have increased the nation, O Yahweh, You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land- As explained on <a href='B:290 24:1'>Isa 24:1</a>, this section of Isaiah envisages supernatural Divine judgments upon the entire eretz promised to Abraham; and then the repentant remnants of the Gentile nations there would join with those of God’s people in a reestablished Kingdom of God based in Zion. God’s nation would no longer live just in the coastal strip of that eretz; rather the nation would be enlarged to its original borders, so that Yahweh’s multiethnic people were to live in the entire eretz.</p><p>Earlier, God had redefined the boundaries of the land in accordance to what Israel had the strength to subdue; He made account for their weakness. Thus Ephraim were given some cities within the inheritance of Manasseh (<a href='B:60 16:9'>Jos 16:9</a>), presumably because Manasseh wouldn’t drive out the tribes living there. And the Lord seems to have alluded to this by saying that we will be given cities, the number of which depends upon our zeal to possess them. God had clearly promised: “Your God, he shall expel them from before you… and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you” (<a href='B:60 23:5'>Jos 23:5</a>). But this promise was conditional upon them making the effort, even though that condition is not specifically mentioned. Ultimately, God will “enlarge all the borders of the land” because Israel will finally rise up to the spiritual ambition He desires of them:&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Yahweh, in trouble they have come to You; they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was on them- The terrible judgments upon the eretz of Isaiah 24 are this"trouble"which brought a remnant of the Gentiles, as well as of God’s people, to pray to Him and come to Him;"trouble"is the same word used in <a href='B:290 25:4'>Isa 25:4</a> of how the remnants find refuge from"trouble"in Zion alone. The time of Jacob’s trouble which will lead them back to Him is going to be experienced by all the nations around them. This could have come true at the time of the Assyrians, but only a minority poured out their prayers; and these resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem being averted, but the Kingdom was still not then reestablished because the remnant was so tiny. Nehemiah grasped the spirit of all this when he pours out a prayer to God in response to all the"trouble"of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:160 9:27'>Neh 9:27</a>; <a href='B:160 9:32'>Neh 9:32</a>). But again, the majority of Judah didn’t have that spirit. And so these things are reapplied to the holocaust to come upon the eretz in the last days.</p><p>The LXX applies this to Isaiah personally; see on :8,9 :"Lord, in affliction I remembered thee; thy chastening was to us with small affliction". The last phrase was perhaps perceived by Ezra when he acknowledged that the sufferings in Babylon had been less than their iniquities deserved.</p>


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<p>Like as a woman with child who draws near the time of her delivery and is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before You, Yahweh- Again we see the creative power and intention in all the judgments. They were to bring forth new life. This was"before You", in the sense that all the travail was under His control and direction, and the fruit brought forth was"to Him". The"we"may refer to Isaiah and his family; see on :18.</p>


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<p>We have been with child, we have been in pain, we gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen- In Isaiah’s immediate context, the application would have been to the sense that the remnant had come to the birth but there was not strength to bring forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>); apart from a few individuals, there was no bringing forth of a significant repentant remnant who would be the basis for the restored Kingdom. It felt like they were still under the curse of bringing forth in pain but in vain. Isaiah and his personal family may also be in view here (see on :8,9,16). They perhaps felt that the child of sign born had not in fact been the signal that Judah’s sufferings were over, and didn’t come to be the expected Messianic seed (see on <a href='B:290 8:1'>Isa 8:1</a>; <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>; <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>). Isaiah has used the same words of his own personal travail in pain in his ministry (<a href='B:290 21:3'>Isa 21:3</a>). Judah generally were to conceive in vain due to their impenitence (<a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>; <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>); and so did Hezekiah, in that he and his children turned away from true faith (<a href='B:290 39:7'>Isa 39:7</a>). The pain in vain at the time of the Assyrian invasion led to Micah offering a reworked version of all this; they were to be in pain at the hands of the Babylonians, but would bring forth in Babylon in that they would there repent, and the spiritually reborn remnant would emerge and their captors therefore judged (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). But that possibility also didn’t work out:&nbsp; And so this idea of bringing forth but not in vain, but rather finding meaning in the resurrection of Messiah and all in Him, came to be reapplied to the birth of the Lord Jesus from the grave in resurrection; and it would characterize the establishment of the Kingdom age in Zion (<a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>)</p><p>The LXX however changes the sense entirely, as if the righteous remnant have brought forth in pain but not in vain, in that their tribulation has achieved spiritual rebirth:" We have conceived, O Lord, because of thy fear, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the breath of thy salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth: we shall not fall, but all that dwell upon the land shall fall":&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Your dead shall live; my dead body also shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth her dead-"My dead body"suggests Isaiah and his personal family may also be in view here (see on :8,9,16,19). He sees himself as representative of the remnant which will eventually be resurrected; his resurrection is paralleled with theirs."Cast forth"is the language of child birth; all the pain of travail at the hands of the invaders (:17,18) would come to term in resurrection from the dead of those who perished in the eretz under their domination. There are similar teachings in Revelation. The idea is that dew would descend upon their graves and cause new life to come forth from the grave; and this is the picture of the Messianic Kingdom in <a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a>; <a href='B:230 110:3'>Psa 110:3</a>. But it would come about because of their faith and endurance. However LXX has"but the land of the ungodly shall perish".</p>


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<p>Come, My people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past- The majority of the population of Judah and Jerusalem were intended to perish (<a href='B:290 10:20'>Isa 10:20</a>). But God urges the faithful remnant in Zion (<a href='B:290 10:24'>Isa 10:24</a>) to be assured of their own safety; the destruction of the majority was to happen suddenly, in only"a very little while". This is the situation of <a href='B:290 26:20'>Isa 26:20</a>, when the faithful minority would somehow be miraculously preserved in Zion, whilst the majority of the Jewish population were destroyed. This didn’t happen as planned, and the Assyrians never took Jerusalem. Likewise the"little moment"is reinterpreted in <a href='B:290 54:7-8'>Isa 54:7-8</a> as referring to the time of Judah’s exile in Babylon. The"rooms"could have been opened had Judah repented and Messiah Himself would have emerged from them (s:w. <a href='B:360 2:16'>Joe 2:16</a>). But that scenario likewise didn’t work out, in that the people didn’t repent and many never returned, they remained in their"rooms".</p><p>But the essence of it will be fulfilled in the last days. And this passage therefore has been given a spiritual application by the Lord in <a href='B:470 6:6'>Mat 6:6</a>. He taught the intensity of the life He required by taking Old Testament passages which refer to the crisis of the last days, and applying them to the daily life of His people. And so He took <a href='B:290 26:20'>Isa 26:20</a>, which speaks of how in the final tribulation, God’s people will shut the doors around them and pray. The Lord applies this to the daily, regular prayer of His people- we are to pray in secret, in our room, with doors closed (<a href='B:470 6:6'>Mat 6:6</a>)- clearly an allusion to the Isaiah passage.</p>


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<p>For behold, Yahweh comes forth out of His place- This is the coming forth of the bride in response to Judah’s repentance (<a href='B:360 2:16'>Joe 2:16</a>). This didn’t happen, and so it comes to be reapplied to the emergence of the Lord Jesus in the last days."His place"may refer to Zion rather than Heaven, in that He returns to Zion. However the similar language in <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a> seems to have Heaven in view. The Lord’s visible return from Heaven to earth would fulfill this.</p><p>To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain- The blood of the faithful who would now be resurrected (:19) was not only shed by the Gentiles; but also by Manasseh and other Jewish leaders (<a href='B:290 1:27'>Isa 1:27</a>). The earth would disclose that blood in the sense that vengeance will now be taken for it (as in <a href='B:10 4:10'>Gen 4:10</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, but is the time when the blood under the altar calls for judgment in the last days at the Lord’s return (<a href='B:730 6:9-10'>Rev 6:9-10</a>). If they are to be punished at this final judgment, then they will be resurrected to this judgment. The final destruction of all those left alive in the eretz along with this large class of people will take place whilst the faithful resurrected ones are somehow screened from it (:20); for they like od will have no pleasure in seeing the death of the wicked.</p>


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<p>In that day, Yahweh with His hard and great and strong sword- The sword of Yahweh will come down in judgment upon the peoples of the eretz and perhaps on the resurrected former abusers of His people (see on <a href='B:290 26:21'>Isa 26:21</a>). But His sword comes down as part of His ’pleading with all flesh’ (<a href='B:290 66:16'>Isa 66:16</a>). This can be read as an allusion to judgment; but there is still the idea of pleading. The threat of the sword descending is His appeal, His pleading for repentance.</p><p>Will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and He will kill the dragon that is in the sea- Isaiah 24-27 has rightly been described as the little apocalypse. The total destruction of all on the eretz in Isaiah 24 leads to the repentance of remnants of the various Gentile nations as well as God’s people. Isaiah 26 speaks clearly of the resurrection of the dead, and these remnants unite in a multiethnic Kingdom of God in Israel. All the persecutors of God’s people are judged, presumably requiring their resurrection to judgment. Now Isaiah speaks of them as three beasts, one of which is a beast of the sea. There likewise appear to be three types of beasts in Revelation (<a href='B:730 20:10'>Rev 20:10</a>). These ideas are developed in more detail in Daniel and Revelation. The identity of the beasts therefore morphs over time, as potential possibilities for human response to God’s claims on men rise and fall. The dragon in the sea was originally Egypt (<a href='B:230 74:13'>Psa 74:13</a>; <a href='B:330 29:3'>Eze 29:3</a>; <a href='B:330 32:2'>Eze 32:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>). What God did to Egypt in the Red Sea is to be the prototype of what He will do to all future persecutors of His people; hence Isaiah’s fondness for allusions to the Song of Moses, putting his words of triumph in the mouths of God’s finally triumphant people; see on <a href='B:290 25:1'>Isa 25:1</a>.</p><p>The initial application was to the Assyrians slain outside the walls of Jerusalem, and the three beasts here would then be different snapshots as it were of that power. In a restoration context, Isaiah comforted Judah that God would destroy “Leviathan the gliding serpent; He will slay the monster of the sea” (<a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>). The real ‘monster’ faced by Judah in exile wasn’t a supernatural being; it was a concrete kingdom of men on earth, namely Babylon. And <a href='B:220 26:13'>Job 26:13</a> uses the phrase for"fleeing serpent"and states that Yahweh has created this. He is in complete control. The language is intended to deconstruct pagan myths to the effect that Judah’s misfortunes had been at the hands of the deities of their invaders. Baal was temporarily conquered by Mot, and the Ugaritic poem about their conflict which was found in the Ras Shamra texts speaks of how Baal was made a “slave forever”. This very language is picked up in <a href='B:220 41:4'>Job 41:4</a>, where God mocks that in no way would He become a “slave forever”. The allusion shows that the one true God is in no way Baal. He is greater than Baal. Unlike Baal, He is in no conflict with Mot nor anyone. The poem challenges Baal to “Pierce through Lotan the serpent, destroy the serpent the seven headed tyrant”. Yet this is exactly the language picked up in <a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>. Yahweh’s utter supremacy over any other god is so great that it makes all ideas of cosmic conflict simply laughable.</p>


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<p>In that day, sing to her, A pleasant vineyard!- The"day"in view is that of :13, the last day. Isaiah 5 has presented Judah as a vineyard that didn’t work out and failed in its potential. But"in that day"she will be a fruitful vineyard, now that the"briers and thorns"have been removed and burnt (:4). I would therefore take :3 to be retrospective upon God’s continual care for that vineyard to bring it to that point of fruitfulness. To become fruitful, Judah had taken hold of God’s covenant of peace (:5), and then :6 concludes the song by repeating the thought of this opening verse. She will be"a pleasant vineyard"because she has blossomed and filled the face of the earth / land with fruit. This means that the song of <a href='B:290 27:2-6'>Isa 27:2-6</a> follows a chiastic structure typical of Hebrew poetry.</p><p>The LXX of :2-6 is quite different, presenting this asa repetition of the lament over the failed vineyard which was to be besieged and taken, although starting and closing with the sure hope that eventually the vineyard will function perfectly after the judgments poured out:"In that day there shall be a fair vineyard, and a desire to commence a song concerning it. I am a strong city, a city in a siege: in vain shall I water it; for it shall be taken by night, and by day the wall shall fall. There is no woman that has not taken hold of it; who will set me to watch stubble in the field? because of this enemy I have set her aside; therefore on this account the Lord has done all that he appointed. I am burnt up; they that dwell in her shall cry, Let us make peace with him, let us make peace, they that are coming are the children of Jacob. Israel shall bud and blossom, and the world shall be filled with his fruit".</p>


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<p>I, Yahweh, am its keeper- In the sense that He"kept"(s:w:) covenant and mercy (<a href='B:20 34:7'>Exo 34:7</a>), keeping His covenant people in perfect peace (s:w. <a href='B:290 26:3'>Isa 26:3</a>). The same word however carries the idea of a watchman guarding, as is translated"besieged"(<a href='B:290 1:8'>Isa 1:8</a>). Yahweh besieged them with protection even as they were being besieged- a great encouragement in Isaiah’s time, when Jerusalem was besieged by the Syria-Ephraim confederacy and then by Assyria.</p><p>I will water it every moment- The contrast with the vineyard song of Isaiah 5 is that there, God withheld water from it (<a href='B:290 5:6'>Isa 5:6</a>). That time of judgment and exile was now over. Or perhaps this is recalling how prior to that judgment, God had watered them so carefully. He is involved"every moment"in the life of His people, even if for some moments He hides His face (s:w. <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>); Job, presented as the suffering exiles, came to realize this (<a href='B:220 7:18'>Job 7:18</a> s:w:). And yet the prophecy here is of the eternal state of the vineyard"in that day"(:2), when Yahweh will eternally"water"His people who once were in the dry desert of exile (<a href='B:290 43:20'>Isa 43:20</a> s:w:).</p><p>Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day-"Damage"is the term usually used for ’punish’ (s:w. :1"punish"). God’s people would not be further punished for their sins- God’s wrath was over (:4).</p>


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<p>Wrath is not in Me- I take this as meaning that God has no pleasure in the death and judgment of the wicked, but all the same He has to destroy the wicked out of the earth / land in order to save the righteous remnant and transform them and the earth into His Kingdom. At this stage He has trampled the nations in His"wrath"(<a href='B:290 63:6'>Isa 63:6</a>), but that wrath is not eternal. All ideas of"hell"as a place of God’s eternally burning wrath are totally out of step with the consistent revelation of God’s character- that His anger is but for a moment and does not last eternally.</p>&nbsp;<p>Hosea dreamt or fantasized about the day when, he hoped, Gomer [cp. Israel] would return to him. And we find God through the prophets doing this often, as an expression of His love for them. He dreamt of how Israel as His vineyard would again be fruitful: “In that day: A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!... I [will] guard it day and night; I have no wrath” (<a href='B:290 27:2-3'>Isa 27:2-3</a>). He had wrath, and yet at the thought of Israel’s blessed future with Him, He could say “I have no wrath”. The God who spoke of slaying Israel with thirst in Hosea could then comment: “I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man… and I will not come to destroy” (<a href='B:350 11:9'>Hos 11:9</a>).</p><p>But if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together- Briers and thorns is an allusion to the curse upon the garden of Eden- another reason for understanding Eden as eretz Israel, from whom likewise Israel were to be exiled to the east."Briers and thorns"is a term used by Isaiah about the aggressive, thorny nature of Judah (<a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>; <a href='B:290 10:17'>Isa 10:17</a>). Their whole land was to become like them (<a href='B:290 5:6'>Isa 5:6</a>; <a href='B:290 7:23-25'>Isa 7:23-25</a>); and so their judgment was but an extension of their own behaviour. Sin was its own judgment. Although God’s wrath has passed from Him concerning His people at this stage, this doesn’t mean He has lost all moral compass. If there were to be sin in the land as there had been previously, then He would judge it</p>


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<p>Or else let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he will make peace with Me- As noted throughout Isaiah 13 onwards, the judgments upon the Gentiles in the land are only because they have refused to repent. God’s desire was that the Gentile and Jewish"briers and thorns"upon whom He would march (:4) would"take hold"of Him and make peace with Him, entering into covenant with Him as He offered. <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a> likewise speaks of this latter day ’taking hold’ (s:w:) of Yahweh by the remnant of the judged Gentiles. In the last days, this making peace with God is only through accepting His Son as Messiah (<a href='B:520 5:1'>Rom 5:1</a>; <a href='B:560 2:14'>Eph 2:14</a>), although potentially it had been possible through some Messianic figure who could have appeared at the time of the Assyrian invasion (<a href='B:400 5:5'>Mic 5:5</a>).</p>


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<p>In days to come, Jacob will take root- Or as AV"He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root". The returned, repent exiles would be caused by God to take root; whereas previously they had been sown but hadn’t flourished to harvest (<a href='B:290 17:11'>Isa 17:11</a>). But now God as it were will force through His plan with any who come to Him.</p><p>Israel will blossom and bud; they will fill the face of the world with fruit- Isaiah foretold that when Israel know their forgiveness and salvation, they will therefore quite naturally “declare his doings among the people” (<a href='B:290 12:1-5'>Isa 12:1-5</a>). This will be the motivation for Israel’s witness to the world. They will fill the face of the world with spiritual fruit – and this will be the fruit of the taking away of their sin, and their experience of repentance (<a href='B:290 27:6'>Isa 27:6</a>; <a href='B:290 27:9'>Isa 27:9</a> RV). This is the ’budding’ of the waste places of the land foreseen in the Kingdom prophecies of <a href='B:290 35:1-2'>Isa 35:1-2</a>; <a href='B:290 66:14'>Isa 66:14</a>.</p><p>Sometimes God speaks as if He has rejected Israel, and other times as if they will eternally be His people. Such is the extent of His passionate feelings for them. And the Son of God entered into this- He said that no man would eat fruit of the tree of Israel for ever (<a href='B:480 11:14'>Mar 11:14</a>), when in fact Israel one day will fill the face of the earth with fruit. We too, in the spirit of the prophets, are to enter into these feelings of God. God’s threats to punish His people and His desire to forgive them don’t somehow cancel each other out as in an equation. They exist within the mind of God in a terrible tension. He cries out through Hosea of how His many ‘repentings’ are “kindled together” as He struggles within Himself to give up His people as He has threatened (<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>). And this struggle was reflected within the emotions and through the speeches / writings / poetry of Hosea. Hosea’s speeches have an air of turbulence and struggle about them, which reflected the spirit / mind of the God who inspired him.</p>


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<p>Has He struck them as He struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?- The"them"I suggest refers to God’s people. He did not strike Israel as hard as He struck those who abused them. The death of God’s people was not such a hard death as that of the Gentiles who had attacked them. So it was not ’measure for measure’; Judah were punished less than their sins deserved (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>), although God counted it as if they had been punished double for their sins (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>). The balance of things was weighted in Israel’s favour because of God’s grace</p>


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<p>In measure, when You send them away, You contend with them. He has removed them with His rough blast in the day of the east wind- God’s people had been judged, Yahweh had contended with them in judgment; that was to be the point in God’s summary conclusions at the last day. He had"sent them away... removed them"into exile, He corrected them"in measure"but didn’t leave them"altogether unpunished"(<a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>).</p>


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<p>Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more- The very terms iniquity taken away and sin forgiven are found in <a href='B:290 6:7'>Isa 6:7</a>; Isaiah is set up as representative of Judah. His cleansing could have been theirs. These things would happen if Judah were repentant and destroyed their idols. But they didn’t, and so the vision of glory and of the glorified suffering servant couldn’t save them.</p><p>Israel are often called ’Jacob’ in passages concerning idolatry. The historical Jacob and idolatry go together. Jacob’s destruction of his idol altars, pounding them back to the surrounding chalk stone from which they were constructed, permanently destroying the Asherim so that they would never be revived... this was the fruit of Jacob’s sin being taken away. Note the sequence. Forgiveness of sin doesn’t come after repentance and the bearing of fruit. It comes first, by grace, and then the fruit of destroying idols in response comes as a result of that gracious forgiveness. Repentance and not just forgiveness is therefore"given"by grace (<a href='B:510 5:31'>Act 5:31</a>; <a href='B:510 11:18'>Act 11:18</a>). This is the grace of the new covenant God will offer to Israel and the world in the last days, and it is offered to us today.</p>


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<p>For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there and there he will lie down and consume its branches- This continues the theme stressed in :8. God had not allowed His people to escape judgment. Justice was in that sense done. It seems the desolation of Jerusalem is in view here, with so few people that there weren’t even shepherds for the animals, and the flocks would be left to wander freely over the desolated city. LXX:"The flock that dwelt there shall be left, as a deserted flock; and the ground shall be for a long time for pasture, and there shall flocks lie down to rest". But this didn’t happen at the time of the Assyrian invasion; for Jerusalem didn’t fall. And at the time of the Babylonian invasion there was not this level of absolute desolation. <a href='B:150 9:7'>Ezr 9:7</a> is clear that it was"our kings and our priests [who] have been delivered"into captivity. The Babylonians saw no economic purpose in bringing masses of unskilled peasant farmers into captivity in their cities. It’s been estimated that at least 90% of Judah were peasant farmers; and these, the impoverished masses, were left in the land and not deported (<a href='B:300 52:16'>Jer 52:16</a>; <a href='B:120 25:12'>2Ki 25:12</a>). See on <a href='B:330 11:15'>Eze 11:15</a>. The Babylonian policy regarding deportation and management of conquered lands is described in N:P. Lemche, Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society (Sheffield: JSOT, 1988) and D:L. Smith, The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile (Bloomington, IN: Meyer Stone, 1989). God did not therefore scatter all the people quite as He intended. There is archaeological evidence for continued agricultural activity in the land after the deportations. And <a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a> seems to speak of men coming to the Jerusalem temple from Shechem and Shiloh, in the ten tribe area, in order to offer grain offerings at the site of the temple. We could say that this prophecy of total destruction looks forward to a latter day fulfilment; or in terms of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a> it could be that there was enough repentance and intercession for God to as it were change the extent of His intended judgments.</p>


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<p>When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding- As noted on :10, the people of Judah were indeed judged. The breaking off of the branches f the tree is clearly alluded to in <a href='B:520 11:17-20'>Rom 11:17-20</a>, applying it to the Divine rejection of an unbelieving Israel in favour of a new Israel, comprised of the minority of Israel who accepted Jesus as Christ, and the Gentiles who also did so. The rejected majority had"no understanding", not in the sense of simply intellectual failure, but in the Hebraic sense of relationship. All other wisdom and understanding is as nothing compared to the ultimate and surpassing"understanding", which is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their burning by"women"would be an example of their condemnation being expressed in terms which they could relate to, even if they were not literally true. Thus I noted on <a href='B:290 13:21'>Isa 13:21</a> that the mythical creatures called satyrs were spoken of as if they existed, and would judge Babylon; Babylon’s judgment was described there in terms she would have understood, even if those terms reflected ideas which were not literally true. For satyrs don’t exist in the form the Babylonians believed. And as explained on <a href='B:290 14:9'>Isa 14:9</a> too, their concept of the underworld is used in describing their condemnation:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them, and He who formed them will show them no grace- But the very fact that God did form and make Israel is the reason God gives for appealing to them to receive His ever-available mercy (<a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 49:15'>Isa 49:15</a>). And the paradox of this grace when there was to be no grace highlights the grace of it all.</p>


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<p>It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, you children of Israel- Euphrates to the brook of Egypt is exactly the definition of the eretz promised to Abraham. I explain on <a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a> how the deserts and dry areas of that eretz were in the areas inhabited by Israel’s Gentile enemies. A remnant of these peoples was to repent, and then they and their territory would be incorporated into the Kingdom of God in Israel, covering the full extent of the land / eretz promised to Abraham. Those territories will be materially transformed, those desert areas will be like Israel"proper", as fruitful as Carmel and Sharon. The complete fulfilment of the Divine promises about the eretz would only be achieved by ’threshing’ in judgment. And the repentant remnant would be gathered"one by one", each one would be so significant to God. And likewise true Christianity places a remarkable value on the worth of the individual person. This gathering every single individual and valuing them is that spoken of in <a href='B:290 13:12'>Isa 13:12</a>:"I will make people more valuable than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir". The repentant remnant is in view; the intention of the judgments, both on God’s people and the Babylonians, was that a repentant remnant would be produced; and each one of those people would therefore be of extraordinary value to God, representing the ultimate success of His lengthy plan.</p>


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<p>It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mount at Jerusalem- Some Jews had taken refuge in Egypt at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. In the Babylonian context, they did this in conscious disobedience to Jeremiah’s command not to go there; they were as LXX"the lost ones". So the idea was that they could have repented and returned to Zion and the reestablished Kingdom there. This didn’t happen, there was no such repentance; and so it will come true in the repentance of the Jewish diaspora in the last days. The trumpet blast in the last days would be that of <a href='B:470 24:31'>Mat 24:31</a>; <a href='B:530 15:52'>1Co 15:52</a>; <a href='B:590 4:16'>1Th 4:16</a>. The allusion is to the trumpet blast announcing the day of atonement (<a href='B:30 25:9'>Lev 25:9</a>). Those who respond to it are therefore those who are repentant and seek forgiveness. Again we see that the repentance of Israel is connected with the establishment of the Kingdom and resurrection.</p>


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<p>Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim- Israel had lost their hold on true doctrine, many scarcely knew the Law (<a href='B:290 57:4-5'>Isa 57:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 59:3'>Isa 59:3</a>). They got drunk at the temple feasts (<a href='B:290 36:10-12'>Isa 36:10-12</a>; <a href='B:290 58:3-4'>Isa 58:3-4</a>), like Corinth they had an"eat, drink, for tomorrow we die"mentality (<a href='B:290 22:12-13'>Isa 22:12-13</a>); they committed all manner of sexual perversions, along with almost every other form of doctrinal and moral apostasy (Isa 511-13; <a href='B:290 5:24'>Isa 5:24</a>; <a href='B:290 8:19'>Isa 8:19</a>; <a href='B:290 9:15'>Isa 9:15</a>; <a href='B:290 22:12-13'>Isa 22:12-13</a>; <a href='B:290 24:5'>Isa 24:5</a>; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>; <a href='B:290 28:7'>Isa 28:7</a>; <a href='B:290 30:10'>Isa 30:10</a>; <a href='B:290 31:6'>Isa 31:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8-20'>Isa 44:8-20</a>; consider the similarities with Corinth). This list is worth reading through. And consider the terrible implications of their perversion in <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>. But the earlier chapters of Isaiah sternly rebuke Israel for their pride- there is not a whisper of all these other things until later (<a href='B:290 2:11-22'>Isa 2:11-22</a>; <a href='B:290 3:16-20'>Isa 3:16-20</a>; <a href='B:290 5:15'>Isa 5:15</a>; <a href='B:290 9:9'>Isa 9:9</a>). And even throughout the later rebukes, there is the repeated criticism of their pride (<a href='B:290 13:11'>Isa 13:11</a>; <a href='B:290 16:6'>Isa 16:6</a>; <a href='B:290 23:9'>Isa 23:9</a>; <a href='B:290 24:4'>Isa 24:4</a>; <a href='B:290 25:11'>Isa 25:11</a>; <a href='B:290 26:5'>Isa 26:5</a>; <a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>; <a href='B:290 28:3'>Isa 28:3</a>; <a href='B:290 28:14'>Isa 28:14</a>; <a href='B:290 29:4'>Isa 29:4</a>; <a href='B:290 30:25'>Isa 30:25</a>; <a href='B:290 57:15'>Isa 57:15</a>). This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of Christ stress His humility (<a href='B:510 8:33'>Act 8:33</a>), and the"lofty","high","exaltation"of God. These words, common in Isaiah, are those translated “pride" in Isaiah’s condemnations of Israel’s arrogance; as if to say that God was the only one who could be ’proud’. "The crown of pride" may refer to Samaria, the capital which Ephraim was so proud of.</p><p>And to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!- <a href='B:290 40:6-8'>Isa 40:6-8</a> describe all of humanity with the very same language of fading flowers. In spiritual terms, alcoholics are the epitome of us all in our unredeemed state. Tragically, fertile valleys and much wine were part of the blessings of the covenant if Israel were obedient. Despite their disobedience, God by grace gave them the blessings for obedience, as He did as it were to the prodigal son. And that grace was abused.</p>


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<p>Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one; like a storm of hail, a destroying storm- The reference is to the Assyrian (<a href='B:290 8:7-8'>Isa 8:7-8</a>), personified and epitomized in a singular individual (Shalmaneser, in Ephraim’s context), the equivalent of the "antichrist" individual of the last days. There was however a refuge available from that storm in Zion (s:w. <a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>; <a href='B:290 25:4'>Isa 25:4</a>). The repentant remnant amongst the ten tribes were to flee to Zion, and they did this; although it seems they fled more for material safety than from a motive of repentance.</p><p>And like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, He will cast them down to the earth with His hand- The "waters" refer to the Assyrians, coming in judgment upon the ten tribes. Yet this is part of Isaiah’s burden to Judah and Jerusalem. Like us, they were intended to learn from the condemnation of others and yet they did not. The humbling of men as it were from heaven to earth is a major theme of the prophets, Isaiah especially:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p>The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot- Their alcohol inspired arrogance would be trodden down. LXX has "the hirelings of Ephraim", alluding to their prostituting themselves to the Syrians and Egyptians, accepting their gods in return for protection against Assyria.</p>


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<p>The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer, which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it- LXX "And the fading flower of the glorious hope on the top of the high mountain shall be as the early fig; he that sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it down". The idea may be that the promise of glory and beauty was fading, the potential wasn’t reached; but despite that the repentant remnant of Israel of :5 would be as the first-ripe fig, the sign of the Summer of the Kingdom of God arriving. The Lord applies this language to the repentance of a latter day Israelite remnant, along with and at the same time as that of the various "trees" of the Gentiles (<a href='B:490 21:29-31'>Luk 21:29-31</a>).</p>


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<p>In that day- This term is used about widely different events; the judgment of the ten tribes in :3, the latter day repentance of Israel in :4. This is because the prophetic potential was that they could all have happened at the same time at Isaiah’s time. But Israel didn’t repent, the Kingdom of God wasn’t reestablished in Judah. And so the various elements of these prophecies are left fulfilled at different times. Another approach is to argue that because God is beyond time, His prophecies appear to jump around in time. They only appear disjointed to us who read them with a background insistence that everything must be chronological. Thus the tenses change freely throughout Isaiah 53. And throughout Isaiah, prophecies of the Kingdom are often introduced by the rubric "in that day"; and yet the preceding context is often quite different (e.g. <a href='B:290 3:7'>Isa 3:7</a>; <a href='B:290 3:18'>Isa 3:18</a>; <a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>; <a href='B:290 5:30'>Isa 5:30</a>; <a href='B:290 7:18'>Isa 7:18</a>; <a href='B:290 7:21'>Isa 7:21</a>; <a href='B:290 10:20'>Isa 10:20</a>; <a href='B:290 10:22'>Isa 10:22</a>; <a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>; <a href='B:290 12:1'>Isa 12:1</a>; <a href='B:290 17:9'>Isa 17:9</a>; <a href='B:290 19:6'>Isa 19:6</a>; <a href='B:290 22:20'>Isa 22:20</a>; <a href='B:290 22:25'>Isa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a>; <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>; <a href='B:290 28:5'>Isa 28:5</a>; <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>). It makes an interesting exercise to go through Isaiah 9 and decide to which time each verse applies. Some of the verses are quoted in the NT and given specific fulfillments. They refer to Isaiah’s day, the Assyrian invasion, the birth of Jesus, the beginning of His ministry at age 30, and to His future Kingdom. And yet the verses aren’t presented in this order; they move from one to the other at ease, with no linking rubric or explanation. Likewise Daniel’s prophecies seem to have a big hiatus in their fulfillment (<a href='B:340 2:34'>Dan 2:34</a>; <a href='B:340 8:23'>Dan 8:23</a>; <a href='B:340 9:24'>Dan 9:24</a>; <a href='B:340 11:39'>Dan 11:39</a>); and Zechariah is another good example. Many attempts to understand prophecy, not least the book of Revelation, have fallen into problems because of an insistent desire to see everything fulfilling in a chronological progression, whereas God’s prophecies (Isaiah is the classic example) ’jump around’ all over the place as far as chronological fulfillment is concerned. And this principle is not only seen in Bible prophecy. The historical records in the Old Testament tend to be thematically presented rather than chronologically (Joshua is a good example of this); and the Gospel records likewise. It especially needs to be recognized that in line with so much OT prophecy, neither the Olivet prophecy nor its extension in the Apocalypse can be read as strictly chronological. Thus <a href='B:490 21:8-11'>Luk 21:8-11</a> gives a catalogue of signs, and then v. 12 jumps back to the situation before them: "but before all these things..." (Isa. 21:27-28; <a href='B:480 13:10'>Mar 13:10</a> are other examples).</p><p>Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty to the remains of His people- It was envisaged that there would be a remnant amongst the ten tribes who would accept Yahweh’s kingship over them and would thus become His people in His reestablished Kingdom. Glory and beauty recalls the High Priest’s garments; the crown of glory would be the High Priestly mitre, LXX "the woven crown of glory". But this priest also had a diadem; the idea is of a king-priest, a Messianic figure who would arise to save the repentant remnant of the ten tribes.</p>


text:
<p>And a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgement- The idea is as GNB "He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges". This was never fulfilled in any leader of Israel and so it will come to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 11:3'>Isa 11:3</a>); although that prophecy too could have come true in a child of Isaiah or in Hezekiah. Thus the prophecy about Israel’s potential was transferred to Judah; but they too failed to fulfill it, and so it was reapplied to the Lord Jesus.</p><p>And strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate- The idea is that they repulse an enemy, and drive him back to his own city’s gate. This was the possibility for Ephraim (the ten tribes) if they had repented; they could have repelled the Assyrians. But they didn’t repent nor have faith as required, and so the prophecy was reapplied or transferred to how Hezekiah of Judah did this when "He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza" (<a href='B:120 18:8'>2Ki 18:8</a>):.</p>


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<p>They also- This appears to be saying that Judah "also" was just as bad as Ephraim.</p><p>Reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger with strong drink. They err in vision, they stumble in judgement- The priests were of course not allowed to drink alcohol when on duty. We get the impression here of chronic alcoholism, even amongst those who did receive genuine prophetic messages from Yahweh; hence GNB "The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them". The reference may be of course to the messages sent through Isaiah, but the criticism is specifically applied to the prophets who received the visions and the priests whose duty it was to faithfully teach and distribute that word.</p>


text:
<p>For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness- These tables were presumably the altars within the Jerusalem temple, or at best the tables used by the priests for preparation of the sacrifices. The priests were so drunk in the temple that they were vomiting on them. This sad state of things was how things were in Isaiah’s time, when Hezekiah had apparently made sweeping reforms. Clearly those reforms failed to affect the vast majority. That such behaviour could be tolerated by the masses and others in leadership says a lot about them.</p>


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<p>Whom will He teach knowledge? To whom will He explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?- This can be read as the drunk priests and prophets of :7 drunkenly talking about Isaiah, scoffing as if "Whom&nbsp;will&nbsp;he (does&nbsp;Isaiah&nbsp;presume to) teach knowledge? And whom will he (Isaiah) make to understand&nbsp;instruction?&nbsp;Is it those (that is, does he take us to be) just weaned from the milk".</p>


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<p>For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little- See on :9. They complain Isaiah keeps repeating his message as if teaching very small children. The repetition of sounds in the&nbsp;Hebrew reflects their scorn of Isaiah, perhaps because he stammered (:11):&nbsp;&nbsp; tzav latzav, tzav latzav, qav laqav, qav laquav, as if they were imitation his stammering. We recall how God used Moses as His prophet and mouthpiece, when it seems he too had some speech impediment. This is typical of Yahweh’s work with men; to choose the weakest and most humanly inappropriate for His mighty work.</p>


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<p>But He will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language- As explained on :10, God chose Isaiah’s stammering lips to witness to Israel and Judah, and in addition, He would even use Gentiles who didn’t even speak Hebrew. 1 Corinthians 14 is a list of commands concerning the use of the gift of tongues; <a href='B:530 14:21'>1Co 14:21</a> quotes <a href='B:290 28:11'>Isa 28:11</a> concerning how this gift would be used to witness against the Jews: “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people...". <a href='B:290 28:11'>Isa 28:11</a> primarily refers toIsrael’s invaders speaking to the Jews in languages (“tongues”) they would not have known. The parallel between “tongues” and “lips” indicates that “tongues” were foreign languages. If the Corinthians spoke to each other in foreign languages which they didn’t understand, then they were actually living out condemnation; they were acting just as would happen to Israel in their condemnation. There are many other indications in 1 Corinthians 14 that “tongues” refers to foreign languages. This chapter is Paul’s inspired criticism of the abuses of the gifts which were taking place in the early church, and as such it gives many insights into the nature of the gifts of tongues and prophecy.</p>


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<p>to whom He said, This is the resting place. Give rest to the weary; and This is the refreshing; yet they would not hear- <a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a> had spoken of how the Messianic figure possible at Isaiah’s time could have restored the Kingdom, "And his resting place will be glorious". This could simply refer to a literal appearance of glory upon mount Zion, as hinted at in several prophecies. But this was precluded at the time by Judah refusing this "rest" (<a href='B:290 28:12'>Isa 28:12</a> s:w:). Or His resting place could be the hearts of those who "trust" in Him (<a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>), a resting place chosen by Him because the temple on Zion had not been rebuilt as required and therefore God chose to dwell in the hearts of individuals instead (<a href='B:290 66:1-2'>Isa 66:1-2</a> s:w:). Hence GNB "He offered rest and comfort to all of you, but you refused to listen to him". The appeal of Isaiah 40 was that comfort was again available to the people at the time of the restoration. But again, the vast potential was wasted. Likewise Israel could’ve had honey out of the rock; but they got only water (<a href='B:230 81:16'>Psa 81:16</a>). They could have had peace and serenity when under attack- “but you would not”(<a href='B:290 28:12'>Isa 28:12</a>; <a href='B:290 30:15'>Isa 30:15</a>). There may be people in your neighbourhood, in your life, who would come to the life eternal if you engaged them about the Gospel. There may be specific victories over personal failures which have been potentially enabled by God, in great detail.</p>


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<p>Therefore the word of Yahweh will be to them precept after precept, precept after precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken- Their judgment was to be appropriate to their mocking. They would not be able to "hear the word of Yahweh" (:14) because they saw it as just disconnected sound bites, line upon line, concept after concept, but not tied together in their minds as the living word of God. We must ask if this is our perception of God’s word; just disconnected bits of truth and abstract concepts, without hearing the word of Yahweh as a living dialogue with us personally. The more textual analytic tools we have, and the more we think we are on the way to totally ’true’ interpretation of verse after verse, the greater our tendency to fall into this "line on line" attitude:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem- See on :13. Instead of just hearing the isolated words and concepts of God’s revelation, they were to hear His word as a living word and conversation with themselves personally. Even those awful scoffers who mocked Isaiah’s inspired preaching&nbsp; (:10) were still Isaiah’s concern, as they were Yahweh’s. We note that the Jerusalem rulership was the group addressed; evidence enough that Hezekiah’s apparent reforms were not far reaching.</p>


text:
<p>Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us- As explained on :18, the covenant in view may be the agreements with Egypt for help against Assyria and then later Babylon. These nations were angry that Judah had made covenants with Egypt when they had a covenant with them. Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe this as adultery, resulting in the wrath of the lovers. And so the covenant was really sure to lead to death. The connection with Egypt is deepened when we realize that the Hebrew for "death" is mut, and this was the name of&nbsp; an Egyptian idol. However, it could be that the covenant referred to was with Assyria, who is likened to sheol in <a href='B:290 5:14'>Isa 5:14</a>; <a href='B:350 13:14'>Hos 13:14</a>; and because they broke that covenant, the overflowing scourge of Assyria (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>) invaded them and destroyed them. It was Assyria who was going to kill them, and so their making a covenant with Assyria was effectively making a covenant with death. The reasoning of the leaders of Judah (:14) was that because they had made a treaty with Assyria, when the Assyrian invasion came, it would take away Israel (:2), but not Judah, because they had made a covenant with Assyria. This gives deeper insight into Hezekiah’s bravery in breaking the covenant with Assyria; the others in the leadership were trusting deeply in that which he was breaking. We too at times have to stand with our backs to the world in order to do what is right, no matter how many friends we lose.</p><p>For we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood’- They likely never said this, but God perceives their attitudes and what they were effectively ’saying’. These attitudes of "lies" were to be swept away by the hailstorm and waters of the Assyrian and later Babylonian invasions. But actually this didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time, because the waters of Assyria were not allowed to drown Zion. The Assyrians did indeed "overflow and pass over" (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>), but not all their refuges of lies (:17) were swept away. The repentance of a minority affected the outcomes of judgment even for these sinners in Zion. The ways of Yahweh are indeed complex because He so respects the freewill of every man. Their confident claim that the overflowing rivers of the Assyrians wouldn’t come near them is stated to be false in :17 LXX: "for the storm shall by no means pass by you".</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone- This could have had various primary fulfillments. Zerubbabel and the restored exiles did "lay... a foundation stone" in Zion (<a href='B:450 4:9'>Zec 4:9</a>), but some wept when it was laid- because clearly the rebuilt temple was not that commanded in Ezekiel 40-48 (<a href='B:150 3:10-12'>Ezr 3:10-12</a>). This was to happen when Babylon fell (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a> s:w:) and Cyrus ordered the laying (s:w:) of the foundation of Zion (<a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>). Zerubbabel failed to be the Messiah figure. And so these things were transferred to the Lord Jesus and reapplied.</p><p>The Lord’s parable of building on the rock was surely quarried from His understanding of <a href='B:290 28:16-17'>Isa 28:16-17</a>: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone... a precious cornerstone. The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place" . That rock represents Christ and Him crucified, according to Paul (<a href='B:530 10:4'>1Co 10:4</a>; <a href='B:530 3:11'>1Co 3:11</a> cp. 2:2). Truly doing God’s word will always lead us back to the spirit of the suffering Christ on Calvary. If it does not, our building, our apparent development within the much-vaunted Biblicism of our faith, is just a "refuge of lies". All our spiritual effort and suffering finds its ultimate summation in Christ’s crucifixion. His suffering there is the quintessence of all spiritual struggle.</p><p>A tried stone- Literally a stone of trial. Reactions to this stone would effectively be the judgment of those who encountered him. This passage is quoted about the Lord Jesus in <a href='B:670 2:4-6'>1Pe 2:4-6</a>, and Peter goes on to comment in <a href='B:670 2:8'>1Pe 2:8</a> that He is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence". He was and is the stone which tests; according to our attitude to Him, we reveal ourselves. And the Jews stumbled at Him. When Peter comments that this stone had been "rejected" by the Jews, he may have in mind not only their rejection of the Lord Jesus, but also of the previous potential fulfillments of the "foundation stone" prophecy in the time of Zerubbabel and others.</p><p>A precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not be ashamed- There is a clear element of unreality here- the huge corner stone of the new temple was to be a "precious stone", something resembling a massive diamond:&nbsp; And this, Peter says, is a matter of our perceiving the Lord Jesus is indeed a precious stone. But this precious stone was rejected by the Jewish builders- the world’s largest diamond, as it were, as big as a huge granite cornerstone, was rejected and went unperceived.</p>


text:
<p>I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line- This could imply that the new temple would be built on the basis of justice and righteousness. This is stated several times in the commands concerning the building of the new temple in Ezekiel 40-48. But the returned exiles didn’t do this.</p><p>The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place- see on :15. Their confident claim in :15 that the overflowing rivers of the Assyrians wouldn’t come near them is stated to be false in :17 LXX: "for the storm shall by no means pass by you". And yet by grace, as explained on :15, the storm didn’t sweep all of the away.</p><p>These things were ultimately reapplied to the things of the Lord Jesus and the last days. The Lord’s parable of the builders on sand and rock was no doubt partly based on <a href='B:290 28:17'>Isa 28:17</a>, which speaks of the day of judgment being like hail which "shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters (which) shall overflow". The spiritual house of the foolish builder was a lie, effectively; an appearance of real development which deceived men. For externally, men cannot know anything about the different foundations of houses built side by side.</p>


text:
<p>Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand- See on :15. This very phrase is used of how the fleshly plans of Israel and Syria did "not stand" (<a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>). Now Judah are warned not to make plans according to the flesh, because they too would not stand nor happen. They should have learnt from how the covenant of Israel and Syria had not stood. &nbsp;Circumstances repeat in our experiences, so that we might learn, and see the same Divine hand at work. And so the emphasis is upon "your covenant". As Israel had made a covenant with Syria, so Judah had made a covenant with Egypt, for help against Assyria and then later for help against Babylon. This came to nothing, as explained in <a href='B:290 33:7-9'>Isa 33:7-9</a>: “The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly... He has broken the covenant, He has despised the cities He regards no man". But the sense of the original could be that unless they annulled those covenants, then they would be trampled down to death by the Assyrian invaders. They didn’t annul them and so they were trampled down.</p><p>When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it- The initial application is to the Assyrian invasion (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>). Those in Jerusalem (:14) who had made agreements with Egypt were to be destroyed by the Assyrians. But in fact they weren’t, as Jerusalem didn’t fall. So the prophecy didn’t come about because of the faith and repentance of third parties, and this lead to collateral blessings even for sinners. God’s every action is so multi dimensional and carefully weighed. However I suggested on :15 that the covenant with death might refer to a covenant with Assyria, leading the eldership of Judah (:14) to the assumption that when the Assyrian invasion came, it would affect only Ephraim and not Judah. But here we have envisaged the destruction of Judah along with Ephraim by the Assyrians, as part of the same campaign. But again, by grace that was averted. And those who had wrongly thought they would escape Assyrian judgment did actually escape it. But the final tally of faith is all kept by God and will come to full term in the judgment of the last day.</p>


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<p>As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message- The sense may be as GNB"It will strike you again and again, morning after morning. You will have to bear it day and night. Each new message from God will bring new terror!". The reference may be to the various times that the Assyrian waters came through Judah- once under Sargon, twice under Sennacherib, three or four times under Esarhaddon, and twice under Asshur-bani-pal. Or we could also see a hint here that they were to experience the truth of these prophecies at multiple times and in various contexts; Assyria, Babylon, Rome and the last days situation would all be fulfillments of Isaiah’s message.</p>


text:
<p>For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in- The covenant with Assyria or Egypt (:15) would not actually bring the relief expected and promised. And yet as noted on :18, in the Assyrian context, there was in fact that relief- but because of the faith and repentance of a remnant.</p>


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<p>For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon- These two locations are combined when David was given special Angelic assistance to defeat the Philistines there (<a href='B:130 14:11'>1Ch 14:11</a>; <a href='B:130 14:16'>1Ch 14:16</a>).</p><p>That He may do His work, His unusual work, and bring to pass His act, His extraordinary act- The"unusual"work was in that now, what God had helped Israel do to the Gentiles, would now be done by God to Israel at the hand of the Gentiles. He was to treat His people as Gentiles, for that was how they were in their hearts."Unusual"is AV"strange", and nearly always refers to Gentiles. Yahweh was to do a ’Gentile work’ upon Israel. See on <a href='B:290 29:1'>Isa 29:1</a>.</p>


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<p>Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord Yahweh of Armies, upon the whole earth- see on <a href='B:520 9:28-29'>Rom 9:28-29</a>. The frequent predictions of judgment upon Israel were effectively calls to repentance, so that the predicted judgment need not actually happen. Intended outcomes could be"cut short", the time periods changed accordance to human behaviour. Hence LXX:"I have heard of works finished and cut short by the Lord of hosts, which he will execute upon all the earth". The more Israel resisted the call, the more they were as it were tightening the bands which the prophetic word had laid around them; they would be confirmed in their way and their bands would be strengthened.</p>


text:
<p>Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!- This reflects Isaiah’s appreciation that outcomes could really be changed by response to the word he was preaching. We ought to be encouraged in our witness likewise.</p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


text:
<p>Does he who ploughs to sow plough continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?- The idea is as GNB"Farmers don’t constantly plow their fields and keep getting them ready for planting". God’s patience in preparing the fields of the eretz to receive His message would not continue forever. This parallels the point made in :27, that the harvest of Yahweh’s judgments would likewise not endure eternally. He has a purpose in His judgments, and they were to make the eretz a fertile ground for the seed of His word. And He likewise works in our lives too.</p>


text:
<p>When he has levelled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?-"Place"is really"border". GNB:"Once they have prepared the soil, they plant the seeds of herbs such as dill and cumin. They plant rows of wheat and barley, and at the edges of their fields they plant other grain". The borders or edges of the field were also planted, but with different crops than in the main field. I suggest that as explained on <a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a> we have the vision of the Gentiles living in the desert areas on the borders of the eretz also bringing forth fruit to God. But God’s intention from His fields was that they would not all bear the same seed; dill and wheat aren’t planted together in the same part of the field, and they are tended and harvested differently. We have here an anticipation of how unity is not uniformity, and all manner of different fruit is envisaged. The levelling of the surface in the judgments is the image of Isaiah 40, where an even surface is to be prepared before the coming of the Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>For his God instructs him in right judgement, and teaches him- LXX"So thou shalt be chastened by the judgment of thy God, and shalt rejoice". The man who ploughs in :24&nbsp; appears to be God; so the LXX makes more sense here. The end result of all the judgments was going to be joy for the righteous who allowed themselves to be instructed by the judgments.</p>


text:
<p>For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod- The idea is that the threshing of judgment was not done in a blundering, insensitive way. It was designed to bring forth a refined product which would then be of some use. The judgments are likened to a stick used to beat out dill, a plant grown on windowsills. This is how precise and relatively gentle were God’s judgments; they were not broad scale and disproportionate, as is the case with human judgments.</p>


text:
<p>Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it- Because Divine judgment has end results in view and is not merely punishment, they will not be eternal. Nor will they be in such a form as to preclude a harvest. GNB:"They do not ruin the wheat by threshing it endlessly". LXX"I will not be wroth with you for ever, neither shall the voice of my anger crush you". Eternal threshing, like an eternal hell fire, is just not what God is about.</p>


text:
<p>This also comes forth from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom-"Wonderful in counsel"uses the same words as in <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>, where Messiah is to be the Wonderful Counsellor. The idea is that the fruit of all the judgments was going to be seen in the events of the last days, when that Messiah figure would stand on earth and be the means of resolving all the judgments into a wonderful harvest. Then we will finally resolve the problem of evil; we will see that the judgments were indeed necessary and were used in the wisdom of God.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped!- This is the theme of <a href='B:290 28:21'>Isa 28:21</a>; what David had done to Gentiles was to be done to Israel by Gentiles. God’s people were to be treated as Gentiles because that was who they were in their hearts. Ariel, God’s lion, was to be devoured by the Assyrians or Babylonians, who are also presented as God’s lion. See on :3:&nbsp;</p><p>Add year to year; let the feasts come around- The idea may be that very soon, Jerusalem was to fall. Hence GNB:"Let another year or two come and go, with its feasts and festivals". But this didn’t happen; Jerusalem’s doom was averted by the repentance and intercession of a small minority; in accordance with the principle of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. Perhaps the idea is that the distress of Ariel (:2) was to be at the time of a Jewish feast. And this seems to have been the case at the time of the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem at Passover. Or the point may simply be that the feasts and sacrifices (AV) would not save Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<p>Then I will distress Ariel- A pagan god looked after his own people against their enemies. But Yahweh of Israel sent and empowered Israel’s enemies against them, and gave them victory against His own people; He encamped against His very own people (<a href='B:290 29:2-4'>Isa 29:2-4</a>), God ’distressed’ Ariel, ’the lion of God’. The archenemy of Israel, Assyria, was revealed as a rod in the God of Israel’s hand (<a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a> etc:), and the King of Babylon was Yahweh’s servant who would come against Yahweh’s own people (<a href='B:300 25:9'>Jer 25:9</a>; <a href='B:300 27:6'>Jer 27:6</a> etc:). The will of Israel’s God was that the capital city, seen by the people as the symbol and nerve center of a god’s power and control, was to be destroyed by Israel’s enemies (<a href='B:300 34:1-5'>Jer 34:1-5</a>; <a href='B:300 21:3-7'>Jer 21:3-7</a>). In the surrounding culture of Israel, capital cities were portrayed as women, the wives of the gods. They are always presented as pure and wonderful. But the prophets represent cities like Jerusalem and Samaria as fallen women, whores. It was all so counter-cultural. Yahweh’s prophet even appealed for Israel to surrender when under siege (<a href='B:300 21:8-10'>Jer 21:8-10</a>). Try to enter into how radical and counter-cultural all this was. The prophets were trying to share the feelings and positions of a God so vastly different to the imaginations and understandings of His very own people. The nervous stress of this, the psychological pressure, can’t be underestimated. And we are asked to share the spirit / mind / disposition of those prophets. Not only was God on the side of Israel’s enemies; yet through all that, He somehow was with Israel; quite simply, “God is with us”, even though it is He who encamps against them too (<a href='B:290 8:9-10'>Isa 8:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 18:4'>Isa 18:4</a>). The God of Auschwitz is somehow still the God of Israel. The very torment, even torture, of understanding that was etched clearly in the prophets, and it will be in us too.</p><p>And there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to Me as an altar hearth- Another meaning of Ariel is ’God’s altar’. Hence GNB"God will bring disaster on the city that is called"God’s altar." There will be weeping and wailing, and the whole city will be like an altar covered with blood". This was the huge picture of potential destruction which was averted when the Assyrians were destroyed thanks to the prayer of the minority.</p>


text:
<p>I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with a mount; I will raise siege works against you- The LXX"And I will compass thee about like David"connects with our observation on :1, that as David had fought against Zion so now God was going to fight against it. See on :2. Yet even these clear statements were conditional; because finally, God did not allow the Assyrians to build a mount or siege works against Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 37:33'>Isa 37:33</a>). God is continually open to changing the outcomes He has specified:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust- This is a common theme of Isaiah, that judgment brings down. Because humility is so critical to God and is the basis for salvation. The LXX doesn’t see any allusion to witches:"And thy words shall be brought down to the earth, and thy words shall sink down to the earth, and thy voice shall be as they that speak out of the earth, and thy voice shall be lowered to the ground". Even if there is allusion to ghosts or witches, the idea would be that their words had been brought down as low as those witches were known as talking, in the same muffled way, out of the earth. And it would be a tacit reflection of the state of society that people all knew what wizards and witches sounded like- they were so common. The humbling of words suggests this category would be refined by the judgments and repent; unlike the"foes"of :5 who will be destroyed completely.</p>


text:
<p>But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly- This sounds like the instant destruction of the Assyrian army outside Jerusalem. But then the allusion to being blown away like chaff is the language of <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a>. The final destruction of Zion’s enemies could have come at different times; there is an open ended nature to God’s purposes which is reflected in His prophecies, and which makes them hard to interpret.</p>


text:
<p>She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire- This sounds like a major theophany;"Yahweh of Armies"suggests Angelic involvement. It was indeed a single Angel who destroyed the Assyrian army, but it would seem that this level of Divine manifestation didn’t then occur. This chapter goes on to speak of the sins of Judah, and so it would seem that the full potential of deliverance wasn’t realized; because only a minority of them were spiritual. And so these prophecies are transferred to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night- This could refer to the mercenaries of various nations who comprised the Assyrian army. But the language seems to imply a multiethnic attack against Jerusalem which has more relevance to the last days. We note that the attack is specifically against"her stronghold", the temple of Zion. This particular focus upon the temple area is clearly going to characterize the latter day invasion. Both LXX and GNB stress that all the military strength of the invaders will come to nothing, continuing the great prophetic theme that human strength is to be brought down eternally:"then all the armies of the nations attacking the city of God’s altar, all their weapons and equipment—everything—will vanish like a dream, like something imagined in the night"(GNB).</p>


text:
<p>It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn’t satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that- What seemed so concrete and solid was in fact but the fantasy of dreams. And this is how we are to perceive things today. The language here suggests that the motivation for the attack on Jerusalem was material, imagining how they would feast on the spoil. This is only really relevant to the situation in Hezekiah’s time; and it was the foreign mercenaries in the Assyrian army rather than Assyria who would have had these dreams and motivations. And so this verse is addressed to them, the"all nations that fight against Mount Zion". <a href='B:140 32:27'>2Ch 32:27</a> records how Hezekiah"had exceeding much riches", with store cities for gold, silver and jewels. The latter day Assyrian of Ezekiel 38 likewise wishes to attack Jerusalem in order to take great spoil.</p>


text:
<p>Pause and wonder, take your pleasure and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink- Despite the destruction of Judah’s enemies described in :7,8, they too were to be judged for their blindness. The implication would therefore be that they were saved from the Assyrians by grace and thanks to the intercession and repentance of a small remnant. “Blind yourselves and be blind” (RVmg:); yet God had closed their eyes, confirming them in the decision for blindness which they had taken themselves. The drunkenness of these people was because God had mentally confused them in response to their desire to be blind. He waits to confirm men positively (through the Holy Spirit working on the human mind) and also negatively. In the end, we get where we really want to go.</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, O prophets; and He has covered your heads, O seers- The language here recalls the judgment upon Egypt in <a href='B:290 19:14'>Isa 19:14</a>. They acted and thought like Egypt, and so they received Egypt’s judgment; just as the unfaithful of the new Israel will be"condemned with the world"(<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>). The prophets didn’t want to ’see’ or ’be seers’. And so their eyes were blinded (:9). Remember that they and the priests were so drunk in the temple that they vomited on the altars (<a href='B:290 28:8'>Isa 28:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, Read this, please; and he says, I can’t, for it is sealed- This is all in exemplification of how God had closed their eyes to His word (:9,10). Even the words they received were like a sealed book to them. And the sin of their own blindness was because they were unable to teach that word to others. Potentially they could read it; but it was sealed now. This appears to be God confirming Isaiah’s personal attitude in <a href='B:290 8:16'>Isa 8:16</a>, where he seals the revelation just for his disciples to understand.</p><p>The Lord spoke in parables so that Israel would be deceived (unless they made specific search of the meaning of the parable) and therefore would not come to salvation. This fact is hard to get round for those who feel God isn’t responsible for deception. Isaiah spoke likewise (<a href='B:290 6:9-10'>Isa 6:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 29:10-11'>Isa 29:10-11</a>). See on <a href='B:290 66:4'>Isa 66:4</a>. Thus men are confirmed psychologically in the way they wish to go.</p>


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<p>And the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, Read this, please; and he says, I can’t read- As explained on :11, the prophets were not able to understand the word given to them, it was as it were sealed. And it was their duty to teach others; even those"educated"(:11) couldn’t break the seal now; and the masses of the people were illiterate anyway. So much depended upon the teachers.</p>


text:
<p>The Lord said, Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honour Me, but they have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment of men which has been taught- The Lord quotes these words in <a href='B:470 15:8'>Mat 15:8</a>. They honoured with their lips, but their heart was far from God; they externally kept His commandments, but they frustrated their intention by not letting them influence their essential selves (<a href='B:480 7:6-9'>Mar 7:6-9</a>). They fiercely guarded the pronunciation of His Covenant Name; but in reality, they forgot that Name (<a href='B:300 23:27'>Jer 23:27</a>). The Lord perceived that “your tradition… the commandments of men… your doctrines” resulted in the hearts of Israel being “far from [God]”. Doctrine was intended to affect the heart; and false doctrine resulted in the heart being far from God. True doctrine, on the other hand, was and is intended to bring the heart close to God. Doctrine / teaching is therefore to affect the heart; it is not just the intellectual basis for unity in a community of believers. And the Lord goes on in this very context to talk of how “every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up” (<a href='B:470 15:13'>Mat 15:13</a>). The Greek for “planted” is interpreted by James Strong as meaning “Figuratively, to instill doctrine”. The planting of the believer is through the instillation of Godly doctrine, rather than the doctrines of men. Note how the Lord speaks of doctrine as a command in <a href='B:470 15:6'>Mat 15:6</a>; <a href='B:470 15:9'>Mat 15:9</a>:"Thus have you made the&nbsp;commandment&nbsp;of God of none effect by your tradition... in vain they doworship Me, teaching for&nbsp;doctrines&nbsp;the commandments of men". And He taught earlier that the doctrine of one God was in fact a command to action. Doctrine,&nbsp;didache, is teaching, not just theory; it is commandment towards action. For doctrine and practice are linked. In this we are helped to assess whether any idea or interpretation is indeed a ’first principle doctrine’ or not. What does it inspire in practice? Or is it merely the academic interpretation of the human brain cells?</p><p>Like Israel we can seek God daily, taking delight in approaching unto Him; and yet need the exhortation to urgently seek Him (<a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> cp. 58:2). We can appear to seek unto Him in prayer and attendance at our meetings, and yet not seek Him in the real sense at all. Likewise men came to Jesus physically, at quite some effort to themselves, and yet He tells them that they have not truly come to Him at all (<a href='B:500 6:24'>Joh 6:24</a> cp. 35-37). We can draw near with our mouth, honour Him with our lips, “but have removed [our] heart far from me” (<a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>).</p>


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<p>therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden- The Jewish opposition to the prophets were insistent that wisdom would not perish from them (<a href='B:300 18:18'>Jer 18:18</a>). This is stated in the context of God sealing up His word from those who blinded themselves to it (:9-13). But He would remove from them also their own wisdom so that they would as it were be left alone, without God’s word and without their own word. This is the kind of psychological pain which will arise from the condemnation process- to be left both without God and without secular support.</p>


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<p>Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and Who knows us?- The counsel in view was their seeking help from Egypt against&nbsp; Assyria and later against Babylon (<a href='B:290 30:1-2'>Isa 30:1-2</a>). But they thought they could somehow hide this"in the dark"from Yahweh, whom they still believed in and would have assented in theory to the truth that He sees and knows all things. It’s doubtful that they said in so many words that God could not see or know. But as often in the prophets, the implication of their positions are perceived and stated as God sees them.</p>


text:
<p>You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, He didn’t make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?- See on :15. Their trust in Egypt (:15) and refusal to accept His condemnation of their trust in Egypt (<a href='B:290 20:5-6'>Isa 20:5-6</a>) was effectively accusing Him of having"no understanding". They were forgetting that He was their creator; rather they considered that God, the potter, was in fact like the clay. They considered God to exist but to have the same mentality and limitations of men; they had created God in their own image and likeness rather than the other way around. And this is a temptation for us all.</p><p>A living faith in God as our creator leads to an acceptance that He sees and knows all our ways, that life is lived utterly open before Him- and we should live it accordingly. Hence Isaiah uses the fact of God as creator to reason with those who argued (in their hearts at least) that they could hide their ways from the Lord, saying"Who sees us, and who knows?". Isaiah’s answer to this was that"Shall the thing framed (i:e. us) say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"and therefore doesn’t know nor understand what we do... (<a href='B:290 29:15-16'>Isa 29:15-16</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Isn’t it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?- In a"very little while"from when these words were spoken, the Kingdom could have been reestablished, as described in the next verses. But this was conditional upon Judah seeing and hearing God’s word (:18). But they didn’t want to do this, and so these possibilities didn’t then happen; but the essence of them will come true in the last days. The revived"fruitful field"situation would only come when the Spirit was poured upon them (<a href='B:290 32:15-16'>Isa 32:15-16</a>) and this would only be if they accepted the new covenant, which promised this gift of the Spirit. See on :18; <a href='B:290 32:1'>Isa 32:1</a>. Perhaps Rabshakeh was aware of this prophecy, and he swore to negate it by destroying"Lebanon"[a reference to the cedars of Lebanon in the temple] and"Carmel"(s:w."fruitful field"; <a href='B:290 37:24'>Isa 37:24</a>). The promised revival could therefore have come"a very little while"after the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem was miraculously ended. But Hezekiah’s weakness and thepeoples’ impenitence precluded that, resulting in the Babylonian invasion turning the fruitful field into a wilderness (s:w. <a href='B:300 4:26'>Jer 4:26</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness- The blind are those just spoken of in :9- the Jews who had blinded themselves and been blinded. The deaf who will now hear the words of the book contrast with those for whom the book had been sealed (:11). Those who were so hardened, even hardened by God. would experience the psychological miracle of being again sensitized to God’s word. This is the work of the Spirit on Jewish hearts promised in the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20. See on :17,24.</p><p>The repentance of Israel must be associated with an opening of their eyes to God’s word. There is no other way men can come to repentance. <a href='B:300 30:24'>Jer 30:24</a> prophecies Jacob’s final homecoming, and then comments:"In the latter days (not now) ye shall consider (understand) it". Then Israel will consider and understand the words of their prophets."The Lord hath poured out upon (Israel) the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (quoted in <a href='B:520 11:8'>Rom 11:8</a> concerning Israel’s blindness to Christ)... the vision of all (God’s word) is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed... (but) in that day&nbsp; shall the (spiritually) deaf hear the words of the book"(<a href='B:290 29:10-11'>Isa 29:10-11</a>; <a href='B:290 29:17-18'>Isa 29:17-18</a>). This will be when the book is unsealed at"the time of the end"(<a href='B:340 12:4'>Dan 12:4</a>). Thus Israel’s minority repentance must occur prior to the Lord’s return. Therefore there must be an upsurge in Biblical activity amongst those who will become the faithful remnant in latter day Israel. This will be brought about by the Elijah prophet- remembering that the Elijah prophet is framed in Malachi as a teacher of God’s word, not just an imparter of it. Likewise John, in the spirit of Elijah, taught the people about the Lord’s advent.</p><p>The teaching of Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality of God’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</p><p>Ultimately, we will only truly see in the Kingdom (<a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 42:6'>Isa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:530 13:12'>1Co 13:12</a>). Then we will know (see) face to face. We will see God face to face, i:e. understand Him. It follows therefore that in some ways we are blind, or partially sighted, now. This is indicated by the Lord’s symbolic healing of the blind man in two stages (<a href='B:480 8:23-26'>Mar 8:23-26</a>). Firstly, the man saw men as if they were walking trees. Probably he scarcely knew what a tree or man looked like. Yet he is described as receiving his sight at this stage (<a href='B:480 8:24'>Mar 8:24</a> Gk:). And then the Lord touched his eyes again, and again he is described (in the Greek) as receiving his sight (<a href='B:480 8:25'>Mar 8:25</a> - same phrase as in v:24). This time he saw all things (Gk:) clearly. This surely represents the full spiritual vision of the Kingdom. According to this type, we are at the stage of seeing men as if they are walking trees, perhaps wildly guessing about some things, lacking the most basic sense of proportion</p>


text:
<p>The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel- Again we note that the righteous remnant are characterized above all by their humility; this is so utterly critical to God. The humble are those who will hear and see God’s word (:17,18), and this category will be the materially poor and needy.</p>


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<p>For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off- I noted on :17 the allusion to the scoffing of the ruthless Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:290 13:11'>Isa 13:11</a> about Assyria - Babylon) in <a href='B:290 37:24'>Isa 37:24</a>. Clearly in view here are the Assyrians and their destruction outside Jerusalem. But :21 speaks of these persons as if they are the Jews scoffing at Isaiah and his ’Don’t trust in Egypt’ message (see on :16):&nbsp; Again the point is made that generally the Jews were no better than their Gentile enemies:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony- As noted on :20, the context is a condemnation of the Assyrians, who were to be destroyed outside Jerusalem. But the language is just as relevant to the Jewish leadership, the same words being used of their treatment of the poor Jews in <a href='B:290 10:2'>Isa 10:2</a>; <a href='B:370 2:7'>Amo 2:7</a>; <a href='B:370 5:12'>Amo 5:12</a>; they too were worthy of destruction outside Jerusalem, in Gehenna. Again the point is made that generally the Jews were no better than their Gentile enemies. The salvation from the Assyrians was an example of God’s great sensitivity to the faith, repentance and intercession of a minority:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale- The context is of a spiritually weak Judah being reformed and recreated by God’s Spirit. This was what God did to their fathers Abraham and Jacob. Those men are not so much examples of faith, but of men willing to let God work in them to redeem them from their own unspirituality. The pale face of Jacob was surely in the"time of Jacob’s trouble"when he faced apparent annihilation by the superior forces of Esau- but the situation was reversed by God’s grace and his night of repentant wrestling with God. Although God would save His people as He had Jacob, they still needed to repent in order to be like Jacob at that point. And they refused to generally be like this at Isaiah’s time; they were saved therefore by grace and because a minority repented. However the potentials then possible for the reestablishment of the Kingdom were thereby precluded.</p>


text:
<p>But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify My name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel- The significance of"the work of My hands"is that the children referred to here are new creations of people whose blind eyes have been opened (see on :17). The Jews had mocked the idea of their being the clay and God the potter (:16); they effectively reduced Him to the clay like them. But now they would fully accept His sovereign, creative power through the Spirit. The only time when Jacob saw his children with joy was when he met the [as it were] resurrected Joseph and his children. The equivalent in the last days is when the people of Jacob see / perceive the spiritual children created through the work of the resurrected Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction- This is saying the same thing as :17. Through the gift of the Spirit, those who had blinded themselves to understanding would be made to understand. <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>; <a href='B:290 29:24'>Isa 29:24</a> speaks of repentance as ’learning doctrine’ or being instructed; Israel went astray morally because they allowed themselves to be wrongly instructed.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to the rebellious children, says Yahweh, who take counsel, but not from Me- This follows on from the condemnation of this"counsel"in <a href='B:290 29:15'>Isa 29:15</a>:"Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and Who knows us?". The counsel in view was their seeking help from Egypt against&nbsp; Assyria and later against Babylon, ’counseled’ by the false prophets. But they thought they could somehow hide this"in the dark"from Yahweh, whom they still believed in and would have assented in theory to the truth that He sees and knows all things. It’s doubtful that they said in so many words that God could not see or know. But as often in the prophets, the implication of their positions are perceived and stated as God sees them.</p><p>And who make an alliance, but not with My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin- Through repentance, they could have entered into a new covenant or alliance which would have resulted in the gift of the Spirit working powerfully in their hearts; as also offered in <a href='B:290 29:17-18'>Isa 29:17-18</a> (see notes there). By refusing the covenant, they instead would be confirmed in their sin, from"sin to sin".</p>


text:
<p>Who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked My advice- The Divine cameraman as it were zooms in on them as they set out for Egypt, noting they didn’t begin that journey with a prayer to Yahweh; see on :6. They had taken counsel / advice from the false prophets before the trip (:1):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!- ’Hezekiah’ means ’Yah strengthens’. They had ignored him and were seeking strength not in Yahweh but in Egypt; and were ignoring the frequent encouragement to take refuge beneath the shadow of Yahweh’s cherubim; see on :4. Their trust in Egypt was more than surface level weakness, it was a studied rejection of God. And the challenge comes through powerfully to us who are tempted in myriad ways to trust ’Egypt’ rather than our God.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion- Shame and confusion is the language of condemnation. Accepting God’s existence but not trusting Him was the ticket to condemnation. This comes over as a piercing challenge to us in our generation, whereby about every human eventuality apart from death is apparently covered by some secular device. But even from that shame they could be saved, just as the eyes blinded for their own wilful blindness could be opened (<a href='B:290 29:9'>Isa 29:9</a>; <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>). For"Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale"(<a href='B:290 29:22'>Isa 29:22</a>). The context is of a spiritually weak Judah being reformed and recreated by God’s Spirit. This was what God did to Jacob. The pale face of Jacob was surely in the"time of Jacob’s trouble"when he faced apparent annihilation by the superior forces of Esau- but the situation was reversed by God’s grace and his night of repentant wrestling with God. Although God would save His people from their shame as He had Jacob, they still needed to repent in order to be like Jacob at that point. And they refused to generally be like this at Isaiah’s time; they were saved therefore by grace and because a minority repented. However the potentials then possible for the reestablishment of the Kingdom were thereby precluded.</p>


text:
<p>For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes- The Egyptian representatives came to meet those from Judah at the border towns."Ambassadors"is malak, the word for"Angel". Judah had spurned to take refuge beneath the wings of the Angel-cherubim (see on :2); the Egyptians were offering a fake system of Angelic protection. Princes and ambassadors were later sent to Hezekiah (<a href='B:140 32:31'>2Ch 32:31</a>) from Babylon, and he ought to have learnt not to trust in them, seeing that trust in the"princes and ambassadors" of Egypt had been proven so false just in recent history. God likewise brings situations into our lives whereby situations repeat- to test our faith and understanding. See on <a href='B:290 39:1'>Isa 39:1</a>:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can’t profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach- But as explained on :5, they could be saved even from this shame. Their trust in Egypt became a reproach with which the Assyrians mocked them (<a href='B:120 18:21'>2Ki 18:21</a>; <a href='B:120 18:24'>2Ki 18:24</a>). But the Assyrians were destroyed by Yahweh. There was not therefore the shame afterwards which there would have been if Assyria had conquered Jerusalem. We see here how God’s purposes adjust and recalculate in accordance with the changes made by the repentance even of a remnant. That minority repentance led to the Assyrians being destroyed. Therefore the faithless were not ashamed and reproached for their trust in Egypt to the degree intended. But this shall ultimately come true at the last day; that final judgment at the Lord’s return will as it were balance all the prophetic books and recalculations. The sum of them will then be attained with perfect integrity.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their rich gifts on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people- The Divine cameraman as it were zooms in on them as they fix their packages of presents on the shoulders of donkeys and humps of camels. The focus on detail is impressive. The animals were burdened down with it all, and this is played upon by this prophetic"burden". They risked much- the way was full of lions, snakes and also the mythical creatures they believed inhabited the desert, i:e."fiery flying serpents". But we notice that the record doesn’t as it were add a footnote informing us that"these beings don’t exist in reality". The people were spoken to in terms they understood and according to their own perceptions, even if they were inaccurate. And this explains the language of demons in the New Testament. They had been led through this same dangerous desert by God at the exodus (<a href='B:50 8:15'>Deu 8:15</a>; <a href='B:300 2:6'>Jer 2:6</a>); now they were returning through it to Egypt without His direction and protection.</p>


text:
<p>For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still- GNB"The harmless dragon". The apparently impressive power of Egypt was in fact vain. And that is true of all secular power, advantage and insurance, which are the equivalent of"Egypt"to us."Rahab", ’pride’ or ’strength’, was an old name for Egypt (<a href='B:220 26:12'>Job 26:12</a>; <a href='B:230 87:4'>Psa 87:4</a>; <a href='B:230 89:10'>Psa 89:10</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>). But the historical Rahab did repent and become part of God’s people; and God always entertained that hope for Egypt (e.g. <a href='B:290 19:18-20'>Isa 19:18-20</a>). His hopefulness is wonderful and also inspirational in our own dealings with people.</p>


text:
<p>Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever- The purpose of this particular written record was because God foresaw that He would deliver Judah from the Assyrians despite the rebellion of the majority. He didn’t want them to therefore assume that their sinful attitudes were insignificant because He had saved them anyway. See on :13:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh- LXX"false children". True sonship is predicated upon our attitude to our Father’s word. The majority had listened to the false prophets rather than the word of Yahweh (:1,2).</p>


text:
<p>who tell the seers, Don’t see! and to the prophets, Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things, prophesy deceits- This was therefore how Isaiah was treated. God’s grace in still saving Jerusalem from the Assyrians was the more remarkable; and it highlights therefore His sensitivity to the prayer and repentance of a minority. We wonder if they actually said these words; but these are what we are effectively saying every time we place secular advice about that of God’s word.</p>


text:
<p>get out of the way, turn aside from the path; cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us- LXX adds"the oracle of the Holy One of Israel". Their attitudes to God’s word were their attitudes to Him; in that sense"the word was God"as it still is. It is unlikely they actually said these words; but God read their rejection of His counsel in favour of that of the false prophets (:1,2) as being tantamount to saying this.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on it- As the context makes clear, they had despisedYahweh’s word for the word of the false prophets. To not trust God is therefore understood as despising Him. This is typical of the prophets, to show into stark relief the implications of unbelief and unspirituality. We may need to read in an ellipsis:"Trust not in the results of oppression"or the wealth gained by it; for this is a quotation from <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a> where the construction means just that. The rulers of Judah had oppressed the poor; and stood to benefit materially from an alliance with Egypt, or so they imagined. To reject Isaiah’s"no alliance with Egypt"message was perceived as not to their material benefit. And so they preferred to trust the words of the false prophets, because this allowed them to continue their oppressive ways. There is always a subconscious personal advantage to believing a false message or interpretation. It’s why"false doctrine"is popular and attractive.</p>


text:
<p>therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant- LXX"of which the fall is very near at hand". The sin of those who trusted in Egypt at Isaiah’s time was to result in major judgment, and very soon. The next verse speaks of total breakage, as if the Divine potter was displeased with Judah as His vessel and was to break it and start again with another vessel. But this didn’t happen, because the Assyrian destruction of the walls of Jerusalem didn’t actually happen as envisaged because of the repentance of a minority. And this led to the unspiritual majority apparently ’getting away with it’. This is why their condemnation was to be written in a book (:8) as witness that ultimately they would meet their judgment.</p>


text:
<p>He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces one piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern- See on :13. This is the language of <a href='B:300 18:6'>Jer 18:6</a>; <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>; the Divine potter was going to break Judah and not one piece of them would be any use for anything. He would do so"without sparing". But He did spare, and the remnant of the judged people were to again be used by Him. We have here an example of the sort of thing that goes on in Hosea; God threatens total and irreversible rejection of His people in His anger, but His core love for them means it doesn’t totally happen. The pole of His love and pity is in the last analysis stronger than the pole of His anger and judgment. Or we can conclude that the final judgment has been deferred until their resurrection at the last day. <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a> describes how the kingdoms of this world will be broken and scattered as the chaff before the wind. Yet this is exactly the language here and in <a href='B:300 13:24'>Jer 13:24</a> concerning Israel’s latter day destruction. They will be"dashed"(<a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a>) as the nations of the world will be (<a href='B:230 2:9'>Psa 2:9</a>). <a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a> says they will be destroyed by brother being dashed against brother- again, the picture of the world’s final destruction (<a href='B:450 14:13'>Zec 14:13</a>). <a href='B:730 2:27'>Rev 2:27</a> speaks of the unfaithful in the ecclesia likewise being dashed to pieces. The Lord’s coming will be a stone that grinds them to powder (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>), but perhaps in that they will destroy each other.</p>


text:
<p>For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, You will be saved by returning and rest; your strength will be in quietness and in confidence. You refused- Their destruction was to be because they had been given the chance to repent [’returning’ to God] but had refused it. As discussed on :14, they were therefore threatened with total and permanent rejection without a single survivor. But even that was changed by God’s pity and grace. There was to be"quietness"after the Babylonian / Assyrian invaders were destroyed (s:w. Isa 14:7); and they were to act as if what they believed in had come about. For this is faith, believing that what we hope for and trust in has already come.</p><p>LXX"When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved; and thou shalt know where thou wast, when thou didst trust in vanities: then your strength became vain, yet ye would not hearken". As noted on :20 LXX, the repentant remnant would come to understand where they had gone wrong, they would have the ability to see themselves from outside themselves.</p><p>The reference in the primary context may be to how Ahaz had been called upon to repent of his faithlessness, and to find"calm", s:w."quietness"(see on Isa :4); but he had"refused", madly trusting upon Egyptian horses for salvation (:16). But the appeal to repent was still there, for a later generation.</p>


text:
<p>But you said, No, for we will flee on horses; therefore you will flee; and, We will ride on the swift; therefore those who pursue you will be swift- As noted on :15, this may be a reference to Ahaz trusting in Egyptian horses against Syria and Israel, as noted on <a href='B:290 7:4'>Isa 7:4</a>. Perhaps part of the package deal with Egypt was that they would provide swift horses (for which Egypt was famed even in Solomon’s time) for the leadership to flee away on. We see here the selfishness and short termism of the Jerusalem leadership in making this deal with Egypt.</p>


text:
<p>One thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five- This is the curse for breaking the covenant. Covenant relationship with God is not merely a knowing of correct things about Him; it is trust in Him. To not trust in Him means that we break the covenant, whether or not we maintain intellectual purity of understanding in theological terms.</p><p>You will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill- The idea is as GNB"Nothing will be left of your army except a lonely flagpole on the top of a hill". But this is the very picture of how an ensign is to be lifted up on Zion, to which the nations shall come. The curse here is as always pregnant with promise in the longer term. The tiny remnant left in Zion were to become a banner or ensign for the world; and the idea is later developed in terms of the"ensign"or"pole"being applied to the Lord Jesus on the cross, who is to become the rallying point for the faithful remnant from all nations. But the Jewish remnant were to be brought to that point by the experience of their own faithlessness and repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore Yahweh will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him- Having lambasted Israel for their sins and described in detail their coming judgment, God then makes a strange comment, apparently out of context with what He has just been saying. God appears to be saying that He delays His actions, that He brings judgment, that He sets Himself so far above us- just so that He can get to show yet more mercy to us. Perhaps Joseph was manifesting God in the way he worked out that slow and detailed scheme of dealing with his sinful brethren... it has always seemed to me that he drew out the process just so that he could lead up to a climax of pouring out his maximum grace to them. Whilst the way seems long, “blessed are all they that wait for him”. God is even spoken of as concluding (Gk. ‘shutting up the eyes’) of Israel in the sin of unbelief, “that he might have mercy” upon both them and the Gentiles (<a href='B:520 11:32'>Rom 11:32</a>). Likewise God delays the second coming because He waits and hopes for repentance and spiritual growth from us. But He praises the faithful for patiently waiting for Him (<a href='B:290 30:18'>Isa 30:18</a>; <a href='B:230 37:7'>Psa 37:7</a>). Here we see the humility of God’s grace.</p><p>The passion and love of God leads Him time and again to apparently contradict Himself. He says that He will crush Judah so that not one of them is left, He will not spare (:14); He would cast Judah out of their land, they would go to Babylon and serve other gods there, “where I will not show you favour” (<a href='B:300 16:13'>Jer 16:13</a>). But actually Esther and her people were shown favour there [s:w. <a href='B:190 4:8'>Est 4:8</a>; <a href='B:190 8:5'>Est 8:5</a>]. God was gracious [s:w. ‘show favour’] to those in exile (<a href='B:290 30:18'>Isa 30:18</a>; <a href='B:290 30:9'>Isa 30:9</a>; <a href='B:370 5:15'>Amo 5:15</a>; <a href='B:460 1:9'>Mal 1:9</a>). But Jeremiah 16 goes on to state that God would not ever hide His eyes / face from the iniquity they had committed, i:e. the reason why they were in captivity (<a href='B:300 16:17'>Jer 16:17</a>). But actually He did do just that- He hid His eyes from the sin of Judah and the sin of the exiles (<a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a>); the hiding of His face from them was in fact not permanent but for a brief moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry; when He hears you, He will answer you- These dwelling in Zion are the tiny remnant who remain on mount Zion after the rest have been destroyed or have fled (see on :17). But they will be there because they cry to God in repentance. The salvation of Zion in Isaiah’s time didn’t exactly fit this pattern; the human variables worked out to preclude this entire picture coming about, but it will in essence in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction- The language of minimum rations, in prison or during a siege (<a href='B:110 22:27'>1Ki 22:27</a>). It was the ’Plan A’ that Jerusalem would fall to the Assyrians and Judah join Israel in captivity in Assyria, but out of that exile, a remnant would repent. Due to the minority repentance, that scenario was deferred to the effects of the Babylonian captivity; although as Jeremiah and Ezekiel make clear in their appeals for repentance, that too could have been averted. The simple truth is that if they had responded to the prophetic appeals and repented, the whole captivity scenario wouldn’t have been required. I suppose that was the ideal ’Plan A’.</p><p>Yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your teachers- This could be read as an intensive plural; their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me... and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</p><p>LXX offers a different slant:"They that cause thee to err shall no more at all draw nigh to thee; for thine eyes shall see those that cause thee to err". As noted on :15 LXX, the repentant remnant would come to understand where they had gone wrong, they would have the ability to see themselves from outside themselves.</p>


text:
<p>and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it- see on <a href='B:10 18:19'>Gen 18:19</a>. The new covenant they were to enter according to Jeremiah 30 and Ezekiel 20 involved the gift of the Spirit working in their hearts to give them a heart which remained in the covenant. It is that same new covenant which we accept by baptism into the Lord Jesus today. The work of the Spirit in practice would be to keep them in the path, recalling them from any straying to the right hand or left. This could have been for Judah the time of <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>, when the deaf heard the words of the book. But for Judah this was not to mean they were mere puppets of the Spirit. Josiah (in their revent history) is described as experiencing this blessing, not turning to the right nor left (<a href='B:140 34:2'>2Ch 34:2</a>); but at the end of his life it seems he did turn aside.</p>


text:
<p>You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, Go away!- Overlaying wooden idols with precious metals recalls the construction of the tabernacle. This was how idolatry was justified at the same time as a claim to Yahweh worship- as we are tempted to, they claimed to worship Yahweh through worshipping the idols, whose paraphernalia became as it were another tabernacle (as in <a href='B:510 7:43'>Act 7:43</a>). Idolatry was clearly a problem at the time of both the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. Repentance involved the destruction of those idols.</p>


text:
<p>He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and the bread from the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures- The Kingdom blessings were to come once Judah repented (:22) and accepted the new covenant (:20,21). Yet when the exiles returned, they met famine and pests ate their harvests. They returned externally, but not to God.</p>


text:
<p>the oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savoury provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork- The idea is as GNB"The oxen and donkeys that plow your fields will eat the finest and best fodder".</p>


text:
<p>There shall be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall- Streams bursting forth from mountain tops suggest great supernatural blessing (as streams run in valleys not on mountain tops), provided in the very"high places"where they had worshipped idols which they had now destroyed (:22). This is grace indeed. The idea seems to be that the high places of men ("towers") will fall in the final"great slaughter"of Armageddon; but God’s people will be safe on their"high places", which were formally the site of their sins and idolatry which is now forgiven. All that is elevated in secular terms ("towers") will be brought down in the last day, as in <a href='B:290 2:12'>Isa 2:12</a>. And this is indeed a principle truth to live by.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of His people, and heals the wound they were struck with- This is part of the same potential prophetic scenario as in <a href='B:290 13:10'>Isa 13:10</a>:"For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light, the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine", in relation to Babylon; but the opposite will be true for God’s people. Darkness for Babylon would mean light for Judah, just as there was darkness for the Egyptians and light for Israel at the time of the exodus deliverance. These words are applied in the Olivet prophecy to the situation in the last days (<a href='B:470 24:29'>Mat 24:29</a>). For this didn’t fully happen at the time.</p><p>LXX has"the stars of heaven, and Orion". Orion was identified with Nimrod, founder of Assyria, and this constellation was much worshipped by the Babylonians. The prophetic potential was that Assyria and Babylon would be totally eclipsed, along perhaps with the extinguishing from sight of their favourite constellation. But this literal aspect didn’t happen, just as the literal changes to the sun and moon spoken of in <a href='B:290 30:26'>Isa 30:26</a> didn’t happen at the time, with a week’s worth of sunlight given in one day, because the Kingdom of God was not reestablished at that time because Judah didn’t fully repent. The coming of Zion’s supernaturally bright light is to come therefore when Babylon falls; and this has therefore been deferred to the latter day fall of Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with His anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is as a devouring fire- It comes"after a long time"(LXX). And yet there are indications in Isaiah that this time od judgment for the nations and deliverance for Zion was to come shortly. The ambiguity is because of the open ended nature of the prophecies. It could have come soon, but the human preconditions weren’t fulfilled and so it is delayed until the last days."Thick rising smoke"suggests that supernatural Divine judgment would come upon Assyria or Babylon akin to the destruction of Sodom. There is no mention of this kind of destruction being used when the Angel smote the Assyrian army. <a href='B:680 3:7'>2Pe 3:7</a> and other latter day prophecies (especially Ezekiel 39) suggest that such fire will be used in the last days. God’s Name is parallel with His glory (<a href='B:290 59:19'>Isa 59:19</a>; <a href='B:230 102:15'>Psa 102:15</a> and often). The literal, visible coming of God’s glory to Zion in the form of supernaturally bright light has just been spoken of (:26). But the intensity of that light will bring burning heat upon His enemies and the darkness they will experience (<a href='B:290 13:10'>Isa 13:10</a> etc:) is presented as being because of the thick smoke which arises from their subsequent burning:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction- As the Assyrian invasion reached to the neck of Judah, right up to Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>), so God’s response would be likewise. What they did to Jerusalem would be done to them; which is the great theme of Revelation, where the seals of judgment on Israel become the vials of judgment upon her abusers. All these things were to be done by the breath and tongue (:27) of God- through the word which Isaiah was speaking. Like Jeremiah, he was set up to speaks words which could destroy nations and resurrect them. This is the power of the prophetic word.</p><p>And a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples- It is God who makes the Gentile nations labour in"vanity: and a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples"(<a href='B:290 30:28'>Isa 30:28</a> RV). Clearly enough, God causes people to err by putting a bridle in the jaws to pull them in a certain direction. The latter day Assyrian will likewise have a hook in his jaws to lead him to destruction (<a href='B:330 38:4'>Eze 38:4</a>), just as the Assyrians of Isaiah’s time did (<a href='B:290 37:29'>Isa 37:29</a>).</p>


text:
<p>You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock- The song sung at night recalls the Passover feast (see on <a href='B:290 31:5'>Isa 31:5</a>); Judah’s deliverance was to be as if Israel had been redeemed from Egypt. Perhaps the deliverance from Assyria also happened at Passover time, and perhaps Passover will be a significant time of deliverance for Israel from the latter day Assyrian or Egyptians. But going with a flute to keep the feast at Zion also sounds like the joy of the feast of tabernacles (<a href='B:30 23:40'>Lev 23:40</a>). The symbolism of all the feasts spoke of Israel’s final redemption, and this was to come gloriously true in the end.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones- The literal and final descent of God’s arm will be in the descent of His Son from Heaven with the Angels. But this ’coming down’ was achieved in a limited sense when the Assyrians were destroyed by an Angel (:31); a"blast"was sent upon them (<a href='B:290 37:7'>Isa 37:7</a>), but not the full outpouring of wrath spoken of here. But what happened then could have been the full reestablishment of the Kingdom in glory, as spoken of in the preceding verses. But this didn’t happen at the time. The invasion was averted by the faith of a few, but there was still not strength to bring forth a spiritually reborn nation (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For through the voice of Yahweh - All these things were to be done by the breath and tongue (:27,28) of God- through the word which Isaiah was speaking. Like Jeremiah, he was set up to speaks words which could destroy nations and resurrect them. This is the power of the prophetic word.</p><p>The Assyrian will be dismayed- see on <a href='B:140 32:21'>2Ch 32:21</a>. This is the dismaying or breaking of the Assyrians in Isaiah’s time of <a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a> (s:w:). But this is in the context of the Kingdom being established. It could have come; but it didn’t. Hezekiah failed to be the Messiah figure as did Eliakim, and the people generally were impenitent. The latter day Assyrian, therefore, is to be “broken in pieces” (<a href='B:290 30:31'>Isa 30:31</a> RV), just as the whole image of Daniel 2 is to be, by the return of Christ as the little stone. The Assyrian confederacy which came against Jerusalem is described as being the foes of Israel who will be swept away as chaff (<a href='B:290 29:5'>Isa 29:5</a> RV). This was fulfilled in Sennacherib’s destruction outside Jerusalem. And yet the language of being swept away as chaff refers without doubt to the image of Daniel 2 being swept away as chaff. The conclusion surely is that the Assyrian attack against Jerusalem, comprised as it was of a confederacy of local nations from within the land promised to Abraham, is typical of the final destruction of a similar confederacy by the Lord’s return.</p><p>He will strike him with His rod- As Assyria had smitten Judah with the rod. The LXX brings out the parallel between the word / voice of God through Isaiah, and the rod striking Assyria:"For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, even by the stroke wherewith he shall smite them".</p>


text:
<p>Every stroke of the rod of punishment which Yahweh will lay on him will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons- GNB suggests"As the LORD strikes them again and again, his people will keep time with the music of drums and harps". LXX:"And it shall happen to him from every side, that they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves shall war against him in turn with drums and with harp"."Brandishing"is literally ’shaking’, the language of earthquake. But it is the technical term for the “wave offering” in the Law (e.g. <a href='B:30 7:30'>Lev 7:30</a>); in all this, Yahweh will be glorified, and the judgment of the nations will be as a sacrifice to Him, with Israel worshipping in the background now that His judgments are in the earth.</p>


text:
<p>For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared; He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood- The Assyrian army is personalized as"the king". But their king was not then killed. The destruction of the Assyrian army by an Angel was but a partial fulfilment of these words. The latter day leader of Assyria, the antichrist figure called Gog, will be destroyed in the same coming down of Divine judgment. And that has been long prepared- in these words of Isaiah.</p><p>Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it- Sulphur suggests the judgment of Sodom. There is no evidence this happened when the Assyrians were destroyed outside Jerusalem, nor was literal fire apparently used. These things will come true in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh!- The Jews of Isaiah’s day turned to political alliances with the Egyptians to save them from the threat of Assyria. Isaiah&nbsp;insisted that"the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit” (<a href='B:290 31:3'>Isa 31:3</a>). Egypt and Assyria are likened to mere tiny insects, a fly and a bee. Yet Judah were doing what was humanly sensible and smart. To trust in politics, in what seems the usual human response to an issue rather than trust in God, is in fact something which&nbsp;breaks God’s heart. The horses and chariots they ought to have trusted in were the Angel cherubim. This is the lesson of Ezekiel’s usage of the cherubim visions. The grace and eagerness of God to work with men comes through, however; in that although just a minority trusted in Him, He used one Angel to smite the Assyrian army. Perhaps the impression is left that if the entire cherubim had been involved, not only would the Assyrians have been destroyed but the Kingdom established as discussed on <a href='B:290 30:28-30'>Isa 30:28-30</a>:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Yet He also is wise, and will bring disaster- The idea was that to trust in Egypt was the "wise" thing to do, the secular choice of wisdom. We face the same choice. Yet we are to be fools for Christ’s sake. And God’s wisdom was to "bring disaster" upon those who trusted in Egypt. But how it worked out was that the faith of the minority led to the Assyrians being destroyed, despite the majority trusting in Egypt. Were they therefore not punished or had "disaster"? They appear to have got away with it. But the judgment of the last day, to which they will be resurrected, will finally resolve all these issues.</p><p>And will not call back His words- The destruction of the Assyrian army could be read as God indeed relenting. He speaks His word of judgment, but in the gap between the statement and the execution of it there is the possibility of repentance and intercession which can call back those words; see on <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. God’s calling back is the same word used in the frequent appeals for Judah to "turn away" from their sin (<a href='B:290 1:16'>Isa 1:16</a>). We could conclude that they didn’t, and so God didn’t turn back His words; and they will be punished at the last day. Or, we can marvel that God did call back His words for the sake of a minority repenting and interceding, just as He did regarding the destiny of Israel because of Moses’ intercession.</p><p>But will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity- God would "arise against" Assyria and Babylon to destroy them (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:22'>Isa 14:22</a>). But the context here is of His ’arising against’ the evildoers amongst His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 44:29'>Jer 44:29</a>). For they were a family of evildoers (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:4'>Isa 1:4</a>; <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>) just as Babylon were (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:20'>Isa 14:20</a>). His arising in judgment was therefore to be against Babylon and the sinners within Judah at the same time; they were to be "condemned with the world" as the unworthy of the new Israel will be at the last day (<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>); hence the appeal to come out of Babylon so as not to share her condemnation. But when the Assyrian army was destroyed, the sinful "house of the evildoers" in Judah wasn’t destroyed. Perhaps judgment was averted for the sake of the repentance of the minority, just as we who are sinners are counted righteous thanks to the work of the Lord Jesus, the one man. But it could be they are raised to condemnation at the last day, and that condemnation will be articulated at the same time as Babylon is destroyed. Likewise the ’workers of iniquity’ is a phrase used of the Jews at this time (<a href='B:400 2:1'>Mic 2:1</a> cp. <a href='B:350 6:8'>Hos 6:8</a>). Their "helpers" could refer to the Egyptians whose help they sought (s:w. <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:290 31:1'>Isa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:300 37:7'>Jer 37:7</a>), just as Ahaz had sought "help" (s:w:) from the Assyrians earlier (<a href='B:140 28:21'>2Ch 28:21</a>). Or we can read this as meaning that those who were "helpers" of the leading sinners in Judah would be likewise punished. And here again we see a principle of contemporary relevance; for we can so easily think we are not the "workers of iniquity", but by our support of them we become vicarious sinners. And even our silence can also be ’helping’ them. This concern is raised again in :3.</p>


text:
<p>Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit- As explained on :1, the contrast was with the Angel cherubim:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>When Yahweh stretches out His hand- The simple fact we are created by God means that we are responsible to God in some sense, and therefore liable to His judgment. The stretched out hand of God is used as a figure both for His judgment of man (<a href='B:290 31:3'>Isa 31:3</a>) and also for His creation of man (<a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a>; <a href='B:290 42:5'>Isa 42:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:12'>Isa 45:12</a>; <a href='B:290 51:13'>Isa 51:13</a>). The knowledge that we are created by Him makes us responsible to His judgment, and we have to look at our bodies, our lives which He has created … and act accordingly.</p><p>Both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together- As explained on :2, vicarious ’helping’ of sinners is judged the same as the high profile sinners themselves. But we can read "he who helps" as referring to the Egyptians (:1 s:w:; <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:300 37:7'>Jer 37:7</a>). The idea is that the Egyptians would be destroyed together with the Jews who trusted in them. But this didn’t happen at Isaiah’s time. The Assyrians were destroyed by God, and neither Judah nor Egypt fell together. And the Assyrians then left Egypt and Judah alone. All these things will come to full term in the last days, when the latter day Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and impenitent Judah will be destroyed together, apart from a small repentant remnant from all of them.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey who will not be dismayed if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, nor will he abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its mount- In the context of condemning trust in Egypt, this would mean that the expected help from Egypt would be like shepherds being "called" (by Judah ’calling’ to Egypt for help, <a href='B:350 7:11'>Hos 7:11</a>) but being unable to make enough noise to stop the lions of Assyria / Babylon devouring the prey of Judah. This could only be achieved by the direct intervention of Yahweh’s Angelic armies coming down to Zion. This descent of Yahweh to Zion didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time when the Assyrians were destroyed by an Angel. It will come finally true when the latter day lions surrounding Zion are destroyed by the return of the Lord Jesus to Zion (<a href='B:380 1:21'>Oba 1:21</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The LXX again offers a different slant: "For thus said the Lord to me, As a lion would roar, or a lion’s whelp over prey which he has taken, and cry over it, until the mountains are filled with his voice, and the animals are awe-struck and tremble at the fierceness of his wrath: so the Lord of hosts shall descend to fight upon the mount Sion, even upon her mountains". This would mean that trust in Egypt for help against the lions of Assyria and Babylon is nothing compared to the help of Yahweh, who would act as a far greater lion, in the person of His Son as the lion of the tribe of Judah (<a href='B:730 5:5'>Rev 5:5</a>; <a href='B:10 49:9'>Gen 49:9</a>) coming down on Zion.</p>


text:
<p>As birds hovering, so Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem- The idea is as GNB "Just as a bird hovers over its nest to protect its young". Hovering over would suggest a Passover style deliverance, as would "He will pass over and preserve it", perhaps at the very time of that feast; see on <a href='B:290 30:29'>Isa 30:29</a>.</p><p>Many of the descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ in His own parables are taken from Old Testament passages describing the feelings of God towards Israel, showing the truth of this in the first century context when Israel were still God’s people. Thus the Lord’s description of Himself as a hen wishing to gather the chicks of Jerusalem (<a href='B:470 23:37'>Mat 23:37</a>) is based on <a href='B:290 31:5'>Isa 31:5</a>: "As mother-birds flying, so will the Lord defend Jerusalem" Heb:). Yet <a href='B:490 13:8'>Luk 13:8</a> could suggest that Christ’s attitude to Israel was even more patient than that of God Himself; yet because their feelings to Israel are identical, the implication is perhaps that the Son enables and thereby persuades the Father to be even more patient with us than He would naturally be!</p><p>He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and preserve it- This is what God did at the time of the destruction of the Assyrians in Isaiah’s time, even though the majority were impenitent of their trust in Egypt. It is this act of pure love and grace which leads to the appeal for repentance in :6. It wasn’t that Yahweh would only act if the people all repented, although that indeed was His stated position. Rather He, like a parent, decided to all the same show them grace- in the hope they would be moved to repentance by the goodness and grace shown. Indeed the grace / goodness of God, the gift ahead of time, is intended to elicit repentance (<a href='B:520 2:4'>Rom 2:4</a>)</p>


text:
<p>Return to Him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel!- As explained on :5, this appeal to repentance was made after God has promised to save them by grace from the Assyrians. Their deep revolt was in seeking the help and solutions of the world, leaving their supposed faith in Yahweh as merely a cultural, theoretical matter. This, to God, was deep revolt. The plans they carefully devised were this deep revolt- hence LXX "Turn, ye children of Israel, who devise a deep and sinful counsel". The ’deep revolt’ is the language of turning to idols (<a href='B:50 13:5'>Deu 13:5</a>; <a href='B:290 1:5'>Isa 1:5</a>). And despite the grace of deliverance from Assyria, like their king Hezekiah, Judah continued to revolt and did not respond to grace (s:w. <a href='B:290 59:13'>Isa 59:13</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold- There is a logic to wholehearted, unreserved conversion. Now, we must turn unto [s:w. ‘convert to’] God (:6), “for in that day everyone shall cast away [turn back, ‘convert’] his idols of silver and&nbsp; his idols of gold”. In the day of final judgment, the rejected will go through the conversion scenario- of throwing away the things of this world, the pomp and the power and the pride of this petty life, and turning unto the things of God. But then, in the finest and acutest tragedy of the whole human experience, it will be all too late. We must all go through the conversion process: either now, or in the rejection experience of the judgment.</p><p>The sin which your own hands have made for you- Idols are so often called the works of human hands. And this is the abiding nature of idolatry in our age- to worship works, human achievements.</p>


text:
<p>The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man; and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him. He will flee from the sword, and his young men will become subject to forced labour- The LXX has "neither shall he flee from the face of the sword". The idea being that they would not die by the sword; the Angel destroyed them in a moment. And the judgments against them in Isaiah 30 stress flaming fire and sulphur being used, not literal weapons. Perhaps the allusion is again to the cherubim (see on :1) who were associated in Genesis with the flaming sword.</p>


text:
<p>His rock will pass away by reason of terror, and his princes will be afraid of the banner, says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem- Yahweh was to be the rock of Israel. That meant, and means today, that we can have no other rock. The intention was that there would be a literal descent of Yahweh, perhaps through the cherubim, to Zion. The fire from this would destroy the surrounding enemies, as described in Isaiah 30, and yet that Divine fire would remain in Zion as the sign of God’s presence and would form the "fire [which] burns there for sacrifices" (GNB) in the revived temple system. Yahweh’s banner or ensign would be placed there, and the repentant remnants of the nations would rally to it, according to previous prophecies in Isaiah. Then the situation of <a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a> would have come about. But all that didn’t work out at the time because Judah weren’t receptive to it. And so these things have been reinterpreted and reapplied; the ensign becomes the pole or cross of the Lord Jesus, to whom all true believers in Him will come, in their acceptance of the Hope of Israel. And these things shall have some literal fulfilment at the Lord’s return.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice- This king in the context of the Assyrian destruction spoken of in Isaiah 31 would have been Hezekiah. But he failed to do this, as did his sons, his "princes". And so these things are reinterpreted and reapplied to the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land- We noted on <a href='B:290 31:9'>Isa 31:9</a> that the situation of <a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a> could potentially have come about in Isaiah’s time, but Judah’s general impenitence meant that it was deferred to the last days and is meanwhile reinterpreted&nbsp; with reference to the Lord Jesus, the "man" who is a covert from the storm of Divine judgment. All the "coverts" of human strength would be destroyed (<a href='B:290 28:17'>Isa 28:17</a> s:w:) leaving only "a man" as a place of defence. That "man" was to be the "king" of :1; and it now clearly refers to the Lord Jesus. To trust in an invisible Man rather than visible human strength is a big challenge to us today. In the future application, we have here the picture of the entire eretz being turned into a desolate wilderness with the heat of Divine judgment making it unbearable (see on Isaiah 24), and with the rock which will represent the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:530 10:4'>1Co 10:4</a>) alone offering shade. LXX "and shall appear in Sion as a rushing river, glorious in a thirsty land" confirms that this is the scene which could have developed in the redeemed Zion, but which has currently been reinterpreted to the gushing streams of the Spirit coming out of the smitten rock of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen- LXX "And they shall no more trust in men" would continue the theme of Isaiah 31, of not trusting any more in Egypt nor in idols, but in Yahweh alone. The blind in <a href='B:290 29:9'>Isa 29:9</a> were those mentally and spiritually blinded by God because they didn’t want to see. But that psychological work of God will now work in reverse, through the work of the Holy Spirit which is part of the gift of the new covenant. Thiswas what God envisioned His repentant people accepting at Isaiah’s time, and then again on their return from Babylon- and part of that covenant was that God would work on their hearts to give them spiritual vision. We are confirmed mentally and spiritually, by the Spirit’s operation directly on our hearts, in the way we wish to go.</p>


text:
<p>The heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly- The GNB interpretation is worth considering: "They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will say what they mean". But these rash stammerers are those of :3 who once had blinded eyes and deaf ears, who now have them opened by the Spirit. And with those opened eyes and ears they will "understand". The "rash" or impatient were those who wished God to "make speed" His work and because of His apparent silence turned to Egypt (<a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a> s:w:). So this prophecy of the Kingdom situation could have come about in Isaiah’s time; those hardened disbelievers in Judah could have been converted from their blindness and superficial judgments. Such is the power of the Spirit; those who appear totally unspiritual and short termist in their judgments can be converted by the Spirit. See on <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>. The stammerers are likewise those who spoke for God unclearly, in bursts of enthusiasm, but not in full communicative relationship with Him. His Spirit would change even those.</p>


text:
<p>The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected- The LXX would refer to the way that Isaiah and the prophets had been told to cease prophesying by the fools who were in power: "And they shall no more at all tell a fool to rule, and thy servants shall no more at all say, Be silent". The same word is used of the foolishness of the false prophets (<a href='B:330 13:3'>Eze 13:3</a>). Perhaps there was one particular Judas like figure amongst the Jerusalem leadership who was the singular "vile person" (AV). I suggested on <a href='B:290 22:15-20'>Isa 22:15-20</a> that this individual in the immediate context may have been Shebna, who is described here as "noble" in that he pretended to the royal family although he was an Egyptian (see on <a href='B:290 22:15-16'>Isa 22:15-16</a>). He had obtained ’high respect’ within the Jerusalem leadership. He was apparently "liberal" (:8 AV) offering material gifts to those who supported him, whilst advocating the evil policy of trust in Egypt (:7). But he was a "scoundrel".</p>


text:
<p>For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against Yahweh, to make empty the soul of the hungry and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail- If Shebna’s counsel was followed, he would lead to the destruction of the people. His pretension to the royal family when he was an Egyptian agent (see on :5) was profanity and folly. His pro-Egypt policy was effectively an anti-Yahweh policy. The blasphemy of Rabshakeh may also be in view. Perhaps this figure will have an equivalent in the last days within Jewish society.</p>


text:
<p>The ways of the scoundrel are evil- LXX "For the counsel of the wicked will devise iniquity" would connect with the immediate context of condemning the Jews for trusting in the counsel of the false prophets to seek help from Egypt, resulting in huge sin against God (see on <a href='B:290 30:1'>Isa 30:1</a>). I suggested on :5 that the work of Shebna is in view.</p><p>He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right- Shebna’s work (see on :5; <a href='B:290 22:15-18'>Isa 22:15-18</a>) involved lies and destroying the humble faithful who spoke against his pro-Egypt policies.</p>


text:
<p>But the noble devises noble things; and he will continue in noble things- I suggested on :5 that the work of Shebna is in view; he was not truly noble nor liberal / generous (AV) although he pretended to be this. He was giving gifts to buy favours. But only the genuinely liberal or generous would finally stand: "“The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand” (<a href='B:290 32:8'>Isa 32:8</a> AV) may suggest that the generous will “stand” in the last day because of their generous spirit. Indeed, being in covenant with God may even depend upon our recognition of the fact that all human wealth is from God: “Thou shalt remember… it is [God] that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant” (<a href='B:50 8:18'>Deu 8:18</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Rise up, you women who are at ease!- In society of that time, women weren’t considered the significant decision makers, and were never seen as guilty or praiseworthy for any political decisions or outcomes. But the prophets, Jeremiah particularly, focus upon the guilt of the women of the times. They perceived the value of all persons, and how thewomen were as much ultimately a part of the decision making as the men because of the significant background factor played by wives in the behaviour of their husbands and sons. And so here Isaiah appeals to them over several verses. The request to hear him was effectively an appeal for their repentance- at a time when religion and politics were the sphere of men and not women. The same word for"at ease"is used about the future, restored Kingdom (:18; <a href='B:290 33:20'>Isa 33:20</a>). This was the true"ease"or quietness. But this ’quietness’ of the restored Kingdom was claimed to be experienced by the disbelieving wealthy women of Jerusalem who lived"at ease"(:9,11 s:w:). They believed their false prophets, imaging they had their Kingdom right then in their luxurious lives:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Hear My voice, you careless daughters, give ear to My speech!-"Careless"or ’confident’ is the word used of ’trusting’ in Egypt (<a href='B:290 31:1'>Isa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:290 36:4-6'>Isa 36:4-6</a>; <a href='B:290 36:9'>Isa 36:9</a>); ’trusting’ in the idols of Egypt too (<a href='B:290 42:17'>Isa 42:17</a> s:w:). The political decisions of the men were equally those of the women in their society. That they were"careless"or confidently trusting in Egypt is three times mentioned here (:9-11):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage shall fail. The harvest won’t come- LXX"Remember for a full year in pain, yet with hope: the vintage has been cut off; it has ceased, it shall by no means come again". This would be another of those passages in Isaiah which suggest that the tribulation of Judah was going to last for a short period, here"a full year", and conclude with the Lord’s coming in judgment and thereby redemption of Zion. But these short term possibilities were precluded&nbsp; by the lack of repentance in Judah and so the prophecies have been given other and longer term references.</p>


text:
<p>Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones!- See on :9. This is a twice repeated appeal.</p><p>Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked and put sackcloth on your waist- This was to happen to them anyway in their captivity. They were to act as if they realized they were worthy of such condemnation. Likewise if we condemn ourselves in our self-examination, we will not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). There’s something alive and passionate to the words of the prophets. They’re not just droning on. Although they largely wrote in poetry, let not this delude us from feeling the cutting edge of their passion. Their poetry wasn’t what Wordsworth thought poetry is- “emotion recollected in tranquility”. The attack on complacency and passionlessness was full frontal: “Tremble, you women who are at ease [as you stroll the supermarkets of today], shudder, you complacent ones [as you hang out with your friends, lost in small talk]; strip and make yourselves bare” (<a href='B:290 32:11'>Isa 32:11</a> RSV- the RSV seems to me to capture the passion of the prophetic words best of all the English translations).</p>


text:
<p>Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine- The beating of breasts suggests this is still addressed to the women of the previous verses. But"beat"can also be translated"pluck off". And the only other two occurrences of"fruitful vine"refer to a woman and her children (<a href='B:230 128:3'>Psa 128:3</a>; <a href='B:330 19:10'>Eze 19:10</a>). <a href='B:330 23:34'>Eze 23:34</a> speaks of the women of rejected Judah plucking off their own breasts in their mental agony of condemnation. I suggest we have a similar idea here. All that they stood for as women, their deepest self-identity, they wished to destroy. The mental agony of the condemned is the"weeping and gnashing of teeth"which the Lord speaks of.</p>


text:
<p>Thorns and briers will come up on My people’s land- This was because their potentially fruitful vineyard of :12 had not brought forth fruit and so it was to be left desolate and bring forth the curse of Genesis, thorns and briers (<a href='B:290 5:9'>Isa 5:9</a>). This and the similar prophecy of desolation inIsa 5:6 didn’t happen at the Assyrian invasion; it was reapplied to the situation after the Babylonian invasion, when the land was intended to rest (<a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>) until Judah repented. But even that program didn’t work out, and so the Lord’s parable of the vineyard explained that therefore the vineyard was given to a new Israel. Briers and thorns is an allusion to the curse upon the garden of Eden- another reason for understanding Eden as eretz Israel, from whom likewise Israel were to be exiled to the east. Yet"briers and thorns"is a term used by Isaiah about the aggressive, thorny nature of Judah (<a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>; <a href='B:290 10:17'>Isa 10:17</a>). Their whole land was to become like them; and so their judgment was but an extension of their own behaviour.</p><p>Yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city- Isaiah is complaining that the people were feasting instead of fasting in repentance (as in <a href='B:290 22:2'>Isa 22:2</a>), and he juxtaposes their present feasting with the desolation threatened. But it seems there was repentance amongst a minority and so the threatened destruction of Zion’s population at the hands of the Assyrians was averted; but it was actually only deferred to the time of the Babylonians.</p>


text:
<p>For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city will be deserted- The palace wasn’t forsaken in that Hezekiah and his descendants continued to reign; Jerusalem wasn’t deserted, and the hill of Zion didn’t become grazing for donkeys. This however was the Divine intention; and we can conclude that for all his bursts of external goodness, there were problems with Hezekiah, or at least with the ruling family- and they came to full term in his loss of faith in Isaiah 39.</p><p>The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks- The hill and watchtower may allude to the figure of the vineyard discussed on :13. The Hebrew and Greek phrases which are translated “for ever” mean strictly, “for the age”. Sometimes this refers to literal infinity, for example the age of the kingdom, but not always. Here we have an example: “The forts and towers will become lairs for ever... until the spirit is poured upon us” (:15). This is one way of understanding the ‘eternity’ of ‘eternal fire’.</p>


text:
<p>Until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest- Seeing as noted on :14 that Zion wasn’t totally destroyed at the time, this promise of the Spirit will ultimately apply to the last days when Jerusalem falls to her enemies, and the Lord’s return to redeem her will be associated with the pouring out of the Spirit. <a href='B:290 32:14-16'>Isa 32:14-16</a> RV has a similar scenario to that in <a href='B:360 2:20'>Joe 2:20</a> and the pouring out of the Spirit on Israel in Zechariah 12 - Jerusalem was to be depopulated, wild animals would live there, Ophel [i:e. Zion, the temple mount] would be desolate- and then the Holy Spirit would be poured out and the Kingdom conditions established in Israel. But these things didn’t happen at the restoration, because Israel didn’t want the Spirit “to be poured upon us from on high”:&nbsp;Even though the gift of the Spirit, a new heart, was part of the new covenant offered to them in Ezekiel 20, 36 and Jeremiah 30, 31.</p>


text:
<p>Then justice will dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field-"Fruitful field"is literally"Carmel"here and in :15, as in LXX. The focus upon Carmel may be to recall Elijah’s triumph there over the idolatry of Israel, and God’s manifestation in fire. These things point forward to the latter day work of Elijah and the final repentance of Israel; but unlike then, the justice and righteousness would"remain"eternally.</p>


text:
<p>The work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever- This alludes to how Ahaz had been called upon to repent of his faithlessness, and to find"calm", s:w."quietness"(see on <a href='B:290 7:4'>Isa 7:4</a>); but he had"refused"(<a href='B:290 30:15'>Isa 30:15</a>), madly trusting upon Egyptian horses for salvation (<a href='B:290 30:16'>Isa 30:16</a>). But the appeal to repent was still there, for a later generation. The work of righteousness was therefore repentance. It is this alone which gives peace with God.</p>


text:
<p>My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings and in quiet resting places- LXX"And his people shall inhabit a city of peace", a reference to ’Jerusalem’. The ’quietness’ of the restored Kingdom was claimed to be experienced by the disbelieving wealthy women of Jerusalem who lived"at ease"(:9,11 s:w:). They believed their false prophets, imaging they had their Kingdom right then in their luxurious lives.</p>


text:
<p>Though for now hail flattens the forest, and the city is levelled completely- The LXX alludes to how hail came on the Egyptians but not on Israel; because the narrative of the exodus deliverance is always to be found in Isaiah as the template for their latter day deliverance:"And if the hail should come down, it shall not come upon you". But if we read with the Hebrew text, the flattening of the forest is parallel to the levelling of the city of Jerusalem; and there is the implication in <a href='B:450 11:1'>Zec 11:1</a> that we are to understand the temple as the forest, perhaps because of the extensive usage of cedars of Lebanon and other wood within it. As explained on :15, Jerusalem was not levelled completely, at least not at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions which were primarily in view here. In Jeremiah’s time, Israelites still came to offer offerings on the site of the temple. Nor really was this the case after AD70. It looks forward therefore to the last days, when it seems a new and blasphemous entity will be built in Jerusalem, to be soon destroyed by the Lord’s return and the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven upon whatever is built there.</p>


text:
<p>Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey- Maybe the sense is as in GNB"How happy everyone will be with plenty of water for the crops and safe pasture everywhere for the donkeys and cattle". But earlier the Assyrian / Babylonian invasion has been likened to a flood of waters coming upon the land. Now this has receded, seed is to be sown on the rich flood plain left behind; and ox and donkey used to cultivate it. But oxen and donkeys were not to be used together under the law of Moses. Perhaps this is a hint at a change in that law; that old covenant had been broken by Israel, and they were to now be under a new covenant which didn’t have this regulation.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you- This could imply that God understands that abusers abuse because they were abused. And He factors this in to His final judgment of them. And we marvel at such sensitivity, and assurance of righteous judgment at the end. But Assyria was not able to claim that as an excuse; this was bloodlust:&nbsp;</p><p>When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed- AV"they shall deal treacherously with thee". The idea was that Assyria would be destroyed by those she had destroyed and deceived, i:e. Judah. But this didn’t happen; Sennacherib lived many years after the destruction of his army at Jerusalem, and it was an Angel and not Judah who destroyed his army. The Divinely set up potentials weren’t realized at the time of Isaiah and Hezekiah."Betrayal"is a word often used about Judah (s:w."treachery"). This was how they had treated Yahweh, and so they were treated the same way by the Assyrians. And yet from this God still intended to save them, by such great grace."Destroy"is the word for"spoil"and what initially was in view was the spoiling of the tents of the destroyed Assyrians by the people of Jerusalem (:4).</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh, be gracious to us- The faithful remnant centered around Isaiah realized that Judah in general had not repented, and the salvation from Assyria was to be by Divine grace alone.</p><p>We have waited for You- In the final glory of salvation revealed to Zion, they exult that they"have waited for Him"(<a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a>), and this was exactly the position of Isaiah’s family and school of prophets (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). That righteous remnant would finally have their faith and expectation rewarded:&nbsp;</p><p>Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble- The time of Jacob’s trouble of Jeremiah and Daniel refers to the last days; it could have come at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but Judah weren’t spiritually ready for this. So Isaiah prays that God would be the strength of His people"every morning"and not just that morning when they awoke to find the Assyrian army destroyed. We too are to daily live in the same spirit of total trust which we show in extreme situations.</p>


text:
<p>At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When You lift Yourself up, the nations are scattered-"The nations"in the first instance were the various nations represented in the Assyrian army which was destroyed by an Angel, perhaps with"the noise of thunder". They were to be scattered as they had intended to scatter Judah (<a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:340 12:7'>Dan 12:7</a> s:w:). The same words for God lifting Himself up are used of the cherubim mounting up (<a href='B:330 10:15'>Eze 10:15</a>; <a href='B:330 10:17'>Eze 10:17</a>; <a href='B:330 10:19'>Eze 10:19</a>), and in Hezekiah’s time it was an Angel (associated with the cherubim) who slew the Assyrians.</p>


text:
<p>Your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap- See on :1. This envisages the people of Jerusalem crawling back and forth from the city to the scene of the destruction of the Assyrians by the Angel, gathering their spoil. Caterpillars and locusts are used as symbols of Israel’s invaders in Joel. They were doing to others as had been done to them. But Hezekiah wrongly boasted of this spoil, and therefore the Kingdom potential envisaged here didn’t fully come about.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness- Zion wasn’t full of righteousness of itself; God saved Zion because He imputed righteousness to them on the basis of the faith of the righteous remnant within it. This was the day when Zion could have been redeemed by"justice and righteousness"(s:w. <a href='B:290 1:27'>Isa 1:27</a>). And by doing such things to us He likewise is exalted and seen to dwell on high, as He was at the exodus in <a href='B:230 68:18'>Psa 68:18</a>, thereby dwelling even amongst"the rebellious". The day of Yahweh’s exaltation was to be the day of His Kingdom, when Judah were humbled (s:w. <a href='B:290 2:11'>Isa 2:11</a>; <a href='B:290 2:17'>Isa 2:17</a>; <a href='B:290 12:4'>Isa 12:4</a>); this could potentially have come when the Assyrians were destroyed. But Judah’s pride and impenitence precluded it.</p>


text:
<p>There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure- This was what could have happened; but instead, Hezekiah made material treasures his wealth, rather than having fear of Yahweh as his greatest treasure. Hezekiah had"peace and truth"in his days or times (<a href='B:290 39:8'>Isa 39:8</a>). But that was but a surface level fulfilment of the far greater reality that was then possible."Wisdom and knowledge"are associated with the Messiah figure which could then have arisen, associated with"salvation"(<a href='B:290 11:2'>Isa 11:2</a> s:w:); and"Jesus"means ’Yah’s salvation’. But Eliakim, Hezekiah and other potential such figures all failed, and so these words are reapplied to the future kingdom of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly- As GNB"The brave are calling for help. The ambassadors who tried to bring about peace are crying bitterly". Verses 7-9 appear to be Isaiah reflecting how things were to be at the time of the Assyrian invasion. The ambassadors of peace were perhaps those sent from him to the Assyrians begging for peace in return for paying tribute. They now realized their work was in vain because the agreed covenant with Assyria had been broken by the Assyrian invasion (:8).</p>


text:
<p>The highways are desolate, the travelling man ceases- Now the road toward Assyria is deserted; nobody any longer is travelling there seeking peace deals.</p><p>The covenant is broken; He has despised the cities- Judah had made a covenant with Assyria, paying tribute and accepting Assyrian idols in return for a promise they wouldn’t be attacked. But Assyria broke the covenant and now the cities of Judah were in ruins. All had fallen apart from Jerusalem. This was an appropriate response to the way they had"despised"theircovenant with Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>; <a href='B:290 5:24'>Isa 5:24</a>; <a href='B:290 30:12'>Isa 30:12</a>).</p><p>He doesn’t respect man- “There is no regard for man” was the complaint of <a href='B:290 33:8'>Isa 33:8</a> - the value and meaning of the human person was disregarded. Perhaps we could say that the prophets are characterized by taking the individual seriously. We seem to have a hard enough job maintaining a sense of the value of persons ourselves, quite apart from weeping that others don’t have such values. This level of sensitivity to human sin is quite something; and yet this is the spirit of prophecy. In the ancient world it was felt that , as Cicero put it, “the gods attend to great matters; they neglect small ones” (De Natura Deorum Vol. 2, 167). The God of Israel was and is quite different; for as the prophets show, what men may regard as small issues are to Him all and vitally important. That slightly unkind communication, that less than truthful passing comment on a brother, that exaggeration… these aren’t trivialities to God. What to us are trivialities are crucial to Him; that’s the message of the prophets. The spirit of the prophets cried out in pain and anguish because of that kind of thing; and their spirit is to be ours.</p>


text:
<p>The land mourns and languishes, Lebanon is confounded and withers away, Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare- The initial reference would be to the scorched earth policy of Assyria in northern Palestine. The ’little apocalypse’ of <a href='B:290 24:4'>Isa 24:4</a> (see note there) had used the same words"mourns and languishes"for the situation in the land immediately preceding the establishing of God’s Kingdom there. <a href='B:360 1:10'>Joe 1:10</a> likewise. So the situation with the Assyrians could have given rise to the coming of the Kingdom and a Messianic figure. But such great spiritual potentials were wasted by Judah and Hezekiah. The potential could again have come true at the time of the Babylonian desolation (s:w. <a href='B:300 14:2'>Jer 14:2</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>). But again it was precluded by Judah’s refusal to truly hear the prophetic call for repentance. And so it is all reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Now I will arise, says Yahweh- This is the rising up of Yahweh at the last day when Babylon / Assyria would fall and all the land be judged (<a href='B:290 2:21'>Isa 2:21</a>; <a href='B:290 14:22'>Isa 14:22</a>; <a href='B:290 28:21'>Isa 28:21</a> s:w:). This is what could have happened at the time of Hezekiah; but although the Assyrian army was destroyed, Assyria continued at the time, and a Messianic Kingdom wasn’t established.</p><p>Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted- This is the language of the cherubim being lifted up (<a href='B:330 1:19-20'>Eze 1:19-20</a> s:w:). Clearly we have in view here the potential visible manifestation of Yahweh in His Kingdom at the time of the Assyrian invasion; and this didn’t happen. It is deferred and reapplied."Lift up"is the same word translated"forgiven"in :24. The lifting up of Yahweh in all His glory is through His forgiveness of His sinful people. This is what He exalts in; our humble repentance is His exaltation. And this will be particularly true at the last day. But Judah didn’t really repent, and so His exaltation couldn’t happen at the time of the Assyrian crisis as was potentially possible.</p>


text:
<p>You will conceive chaff, you will bring forth stubble- There is a theme in Isaiah of conceiving, suffering pain in labour- but bringing forth in vain (<a href='B:290 26:18'>Isa 26:18</a>; <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>; <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>):&nbsp; And so did Hezekiah, in that he and his children turned away from true faith (Isa 397). In Isaiah’s immediate context, the application would have been to the sense that the remnant had come to the birth but there was not strength to bring forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>); apart from a few individuals, there was no bringing forth of a significant repentant remnant who would be the basis for the restored Kingdom. It felt like they were still under the curse of bringing forth in pain but in vain. The pain in vain at the time of the Assyrian invasion led to Micah offering a reworked version of all this; they were to be in pain at the hands of the Babylonians, but would bring forth in Babylon in that they would there repent, and the spiritually reborn remnant would emerge and their captors therefore judged (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). But that possibility also didn’t work out:&nbsp; And so this idea of bringing forth but not in vain, but rather finding meaning in the resurrection of Messiah and all in Him, came to be reapplied to the birth of the Lord Jesus from the grave in resurrection; and it would characterize the establishment of the Kingdom age in Zion (<a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>).</p><p>Your breath is a fire that will devour you- Wrongly gained wealth is the fire that will burn those who have it at the last day (<a href='B:660 5:3'>Jas 5:3</a>). James is picking up a figure from <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>, again concerning the final judgment: “Your [own] breath [i:e. words], as fire, shall devour you”. Their breath, their words, were as fire which would in the end be the basis of their condemnation. Nadab and Abihu kindled strange fire, and it was with that fire that God burnt them up, in symbol of His destruction of all the wicked at judgment day (<a href='B:30 10:2'>Lev 10:2</a>). The"sinners in Zion"(:14) would realize too late that they had destroyed themselves; hence LXX"Now shall ye see, now shall ye perceive; the strength of your breath, shall be vain; fire shall devour you".</p>


text:
<p>The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire- Land bearing thorns speaks of the condemnation of the last day; the same process of destruction was to destroy"the peoples"and also the"thorns"brought forth within the land, the"sinners in Zion"of :14. This didn’t happen at the time; the"sinners in Zion"weren’t consumed at the same time as the Assyrian army, and there is no evidence that they were"burnt". This destruction by fire of both Israel’s enemies and the"sinners in Zion"has been reapplied to the last days. So much potential was missed, partly because of God’s grace to the"sinners in Zion"at the time.</p>


text:
<p>Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge My might- LXX"they that draw nigh shall know my strength". This is the picture presented throughout the prophets; the Jews, those who are near, repent and acknowledge Yahweh’s might instead of trusting in their own might or that of"Egypt". And at the same time, a repentant remnant of the Gentile attackers"who are far off"will also repent. On the basis of this common experience of conviction of sin, repentance and forgiveness they will then form a new, multiethnic people of God in His restored Kingdom. There was the potential for this to happen at the time, but there was not the required repentance.</p>


text:
<p>The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?- Isaiah prophesied of the fire of Divine judgment. But it was that fire which touched his lips and purged him (<a href='B:290 6:7'>Isa 6:7</a>). The message was that contact with that fire was not necessarily destructive even to man. It is possible to “dwell with devouring fire”; that is part of relationship with God:&nbsp;Perhaps what is in view is the burning fire of the Divine presence prophesied in <a href='B:290 4:5'>Isa 4:5</a>. The spiritual will be able to dwell with this, but it will consume the sinners.</p><p>In the Hezekiah context, the sinners in Zion did indeed tremble but were not destroyed. There is no evidence that fire literally appeared to judge them, nor that it remained as the visible symbol of Yahweh’s presence as foreseen in <a href='B:290 4:5'>Isa 4:5</a>. All this is reapplied to the future destruction of a latter day Assyrian and the"sinners in Zion". At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the responsible will be gathered to judgement at Jerusalem. The plain Biblical evidence for this is too hard to go against. With Hezekiah in Jerusalem were"the sinners in Zion", who would equate with the unworthy who are also gathered into Jerusalem. It is largely through the Angels that the judgement is ministered; and so it was in Hezekiah’s time. In the&nbsp; context of describing the punishment of these"sinners in Zion"we read:"The Lord will come with fire, and with His (Angel) chariots like a whirlwind (Angelic language), to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire". This is alluded to (quoted?) in <a href='B:600 1:7-8'>2Th 1:7-8</a> concerning the Angelic punishment of the unworthy at the judgement:"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty Angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance... ". That those punished are renegade saints who"know not God (any longer), and that obey not the Gospel"is evident from the fact that they are punished"from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power". In common with much of Thessalonians, Paul is alluding back to Matthew 24, 25, here to the passage in <a href='B:470 25:31-34'>Mat 25:31-34</a> regarding the responsiblebeing gathered to the judgement before"the throne of His glory". Only the responsible come into the&nbsp; personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The description of the judgement in <a href='B:720 1:24'>Jud 1:24</a> chimes in too:"The presence of His glory". </p><p>It could be argued that :14-17 are alluding to a temple  tabernacle entry liturgy. Along with Psalms 15 and 24, the passage begins with the double question 'Who can enter / fellowship with God?', conditions given similar to those in Psalms 15 and 24, and then blessings of fellowship with God pronounced. See more commentary on this on Ps. 15:2.</p>


text:
<p>He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands- Literally, ’shakes his hands’ on refusing to take bribes. The same word is used in :9 of Carmel shaking off her fruits (AV). The ways of the righteous and the wicked are opposite and cannot be compromised.</p><p>Refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil- The righteous don’t even want to hear plans to shed blood. We get the impression that despite all the pressure from Assyria, their consciences weren’t exercised; the leadership continued plotting against others and taking bribes.</p>


text:
<p>he will dwell on high. His place of defence will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied, his waters will be sure- The same words are used of Yahweh dwelling on high in :5. The righteous will be identified with Him. GNB"you will be as secure as if in a strong fortress". Isaiah foresees lack of bread and water as a result of the Assyrian siege. He doesn’t see Hezekiah’s conduit as solving the water problem within Jerusalem under siege, as elsewhere he has presented this as a work of dependence upon the flesh. But the righteous are to survive this. But by grace, all Jerusalem did at that time, including"the sinners in Zion"(:14).</p>


text:
<p>Your eyes will see the king in His beauty, they will see the land that is distant- The idea may be that they would see to the full distant extent of the land; the entire promised land from Nile to Euphrates would now be reigned over by the new Messianic king. Hence GNB"Once again you will see a king ruling in splendor over a land that stretches in all directions". But that didn’t happen in Hezekiah’s time; he was content to live in Jerusalem with a few years of peace. He refused the wider vision and potential that was possible.</p><p>Our eyes too shall “behold the land that is [currently] very far off” just as Moses had been given the vision of the promised land far off. See on <a href='B:500 3:3'>Joh 3:3</a>; <a href='B:500 3:5'>Joh 3:5</a>. You and me personally will be in God’s Kingdom, with our arms around each other in the rubble of Jerusalem. We will personally be there. We will see Abraham there (<a href='B:490 13:28'>Luk 13:28</a>); as Job says, with our own eyes we will behold our Lord, and not through anyone else’s eyes (<a href='B:220 19:27'>Job 19:27</a>). Our eyes shall behold the King in the beauty which we personally perceive in Him.</p>


text:
<p>Your heart will meditate on the terror- The idea is that the righteous remnant would look back on the trauma of the Assyrian siege and perceive God’s hand.</p><p>Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?- Assyrian inscriptions and bas reliefs show men counting and weighing the spoil and carefully counting the towers of cities under attack. Those men would be out of work or destroyed themselves. Or we could go with GNB"Your old fears of foreign tax collectors and spies will be only a memory".</p>


text:
<p>You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend, with a strange language that you can’t understand- The language difference is made apparent by Rabshakeh speaking unexpectedly in Hebrew, implying that this was unusual as the Assyrian language or dialect couldn’t be understood by ordinary Jewish people. The description of the Assyrians, and other future invaders to whom this prophecy was reapplied, is framed in terms of the curses for breaking the covenant in <a href='B:50 28:49'>Deu 28:49</a>. The results of their covenant breaking would be removed. But historically, Judah did see the Assyrians again; Manasseh was"taken with hooks by the captains of the King of Assyria, and carried to Babylon"(<a href='B:140 33:11'>2Ch 33:11</a>). This was avoidable, for the victory implied here sounds to be permanent. But it only applied to thatgeneration, because the potential victory and establishment of Yahweh’s Kingdom was precluded by Hezekiah’s weakness and Judah’s lack of repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Look toward Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed; her stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of her cords be broken- It must have seemed impossible to believe that the eyes of Isaiah’s generation would ever see this, as Zion was surrounded and besieged and the rest of Judah in ruins. But the Assyrians were destroyed in a moment and they did see this. The implication was that again the people of Judah would look to Jerusalem as the place where they could keep the feasts.</p><p>The same word for"at ease"or"quiet"is used about the future, restored Kingdom (also <a href='B:290 32:18'>Isa 32:18</a>) as about the"ease"or quietness of the disbelieving wealthy women of Jerusalem who lived"at ease"(<a href='B:290 32:9'>Isa 32:9</a>; <a href='B:290 32:11'>Isa 32:11</a> s:w:). They believed their false prophets, imaging they had their Kingdom ’ease’ right then in their luxurious lives. But this was not the true"ease"or quietness. Luxurious living is but a fake Kingdom of God. And the stakes and tent ropes ("cords") of Zion were removed. Again, the potential didn’t come about; see on :19.</p>


text:
<p>But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty- Here as in Isa 4:5-6 there is the implication that Yahweh Himself would be"with us", perhaps literally coming to dwell in Zion so that the name of the city would be called"Yahweh is there"(Eze 48:35). Or perhaps the earlier prophecy of Isa 7:14; Isa 8:8 is in view, where the Messiah who would appear at the time of salvation from Assyria would be called"God with us". These possibilities were all precluded and therefore transferred to events of the last days concerning the Lord Jesus.</p><p>A place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there- The reference is to military vessels propelled by oarsmen as well as sails. Although there is no protective river around Jerusalem as there was around Nineveh and Babylon, yet Yahweh would be the equivalent of that defensive river; and no aggressive military boats of any enemy would be able to cross it.</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; He will save us- As in :21, again the earlier prophecy of <a href='B:290 7:14'>Isa 7:14</a>; <a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a> is in view, where the Messiah who would appear at the time of salvation from Assyria would be called"God with us". These possibilities were all precluded and therefore transferred to events of the last days concerning the Lord Jesus, whose name means"Yah will save us". That great salvation would be predicated upon Yahweh being the judge and lawgiver. His salvation is by grace but as explained in Romans 1-8, it is still given justly, with righteousness imputed rather than Divine law being winked at or injustice shown by God in achieving the salvation of sinners.</p>


text:
<p>Your rigging is untied; they couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast, they failed to spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided, the lame took the prey- This continues the analogy in :21 to the invaders as using military warships. They arrived as it were on the waters of the great invasion predicted in Isaiah 8 which would smother Judah but leave Jerusalem. The idea was that the Assyrians would be slain and the people go out of Jerusalem to gather it, even the lame. But all Judah are likened to the lame, repentant Jacob, hobbling into salvation by grace at the last day (<a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>). There is no record of the spoil of the Assyrians being taken in <a href='B:290 37:36'>Isa 37:36</a>. And we doubt whether the Assyrian soldiers had huge amounts of valuables with them whilst outside Jerusalem. Clearly these things look forward to the day when Judah shall indeed be the repentant Jacob.</p>


text:
<p>The inhabitant won’t say, I am sick because the people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity- In the immediate context, the sick inhabitant of Jerusalem was Hezekiah who was cured. The implication would therefore be that he was sick because he had sinned- and his sin was clearly in ripping off the gold of the temple to try to buy off the Assyrians rather than trusting in Yahweh. But the application may also be to Gentiles:"And the people dwelling among them"(LXX),"No one who lives in our land"(GNB); these proselytes, the repentant remnant of the attackers, would be forgiven and healed of all sickness.</p><p>"Forgiven"is the same word translated"lift up"in :10. The lifting up of Yahweh in all His glory is through His forgiveness of His sinful people. This is what He exalts in; our humble repentance is His exaltation. And this will be particularly true at the last day. But Judahdidn’t really repent, and so His exaltation couldn’t happen at the time of the Assyrian crisis as was potentially possible.</p>


text:
<p>Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear; the world, and everything that comes from it- The idea is, all the people born in the world, which is parallel with the earth / land of Israel:&nbsp;The envisaged destruction of the Assyrians in Isaiah 33 was potentially to be part of the destruction of all enemies of God’s people in the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But this didn’t happen at the time because Hezekiah and his sons befriended the nations and followed their ways, rather than separating from them spiritually and leading them to Yahweh worship. And the people of Judah continued to act as the Gentiles:&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them- We have a return here to the scene in the ’little apocalypse’ in Isaiah 24. The destruction of the earth / land along with many of God’s people leads to the repentance of a remnant of both Jews, Israelites and Gentiles who form a new multiethnic people of God under a Messiah figure in a reestablished Kingdom of God on earth. That is the scene in Isaiah 34 too, although the Gentiles are personified as Idumea / Edom, the nation against whom all the prophets record God’s particular wrath. God’s being"enraged"was because He had sent"all nations"to punish Judah but they had fallen into bloodlust and pride (<a href='B:450 1:15'>Zec 1:15</a> s:w:). The ’utter destruction’ of the"all nations"supposes that this prophecy speaks of a final destruction; this could have happened in Isaiah’s time, but has been deferred to the last days. But the same word for"utter destruction"is translated ’consecrate’ or ’devote [unto Yahweh]’. It is used in <a href='B:400 4:13'>Mic 4:13</a>, which states that a repentant Judah will be the means by which this happens:"Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain [s:w. "utterly destroy"] to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth". This never really happened in previous judgments upon the"all nations"around Jerusalem. Always something positive is envisaged as coming out of Divine judgment.</p><p>He has given them over for slaughter- God states His intentions, and in the gap between statement and fulfilment there is the opportunity for repentance in order to change the stated outcome (<a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>). The implication is therefore that this scenario need not happen if the nations repented. We too live in that gap.</p>


text:
<p>Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will melt in their blood- This suggests a massive scale of destruction, unknown in previous judgments upon the"all nations"of the land promised to Abraham. The bodies would not be buried, and the smell of the bodies would be terrible. This is the scene presented in the prophecy of the destruction of Gog and his armies, the latter day Assyrian, in Ezekiel 39. It’s not simply that both prophecies have the same event in view. The prophecy wasn’t fulfilled as it might have been in the time of Isaiah, so it was been transferred, rescheduled and reapplied to the last day scene of Ezekiel 39.</p>


text:
<p>All of the army of the sky will be dissolved, the sky will be rolled up like a scroll- Here we have a clear parallel between the armies and controlling powers of the earth, and the stars of the heavens."Heavens"are indeed used in the Bible symbolically, referring to the leading or controlling powers in a situation. The armies of the sky refer to how the armies of soldiers on earth had their heavenly representation before the throne of God in the heavenly courtroom. The Angels there represented situations upon earth."Dissolved"is s:w."consume away"; on earth, this will amount to the scene in <a href='B:450 14:12'>Zec 14:12</a>, where the same word is thrice used:"This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth". Rolling up like a scroll could speak of how the entire prophetic word is to come to its climactic fulfilment.</p><p>And all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree- &nbsp;The fading leaf has been used of the judgment of God’s people for their lack of spiritual fruit (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:30'>Isa 1:30</a>; <a href='B:290 24:4'>Isa 24:4</a>; <a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>; <a href='B:290 28:4'>Isa 28:4</a>; <a href='B:290 40:7'>Isa 40:7</a>; <a href='B:290 64:6'>Isa 64:6</a>; <a href='B:300 8:13'>Jer 8:13</a>). That catena of passages impressively applies this to Israel and Judah. The idea is that the armies of the nations will be judged at the same time as the"sinners in Zion", as in <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a>. Their judgment will be in that they partake in the judgments of the world which they loved, having failed to come out of Babylon they share in her judgments. And this will be true of the unfaithful within spiritual Israel (<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p>For My sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom and on the people of My curse for judgement- I suggested on :1 that the judgments here are upon all the nations of the eretz promised to Abraham, but they are personified as Edom as the epitome of them all. Edom is Esau, and God’s especial wrath was against them because they were the brother of Jacob / Israel who couldn’t and wouldn’t forgive him, and who joined in with the nations in destroying Zion right down to the foundation (<a href='B:230 137:7'>Psa 137:7</a>). They judged their brother far too harshly for his wrongdoing (see on <a href='B:300 49:9'>Jer 49:9</a>). <a href='B:300 49:11'>Jer 49:11</a> is a clear invitation to Edom to repent, which they refused. Edom or Esau was singled out for such special condemnation because he was Jacob’s brother (<a href='B:380 1:10'>Oba 1:10</a>). This was not the case for the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines etc. Jacob and Esau were admittedly somewhat separated, and Jacob hadn’t been the best brother to Esau. But they were still brothers, and God expected much better of Esau / Edom than He did of the others. And here we find a penetrating challenge. Our brethren whom we may view askance, from whom we may be separated by the way life has gone for us, are still our brothers. And we are judged very sensitively according to our attitudes toward them, especially in the time of their distress, however justified we may feel that distress to be. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood, it is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom- The allusion is how the blood, fat and kidneys were separated in the sacrifices to Yahweh. Lambs, goats and rams were all sacrificial animals. The implication could be that through their heavy judgment, they would become an acceptable sacrifice to Him, just as the idea of"utter destruction"also applies to being consecrated to Yahweh; see on :2.</p>


text:
<p>The wild oxen will come down with them and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood and their dust made greasy with fat- The huge amount of blood shedding (in :3 also) is not because God revels in it, but because as noted on :6, this is all the imagery of sacrifice. And the blood was to be poured out to Yahweh and the fat given to Him. Oxen and bulls were also sacrificial animals; in fact they along with the lambs, goats and rams of :6 comprise all the sacrificial animals. Hence GNB"The people will fall like wild oxen and young bulls". So as it were silhouetted over this scene of bloodshed is the impression of a huge sacrifice to God, and from this we may be justified in thinking that ultimately good comes out of the scene, and possibly the people of Esau / Edom do turn to Yahweh the God of their difficult brother Jacob:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p>For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion- The"cause"of Zion can be read as the judicial pleading, the pleading for legal justice made in a law case, and the Hebrew word is elsewhere translated like that. The repentant Zion will plead for justice and her prayers will be heard by God as a plea for legal action against her abusers; and so the day of recompense upon her enemies will come, but it is predicated upon her cry of repentance.</p>


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<p>Her streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into sulphur, and her land will become burning pitch- The allusion is clearly to the destruction of Sodom with fire and sulphur; which was likewise threatened upon Judah and Jerusalem at multiple points in the prophetic condemnation of them. Esau is not therefore being singled out for some special punishment, as if God is taking Jacob’s side; the wicked amongst Jacob / Israel are to be punished along with the impenitent amongst Esau. There may be a literal element to all this if oil reserves or the oil beneath the deserts ignites.</p>


text:
<p>it won’t be quenched night nor day, the smoke will go up forever; from generation to generation, it will lie waste. Nobody will pass through it forever and ever- God punished theland of Idumea with fire that would “not be quenched night nor day; its smoke shall ascend for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste... the owl and the raven shall dwell in it... thorns shall come up in its palaces” (<a href='B:290 34:9-15'>Isa 34:9-15</a>). Seeing that animals and plants were to exist in the ruined land of Idumea, the language of eternal fire must refer to God’s anger and His total destruction of the place, rather than being taken literally. I suggest that this was the potential judgment which could have come upon Edom, and did to some extent. In its latter day application we are left wondering how there could remain some parts of the earth which will be eternally desolate and empty (:11), covered in"nettles and thistles"(13) which means that the curse of Genesis is still to be seen there-&nbsp; and eternally possessed by wild animals (:16). This doesn’t sound like the scene in the kingdom of God on earth, anywhere on the planet. For the mountain of God’s Kingdom is to spread to fill the whole earth, and the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. So I conclude that this was a scenario which didn’t fully come upon Eden and will not be literally fulfilled in the last day either; just as the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48 was never literally built at the time as it could have been, and by its nature will not be totally realized in the last day either.</p>


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<p>but the pelican and the porcupine will possess it, the owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness-"Confusion"is s:w."thing of nothing"(<a href='B:290 29:21'>Isa 29:21</a>). The measuring line would build nothingness,"emptiness". LXX"satyrs shall dwell in it". The animals in view are all unclean. The idea is that ritually unclean animals will be there; it is a picture of condemnation of the unclean to nothingness.</p>


text:
<p>They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing- The idea may be that this kingdom, unlike Judah’s kingdom, shall never be revived: “and there is no kingdom there which they may proclaim". "Nothing" continues the theme of :11; see note there. The emptiness of condemnation, the nothingness when life could otherwise be so "full", is a major theme. We in this life can waste our lives on things of nothing, and by doing so we are living out our condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches- "Jackals" is LXX "monsters", as "satyrs" in :11. These mythical beings were what they believed were the ultimate signs of condemnation. Their wrong concepts are used without correction, as is the language of demons in the New Testament, in order to speak to them in their own terms. But realizing this, we are not to look for literal fulfillments of these words.</p><p>But note <a href='B:290 35:7'>Isa 35:7</a>, which speaks of this ’eternal’ desolation being revived: "The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they used to lay". These "jackals" are those here envisaged living for ’ever’, for generation after generation, in the judged cities of Edom. But it seems those areas will be revived. Areas so heavily condemned and judged will in due course be brought under God’s glory. The water source in <a href='B:290 35:7'>Isa 35:7</a> is the stream envisaged as flowing from Zion in Ezekiel and Revelation. This could have happened literally had Judah built the temple system as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. Hence LXX "a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes". See on :15.</p>


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<p>The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves, and the wild goat will cry to his fellow. Yes, the night creature shall settle there and shall find herself a place of rest- LXX "And devils shall meet with satyrs, and they shall cry one to the other: there shall satyrs rest, having found for themselves a place of rest"; GNB "The night monster will come there looking for a place to rest". These mythical beings were what they believed were the ultimate signs of condemnation. Their wrong concepts are used without correction, as is the language of demons in the New Testament, in order to speak to them in their own terms. But realizing this, we are not to look for literal fulfillments of these words.</p>


text:
<p>The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate- I noted on :13 that the "jackals" also feature in Kingdom prophecies. And here too, the nesting of snakes is encountered in <a href='B:290 11:8'>Isa 11:8</a>, where the child shall safely play around the snake’s nest. The overall impression, putting the scriptures together, is that the historical judgments and condemnation of Edom will be somehow incorporated into the scene of God’s Kingdom. The terrible judgments upon Edom described earlier are to prepare her for a place in God’s Kingdom. Never do we find God’s judgments as only punitive; there is always the creative element in them, forging a better future:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Search in the book of Yahweh, and read: not one of these will be missing; none will lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them- GNB "Search in the LORD’s book of living creatures and read what it says. Not one of these creatures will be missing, and not one will be without its mate. The LORD has commanded it to be so; he himself will bring them together". We note the role of God’s Spirit in gathering together the animals, and the parallel between God’s book / words, His mouth and His Spirit. What He has stated will come about, and it did happen to Edom for a period. But it is not simply a case of Him stating things and they happen; His Spirit is reflected in His purpose and in its fulfilment.</p>


text:
<p>He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it to them with a measuring line. They shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they will dwell in it- I have suggested in the above verses that the places where the jackals lay and the snakes nest (:13,15) are to be revived and brought into God’s Kingdom. So this "from generation to generation" doesn’t mean an infinite period of eternal condemnation. There is the continual hope of revival ultimately; perhaps in that Edom does finally respond to the invitation to repent which will be given her in the last days (<a href='B:300 49:11'>Jer 49:11</a>). See on <a href='B:290 35:1'>Isa 35:1</a>.</p>


text:
<p>The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose- I noted that the preceding pictures of desolation concerning Edom have within them the hint that even the most heavily judged and condemned areas will be revived in God’s Kingdom (see on <a href='B:290 34:13'>Isa 34:13</a>; <a href='B:290 34:15'>Isa 34:15</a>; <a href='B:290 34:17'>Isa 34:17</a>). In this case, this prophecy would flow on seamlessly from that.</p><p>Isaiah 35 is an evident prophecy of the future Kingdom of God on earth. But it is replete with connections with the prophecies of Judah’s restoration from Babylon in Isaiah 40-55 : Water in the wilderness = <a href='B:290 41:18-19'>Isa 41:18-19</a>; <a href='B:290 43:19-20'>Isa 43:19-20</a>; <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>; God’s glory revealed (<a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:5'>Isa 40:5</a>; <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; Time of judgment and recompense (<a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:10'>Isa 40:10</a>; Strength to the faint-hearted (<a href='B:290 35:3-4'>Isa 35:3-4</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; <a href='B:290 40:29-31'>Isa 40:29-31</a>; A highway for the return to Zion (<a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>. The conclusion from this is surely that the way home from Babylon to Judah was to be seen as the entrance into the Kingdom age. Which is why I suggest that a Messianic Kingdom could’ve come at the restoration. Isaiah’s predictions about the return from exile in Babylon (<a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>), the freedom of the land from foreign dominance (<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), the repopulation of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 54:1'>Isa 54:1</a>), rebuilding the temple (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>) etc. all came true at the return of the exiles; but those same prophecies speak of the resurrection of the dead (<a href='B:290 42:11'>Isa 42:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:8'>Isa 45:8</a>; Isa 498), Messiah teaching the Law to Israel, all the world coming to accept Israel’s God and coming to worship in the new temple etc. The prophecies of the restoration of the exiles from Babylon are inextricably connected with these things. And yet they didn’t happen; and even those aspects which did, only came true to a very limited extent- solely because of Israel’s indolence, and the fact the majority of the Jews remained in Babylon.</p>


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<p>It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon; they will see Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God- The blossoming here and in :1 is surely to be understood in the context of <a href='B:290 27:6'>Isa 27:6</a>. Israel will fill the face of the world with spiritual fruit – and this will be the fruit of the taking away of their sin, and their experience of repentance (<a href='B:290 27:6'>Isa 27:6</a>; <a href='B:290 27:9'>Isa 27:9</a> RV). This is the ’budding’ of the waste places of the land foreseen in these Kingdom prophecies. <a href='B:290 66:14'>Isa 66:14</a> uses the word for the flourishing of the hearts of the repentant peoples. And here, the blossoming is related to their perception of the excellency of Israel’s God, further implying that the blossoming is of Gentiles who have been converted by the witness of the repentant, forgiven remnant of Israel. There were no real deserts and dry lands in Israel; it was to be a "good land", fertile and unlike Egypt; "good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs and underground water gushing into valleys and hills" (<a href='B:50 8:7'>Deu 8:7</a>). The deserts and dry areas were in the areas inhabited by Israel’s Gentile enemies. A remnant of these peoples was to repent, and then they and their territory would be incorporated into the Kingdom of God in Israel, covering the full extent of the land / eretz promised to Abraham. Those territories will be materially transformed, those desert areas will be like Israel "proper", as fruitful as Carmel and Sharon. See on <a href='B:290 27:12'>Isa 27:12</a>.</p>


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<p>Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees- &nbsp;see on <a href='B:220 4:3-5'>Job 4:3-5</a>. "Palsied knees" (LXX); "knees that tremble with weakness" (GNB). The wonder of the Kingdom situation is that the spiritually weak will be strengthened. But we can live the spirit of the Kingdom life now; for these words are quoted in <a href='B:650 12:12-13'>Heb 12:12-13</a> about life lived in Christ and His Spirit right now. "Feeble" is s:w. "stumbled" (<a href='B:290 59:10'>Isa 59:10</a>); it generally refers to spiritual stumbling, not least for those who stumble over the rock of Christ (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:15'>Isa 8:15</a>; <a href='B:290 28:13'>Isa 28:13</a>). The strengthening of the week or even those who have been condemned for their sins but want to repent... is one of the most wonderful experiences to behold. We will see on :3 that the same category is there in view. The good news of the Kingdom is far from just the change of earth’s physical environment; more essentially is it about the change of human hearts. And this was the good news of the Kingdom which the Lord taught in His parables, which are largely about this rather than what the future Kingdom will physically be like. The good news for those in the new covenant is that they will no longer "stumble", s:w. "feeble" (<a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>). "Weak hands" carries the idea of those who are "idle" (s:w. <a href='B:20 5:17'>Exo 5:17</a>), and the phrase "weak hands" is also translated "slack hands" (<a href='B:60 10:6'>Jos 10:6</a>; <a href='B:100 4:1'>2Sa 4:1</a>). The idea is that the spiritually weak minded, directionless and uncommitted will be mentally transformed. This is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit working upon the human spirit; and that is exactly what the new covenant promised Judah, in Ezekiel 20, 36 and Jeremiah 31. This is what could have happened to Judah in captivity, but they refused the potential strengthening. And Hezekiah, the ’strengthener of Yah’, didn’t do this work of strengthening in Isaiah’s time (s:w. <a href='B:290 51:18'>Isa 51:18</a>), even though he was the parade example of physical ’weakness’ being ’strengthened’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 39:1'>Isa 39:1</a>). The weak hands could have been strengthened at the restoration (s:w. <a href='B:450 8:9'>Zec 8:9</a>; <a href='B:450 8:13'>Zec 8:13</a>), but again, the huge potential strengthening was not made use of.</p>


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<p>Tell those who have a fearful heart, Be strong, don’t be afraid- "Fearful" is the word for "rash" and as noted on that word on <a href='B:290 32:4'>Isa 32:4</a> these are those who were impatient with God’s apparent lack of response (<a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a> s:w:). One of the greatest joys of the Kingdom will be the power of God’s Spirit to transform the hearts of those who appear totally unspiritual and short termist in their judgments. See on :3. They now do not need to fear condemnation; they have been transformed by the gift of the new heart and new eyes which is part of the new covenant.</p><p>We’re familiar with the references to God hardening the heart of Pharaoh (<a href='B:20 14:8'>Exo 14:8</a> etc:). However, the same Hebrew words occur in a positive context- for God also hardens or strengthens the hearts of the righteous (<a href='B:230 27:14'>Psa 27:14</a>; <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a> speaks of how the righteous shouldn’t have a fearful / weak or [Heb:] ‘fluid’ heart, but rather a hardened one. Clearly enough, God solidifies human attitudes, one way or the other. This is a sobering thought- for He is prepared to confirm a person in their weak thinking. But on the other hand, even the weakest basic intention towards righteousness is solidified by Him too.</p><p>Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you- This is the final "day of vengeance" (<a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a>; <a href='B:290 61:2'>Isa 61:2</a>; <a href='B:290 63:4'>Isa 63:4</a>; <a href='B:400 5:15'>Mic 5:15</a>), both on the "sinners in Zion" of <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a> (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:25'>Lev 26:25</a>), and upon the abusers of Israel (<a href='B:50 32:41'>Deu 32:41</a>; <a href='B:50 32:43'>Deu 32:43</a>). The final coming of God will be in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus, at the last day. "Retribution" is s:w. "benefit in <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>; in the immediate context, Hezekiah did not render back according to the benefit or retribution given in healing him, and so the possibility of the Kingdom then didn’t transpire and is deferred to the last day.</p>


text:
<p>Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped- As noted on :3,4,6, we have here language relevant to the spiritual healing of God’s people, although that will be physically articulated in the healing of the physically impaired. The blind and deaf in Isaiah are the spiritually blind and deaf whose eyes will be opened so that they may"hear the words of the book"(<a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 42:16'>Isa 42:16</a>; <a href='B:290 42:18'>Isa 42:18</a>; <a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>).</p><p>The teaching of the Lord Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality ofGod’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</p>


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<p>Then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert- As explained on :3-5, the deaf and lame are spiritually deaf, and they shall be spiritually cured; and that will be reflected in the healing of the physical environment. The waters and streams may be literal, but they essentially refer to the water of healing coming from Messiah, as mentioned in <a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38'>Joh 7:38</a>. The lame men primarily in view are those of <a href='B:290 33:23'>Isa 33:23</a> who went out to gather the prey of the Assyrians. But they refer also to the latter day lame of <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>, who like Jacob bear the marks of their spiritual weakness and are repentant, throwing themselves upon Yahweh’s grace. The Lord’s healing of the lame who then jumped indicates that this Kingdom language started to have a foretaste in His work (<a href='B:470 21:14'>Mat 21:14</a>; <a href='B:510 3:2-10'>Act 3:2-10</a>). As noted on <a href='B:290 33:23'>Isa 33:23</a>, Judah were not then the lame repentant Jacob as they were intended to have been. And so these possible fulfillments are delayed until the last days:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The Babylonian Account of Creation claims (Tablet 4, line 137) that Marduk cleft Teammate, the ocean goddess, with his sword. The Biblical idea of Yahweh cleaving the waters clearly picks up this idea (<a href='B:420 3:9'>Hab 3:9</a>; <a href='B:230 74:15'>Psa 74:15</a>; <a href='B:230 78:13'>Psa 78:13</a>; <a href='B:230 78:15'>Psa 78:15</a>; <a href='B:20 14:16'>Exo 14:16</a>; <a href='B:20 14:21'>Exo 14:21</a>; <a href='B:70 15:19'>Jdg 15:19</a>; <a href='B:290 35:6'>Isa 35:6</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>; <a href='B:290 63:12'>Isa 63:12</a>; <a href='B:160 9:11'>Neh 9:11</a>). But these passages largely refer to the miracle God did at the Red Sea, bringing about the creation of His people out of the cleft waters of the Sea. Again, pagan creation is reinterpreted with reference to a historical, actual event in the experience of God’s people.</p>


text:
<p>The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they used to lay- These"jackals"are those envisaged living for ’ever’, for generation after generation, in the judged cities of Edom. But it seems those areas will be revived. Areas so heavily condemned and judged will in due course be brought under God’s glory. The water source is the stream envisaged as flowing from Zion in Ezekiel and Revelation. This could have happened literally had Judah built the temple system as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. Hence LXX"a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes".</p>


text:
<p>A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there- I noted on :3-6 that what is primarily in view is the spiritual healing of people; this highway may be literal, but it is essentially spiritual. This prepared highway is a major theme of Isaiah, e.g. <a href='B:290 26:7'>Isa 26:7</a>"The way of the just is uprightness; You who are upright make the path of the righteous level". This is the language of Isaiah 40. The way was open for the exiles to return as righteous, justified by faith, to a restored Zion; and if they made that journey, Zion’s gates were open to them (see on <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>). That way was potentially prepared at the restoration, as LXX clarifies:"the dispersed shall walk on it, and they shall not go astray". But the exiles chose to remain in Babylon and Assyria, and those who did return did so without accepting the call to repentance which is part of the making straight of the path to Zion. But it was all potentially prepared. It is for us now to walk in that path likewise to Zion. In the future it seems there may be literal highways prepared leading to Zion for the repentant remnants of the nations (see on <a href='B:290 11:16'>Isa 11:16</a>; <a href='B:290 19:23'>Isa 19:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>).</p>


text:
<p>no lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there- LXX"the redeemed and gathered on the Lord’s behalf, shall walk in it"; GNB"Those whom the LORD has rescued will travel home by that road". The return of the exiles is clearly in view. But despite such a highway with such protection being potentially available, they chose not to make the journey, and to act as if they had not in fact been"redeemed"from the lands of their exile. The lions and wild beasts clearly refer to the aggressive nations, who will be no more; and this will be reflected in the Kingdom by the animals also being at peace with each other and with man.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away- There was great joy at the time of the first Purim in Esther’s time when sorrow was turned to joy (s:w. <a href='B:190 9:22'>Est 9:22</a>), but the people did not return. The restoration was intended to be the time when sorrow was turned to joy (<a href='B:300 31:13'>Jer 31:13</a> s:w:). But as we can, they forgot the price aid for their ransom and remained in slavery. And those who did return didn’t do so with the voice of joy, but with nervousness and then complaining about the famine, bad harvests and diseases they and their crops were smitten with on returning. The eternal joy spoken of here will come true only at the return of the Lord Jesus. Joy by its nature is temporal in this life, because of our emotional structure; we cannot maintain such experiences of joy in a permanent sense. But this is the wonderful nature of salvation."Sorrow and sighing"is the same phrase used about David’s feelings because of his sin with Bathsheba (<a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>). As noted throughout Isaiah 35, the essential theme is of internal spiritual transformation, and no longer experiencing the effects of sin; for that is the greatest"joy".</p>


text:
<p>&nbsp; Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them- Hezekiah reigned 29 years (<a href='B:120 18:2'>2Ki 18:2</a>), and the sickness after which he was given 15 years therefore happened in the 14th year or his reign- the very same time that Assyria invaded (<a href='B:290 38:1'>Isa 38:1</a>). Trials so often come together, in such an intense and extreme way that the situation can only be of God rather than mere bad luck or coincidence.</p><p>Hezekiah's healing came just before the miraculous destruction of the Assyrians (2 Kings 20:6 "I will add to your days fifteen years and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria"). I suggest the healing of Hezekiah was to encourage faith in the possible deliverance of Jerusalem from a likewise humanly impossible situation. We have meetings and encounters with others in our lives, we hear their testimonies of deliverance, in order to encourage us in our situations. </p>


text:
<p>The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army; he came and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller’s field highway- The washer or fuller uses the same word for ’washing’ as used in the context of cleansing from sin (<a href='B:230 51:2'>Psa 51:2</a>; <a href='B:230 51:7'>Psa 51:7</a>; <a href='B:300 2:2'>Jer 2:2</a>; <a href='B:300 4:14'>Jer 4:14</a>; <a href='B:460 3:2'>Mal 3:2</a>). The suggestion was that they could repent and be cleansed of their sin. This location was significant, because it was there that Hezekiah’s father Ahaz had been met by Isaiah and his son Shearjashub [a man of sign, ’a remnant shall return / repent’], with their demand for Jerusalem to surrender to God (<a href='B:290 7:3'>Isa 7:3</a>). So Hezekiah was intended to recall how Ahaz had been faced with Isaiah at that same spot; and the call was to repent, to be washed, to become the remnant which would triumph. Circumstances repeat in our lives and between our lives and those of others; in this case, the experience of Ahaz repeated in the life of his son Hezekiah. And we are intended to join the dots and learn the lesson. This judgment upon Judah was because of their lack of faith and unspirituality as pointed out by Isaiah in Is. 1-35. The salvation of Jerusalem was by grace alone. And because of the faith of a very small remnant there.</p>


text:
<p>Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder came out to him-"Shebna"is an Egyptian name and may have been installed in office by Hezekiah as part of his deal with Egypt, upon whom he trusted rather than solely in Yahweh. He had the office of being"over the house"but by the time of the Assyrian invasion Shebna had been replaced in this office by Eliakim (<a href='B:290 22:15'>Isa 22:15</a>; <a href='B:290 22:20'>Isa 22:20</a>; <a href='B:290 37:2'>Isa 37:2</a>). However, Shebna had not been completely’hurled away’ for his immorality of <a href='B:290 22:15-19'>Isa 22:15-19</a> as required by <a href='B:290 22:17'>Isa 22:17</a>, because he is mentioned here as being the"scribe", a senior secretary, although Eliakim was"over the household". This seems typical of the partial response made to Isaiah’s prophecies. But it seems Yahweh accepted that partial response and repentance of a remnant, and so the invaders were destroyed and the awful outcome threatened upon Jerusalem in this chapter was averted or at best deferred.</p>


text:
<p>Rabshakeh said to them, Now tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?- LXX"Why are you secure". GNB"the emperor wanted to know what made King Hezekiah so confident". Clearly Hezekiah did have some faith; and real faith is always evident to others. Rabshakeh’s words are a tacit admission that Hezekiah did indeed trust in Yahweh:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words- "Vain words" is literally "a mere word of the lips". If the lips in view are Isaiah's, the idea is 'What good can words do? Even the words of the Bible, God's words. Hard evidenced support in visible terms is what man needs...'. And we have all given in to this so many times. GNB "Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might?". This is the essence of our temptations today- to think that the ideas of God’s word are merely abstract and philosophical, and have no cash value in reality. But God’s word is active and powerful, once spoken, it is done. The"counsel"in view is primarily the prophecies of Isaiah (s:w. <a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a>; <a href='B:290 28:29'>Isa 28:29</a>), and in the last day application, the"counsel and strength"of the Messiah of Israel (<a href='B:290 11:2'>Isa 11:2</a> s:w:). But Rabshakeh may have been mocking the"counsel"of the false prophets (see :6), which had been to trust in Egypt rather than Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:290 19:3'>Isa 19:3</a>; <a href='B:290 19:11'>Isa 19:11</a>; <a href='B:290 29:15'>Isa 29:15</a>; <a href='B:290 30:1'>Isa 30:1</a>; <a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>). The"counsel"or prophetic word of Yahweh, however, was what could save Israel; it was that which would bring them back from captivity and reestablish Yahweh’s Kingdom in the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 44:26'>Isa 44:26</a>; <a href='B:290 46:10'>Isa 46:10</a>). Although most in Judah still refused to trust in Yahweh’s"strength for the war"(s:w. <a href='B:290 30:15'>Isa 30:15</a>), yet by grace and in respect to the faith of the remnant, He still saved them from Assyria at this time.</p><p>Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?- That Hezekiah was trusting in someone or something else apart from his own strength was so obvious; and there may have been a genuine element of curiosity in the question, as well as it being a rhetorical question. Hezekiah’s rebellion against Assyria was because of his trust in Yahweh; Zedekiah rebelled later against Babylon and yet Jerusalem fell (s:w. <a href='B:300 52:3'>Jer 52:3</a>). Zedekiah attempted to copy the external behaviour of Hezekiah but without trust in Yahweh, and so it didn’t work out. And so there abides a lesson for all of us who are tempted to imitate the external faith and action of others without having the same internal faith and trust.</p><p>Rabshakeh observes that Hezekiah trusts in both Yahweh and in Egypt. He wasn't wrong in his observation, and his presentation of Hezekiah as a fickle leader not worth following. He really did try to have a foot in both camps.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt-"Bruised reed"in <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a> is better"broken reed", and this is the very phrase used about how the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, would not break a"bruised / broken reed"(<a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a>). Egypt were a broken reed, recently broken in battle and now useless to save Israel. They were too weak to uphold the weight of Judah if they were to lean upon it for strength. God turns the figure around- He as it were is in need of man, He wishes to trust upon us; and although we are broken reeds, we will not be crushed nor will He be disappointed. He so wishes to work with us.</p><p>Which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him-"Lean"here is the same word for"steadfast"in <a href='B:290 26:3'>Isa 26:3</a>"You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in You". The LXX understands this to be a description of the"righteous nation"of <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>. They are saved from their traumas by the state of their mind. And Yahweh will respond to this through the work of His Spirit on the human spirit, to keep their mind in perfect peace. This is the peace which comes from knowing sin is forgiven."Mind"here is literally ’imagination’. We must ask what are our fantasies, our hopes, according to which we live, think and feel day by day. If they are above all for the Kingdom, then we will be ’kept’ in this. In Isaiah’s immediate context this was in contrast to leaning upon Egypt for salvation (s:w. <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a>"lean"). The great salvation of the restored Kingdom could have come apart at that time, but it was precluded by a lack of real faith and focus on the Kingdom in the majority of Israel.</p><p>Judah did as it were trust in Egypt, and so were left with pierced hands. But that was exactly what the Lord Jesus experienced on the cross. Here we have one of many examples of where although He did not personally sin, He on the cross experienced the sufferings for sin which were due to God’s people:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God’, isn’t that He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar?’- Rabshakeh argues as if the high places and altars to the idols were actually used for Yahweh worship. And that was true. Judah justified their idol worship by claiming it was a form of Yahweh worship; and that is an abiding temptation for God’s people of all ages. Rabshakeh mocked at the idea of a religion which had only one altar and high place; although that was indeed appropriate to the worship of the one true God who had given one specific way of approach to Him. There is plenty of archaeological evidence for Rabshakeh's claim: "The Asherah, one of the main targets of cult criticism, was closely connected with Yahweh and his cult, as shown by the inscriptions from Kuntillet Agrud and Khirbet-el-Qom". </p>


text:
<p>Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them- Although many in Judah had fled into Jerusalem, the siege conditions and battle losses meant that there were not even 2000 fighting men within the city. But the Assyrians were destroyed by just one Angel, a member of the Angel cherubim, the heavenly horses and riders who stood for Israel. They were left with no human horses nor army, so that they might trust in Yahweh of Hosts of Angelic armies and the cherubim chariot. And this is why we too at times are stripped of all human strength.</p><p>"Make a pledge"is literally to be sweet or pleasing, and it appears to be sarcastic. But it is the word used by Hezekiah when he asks Yahweh to"undertake"or be sweet to him in the oppression of his sickness, which came at the same time as the siege of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 38:14'>Isa 38:14</a>):See on <a href='B:290 36:1'>Isa 36:1</a>.</p>


text:
<p>How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?- This was clearly wrong for the king of Israel, as the law specifically stated. Hezekiah had been repeatedly criticized for this by Isaiah in several prophecies. 
There are various translation options here. LXX"And how can ye then turn to the face of the satraps? They that trust on the Egyptians for horse and rider, are our servants"; GNB"You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and horsemen". <a href='B:140 32:21'>2Ch 32:21</a> uses the same phrase to describe the king of Assyria turning away his face in shame from Jerusalem after the Angelic destruction of his army; all was to be dramatically reversed overnight. Just as Joseph was elevated from prison rags to royal glory in a few hours, so God can work very quickly to save us from otherwise humanly impossible situations.</p>


text:
<p>Have I come up now without Yahweh against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it’- Rabshakeh appears to have been an apostate Jew, speaking fluent Hebrew, fully aware of the situation within Judah (:7,8) and of the prophetic message that Yahweh would be behind their invaders; and quoting Isaiah’s prophecies in :12,16. We can look to some possible equivalent in the events concerning the latter day Assyrian.</p>


text:
<p>Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall- As suggested on :10, Rabshakeh knew Hebrew and was likely a renegade Jew. The fact the Jewish leadership knew the Assyrian language is a tacit reflection of the way they had made it their business to communicate with them in the past, in seeking ways around the Assyrian threat other than through trust in Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?- As noted on :10, Rabshakeh was aware of the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah. He was fully aware that Isaiah had opened his prophecies by insisting that his message of judgment was against both the heavens and the earth, the leadership and the ordinary people; for they were alike guilty.</p>


text:
<p>Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!- This very loud voice becomes the prototype for the great voice of Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:55'>Jer 51:55</a>), akin to the great voice of Goliath the Philistine / Palestinian, which is to be answered by the far greater voice of Yahweh in the last days commanding the Angels to unleash judgment upon the latter day Assyrian confederacy (<a href='B:360 2:11'>Joe 2:11</a>; <a href='B:730 16:1'>Rev 16:1</a>; <a href='B:730 18:2'>Rev 18:2</a>). But in the immediate context, this"loud voice"is that of <a href='B:290 29:6'>Isa 29:6</a> bringing destruction and judgment upon Jerusalem; they were condemned, but were saved by grace and God’s respect of the prayers and repentance of a small minority. The loud voice of the"great king"of Assyria is being set up as a parody of that of Yahweh, who is the supreme"great king"(s:w. <a href='B:230 47:2'>Psa 47:2</a>; <a href='B:230 95:3'>Psa 95:3</a>; <a href='B:460 1:14'>Mal 1:14</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you- This was part of his narrative, that the gods of the nations were"not able to deliver"them from the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:15'>2Ch 32:15</a>). He encouraged them to see the one true God as just another god, another source of secular strength as good as anything else. Yahweh the one true God is not, however, just another religious system. There is something awesomely and radically different. Rabshakeh’s words recognize that Hezekiah alone was seeking to lead the people to totally trust in Yahweh. His influence was considered hugely significant. As we noted on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>, the reforms of Hezekiah were largely ineffective in encouraging the general populace towards spirituality. In accordance with that, Rabshakeh perceived Hezekiah as effectively seeking alone to persuade the people to trust Yahweh.</p><p>Surely all those who were raised as believers have at some point wondered whether Christianity is simply another one of many religious systems which are equally useless. Here we have the answer- that there is ultimate truth and relationship with God which thereby makes the others all appear for what they are. Those who convert to Christ from atheism or non Christian backgrounds have a great advantage here and need to appreciate the difficulties for those who were raised Christian.</p>


