# commentaries

text:
<p>The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls upon Israel- The sending forth of Isaiah (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:8'>Isa 6:8</a>) was the sending forth of God’s word to His people. Isaiah like the Lord Jesus and like us, was the word made flesh. The man became his message; there was a congruence between him personally and the word preached.</p>


text:
<p>All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart- 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 (<a href='B:290 5:11-13'>Isa 5:11-13</a>; <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 early 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>; Isa. 50:33; <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’.</p><p>The only other occurence of the phrase "proud heart" is in <a href='B:290 10:12'>Isa 10:12</a>, where this is said of the king of Assyria. Their hearts were no better than that of Sennacherib, and so they were punished as he was. In their hearts they were Gentiles.</p>


text:
<p>The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place- Israel were determined to overcome the effects of Divine judgment in their own strength; just as today men vainly battle every way they can to resist the effects of Divine judgment. LXX "and let us build for ourselves a tower" equates them with the builders of Babel / Babylon. And so an even greater judgment was to come upon them, at the hands of Babylon - Assyria.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies- This suggests that the Rezin, the king of Syria, would have enemies who would unite against him (perhaps a reference to the latter day uniting of rebel factions against the Syrian regime), and yet at the same time would join with the Philistines (Palestinians) to be as the jaw of a beast closing upon Israel (:12). "Stir up" is really "join together", as AV. The enemies of Syria were going to join with Syria in devouring Israel (:12). We get a sense of politics and temporary alliances between groups which soon turned against each other, despite having Israel as their common enemy. This is precisely the situation we see in the eretz or land promised to Abraham today; these prophecies are coming to their latter day fulfilment. See on :19.</p>


text:
<p>the Syrians in front and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth- Again the image of a devouring beast represents the neighbours of Israel, acting as a wild beast towards her. And that continues throughout Daniel and Revelation. These ancient prophecies are beginning to be fulfilled in the last days, with Syria and the Palestinians / Philistines of the sea coast likely to crush an impenitent Israel.</p><p>For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still- Isaiah later uses this figure of His hand being stretched out still to describe how God stretches out His hand in appeal for repentance (<a href='B:290 65:2'>Isa 65:2</a>). As Emil Brunner observed, "the wrath of God is the love of God". His anger did not turn away exactly because it was His arm stretched out in appeal for Israel’s repentance. The smiting of Israel by God’s hand was in order that they might turn to Him (:13)- it was not any kind of vindictive anger. Our actions typically have only one or two functions, whereas God is the God of boundless function. His words and actions therefore have multiple intentions and fulfillments- a feature often hard for us to comprehend.</p>


text:
<p>Yet the people have not turned to Him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies- See on :6. God was the one behind all the enemies of His people. His hand was and still is stretched out against Israel until they turn to Him, which is why the end of Judah’s final woes at the hand of her neighbouring enemies will be only when they turn to God in accepting His Son. His hand is stretched out against them for they do not turn unto Him (God) who smites them.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day- Both the leadership ("the elder... is the head", :15) and the ordinary people were equally guilty, as 9:16 says in so many words, and as Isaiah opened his prophecy in chapter 1 by declaring, in his appeal to both the heavens and the earth. Following bad leadership is not, therefore, any mitigation for the sins committed by ordinary, mislead people. Verse 17 is chilling in this connection- widows and young orphans were all counted as equally guilty and were not spared. Even though God in other contexts is very much the defender of the widows and orphans. The intended judgment was to be "in one day"; suddenly, in moments, every sector of Israelite society was to be destroyed. But this isn’t what happened. The various prophetic scenarios at the time didn’t all happen; but they are reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>The elder and the honourable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail- The false prophets of the last days in Israel were around in Isaiah’s time, and according to Jewish tradition, they sawed Isaiah in half after Hezekiah died. His ministry was not without serious opposition from amongst his own people.</p>


text:
<p>For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed- But in moral, ethical terms, those led astray were destroyed because they had been willing to be led astray. After all, Isaiah and his school of the prophets were giving them true teaching, and they chose to ignore that. "Destroyed" is better ’to devour’; the devouring of Israel by the beast of :12 was because they willfully followed their false prophets. ’Lead astray’ is the same word as in <a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>: "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way". So although they were led astray, they had chosen this path, making the way of the false prophets their "own way". So they were not simply punished because of being naive, or listening to wrong information. There was more election in it than that.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will He have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for each one is profane and an evildoer- See on :14. Their ’evil doing’ was likely in not saying anything. As has been so often observed by those who have suffered from oppressive regimes, it is the silent majority who quietly tut-tut but do not oppose and thereby enable evil, who are in fact the most guilty.</p><p>And every mouth speaks folly- Isaiah and Hezekiah were alone in their faithfulness to Yahweh. The salvation of Jerusalem is explained in Isaiah 1 as only because of the existence of a faithful remnant, and that remnant was basically just Isaiah’s family. Isaiah 1 and other chapters emphasize the total apostasy of Judah at this time. We note that it was because of their words that they were condemned; and that sensitivity to our language continues to this day (<a href='B:470 12:37'>Mat 12:37</a>).</p><p>For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still- See on :12</p>


text:
<p>For wickedness burns like a fire, it devours the briers and thorns- 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 (here and <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.</p><p>Yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke- The smoke columns caused by the invaders were actually kindled by the wickedness of God’s people. The idea is that the fire spreads from individual thorn bushes and brambles to consume whole thickets of trees. Perhaps the idea is that individual apostasy called for individual judgment, but this spread to the whole nation. Not by any ’guilt by association’, but insofar as personal example comes to influence the whole group.</p><p>Wickedness burns- The actual sin of the people is spoken of as the fire of judgment. Sin is condemnation. To choose to sin is to choose to live out condemnation and apply it to ourselves. The essence of final judgment is therefore going on right now in our behaviour.</p>


text:
<p>Through the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, the land is burnt up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother- "Fuel for the fire" is the same phrase found in :5, where this is to be the judgment upon the enemies of Israel and Judah. The judgment that could then have come upon their enemies was to come upon them, because they refused to repent and thus precluded the prophetic potential of :5 from coming about. As explained on :18, the people were both the fire and the fuel for the fire. What is envisaged here is a complete meltdown of relationships, with both Israel and Judah under attack by a group of neighbours who were enemies with each other but united against God’s people (see on :11); and at the same time, Israel and Judah warring with each other. This didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time, and so the prophetic scenario has been recalculated and reapplied to other times and especially to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm- As explained on :19, the devouring of God’s people by the mouth of the beast of her neighbours (:12) was to also involve God’s people devouring each other. And finally, they would eat themselves. The LXX here appears to be alluded to in the New Testament, because the precise scenario here envisaged didn’t quite come true in Isaiah’s time: we can bite and devour one another (<a href='B:550 5:15'>Gal 5:15</a>), as the Jews did in their day of condemnation in the Babylonian invasion (quoting <a href='B:290 9:19-20'>Isa 9:19-20</a> LXX; <a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a>). By doing so we are acting out our own condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah- This appears to be saying that Israel would be divided against itself, and also Israel would be against Judah.</p><p>For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still- See on :12. What is envisaged here is a complete meltdown of relationships, with both Israel and Judah under attack by a group of neighbours who were enemies with each other but united against God’s people (see on :11); and at the same time, Israel and Judah warring with each other. This didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time, and so the prophetic scenario has been recalculated and reapplied to other times and especially to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees- The writing in view may be the writing of legal judgments against the poor who were being abused (:2). God had already given His people decrees to live by, so they were effectively playing God by writing their own decrees. <a href='B:300 8:8'>Jer 8:8</a> seems to be saying that "the pen of the scribes" was replacing God’ law. Judah precluded the reestablishment of God’s Kingdom in Judah by this behaviour; and similar language is used of how the restored exiles didn’t learn the lesson but acted in the same way (<a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>). And so again, the opportunity to reestablish the Kingdom was precluded.</p>


text:
<p>to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among My people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!- Spoil and prey are the very words used in :6 of what the Assyrians would do to Judah. But this what Judah had done to themselves; their condemnation was but an extension of how they had lived their lives. We too "make the answer now". We live life standing before God’s judgment; if we are condemned at the last day, then we will have been living that way now.</p>


text:
<p>What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar?- "The day of visitation" is interpreted as the day of the second coming of the Lord Jesus in judgment (<a href='B:670 2:12'>1Pe 2:12</a>). The intended day of judgment at the hand of the Assyrians was averted; but the repentance of the remnant which was responsible for this was not shared by the majority, so the essence of the prophecy shall come true in the last days.</p><p>To whom will you flee for help?- This is the phrase used of how the Philistines had fled to Egypt and Ethiopia for help (<a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a>). Judah had done just the same in fleeing to those same nations for help, 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.</p><p>Where will you leave your wealth?- Under Uzziah and Ahaz, Judah had been prosperous, and they used that wealth to try to buy security against Assyria from Egypt and others. This is described in Ezekiel and Jeremiah as them being as an immoral prostitute who actually pays men to sleep with her.</p>


text:
<p>They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain- The LXX simply has "that ye may not fall into captivity?". GNB "You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners". This isn’t what happened when the Assyrians invaded Judah; so much was averted because of the intercession and repentance of so few.</p><p>For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still- Isaiah later uses this figure of His hand being stretched out still to describe how God stretches out His hand in appeal for repentance (<a href='B:290 65:2'>Isa 65:2</a>). Even if the Assyrian invasion of Judah had succeeded, God would still have been searching for their repentance. As Emil Brunner observed, "the wrath of God is the love of God". His anger did not turn away exactly because it was His arm stretched out in appeal for Israel’s repentance. The smiting of Israel by God’s hand was in order that they might turn to Him (<a href='B:290 9:13'>Isa 9:13</a>)- it was not any kind of vindictive anger. Our actions typically have only one or two functions, whereas God is the God of boundless function. His words and actions therefore have multiple intentions and fulfillments- a feature often hard for us to comprehend.</p>


text:
<p>Alas Assyrian, the rod of My anger, the staff in whose hand is My indignation!- 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>). The archenemy of Israel, Assyria, was revealed as a rod in the God of Israel’s hand, 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 (Jer 341-5; <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>


text:
<p>I will send him against a profane nation- The word for "profane" is used about how Judah were polluted by idols and unfaithfulness to Yahweh with other gods (<a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a>; <a href='B:230 106:38'>Psa 106:38</a> etc:). Hence the verse continues, to speak of God’s related "anger". AV has "hypocritical", in which case we see how hypocrisy is a cardinal sin with God, just as proud body language is (see on :12).</p><p>And against the people who anger Me will I give him a command- This command was given from the court of Heaven. But surely Sennacherib was not consciously addressed. We see here how God works through human psychology. Sennacherib had his own agendas and motivations. But where do our agendas come from? From a complex web of personal history, desires made stronger by our experiences, our location in time and space, our genes... so many things. And yet God worked through all that to give this man a command to attack Judah. But see on :14.</p><p>To take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets- Spoil and prey are the very words used in :2 of what Judah had done to themselves in abusing each other; their condemnation was but an extension of how they had lived their lives. For now this was what the Assyrians would do to Judah. We too "make the answer now". We live life standing before God’s judgment; if we are condemned at the last day, then we will have been living that way now. A desire to take spoil and prey from Israel is the characteristic of the latter day Gog (s:w. <a href='B:330 38:12'>Eze 38:12</a>), and we can therefore understand the Assyrian invasion here threatened to ultimately come about in the last days. For actually Assyria did not take a spoil and prey from Judah at this time, because the whole scenario was changed; due to the repentance of a remnant, the Assyrians never took Jerusalem and were destroyed by an Angel.</p>


text:
<p>However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations- See on :11. Thus it was in his heart to punish Israel and other nations; he didn’t "mean" to solely punish Judah. Or we could read with LXX "But he meant not thus, neither did he devise thus in his soul: but his mind shall change, and that to destroy nations not a few". In this case, God put the idea in his mind when it was not in his plan; and we would then be exhorted as to the power God has to work directly on the human heart. According to <a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>, the envisaged prophetic scenario was that the invasion and destruction of the ten tribes by Assyria would be at the same time as the invasion of Judah by Assyria, part of the same campaign, sweeping onward to them. Indeed as we learn here, "it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations" at that same time. But this isn’t what happened. The prophecies offer various potential scenarios, which could be ameliorated, changed, hastened, intensified, delayed or cancelled because of God’s extreme sensitivity to human repentance. This is why it’s impossible to use Bible prophecies to construct a chronology of latter day events; there are so many variables. Not least the repentance of Israel, the work of the faithful ecclesia in preaching the Gospel to the world and prayer for the Lord’s coming- quite apart from the Divine pity which is at the core of His character.</p>


text:
<p>For he says, Aren’t all of my princes kings?- He considered all his princes ought to have somewhere to reign over as kings. But LXX "And if they should say to him, Thou alone art ruler" suggests that if he were to be told that Yahweh alone is king, he would respond by saying that the cities he was planning to invade (:9) were his as much as the cities of his own existing empire. And there we would see the pride and arrogance against Yahweh which is focused upon as the reason for his destruction.</p>


text:
<p>Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?- See on :8. LXX "Have I not taken the country above Babylon and Chalanes, where the tower was built? and have I not taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria?". He therefore considered that the kingdom of Judah was no different, thus despising Yahweh and treating Him as just another local city idol who was powerless before him (see on :10).</p>


text:
<p>As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria- LXX "As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms: howl, ye idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria". It was sadly true that there were plenty of idols in Jerusalem (:11), as well as the temple of Yahweh. Sennacherib reasoned that the gods of the surrounding nations had been powerless before him, and therefore Jerusalem would be likewise, because she had the same gods worshipped within her. And that was fair logic, on one level. Yahweh’s salvation of Jerusalem from the Assyrians was therefore all the more an act of pure grace. However we could read him as thinking that Yahweh was a God without idols; other cities had more idols within them than Jerusalem did, and therefore she would be a walkover.</p>


text:
<p>Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?- See on :10. We have here a specific example of a man being punished in judgment for his words; see on <a href='B:290 3:8'>Isa 3:8</a>. These words were the ‘fruit of his heart’ (:12)- out of the abundance of his heart his mouth had spoken. And these words were almost cited back to him at the time of his condemnation. But see on :7.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore it will happen, that when the Lord has performed His whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem- It was God who was going to hew down the temple in Zion, using Assyria merely as the axe in His hand (:15). The work of destroying Zion would be His work; and it would be the total finishing of Zion in completeness, so the Hebrew implies. Again we marvel at how much was averted by so few. We see the power of prayer and repentance.</p><p>He will punish the fruit of the wilful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks- The fruit of his heart were the words of :11 for which he was condemned; for by words are men condemned (<a href='B:470 12:37'>Mat 12:37</a>), because they are reflective of the heart. And the state of the heart is of paramount importance to God. Israel were to be the light to the Gentile world around them, the righteous servant who showed light to the Gentiles. But they sadly failed. Note too how the prophets pointed out to Gentile nations their sins and failed responsibilities before the God of Israel (Amos 2; <a href='B:370 9:7'>Amo 9:7</a>; <a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a>; Jeremiah 46; Ezekiel 27, 29). We note here that out of all the things God could have condemned Assyria for (idolatry, viciousness, cruelty etc:), it is their proud hearts and associated body language which He focuses upon. This is how abhorrent is pride to the one God whose moral judgments and perspectives are alone of any importance to man on this earth. The only other occurrence of the phrase "wilful proud heart" is in <a href='B:290 9:9'>Isa 9:9</a>, where this is said of the ten tribes of Israel. Their hearts were no better than that of Sennacherib, and so they were punished as he was. In their hearts they were Gentiles. Likewise the phrase "arrogant looks" is used of the Jews in <a href='B:290 2:11'>Isa 2:11</a>.</p>


text:
<p>For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers- The bringing down of Judah is described several times in Isaiah 2 as being Yahweh’s work. He failed to perceive that he was acting on Yahweh’s behalf. The fact he was culpable for this, and was punished for it, means that he ought to have looked at his career in life and perceived that the hand of Israel’s God was in all this. But he refused to see that picture in his life, and became proud; the references to "my wisdom" may refer to the wisdom he thought he had from his gods. It is by reflecting upon the hand of providence in our lives that we are saved from pride. I noted on :12 that the sins of Sennacherib were essentially those of Israel; they are also condemned for trusting in "the strength of my hand" (<a href='B:50 8:17'>Deu 8:17</a> s:w:). See on :14.</p>


text:
<p>My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped- LXX "I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me". This is tantamount to saying that he would not allow any "remnant" to escape; and yet the escape of a remnant from Judah was a major part of Isaiah’s prophecies. The Hebrew is difficult, but the idea seems to be that he intended to totally empty the nest- taking both the eggs and the mother bird, so that there was not a sound from the nest; the mother bird would not chirp or flutter her wings when the eggs were taken, because she was going to be taken as well. This is specifically disobedient to <a href='B:50 22:6-7'>Deu 22:6-7</a>; just as removing landmark boundaries of a neighbour (:13) was disobedient to Deu 1914. It’s as if this Gentile king was being held responsible for breaking the Mosaic law. Perhaps the "command" he was given by God in :6 was a direct revelation, which made him therefore responsible to Yahweh’s law. And therefore his disobedience was the more culpable. Or it could be that Gentiles are to some extent held responsible for breaking Divine laws and principles even if they don’t know them.</p>


text:
<p>Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood- As explained on :32-34, it was God’s intention to hew down Zion. Only because He graciously counted the repentance of a remnant as the repentance of the nation was this plan changed (<a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>). As discussed on :14, Sennacherib apparently should have perceived that he was being used by Yahweh, but instead he purposefully refused to see this.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the Lord Yahweh of Armies will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire- As if he is being offered up as a sacrifice. What was so abhorrent to God was the proud glory of the Assyrians. Things like pride and proud language are enough to call down the most awful condemnations. The fatness of the Assyrians was to become lean; but fatness becoming lean is the very language used of what was to happen to the glory of Judah (<a href='B:290 17:4'>Isa 17:4</a>). By their arrogance they proclaimed themselves as no better than Gentiles, meriting the same judgment.</p>


text:
<p>The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame- Israel were to be the flame which destroyed the Assyrians. But instead an Angel did (<a href='B:140 32:21'>2Ch 32:21</a>), and God makes His Angels a flaming fire (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>). So the scenario foreseen in these judgments didn’t come about exactly as it could have done had all Israel repented, rather than just a minority of them. Because of this, they weren’t used as the fire; a single Angel was instead.</p><p>LXX "he shall sanctify him with burning fire". This may carry the hint that the fire of judgment would be intended to purify a remnant even from the Assyrians to join with a purified Judah in the reestablished Kingdom. That remnant is spoken of in :19:This is the consistent prophetic vision- that repentant Gentiles would be incorporated within the new, reestablished Kingdom of God. Sadly Hezekiah’s attitude to Gentiles precluded this from happening, as he sought their acceptance rather than bringing them to Israel’s God.</p><p>And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day- 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. Sin was its own judgment. "Briers and thorns" is a term used by Isaiah about the aggressive, thorny nature of Judah (here and <a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</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.</p>


text:
<p>He will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body- The Assyrian army is likened to a forest; they were to be cut down just as they intended to cut down the trees of Jerusalem; see on :33,34. They didn’t actually get to do this, but they intended to; and were punished according to what they had intended to do. That God recognizes intention as action is a deep challenge as well as encouragement.</p><p>It will be as when a standard bearer faints- The idea may be of a sudden loss of heart and collapse of moral; exactly as happened when the Angel smote 185,000 soldiers in a moment.</p>


text:
<p>The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number- I suggested on :17 that a remnant of the Assyrians were intended to be purified by the fire of judgment, and be incorporated within the re-established Kingdom of Judah. But the record of the destruction of their army carries no such hint, and the record concludes in Isaiah 37 with the Assyrians continuing in their idolatry. The child who would write them may refer to the child of Isaiah spoken of earlier; see on <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>; <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>. These things could have come true at that time, in the lifetime of that child; but human refusal to repent precluded them from happening.</p><p>This and the similar prophecy of desolation in <a href='B:290 7:23-25'>Isa 7:23-25</a> 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. See on :17.</p>


text:
<p>It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob- This is stated just after we have read on :17,19 of a remnant of the Assyrians surviving and turning to Yahweh. They were to join in the new people of God along with the repentant remnant of Judah and Israel, bound together in fellowship due to their common experience of forgiveness, grace and repentance. This didn’t happen, but the essence of the prophetic intention was fulfilled when both Jews and Gentiles were baptized into the Lord Jesus as "the hope of Israel". <a href='B:290 4:2'>Isa 4:2</a> had spoken of how this "remnant" (s:w:) would be the basis of a revived kingdom of God in Judah, based around a Messianic "Branch", "in that day"- the day of <a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>, when Jerusalem would be overcome and left in ruins with hardly any men left. These "survivors" are those saved from the ruins of a desolated Jerusalem, those who "escaped" the Assyrian invasion (s:w. <a href='B:290 37:31'>Isa 37:31</a>); the same word is used in <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>; <a href='B:380 1:17'>Oba 1:17</a>, the "remnant" of <a href='B:330 14:22'>Eze 14:22</a> (s:w:). The destruction of Jerusalem was intended to elicit repentance and to lead seamlessly into a revived Zion and reestablished Kingdom of God in Israel, when again all things would be "glorious" (s:w. <a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a>). But this didn’t happen. Jerusalem was saved by grace, and yet Hezekiah failed to act as "Yahweh’s branch", and Judah were impenitent, unmoved by their salvation by grace.</p><p>Will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth- This was the bizarre thing; that Judah trusted in the gods of the Assyrians. To "lean" meant ’to trust’. Their acceptance of the Assyrian gods was not therefore a mere matter of political expediency; they ’leant’ upon them. Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, and he uses this word to describe how Judah did "lean" upon Yahweh, claiming that therefore "no evil can come upon us", whilst at the same time worshipping idols (<a href='B:400 3:11'>Mic 3:11</a>). We see here how we can make a profession of faith, even adhering to a ’statement of faith’- when in fact we don’t have faith at all, but rather trust in secular strength. Faith, like every spiritual virtue, has both an apparent form, and a real form.</p>


text:
<p>A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God- This is a play upon the name of Isaiah’s son Shearjashub. "Shearjashub" means "a remnant shall return" (see on <a href='B:290 7:3'>Isa 7:3</a>). As is made explicit in <a href='B:290 7:14'>Isa 7:14</a> and <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>, Isaiah’s children were ’signs’. The message of Shearjashub was that a remnant would repent / return; and Isaiah in <a href='B:290 7:3'>Isa 7:3</a> was asking Ahab to be part of that remnant, and to repent of his faithless attitude:&nbsp;"The mighty God" is the title of Isaiah’s son in <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> (s:w:). The remnant would repent and come to this Messiah figure. But these potentials didn’t happen, and Isaiah’s children remained but "signs" (<a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>), pointing forward to the future work of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall return- The idea was that the majority of God’s people would be killed, and the remnant that survived would return / repent (s:w:) as a result of the humiliation at the hand of the Assyrians. Their being the seed of Abraham "like the sand of the sea" was not going to save them; they would perish all the same. This level of destruction and repentance didn’t happen, although it was the prophetic potential that it could have done. And so the prophecy is reapplied to the repentant of a remnant of Israel who will accept Jesus as Christ, especially in the last days (<a href='B:520 9:28'>Rom 9:28</a>).</p><p>A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness- LXX "He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness". Paul quotes this version in the New Testament, again providing more evidence that the LXX is usually quoted over the Hebrew, Masoretic text by the inspired New Testament writers. <a href='B:520 9:28'>Rom 9:28</a> (see notes there) quotes this, and yet mixes in allusion to <a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a> "For the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened... [or else] there should no flesh be saved". This means there will be a shortening of the originally intended prophetic program in the last days. Yet again we see that God’s program is open ended and elastic, in response to a whole raft of factors. Paul quotes this verse from <a href='B:290 10:22'>Isa 10:22</a> along with <a href='B:290 1:9-10'>Isa 1:9-10</a> about a faithful remnant of Judah being preserved. The destruction determined was to result in righteousness through the repentance of the remnant; but this process of destruction has to be cut short for it to achieve this end. The implication is that they would be so slow to respond to it that they would all be consumed before they repented, and "righteousness" was achieved.</p>


text:
<p>For the Lord Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end as already determined, in the midst of all the earth- The midst of all the earth / eretz refers to Zion. It was God’s plan to destroy the temple at the hands of the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time (see on :32-34). But He relented of it, and so the prophecy was deferred until later; and the essence of it, until the last days. God intended to make a full end of Zion and Judah at the hands of the Assyrians; but he didn’t. Various factors played their part- the repentance and intercession of a remnant, the evil of Assyria precluding their further usage by God, etc. Very similar language to <a href='B:340 9:26'>Dan 9:26</a> occurs in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a>: “For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, shall the Lord of Hosts execute in the midst of the land”. The context is speaking of “the Assyrian”. The same language of the last days is found in <a href='B:290 28:22'>Isa 28:22</a>: “a final destruction on all the earth." The latter day antichrist is therefore modeled upon the “Assyrian” of the Old Testament. Note that “the man of sin” of <a href='B:600 2:8'>2Th 2:8</a> alludes to “the wicked one” of <a href='B:290 11:4'>Isa 11:4</a> LXX, who is, again, “the Assyrian”! So it would appear very likely that the antichrist figure is somehow associated with ‘Assyria’. And what’s going on in Iraq and the territory of ‘Assyria’ right now is gripping the whole world’s attention. Note how the Assyrian is described in <a href='B:290 30:31-33'>Isa 30:31-33</a> as being thrown into a lake of fire – just as the future beast will be (<a href='B:730 19:20'>Rev 19:20</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the Lord Yahweh of Armies, says: My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did- The language is ambiguous as to whether they need fear the Assyrians or not; hence LXX "Be not afraid, my people who dwell in Sion, of the Assyrians, because he shall smite thee with a rod: for I am bringing a stroke upon thee, that thou mayest see the way of Egypt". There could be the implication that the Assyrian would not strike them with the rod if they repented. Or perhaps it is specifically the faithful remnant who are being addressed- God’s people who dwelt in Zion.</p>


text:
<p>For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and My anger will be directed to his destruction- God’s anger was going to come, and the majority of the population were intended to perish (:20). But God urges the faithful remnant in Zion (:24) 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. But the essence of it will be fulfilled in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and He will lift it up like He did against Egypt- The lifting up of the rod by Moses led to the sea destroying the Egyptian army. And the same was to happen to the Assyrians. But :28-34 go on to describe how Assyria would capture Zion. It could be therefore that this destruction of Assyria was to come after that. Or it could be that here God foresaw how in fact Assyria would be destroyed so that the prophecies about the fall of Zion at this time would not come true. The chronology of the text is therefore bound to be confusing, because so many different possible outcomes are being carried in mind.</p><p>The Assyrian was to be destroyed by stirring or (Heb:) raising up a scourge against him, just as he had been a scourge to Judah (<a href='B:290 28:15'>Isa 28:15</a>). This is the word used in <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a> of the raising up of a Messianic saviour figure who would deliver Judah from her Assyrian oppressors; Micah, contemporary with Isaiah, has the same in view (<a href='B:400 5:5'>Mic 5:5</a>). This didn’t happen, and Hezekiah let the baton drop in any case. So it is rescheduled and reinterpreted in fulfilment to the raising up of the Lord Jesus to save latter day, repentant Judah.</p>


text:
<p>It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil- The reference to Midian’s destruction (repeated in <a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a>) suggests that a small remnant, akin to Gideon’s three hundred men, would destroy a far greater military and political power which was dominating Israel. It calls for a military fulfilment, and this surely was the possibility in Isaiah’s day. The righteous remnant were to release Judah from domination by the overpowering Assyria. But they did not fully achieve this, nor did they accept God’s new covenant which was to be the basis for them never again being under yoke (<a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:27'>Eze 34:27</a>). The burden of the Assyrians was to be removed by them being trodden down upon the mountains [an intensive plural for the one great mountain] of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:25'>Isa 14:25</a>). But they never got into Zion, and were not trodden down there. And so the prophecy was rescheduled and reapplied to the victory of the Lord Jesus over sin (see on :4) and the latter day Assyrian. His offer of His yoke in place of the heavy yoke carried by God’s people surely alludes here (<a href='B:470 11:29'>Mat 11:29</a>). And His spiritual victory will have its political and ’military’ manifestation at Christ’s return and His final liberation of Israel from their Arab oppressors.</p><p>The salvation because of the anointing oil suggests that a messiah [’anointed one’] figure could have saved Judah at this time; but the fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the same message as in <a href='B:400 5:4-5'>Mic 5:4-5</a></p>


text:
<p>He has come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he stores his baggage- "Migron" is LXX Megiddo. The mention of Michmash recalls Jonathan’s brave victory there; and the history of that time is also alluded to in :29. The idea may be that a faithful remnant, such as Jonathan, Samuel (:29) and David, could bring about the defeat of powerful oppressors.</p>


text:
<p>they have gone over the pass; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled- see on :28. LXX "Fear shall seize upon Rama, the city of Saul". It was the city of Samuel; but the historical image presented is of Saul desperate to hear God’s word from Samuel and not hearing it.</p>


text:
<p>Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!- These were villages on the northern approaches to Jerusalem. The exhortation to "cry aloud" may be an appeal for them to repent and avert the threatened catastrophe; and perhaps they did, and so the Assyrians never took Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<p>Madmenah is a fugitive, the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety- The villages near Jerusalem were depopulated as everyone fled before the Assyrian advance.</p>


text:
<p>this very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem- We could read this as describing the Assyrians besieging Jerusalem, and expressing their intentions to destroy the temple on Zion. But LXX offers "Exhort ye them to-day to remain in the way: exhort ye beckoning with the hand the mountain, the daughter of Sion, even ye hills that are in Jerusalem". This would then be an appeal for repentance, and for the remnant who had repented to "remain in the way". For this was the way to avert the destruction of the temple described in :33,34. And indeed it seems this appeal was heard by a minority, who were significant enough for that destruction to be averted.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, the Lord Yahweh of Armies will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low- As explained on :34, it was the Divine plan for Assyria to destroy the temple. <a href='B:290 2:13'>Isa 2:13</a> likewise associates the destruction of the temple with the bringing down of Judah’s pride. The "High and lifted up" temple of <a href='B:290 2:13'>Isa 2:13</a> uses the same phrase for the exaltation of Yahweh in glory in <a href='B:290 6:1'>Isa 6:1</a>. What is high and lifted up in human eyes was and is to be brought down before the glory of Yahweh. This language of cutting down Judah like trees paves the way for the next prophesy in Isaiah 11, which envisages the Messianic shoot sprouting forth out of the cut down stump of the house of David.</p>


text:
<p>He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One- The cedars of Lebanon in the temple became iconic, to the point that they are put by metaphor for the temple itself (<a href='B:450 11:1'>Zec 11:1</a>). Judah were so proud of the temple (see on <a href='B:300 7:4'>Jer 7:4</a>). The destruction of the temple was required to humble Judah. Clearly the message is that the Assyrians would surround and threaten Zion (:32)- and then demolish the temple. But this didn’t happen. It was intended to; but the prayer, repentance and spirituality of a remnant meant this didn’t happen. This accords with the principle of <a href='B:300 17:8-10'>Jer 17:8-10</a>; that God may state His purpose, but in the gap between statement and realization, there is the opportunity for repentance so that the intended outcome will not happen.</p>


text:
<p>A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit- As explained on <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>, it was the original Divine intention that the Assyrians would take Jerusalem and cut down the cedars of Lebanon associated with the temple. That language of cutting down Judah like trees paves the way for this next prophesy in Isaiah 11, which envisages the Messianic shoot sprouting forth out of the cut down stump of the house of David. But things worked out differently. The temple was not destroyed at that time, and so the planned shoot didn’t come forth; the potential may have been that a son of Isaiah developed into this figure, or perhaps Hezekiah (see on <a href='B:290 7:6'>Isa 7:6</a>; <a href='B:290 8:1'>Isa 8:1</a>; <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>). And so the Messianic potential was reapplied to the time of the restoration, and then finally to the Lord Jesus.</p><p>When Zedekiah was taken into captivity (<a href='B:330 17:20'>Eze 17:20</a>), it was prophesied that “a tender one” (Messiah- <a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>; <a href='B:290 53:2'>Isa 53:2</a>) would be planted“upon an high mountain”, and grow into a tree in whose shadows all animals would live (<a href='B:330 17:21-22'>Eze 17:21-22</a>). This is clearly the Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:490 13:19'>Luk 13:19</a>). This young twig at the time of the captivity was surely Zerubabbel, and the “high mountain” upon which his Kingdom could have been established is surely he “high mountain” of <a href='B:330 40:2'>Eze 40:2</a> where the temple could have been built. Yet the prophecy had to suffer a massive deferment until its fulfilment in Christ.</p><p>It seems that Haggai and Zechariah returned to Jerusalem from Babylon in order to prepare the way for Zerubbabel- they were therefore the primary fulfillment of the prophecies of an Elijah-type prophet heralding the coming of the Messiah king. Zerubbabel failure therefore meant that their ministry was re-scheduled and fulfilled in the work of John the Baptist. Zerubbabel is called “the branch” (<a href='B:450 3:8'>Zec 3:8</a>; <a href='B:450 6:12'>Zec 6:12</a>; <a href='B:300 23:5-6'>Jer 23:5-6</a>), and this obviously invites connection with the prophecy of a branch / Messiah who would grow out of the cut down stump of Jesse (<a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>). Again, Zerubbabel fits the picture perfectly. The house of David had been cut down in judgment, but the prophesied branch would not be from the royal line of Kings- but rather simply from the ‘stump’ that had been left, i:e. a descendant of Jesse who was not in the direct line of kings. <a href='B:400 5:2'>Mic 5:2</a> speaks of a similar person- a Messiah-king who would be from Bethlehem, i:e. the family of Jesse, rather than from Jerusalem where the royal line of kings were born. His origins would be “from old”- i:e. a person who is still a descendant of Jesse, but not in the direct line of kings. But despite all this, yet again we come to the sad realization that Zerubbabel like his people simply didn’t live up to it; and the prophecies came to be fulfilled finally in Jesus. He could have been Yahweh’s signet ring (<a href='B:440 2:23'>Hag 2:23</a>), His specially favoured son- but he baulked at the height of the calling.</p>


text:
<p>The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him- The Spirit was also to rest upon the dry bones of Ezekiel 37, causing the exiles to revive and become a reformed Kingdom of God in Judah (<a href='B:330 37:1'>Eze 37:1</a>; <a href='B:330 37:14'>Eze 37:14</a>). Although the envisioned Messianic figure didn’t arise in Hezekiah’s time, he could have arisen at the restoration. But all these possibilities weren’t realized, and so the ultimate fulfilment was in the Lord Jesus.</p><p>The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh- This makes six endowments of the Spirit, and the general mention of the Spirit resting upon him in the first part of the verse makes seven. Seven spirits resting upon a Messiah figure is the language of what could have happened at the restoration through Zerubbabel (<a href='B:450 3:9'>Zec 3:9</a>; <a href='B:450 4:2'>Zec 4:2</a>). Again we see that the Messianic figure could have appeared at various stages, but human dysfunction precluded this happening. Yet all this comes to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. Indeed "the seven spirits" of <a href='B:730 1:4'>Rev 1:4</a> could be read as a title of the Lord.</p>


text:
<p>His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh- AV "Of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord". James alludes to this: "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (<a href='B:660 1:19'>Jas 1:19</a> RV). If we are truly born by the word then we will swift to hear it, as the Lord Jesus was of quick understanding in the word. We will share His aptitude for it, and we will be slow to speak anything else. For He is but the epitome of personalization of the entire body of Christ.</p><p>The Lord Jesus is right now "quick to discern the thoughts and intents of [our hearts]" in mediating for us (<a href='B:650 4:12'>Heb 4:12</a> RV). But this is how He was in His mortal life here- for then He was "of quick understanding" too (<a href='B:290 11:3'>Isa 11:3</a> is applied to Him then). He would have had a way of seeing through to the essence of a person or situation with awesome speed- and this must have made human life very irritating for Him at times. But who He was then is who He is now. It’s the same Jesus who intercedes for us in sensitivity and compassion. Note carefully the tense used in <a href='B:650 4:15'>Heb 4:15</a>: "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities". It doesn’t say ’which could not have been touched…’, but rather "which cannot [presenttense] be touched". It’s as if He is now touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Which opens a fascinating window into what having God’s nature is all about. When we by grace come to share it, it’s not just that we will dimly remember what it was like to be human.</p><p>He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears- Judging and deciding are the same Hebrew words used in <a href='B:290 2:4'>Isa 2:4</a>. Again, the picture of the restored Kingdom of God we meet there could have come about after the arising of a Messianic figure who would save Judah from the Assyrian in Hezekiah’s time.</p>


text:
<p>But with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth- In contrast to the unjust and faulty leadership Judah had at the time. And it was Messiah and not the Assyrian who was now going to strike the earth with His rod (<a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a>; <a href='B:290 10:15'>Isa 10:15</a>). There was to be a replacement of the Assyrian king with Israel’s Messiah.</p><p>And with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked- Note that “the man of sin” of <a href='B:600 2:8'>2Th 2:8</a> alludes to “the wicked one” of <a href='B:290 11:4'>Isa 11:4</a> LXX&nbsp; who is, again, “the Assyrian” in the initial context. So it would appear very likely that the antichrist figure is somehow associated with ‘Assyria’. And what’s going on in Iraq and the territory of ‘Assyria’ right now is gripping the whole world’s attention. Note how the Assyrian is described in <a href='B:290 30:31-33'>Isa 30:31-33</a> as being thrown into a lake of fire – just as the future beast will be (<a href='B:730 19:20'>Rev 19:20</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Righteousness will be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins- This was the clothing and symbolism of the High Priest; but we have in view here a king-priest, after the order of Melchizedek. Zerubbabel could have met this requirement, but he too failed, and so the prophecy came to total fulfilment in the Lord Jesus.</p><p>Paul’s description of the warrior of the Gospel in Ephesians 6 composites together various descriptions of Messiah’s clothing in the servant songs (<a href='B:290 11:5'>Isa 11:5</a> = “loins girded with truth”; <a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a> “mouth like a sharp sword”; <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> “bring good tidings / publish salvation” = “the preparation of the Gospel of peace”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “breastplate of righteousness”; <a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a> “helmet of salvation”). We are to be Christ to the world.</p>


text:
<p>The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them- This section of Isaiah repeatedly mentions "a child". As noted on <a href='B:290 7:6'>Isa 7:6</a>; <a href='B:290 8:1'>Isa 8:1</a>; <a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>; <a href='B:290 10:19'>Isa 10:19</a>, this child could have been Isaiah’s specially predicted son, in whose childhood the Kingdom could have been restored, perhaps with a reduction of the curse amongst the animal creation. But as noted on :7, the wild animals can be understood as representing the nations around Judah who are now at peace with her and her Messiah; and thereby also with each other. But this didn’t happen, and so the prophecy will come to a much grander fulfilment in the future kingdom of the Lord Jesus on earth.</p>


text:
<p>The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox- The lions in <a href='B:290 5:29-30'>Isa 5:29-30</a> clearly represent the Babylonians and Assyrians; but here the prophetic hope was that the young lion would be tamed and live in Zion. The vision was of Judah’s enemies being judged and repenting, and coming to live in the restored Kingdom. Wild beasts were symbolic of Israel’s enemies (see on <a href='B:290 5:5'>Isa 5:5</a>). But the idea is that they would become harmless, and through repentance as a result of their judgment, come to live in God’s restored Kingdom. This was precluded at Isaiah’s time by Hezekiah’s wrong attitude to the Babylonians, and Judah serving their gods rather than bringing them to Israel’s God. And so the prophecy will come to a much grander fulfilment in the future kingdom of the Lord Jesus on earth.</p>


text:
<p>the nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den- I suggested on :6 that this child could have been Isaiah’s specially predicted son, in whose childhood the Kingdom could have been restored, perhaps with a reduction of the curse amongst the animal creation.</p>


text:
<p>They will not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain- The situation in mount Zion would reflect that in "the earth" / land of Israel- there would be no destruction on mount Zion "for the earth / land will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh". No longer would human sacrifices be offered there; the sins of Israel would no longer be repeated in the new Kingdom envisaged here. Destruction on Zion has been a theme of <a href='B:290 10:32-34'>Isa 10:32-34</a>; there was envisaged there the destruction of both Israelites and Assyrians on that mountain. But "nor shall they at all be able to destroy any one on my holy mountain" (LXX).</p><p>For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea- This stands in contrast to how the land was "full" (s:w:) of idolatry and trust in human philosophy (<a href='B:290 2:6-7'>Isa 2:6-7</a>). The descriptions of the restored Kingdom are so often expressed in terms of how spiritually, this would be the reversal of the unspiritual situation then extant in the earth / land of Israel. "The knowledge of Yahweh" doesn’t so much refer to correct doctrinal knowledge as to the Hebraic ’knowing’, referring to relationship. This relationship with Yahweh would be throughout the entire eretz promised to Abraham; there would be no person or geographical spot which held out against it. Absolutely everyone who survived the conflict around Mount Zion would enter covenant relationship or "knowledge of Yahweh".</p>


text:
<p>It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples- "The nations", referring usually to those immediately around Judah, those within the entire eretz promised to Abraham, would seek this Messiah figure. This explains how the universal knowledge or relationship with Yahweh of the previous verse comes about. This didn’t happen at the time; but His standing as a banner or ensign is alluded to in the figure of the Lord Jesus being lifted up on the cross as an ensign on a pole, and all believers coming to Him there in faith / trust. Hence the LXX "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust, and his rest shall be glorious". This is quoted in <a href='B:520 15:12'>Rom 15:12</a> about Gentiles in this dispensation believing in the Lord Jesus. We note again that the inspired New Testament writers prefer to quote the LXX when it differs with the Hebrew text. For "in him shall the Gentiles trust" is in the LXX but not the Masoretic text.</p><p>And his resting place will be glorious- This could simply refer toa 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 66:1-2'>Isa 66:1-2</a> s:w:), 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.</p>


text:
<p>It will happen in that day that the Lord will set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea- see on <a href='B:450 12:4'>Zec 12:4</a>. For "Pathros" LXX has "Babylon". These areas included the areas where the ten tribes had been taken captive, and where it was envisaged Judah would also be taken. The prophetic potential was that at the restoration of the Kingdom, all God’s people would be gathered together, along with repentant Gentiles, united by the joint experience of conviction of sin, forgiveness and God’s grace. And to this day, that is the basis of unity; "doctrine divides, experience unites", as Paul Tournier put it. Their impenitence at the time of Isaiah and the restoration from Babylon precluded this regathering; they did not return to God, and so He did not return them to their land. But "His hand", His powerful activity, was potentially ready to do this; and it is outstretched to all Israel to this day. This is why the repentance of Israel is critical to the reestablishment of the Kingdom in our days.</p>


text:
<p>He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth- As explained on :10, this ensign was refused by the Gentiles and the outcasts of Israel; and so the banner or ensign is alluded to in the figure of the Lord Jesus being lifted up on the cross as an ensign on a pole, and all believers coming to Him there in trust / faith (see on :10). The whole congregation (LXX ekklesia) of Israel were "gathered together" before the smitten rock, which "was Christ" crucified (<a href='B:40 20:8'>Num 20:8</a> cp. 21:16; <a href='B:530 10:4'>1Co 10:4</a>). The “ensign", the pole on which the brazen serpent was lifted up, would draw together the scattered individuals of God’s people; and as stricken Israel were gathered around that pole, so the lifting up of the crucified Christ brings together all His people (<a href='B:500 12:32'>Joh 12:32</a> cp. 3:14).</p><p>We note that the repentant of the nations as well as Israel and Judah were to all come to that banner or ensign. The ensign was the rallying point for a tribe, and they would together become a new tribe or nation / ekklesia in the restored Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim- All God’s people would be gathered together, along with repentant Gentiles, united by the joint experience of conviction of sin, forgiveness and God’s grace. And to this day, that is the basis of unity. All interpersonal frictions, envy (jealousy), the perceived need to settle old historical scores... fade into irrelevance if we genuinely have these experiences of reconciliation with God. Our vertical binding with Him naturally outflows into horizontal bonding with others who have tasted the same grace; as John’s letters make clear. We note that in Isaiah’s time, it was Israel (Ephraim) who had persecuted Judah, even besieging Jerusalem. So Judah’s persecuting of Ephraim refers to their desire for vengeance for that. But that would be no more in their hearts if they accepted the new covenant of grace and accepted their own sins.</p>


text:
<p>They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them- The vision of a greater, reestablished Kingdom was of dominance over the surrounding nations of the eretz promised to Abraham. Israel and Judah"together"would do this, flying down as if in perfect league with the cherubim armies of Heaven.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His scorching wind He will wave His hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals- We noted on :11 that if the exiles wished to return / repent, then God’s hand was ready to work mightily to literally return them to the land. Just as with a strong east wind He had dried up the Red Sea, called here"the tongue of the Egyptian sea", so He could dry up"the River", Euphrates, to allow the ten tribes and Judah [envisioned as going into captivity in Babylon] to return. As they wore sandals which didn’t wear out to cross the Red Sea, also part of the miracle, so God would miraculously provide all the human side of things for this great exodus to happen. We note that here and in :12, God foresees that Judah would go into captivity in Babylon; as later Isaiah recognizes. The great possibilities at Hezekiah’s time would not come about; and yet God appears to hope against hope that once they had suffered in Babylon, they would finally learn their lesson. The essential hopefulness of God for humanity is our pattern.</p>


text:
<p>There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt- LXX reads"Egypt"for Assyria here. 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 you will say, I will give thanks to You, Yahweh; for though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away and You comfort me- God fantasizes about the words which the repentant remnant of <a href='B:290 11:10-15'>Isa 11:10-15</a> will say. Their recognition of the existence of God’s wrath is tantamount to recognizing the guilt of their sins; they would come to appreciate that indeed"the wrath of God is the love of God"."Turned away"is the same word used for repentance and return; they will perceive that their repentance has triggered the turning away of His anger. But this scenario didn’t happen at Hezekiah’s time, for soon after his death we read that God did not turn away from His anger, and Judah were sent into captivity (<a href='B:120 23:26'>2Ki 23:26</a> s:w:). Even though Hezekiah himself urged repentance so that Yahweh’s anger would turn away (s:w. <a href='B:140 29:10'>2Ch 29:10</a>; <a href='B:140 30:8'>2Ch 30:8</a>), as did Ezra (<a href='B:150 10:14'>Ezr 10:14</a>). He tried to bring these words to fulfilment, but his reformation failed, overall. The comfort ("You comfort me") offered by God in <a href='B:290 40:1'>Isa 40:1</a> was also largely rejected at the time of the restoration. And so Isaiah often laments that His anger was not turned away, and therefore His hand was still stretched out- both in inflicting judgment, and seeking to thereby bring about repentance (<a href='B:290 5:25'>Isa 5:25</a>; <a href='B:290 9:12'>Isa 9:12</a>; <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>; <a href='B:290 9:21'>Isa 9:21</a>; <a href='B:290 10:4'>Isa 10:4</a>). The exiles thought that God’s wrath would be turned away simply because He realized they had not actually sinned and were innocent (<a href='B:300 2:35'>Jer 2:35</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and He has become my salvation- These were the intended words of the repentant remnant; but they fit Isaiah personally, as their representative. For his name means ’Yah saves’, and is a form of Yehoshua, Jesus."Yah is my strength"is ’Hezekiah’. He was the potential Messiah figure who could have been their salvation; but he failed in this, and the destruction of the Assyrians was done by an Angel and not by him personally. In the final fulfilment of this, Judah’s repentance and rejoicing in salvation will be because of their acceptance of the Lord Jesus as Christ. But the whole verse is a quotation of <a href='B:20 15:2'>Exo 15:2</a>, the song of triumph of Moses after the salvation of Israel at the Red Sea:"Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him". The song of Moses is put in the mouth of every redeemed Israelite; all would be as Moses. Judaism saw and sees Moses as an icon of unapproachable spirituality; but here, his rejoicing is to be the experience of every redeemed individual.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation- The allusion may be to how after the song of Moses, the people came to the wells of Rephidim, which Isaiah presents as representing the water of salvation, of eternal life. And perhaps the idea is also that when the returned exiles came to Jerusalem, they would do what all pilgrims were supposed to do and drink her spring water (<a href='B:230 87:7'>Psa 87:7</a>), representing eternal life. But Judah urned down such great potentials. And so this is applied by the Lord to the present experience of the believer in Him (<a href='B:500 4:14'>Joh 4:14</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38'>Joh 7:38</a>). But Isaiah 12 continues to explain how the joy of that experience will lead to men saying: “The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation [as He was for Israel at the Red Sea, cp. our baptism experience]... Praise the Lord, proclaim his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted”. The exaltation of the Yahweh Name, the wonder of it, the sheer height of who Yahweh is, these things and our personal part in them is an unending imperative to witness these things world-wide. Men did not confess Jesus to others, despite nominally believing in Him, because they did not love the concept of the glory of God (<a href='B:500 12:43'>Joh 12:43</a> RV). To perceive His glory, the wonder of it all, leads to inevitable witness to others. For we are offering people the water of life eternal.</p>


text:
<p>In that day you will say, Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on His name. Declare His doings among the peoples. Proclaim that His name is exalted!- Isaiah foretold that when Israel know their forgiveness and salvation, they will therefore quite naturally “declare His doings among the peoples”, and invite the Gentile peoples to call themselves by His Name. This will be the motivation for Israel’s witness to the world after the Lord’s return. 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).</p>


text:
<p>Sing to Yahweh, for He has done excellent things! Let this be known in all the earth!- This continues the allusion to the Song of Moses (<a href='B:20 15:1'>Exo 15:1</a>; <a href='B:20 15:25'>Exo 15:25</a>). See on :2. The desire of the forgiven and redeemed exiles and repentant Gentiles would be to spread the knowledge of their great salvation to all the earth. This is a natural response to salvation, and should be the root motivation for all our evangelism. Beholding these"excellent things"is pictured as the reward of the faithful remnant in <a href='B:290 26:10'>Isa 26:10</a>; they would then see Yahweh, which is the promise of <a href='B:290 12:6'>Isa 12:6</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great in the midst of you!- 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.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw- Isaiah is here specifically named as the human author. A document like this against a superpower was a dangerous thing to be author of, but he unashamedly stands up for his belief that the present system shall come crashing down- as we should. Hezekiah ended his days seeking friendship with the Babylonians (Isaiah 39), and this prophecy stood to condemn his seeking friendship from them. No wonder Jewish tradition has it that Hezekiah’s son sawed Isaiah in half for his prophecies. Anyone who condemns"friendship with the world"faces similar hostility.</p><p>As explained on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>, the first part of Isaiah concerns the Assyrian threat in the time of Isaiah. The appeals for repentance appear to have produced some fruit, and due to them, as well as the intercession of the remnant and also the arrogance of Assyria in refusing to be a mere tool in God’s hand, the threatened Assyrian destruction of Zion didn’t happen. See on <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. But Hezekiah and Judah generally didn’t respond to that as fully as they might have done. And so the historical interlude concludes with the news that they are to go into captivity in Babylon. But the later part of Isaiah then goes straight on to speak of their restoration from there into a reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah; although the final section of Isaiah laments that these potential possibilities were being precluded by Judah’s unspirituality. The essence of the prophecies will come ultimately true in the establishment of God’s Kingdom and the repentance of Israel in the last days; albeit in a reinterpreted and rescheduled manner. And so the material about Assyria became reapplied to Babylon. Harry Whittaker correctly noted how"Assyria"and"Babylon"are used interchangeably in several places. I would argue that the terms are not interchangeable, as they were two separate entities. Rather is the confusion because the material about Assyria was reapplied and transferred to Babylon. And this transference was reflected in the way that Isaiah was perhaps rewritten, under inspiration, as explained on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voiceto them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles- An obvious question occurs in interpreting this chapter: Is it about a Babylonian invasion of Judah which results in Babylon being judged and destroyed by the Medes, or is it all about the fall of Babylon to the Medes? I suggest that the ambiguity of the language is intentional. The judgments Babylon was to bring upon Judah were brought upon her. This is a common feature of Divine judgment of His people’s enemies. The book of Revelation therefore has clear parallels between the judgments upon Israel, and those upon the beast system which brings those judgments.</p><p>This verse may therefore refer to Babylon coming to mount Zion and mocking it, and then going in to destroy the palatial homes of the nobles (<a href='B:300 52:13'>Jer 52:13</a>). The waving of their hand against Zion would have been seen in the Assyrian mockery of Zion in a similar way in <a href='B:290 37:23'>Isa 37:23</a>; the Assyrians did"wave the hand"against Zion, with the same phrase used in <a href='B:290 10:32'>Isa 10:32</a>. But the LXX makes the text apply to the fall of Babylon, a city built on the plain of Dura:"Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates, ye rulers". This would then refer to how some accounts of the fall of Babylon unearthed by Layard claim that some disaffected with the king opened the gates to the Medes.</p><p>The ensign set up on mount Zion 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 and the surrounding nations (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.</p>


text:
<p>I have commanded My consecrated ones; yes, I have called My mighty men for My anger, even My proudly exulting ones- The language here is clearly alluding to Angels as well as the Babylonians / Assyrians who were to invade Judah, and also to the Medes who were to invade Babylon. The Angels rejoiced in Yahweh’s greatness, and the invading soldiers in their own greatness. This is to demonstrate that the geopolitics of the world go in waves, and they are all directly under the control of the Angelic armies of heaven. Ezekiel gives the same message, with the cherubim controlling both Judah and the Babylonians.</p><p>Hence in :4 we read that the Lord of hosts (Angels) mustered the host of the battle. Yet we clearly read elsewhere that"the Angel of the Lord"went out and smote the Assyrians. So we have some Angels sent with a mission to bring the Assyrians there&nbsp; and others sent to destroy them. Other Angels are actually described as the armies themselves, the weapons of indignation against the land of Israel. And another Angel ’destroys’ them. So here we have the wondrous ways of God, absolute unity in absolute diversity.</p><p>All these things will come to their ultimate term in the last days. Isaiah 13 has many links with Joel’s prophecy, which clearly refers to the last days as well as immediate situations with the Babylonians and Assyrians; :8,10 connect with the latter day prophecy of Luke 21.</p>


text:
<p>The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle- See on :3. In the context of Babylon’s judgment,"the “mountains” would be the Zagros range, North East of Babylon, from where the&nbsp; Medes came. But Babylon likewise invaded Judah from the North East, appearing to come towards them leaping on the mountains (<a href='B:360 2:2'>Joe 2:2</a>; <a href='B:360 2:5'>Joe 2:5</a> etc:). What they did to God’s people was done to them. As explained on :3, all these things happened with the same Divine hallmark upon them, because the same Angels were manipulating the situation.</p>


text:
<p>They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land- Assyria and Babylon were Yahweh’s weapons (Isaiah 10), intended to destroy the whole land of Israel. But the language is just as true of the Medes being used to destroy Babylon. Just as Babylon had been the nation from the north who would bringGod’ judgments, so now she is to be judged from the north. She was to be made to realize how she had made others feel. It is not simply so that ’what goes around comes around’; there is a purpose in these judgments repeating themselves. It was so that those who had witnessed and participated in the judgment of Israel might come to see how it felt, and thereby repent. We too are at times made to feel the effect of our actions upon others- for the same reason.</p><p>Time and again the prophets describe the judgments to fall upon Israel in the same terms as they speak of the condemnations of the surrounding nations (e.g. <a href='B:300 50:3'>Jer 50:3</a>; <a href='B:300 50:13'>Jer 50:13</a>). The message was clear: rejected Israel would be treated as Gentiles. Even if we are separated from this world externally, we can still act in a worldly way, and share the world’s condemnation.</p><p>The judgment was to be upon all Babylonia, "the whole land", not just the city of Babylon. All attempts to apply this verse solely to the city of Babylon are therefore misplaced; it refers to all Babylonia. And the whole area didn’t become a literal desert; the fertile crescent remained fertile. This recalls how the similar judgments upon the area of Edom likewise didn’t come about at the time; see on <a href='B:300 49:18'>Jer 49:18</a>. But this will happen in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty- Is "Wail!" an invitation for Babylon to repent and cry to God? This verse is about verbatim in <a href='B:360 1:15'>Joe 1:15</a> where it is an appeal for Judah to repent before the Assyrians or Babylonians destroyed them. But now it is true of those nations themselves. <a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a> clearly states that this purpose could have been changed. It was God’s intention that all the nations around Israel would repent along with His people, and turn to Him. Even Babylon could have repented at this point. "Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh..." in <a href='B:300 50:45'>Jer 50:45</a> is also an appeal for repentance. That God should make so much effort with hardened worldlings... indicates His depth of concern for human salvation. And it should encourage us in our witness. <a href='B:300 51:8'>Jer 51:8</a> puts it like this: "Wail for her; take her balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed". This opens another window into what God potentially planned at this time. Balm in <a href='B:300 46:11'>Jer 46:11</a> refers to repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt- This is not quite the same as the impression given by surface level Bible teachers that the king of Babylon was rejoicing in his city, confident in his own strength, when the Medes diverted the course of the Euphrates and took the city by surprise. The record in Daniel 5 is correct, but that record doesn’t contradict the information given here- that the king was already deeply concerned at the advance of the Medes. Here we read that he was feeble at the news of the enemy advance. Hence we should give due weight to the discovery by Layard of inscriptions which say that Babylon opened her own gates in surrender.</p>


text:
<p>They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them, they will be in pain like a woman in labour. They will look in amazement one at another, their faces will be faces of flickering flame- Even this figure suggests that something is to be brought forth; the Divine hope was that Babylon’s sufferings would lead to a repentant Gentile remnant who could join in His reestablished Kingdom. See on :6. And the language here is that of Jerusalem’s sufferings (<a href='B:300 4:9'>Jer 4:9</a> etc:), and likewise it was God’s hope that a repentant remnant would be elicited by their sufferings. But this didn’t happen, and so these things are transferred to the last days. Then, the day of the Lord will result in the wicked being "in pain as of a woman that travaileth" (<a href='B:290 13:8'>Isa 13:8</a>; is quoted in <a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>). The Lord also seems to have alluded to this when He spoke of how the faithful just before His coming would be like a woman in travail, with the subsequent joy on delivery matching the elation of acceptance at Christ’s return (<a href='B:500 16:21'>Joh 16:21</a>). So, it’s travail- or travail, especially in the last days. If we choose the way of the flesh, it will be travail for nothing, bringing forth in vain (this is seen as a characteristic of all worldly life in <a href='B:290 65:23'>Isa 65:23</a>). We either cut off the flesh now (in spiritual circumcision), or God will cut us off. This point was made when the rite of circumcision was first given: "The uncircumcised [un-cut off] man... shall be cut off" (<a href='B:10 17:14'>Gen 17:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it- As explained on :18, the judgments here are not only upon the city of Babylon, but upon the entire "land of the Chaldeans", Babylonia. The scale of sudden destruction implied didn’t happen when the Medes took Babylon. The prophetic scenario projected in these prophecies didn’t fully happen, although it will do so ultimately in the last days, as Revelation 18 makes clear. The intention of the desolation of the land, both of Judah and Babylon, was to destroy the sinners and leave a repentant, righteous remnant. This wasn’t the outcome; perhaps because God foresaw that, He didn’t bring the full potential extent of these judgments, neither on Babylon nor on Judah.</p>


text:
<p>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- 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, although in a symbolic sense the lights went out for Judah as well as Babylon - Assyria (<a href='B:370 8:9'>Amo 8:9</a>; <a href='B:400 3:6'>Mic 3:6</a>). 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, because the Kingdom of God was not reestablished at that time because Judah didn’t fully repent.</p>


text:
<p>I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the arrogance of the terrible- This humbling was surely in order to save them; see on :6. The idea was that judgment day would come there and then; the wicked would be destroyed, and those who repented and humbled themselves before Yahweh would be the only ones left. And again we see that humility is seen as the epitome of repentance and all spirituality.</p>


text:
<p>I will make people more valuable than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir- A repentant remnant is in view; LXX "And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir"; also see on :14. As explained on :11, 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 be of extraordinary value to God; this is the scene likewise of <a href='B:290 27:12'>Isa 27:12</a>. The same language is used of the latter day purifying of Israel in <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>. Although we can also see in these words the simple truth that the value and meaning of persons will be elevated in God’s Kingdom. "Gold tried in the fire" (LXX) is a phrase used in the New Testament of the refining of all God’s true people today (<a href='B:670 1:7'>1Pe 1:7</a>; <a href='B:730 3:18'>Rev 3:18</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, and in the day of His fierce anger- Clearly heavens and earth are used symbolically, although a literal earthquake is likely in view. Babylon was to be destroyed with the same kind of miraculous Divine intervention as Sodom; but as noted on :19, this didn’t happen when the Medes took Babylon. But Revelation 18 alludes to all this and makes it clear that such Divine intervention will occur against latter Babylon in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers- A repentant remnant is in view; LXX "And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep". See on :12. Stray sheep is the language of men brought to repentance (<a href='B:230 119:176'>Psa 119:176</a>; <a href='B:490 15:6'>Luk 15:6</a>). The judgment of Babylon as later developed in Jeremiah uses the term about Judah (<a href='B:300 50:6'>Jer 50:6</a>). The idea may be that no man gathers these lost sheep, asthe Lord explains in His parable of the one lost sheep; but the Divine shepherd will.</p><p>They will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land- This is developed in <a href='B:300 50:16'>Jer 50:16</a>: "For fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land". The various captive peoples taken to Babylon would each return to their own land, and Judah were to do likewise. But this isn’t how things quite turned out. This was the prophetic ideal scenario, but it didn’t happen because many Jews preferred to remain in Babylon and they didn’t repent.</p>


text:
<p>Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword- This isn’t what happened when Darius the Mede took Babylon. This was the potential prophetic scenario which didn’t come about, because Judah didn’t repent, and their repentance was a condition for the total fulfilment of the prophecies of judgment upon Babylon (see on <a href='B:300 50:3-4'>Jer 50:3-4</a>). These judgments were to be if Babylon refused to let Judah go (<a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a>). But the reality was that the exiles by the end of 70 years were not asking to go, and when they were given the chance, many chose to remain in Babylon. The threat of a sword hanging over Babylon is an image used elsewhere about Jerusalem, and the idea is that there was therefore an appeal for repentance. This is what God wanted to see from Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped- This wasn’t really the scene when the Medes took Babylon. There was much support for Darius the Mede within Babylon; the Nabonidus Chronicle records that the people of Babylon welcomed Cyrus by spreading green twigs before him (James Pritchard, ed:, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed:) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968, p. 306b). Both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Cyrus Cylinder describe Babylon being taken "without battle". So the main fulfilment of this must yet be future. See on <a href='B:300 51:4'>Jer 51:4</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it- There is historical evidence that the Medes didn’t value gold and silver. Just as God stirred or raised up Babylon to invade Judah (<a href='B:300 6:22'>Jer 6:22</a>), sharpening her arrows (<a href='B:330 21:21'>Eze 21:21</a>), so He would stir up, or psychologically provoke, other nations to come and judge her (<a href='B:300 50:9'>Jer 50:9</a>; <a href='B:300 50:41'>Jer 50:41</a>; <a href='B:300 51:1'>Jer 51:1</a>; <a href='B:300 51:11'>Jer 51:11</a> s:w:). This is greatly emphasized. The activity of God directly upon human hearts is a great theme of the Biblical revelation, and is to encourage us that He is eager to transform hearts, and to place desires within us beyond our own unaided psychological ability. But the Medes didn’t destroy Babylon; as explained on :20 and <a href='B:300 51:3'>Jer 51:3</a>; <a href='B:300 51:8'>Jer 51:8</a>, there was no destruction of the city, and so much was left that it revived several times and asserted independence. He did not take full vengeance for what Babylon did in His temple because His own people were not eager to rebuild it and were not recognizant of their role in its destruction.</p>


text:
<p>Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children- This is what was done to Jerusalem, as Jeremiah frequently expresses in his Lamentations. As people do to God’s people, so it will be done to them at the day of judgment. This is a principle relevant to us all. But this isn’t the scenario which happened when the Medes took Babylon; see on :16,20. As mentioned often in commentary on Jeremiah 50, the judgments here are not only upon the city of Babylon, but upon the entire "land of the Chaldeans", Babylonia. The scale of sudden destruction implied didn’t happen when the Medes took Babylon. The prophetic scenario projected in these prophecies didn’t fully happen, although it will do so ultimately in the last days, as Revelation 18 makes clear. This was because Judah and Israel didn’t repent and earnestly seek to restore Zion; see on <a href='B:300 50:3-4'>Jer 50:3-4</a>; <a href='B:300 50:26'>Jer 50:26</a>. And this was intended to be connected with the realization of these prophecies upon Babylon:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride- Babylon is presented as being Yahweh’s servant, doing what He commanded against both Israel and the nations, with Him putting the ideas into the king of Babylon’s mind. God surely would not then turn around and condemn Babylon for their obedience. I suggest that Babylon is condemned because they overstepped the bounds of their commission, they were proud, and established themselves as Yahweh with their kingdom as His kingdom. We see the huge importance God attached to humility, and how pride is the worst of sins.</p><p>Will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah- Such dramatic destruction of Babylon and the area around it didn’t happen at the hands of the Medes (see on :20; <a href='B:300 50:26'>Jer 50:26</a>). The image of Sodom’s destruction suggests direct, miraculous Divine intervention. This didn’t happen at the time, but Revelation 18 alludes to all this and makes it clear that such Divine intervention will occur against latter Babylon in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there- Eternal desolation may not be required by the text; LXX has "neither shall any enter into it for many generations". The impression given is that the attack upon Babylon would reduce the city to ruins immediately. But this didn’t happen under the Medes; 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>


text:
<p>But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals- The language in <a href='B:300 9:11'>Jer 9:11</a> of Jerusalem’s destruction into heaps haunted by jackals is applied to Babylon; and likewise the way Jerusalem was to become a hissing (<a href='B:300 19:8'>Jer 19:8</a>) is also now to be true of Babylon. What latter day Babylon does to Jerusalem shall be done to her; and that is the theme of the book of Revelation, where the seals of judgment upon Israel become the vials of judgment upon the beast system.</p><p>Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there- Literally, "demons", half goat, half divine imaginary creatures, "satyrs". This is proof enough that demons refer to mythical creatures and beliefs of the time, and have no real cosmic existence; and that the language of these things is used, as the language of the day, without any Divinely added footnote to the effect that these things don’t actually exist.</p>


text:
<p>Wolves will cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged- As noted on :20, much of Babylon did escape when the Medes attacked and conquered her, and the city continued being inhabited for some time. This projected scenario didn’t come about at the time, and yet will do in essence in its latter day fulfilment, as Revelation 18 explains. Her days as a city were in fact prolonged, because the various preconditions for this eternal destruction were not met at the time. What may be in view however is the power of the Babylonian empire; although that didn’t fall for another 170 years from the time of this prophecy. It could be that Isaiah is as it were transported forward in time and speaks as if he is present at the end of Babylon’s rule.</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land- The time of this "compassion of Jacob" was to be when they returned from exile in repentance (<a href='B:300 30:18'>Jer 30:18</a>; <a href='B:300 33:26'>Jer 33:26</a>; <a href='B:330 39:25'>Eze 39:25</a> s:w:) and accepted the new covenant. But they refused to do this; their return to the land was not matched by a return to God. And so these things are rescheduled to the last days. "Set" is s:w. "rest" in :3,7.</p><p>The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob- As explained on <a href='B:290 13:6'>Isa 13:6</a>, it was the Divine intention that the judgments upon Babylon would result in a repentant remnant of the Babylonian confederacy turning to Yahweh. But Hezekiah’s friendship with Babylon in Isaiah 39 precluded that happening; the Jews ended up worshipping the Babylonian gods rather than leading them to the God of Israel. The unity of the new covenant would be a result of Jews and Gentiles together experiencing conviction of sin, repentance and forgiveness by grace. That is to this day the basis for unity amongst God’s people.</p>


text:
<p>The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place- The Divine intention was that the peoples of their exile would return with them to Zion, bringing back home those they had taken captive; and this mass of Gentiles coming to Zion would therefore be the scene of various other visions of the Kingdom.</p><p>The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they once were; and they shall rule over their oppressors- The Gentiles who returned with Israel to Zion would serve them there. But their ruling over them was not enforced, but because the Gentiles themselves chose to take the Jews with them and go to Zion and serve God’s people there.</p>


text:
<p>It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow from your trouble and from the hard service in which you were made to serve- This presents Judah’s time in Babylon as if it were like being in Egypt. "Hard service" is the same phrase in <a href='B:20 1:14'>Exo 1:14</a>; <a href='B:20 6:9'>Exo 6:9</a>. But there is no evidence that Judah were treated that badly in Babylon, and the books of Daniel and Esther suggest they were even in places of authority. The fall of Babylon / Assyria (see on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a>) here envisaged didn’t come about as fully planned at the time; although Revelation 18 applies it all to the last days. The day of rest is that of :1. The idea was that when Babylon fell, God’s people would enter the rest of the restored Kingdom, But that didn’t happen, and so because Judah weren’t ready for Kingdom, Babylon didn’t fall as planned; and that is why all is reapplied to the things of the last days.</p>


text:
<p>that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon and say, How the oppressor has ceased!-&nbsp; The initial "oppressor" in view was Assyria (s:w. <a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a>). But as the prophetic scenario changed and shifted in accordance with human response to it, it became transferred and reapplied to Babylon. And the prophecies may have been rewritten under inspiration to reflect this; see on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>. J:W:Thirtle claims that the original manuscripts of most Old Testament books were sealed with Hezekiah’s seal, as they had been re-written and edited during his time (J:W. Thirtle, Old Testament Problems (Printland Publishers reprint, 2004 facsimile of the 1914 edition) p. 301). Scripture itself testifies to him and his men re-organizing the writings of David. Isaiah, with its initial application to Hezekiah, and then its obvious reference to the captivity and restoration, is another example. Isaiah 14, an oracle against the King of Babylon, goes on to speak of him within the same chapter as the King of Assyria (<a href='B:290 14:4'>Isa 14:4</a>; <a href='B:290 14:22'>Isa 14:22</a>; <a href='B:290 14:25'>Isa 14:25</a>). What seems to have happened is that a prophecy relevant to the Assyrian invasion under Hezekiah has been re-written, under inspiration, with reference to the pomp of Babylon being cast down too.</p><p>The golden city has ceased!- Babylon was judged above all for her pride and exaltation of human strength and wisdom. Babylon is set up as a fake Christ and Kingdom of God. She had proselytes and prophets ["boasters"] (<a href='B:300 50:36-37'>Jer 50:36-37</a>); a mountain (<a href='B:300 51:25'>Jer 51:25</a>); "The golden city" (<a href='B:290 14:4'>Isa 14:4</a>) with a thick, embellished wall (<a href='B:300 51:58'>Jer 51:58</a>); springs and rivers within her (<a href='B:300 51:36'>Jer 51:36</a>); “The praise of the whole earth” (<a href='B:300 51:41'>Jer 51:41</a>). Her sin was that she thought of herself in her own right as the kingdom of God, instead of humbling herself to become part of His Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers- "The staff" is often used specifically of Assyria (<a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a>; <a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a>; <a href='B:290 10:15'>Isa 10:15</a>; <a href='B:290 10:24'>Isa 10:24</a> s:w:). But as explained on :4, the prophecies about Assyria were transferred to Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained- The striker was initially Assyria- see on :5. There was no restraint, because Judah had lived an unrestrained life (s:w. <a href='B:300 14:10'>Jer 14:10</a>). Their judgment was but an extension of their own spirit of life.</p>


text:
<p>The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song- The vision is of the whole eretz promised to Abraham now in the rest and quiet of God’s Kingdom, praising Him. The "all nations" around Israel were to be annihilated until only a remnant remained, who were repentant and joined themselves to Yahweh (:1). The destruction of Babylon and the reestablishment of the Kingdom were to be at the same time. But this didn’t happen because Judah were impenitent, and so the full destruction of Babylon didn’t happen to the extent envisaged. Revelation 18 reapplies these things to the last days. This situation could have happened at the restoration from Babylon (s:w. <a href='B:450 6:8'>Zec 6:8</a>) but was precluded by Judah’s impenitence.</p>


text:
<p>Yes, the fir trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us- The cedars of Lebanon were iconic to the temple, and were intended to be cut down by the Assyrians (see on <a href='B:290 2:13'>Isa 2:13</a>; <a href='B:290 10:34'>Isa 10:34</a>; <a href='B:290 37:24'>Isa 37:24</a>). The ’cutter off’ ("lumberjack") was initially Assyria (s:w. <a href='B:290 10:7'>Isa 10:7</a>). This was averted, but it was done by Babylon. The common fir trees may refer to other nations, or to the ordinary people of Judah, who had likewise suffered from Babylon’s destruction; or to the fir trees used in the temple construction (<a href='B:110 5:8'>1Ki 5:8</a>; <a href='B:110 5:10'>1Ki 5:10</a>; <a href='B:110 6:15'>1Ki 6:15</a>; <a href='B:110 6:34'>1Ki 6:34</a>), which the Assyrians had threatened to cut down (<a href='B:120 19:23'>2Ki 19:23</a>). Perhaps also in view was the way the Babylonians cut down the trees around Jerusalem to make siege weapons and platforms (<a href='B:300 6:6'>Jer 6:6</a>). No such feller would come against them or the Jerusalem temple ever again, now that Babylon was humbled. That didn’t happen, because the fall of Babylon here prophesied didn’t fully happen at the time, as noted throughout Isaiah 13. But it will happen at the latter day fall of Babylon, when the land will then be eternally secure from any threat of future invasion.</p><p><a href='B:290 14:8'>Isa 14:8</a> records the relief that now the "Lucifer" figure would no longer cut down cedars in Lebanon and hew mountains. This is exactly the language used by Nebuchadnezzar: "What no former king had done, I achieved: I cut through steep mountains, I split rocks, I opened passages and constructed a straight road for the transport of Cedars... to Marduk, my king, mighty cedars... the abundant yield of the Lebanon" (J:B. Pritchard, ed:, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating To The Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 3rd ed:, 1969) p. 307). Clearly the figure spoken of in Isaiah 14 was Nebuchadnezzar.</p><p>"Humbled" is literally to lay down. The Lucifer-king was to "lie down" in his destruction- and that Hebrew term occurs later in Isaiah with reference to the ’laying down’ of Babylon’s King and army in the grave (<a href='B:290 43:17'>Isa 43:17</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations- 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; 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 so here too, their concept of the underworld is used. But in any case, sheol is clearly personified here, and in practice it refers to the grave. There is no conscious survival of death; but the idea of dead kings still seated on their thrones in the underworld, rising to meet a new arrival, is used here. This is the kind of thing the Egyptians also believed in, as witnessed by the contents of the pyramids. But speaking to people in their own terms doesn’t mean that those terms are actually correct. See on :15,16,18; <a href='B:290 27:11'>Isa 27:11</a>.</p>


text:
<p>They all will answer and ask you, Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?- As explained on :9, the Babylonian concept of death and the underworld is being used against them, just as the Lord used the Jewish myths about Abraham’s bosom to construct the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Those myths were incorrect, but He used them in order to get a point over to them. The Babylonians’ worst fears about the underworld would, as it were, come upon them. Their condemnation was expressed in terms they could relate to; hence the huge emphasis that their bodies would be left as unburied corpses. This was designed to appeal to their greatest fears, and their deepest conceptions of shame. See on :11.</p>


text:
<p>Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you- "Worms" refer to crimson grubs, the idea being that as they had once been covered in the scarlet of royalty, so they would in the grave be covered with scarlet grubs. Here we have the reality stated- that sheol is the grave, as the word is often translated elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. This is in sharp, consciously juxtaposed contrast to the Babylonian conception of sheol, the underworld, as alluded to in :10,11. The sound of their instruments would no longer continue in sheol, contrary to their imagination.</p>


text:
<p>How you have fallen from heaven, morning star [Lucifer], son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!- This could refer initially to the sudden loss of power experienced by Belshazzar in Daniel 5, or to the madness which came upon Nebuchadnezzar.</p><p>Note that the words “devil” , “satan” and “angel” never occur in this chapter. This is the only place in Scripture where the word “Lucifer” occurs. There is no evidence that Isaiah 14 is describing anything that happened in the garden of Eden; if it is, then why are we left 3,000 years from the time of Genesis before being told what really happened there?&nbsp; Lucifer is described as being covered in worms (:11) and a man mocked by men (:16) because he no longer has any power after his casting out of heaven; so there is no justification for thinking that Lucifer is now on earth leading believers astray. Believers in the ’Lucifer = satan at the beginning’ idea must enquire why is Lucifer punished for saying, “I will ascend into heaven” (:13), if he was already there? Lucifer is to rot in the grave: “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave... and the worms cover thee” (:11 AV). Seeing angels cannot die (<a href='B:490 20:35-36'>Luk 20:35-36</a>), Lucifer therefore cannot be an angel; the language is more suited to a man:&nbsp; Lucifer was a king like any other king (:9,10).</p><p>The idea of ’morning star’ is translated ’Lucifer’ in the Vulgate [Latin] translation of the Bible made by Jerome. Significantly, he uses ’Lucifer’ as a description of Christ, as the ’morning star’ mentioned in Revelation. Indeed, some early Christians took the name ’Lucifer’ as a ’Christian name’ in order to identify themselves with Jesus (Nick Lunn, Alpha And Omega (Sutton, UK: Willow, 1992) p. 254). It wasn’t until Origen that the term ’Lucifer’ took on any connotation of ’Satan’ or a force of evil; and even then it was only popularized much later in Milton’s Paradise Lost. ’Lucifer’ in its strict meaning of ’bearer of the light’ actually was applied in a positive sense to Christian communities, e.g. the followers of Lucifer of Cagliari were called ’Luciferians’. As an aside, it’s worth pointing out that they were one of the groups who insisted that the devil was not a personal being and held to the original Biblical picture of sin and the devil.</p><p>Remember that this is a “proverb (parable) against the king of Babylon” (:4). “Lucifer” means “the morning star”, which is the brightest of the stars. In the parable, this star proudly decides to “ascend (higher) into heaven... exalt my throne above the (other) stars of God” (:13). Because of this, the star is cast down to the earth. The star represents the king of Babylon. Daniel chapter 4 explains how Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, proudly surveyed the great kingdom he had built up, thinking that he had conquered other nations in his own strength, rather than recognizing that God had given him success. “Thy greatness (pride) is grown, and reacheth unto heaven” (:22). Because of this “he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (:33). This sudden humbling of one of the world’s most powerful men to a deranged lunatic was such a dramatic event as to call for the parable about the falling of the morning star from heaven to earth. Stars are symbolic of powerful people, e.g. <a href='B:10 37:9'>Gen 37:9</a>; <a href='B:290 13:10'>Isa 13:10</a> (concerning the leaders of Babylon); <a href='B:330 32:7'>Eze 32:7</a> (concerning the leaders of Egypt); <a href='B:340 8:10'>Dan 8:10</a>, cp. v. 24. Ascending to heaven and falling from heaven are Biblical idioms often used for increasing in pride and being humbled respectively - see <a href='B:220 20:6'>Job 20:6</a>; <a href='B:300 51:53'>Jer 51:53</a> (about Babylon); <a href='B:310 2:1'>Lam 2:1</a>; <a href='B:470 11:23'>Mat 11:23</a> (about Capernaum): “Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell” (the grave). Adam Clarke’s commentary rightly notes: "The truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor his fall... but of the pride, arrogance and fall of Nebuchadnezzar".</p><p>Lucifer was to be “cut down to the ground” - implying he was a tree. This provides a further link with <a href='B:340 4:8-16'>Dan 4:8-16</a>, where Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are likened to a tree being cut down.</p><p>The passage about "Lucifer" is alluding to and deconstructing a contemporary myth, in a manner which is common to much Biblical literature. "An ancient myth told how Heylel, the morning star (Venus), tried to climb the walls of the northern city of the gods to make himself king of heaven, only to be driven from the sky by the rising sun. In <a href='B:290 14:12-20'>Isa 14:12-20</a> this myth is given a historical application" (G:B. Caird, The Revelation Of St. John The Divine (London: Black, 1966) pp. 114,11). Isaiah is mocking the myth, and saying that the King of Babylon was acting like Heylel in the myth- but would be thrown down not by another planet, but by God Himself.</p><p>H:A. Kelly- one of the leading historians of religious ideas of recent times- observed from much research that "It was not until post-Biblical times that Lucifer was associated with Satan, or that Satan was thought to have been cast out of heaven before the creation of Adam and Eve, or that Satan had some connection with Adam and Eve" (H:A. Kelly, Satan: A Biography (Cambridge: CUP, 2006) p. 1). The New Testament references to Jesus as the morning star, Venus, have been read by H:A. Kelly as a conscious allusion to the growing idea that Lucifer [’light-bringer’, heosphoros in Greek, the dawn-bringer] / Venus, the morning star, was in fact something or someone evil (H:A. Kelly, ibid pp. 164,165). All the N:T. references to the morning star are positive, and all refer to Jesus (<a href='B:680 1:19'>2Pe 1:19</a>; <a href='B:730 2:28'>Rev 2:28</a>; <a href='B:730 22:16'>Rev 22:16</a>). It’s possible to read <a href='B:500 1:8'>Joh 1:8</a> in this context, too. Here John the Baptist is described as "bearing witness to the light", which was language understandable with reference to Venus, the Morning Star which is seen in the East just before the Sun rises in the West.</p><p>There’s a good reason why the King of Babylon is described as "the morning star", or Venus. The Babylonians believed that their king was the child of their gods Bel and Ishtar, both of whom were associated with the planets- they thought that their King was the planet Venus.</p>


text:
<p>You said in your heart- There is a juxtaposition here between a man thinking something in his heart, and the huge scale of his fall, like a star from heaven to earth (:12). This is the significance to God of the state of the heart. Nebuchadnezzar had been warned by <a href='B:290 14:13'>Isa 14:13</a> that the King of Babylon would be brought down because he would say in his heart “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God”. Yet the promised fall of Babylon’s King only happened when he said out loud: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”. The record continues: “While the word was in the king’s mouth (i:e. he spoke this out loud), there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken” (<a href='B:340 4:30-31'>Dan 4:30-31</a>). What was the “it” that was spoken about him? Surely the prophecy of Isaiah 14, which was a prediction waiting for a king of Babylon to come along and fulfill it. So the king’s self-talk was that he would rise up to Heaven; but his actual words were an admiration of his Kingdom as opposed to God’s. And yet he was judged for the self-talk behind his words. And this is the kind of relentlessly analytical judgment which a loving Father applies to us too. The culture of nicespeak comes crashing down before His piercing eyes; for the world teaches us that it’s all about how we put it over, the words we choose, the image we cut; and yet God looks upon the heart.</p><p>I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God!- see on Revelation 1:20. Verses 13 and 14 have connections with <a href='B:600 2:3-4'>2Th 2:3-4</a>, which is about the “man of sin” - thus Lucifer points forward to another man, perhaps another king of latter day Babylon- but not to an angel. Note that "the stars of God" can refer to the leaders of Israel (<a href='B:10 37:9'>Gen 37:9</a>; <a href='B:360 3:15'>Joe 3:15</a>; <a href='B:340 8:10'>Dan 8:10</a>), above whom the King of Babylon wished to arise. Any reference to the Angels would be because the people of God have their representatives in the court of Heaven.</p><p>The Ras Shamra texts include a section on the fall and death of Baal. Although written in Ugaritic, this section has amazing similarities with the poem of Isaiah 14 about the fall of Babylon – e.g. “The death of Baal” includes lines such as “From the throne on which he sits... how hath Baal come down, how hath the mighty been cast down!”. Isaiah’s message was therefore: ‘Forget those stories about Baal being cast down; what’s relevant for us is that mighty Babylon, which tempts us to trust in her rather than Yahweh God of Israel, is to be cast down, let’s apply the language of Baal’s fall to the kingdoms of this world which we know and live amongst’. Another such example is to be found in <a href='B:290 47:1'>Isa 47:1</a>: “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne”. This is almost quoting [albeit through translation] from the ‘Death of Baal’ poem.</p>&nbsp;<p>"Lucifer" wishes to ascend into Heaven. This is somewhat different from the scenario traditionally assumed- which is that Lucifer was in Heaven already, wanted to rise higher, and was therefore thrown down to earth because of his prideful intentions. But the text actually says that he wished to ascend into Heaven- so he was not there originally. The point has been made by that "heaven" was often how the capital city of a nation or people was perceived; for in that city the national god supposedly lived, thus making the city "heaven". The "Hymn to the City of Arbela" is an example in the Assyrian context- because of the gods who supposedly lived there, "Arbela is as lofty as heaven... O lofty sanctuary... gate of heaven!" (M. Nissinen, “City as lofty heaven: Arbela and other Cities in Neo-Assyrian Prophecy” in&nbsp; L. L. Grabbe and R. D. Haak, eds:, Every City shall be Forsaken (JSOTSup 330) (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001) pp. 172-209). The desire to ascend into ’heaven’ would therefore speak of the king of Babylon or Assyria’s desire to capture Jerusalem and supplant her God- Yahweh- with their own gods. This idea of Jerusalem as "heaven" is continued in later Isaiah, where the Divine revival of Jerusalem is spoken of as the creation of a new or renewed ’heaven’ (<a href='B:290 51:6'>Isa 51:6</a>; <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a>; <a href='B:290 65:17-18'>Isa 65:17-18</a>).</p><p>&nbsp;I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!- AV "on the sides of the north", the very phrase used of Jerusalem in <a href='B:230 48:2'>Psa 48:2</a>. The mount of assembly or "solemn feast" is clearly Zion. But "The mount of the congregation in the sides of the north" is surely also an allusion to "the Babylonian Olympus, the [supposed] dwelling place of the gods, which was considered to be situated somewhere in the high Asiatic mountain range which forms the boundary or the Plain of Mesopotamia on the northern side, and is also the region of the source of the Euphrates and Tigris" (H. Renckens, Israel’s Concept of the Beginning: The Theology of Genesis 1-3 (New York: Herder & Herder, 1964) p. 206). This location was on earth- not in Heaven. The King of Babylon, the morning star, didn’t aspire to greatness in Heaven, but rather to establishing mount Olympus on the temple mount in Jerusalem. The point of the prophecy is that it is Yahweh alone who is the ultimate and only God-King, reigning on His mount, the mountain of God, which is mount Zion, not Olympus. This idea of mount Zion being taken over by an apostate religious system of the neighbouring nations is repeated in the Olivet prophecy, Revelation and 2 Thessalonians 2 (about the "man of sin"). The final fulfilment will be in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!- This was the root reason why Babylon and Assyria were condemned. They were Yahweh’s servants, judging Judah as He commanded, but they went far beyond that commission; the axe boasted itself against the Divine hand that wielded it, and played God Himself. The clouds could be an intensive plural referring to the great cloud, the shekinah glory in the temple on mount Zion.</p>


text:
<p>Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit- I noted on :9 that the Babylonian concept of sheol is alluded to there, but that doesn’t mean that this is correct. Here sheol is defined as God and the Bible know it to be- "the pit", the grave.</p>


text:
<p>Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms- Clearly the person in view is a "man" and not an Angel or cosmic being; his corpse will be in full view of those he had abused. As noted on :9,15, the Babylonian concept of sheol is alluded to but it was incorrect; the wages of sin is death (<a href='B:520 6:23'>Rom 6:23</a>) and not consciously surviving death in an underworld situation.</p>


text:
<p>who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?- This accuses Lucifer of making the “world as a wilderness, (destroying) the cities thereof; that let not loose his prisoners to their home... (that did) fill the face of the world with cities... the exactress of gold” (:17 & 21 R:V:; :4 A:V. margin). These are all descriptions of Babylonian military policy - razing whole areas to the ground (as they did to Jerusalem), transporting captives to other areas and not letting them return to their homeland (as they did to the Jews), building new cities and taking tribute of gold from nations they oppressed. Thus there is emphasis on the fact that Lucifer was not even going to get the burial these other kings had (:18,19), implying that he was only a human king like them, seeing his body needed burying. The condemnation for not releasing prisoners would apply to Babylon and Assyria, who took God’s people into captivity The prophecies in later Isaiah about the opening of the prison house therefore had their primary fulfilment in the release of the exiles from Babylonian captivity, which was potentially possible through a Messiah figure.</p>


text:
<p>All the kings of the nations sleep in glory, each one in his own house- This again shows that the reference in :9 to dead kings arising in the underworld to greet the king of Babylon is just alluding to their mythical beliefs. The reality was that for all their glory, they were asleep in their tombs ["houses"]; for death is unconsciousness.</p>


text:
<p>But you are cast away from your tomb like a hated branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot- The corpse of the king of Babylon would be trodden under foot and displayed for all to see, especially those he had abused. There is no evidence that actually happened. Nebuchadnezzar repented, to a degree, according to the book of Daniel. So this outcome was precluded by that, in line with the principles of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. It may be that there will be a latter day fulfilment of this, or perhaps this is simply a prophecy (like the destruction of Nineveh within 40 days) which didn’t happen- because in the gap between the word and the fulfilment of it, there was repentance. See on :21.</p>


text:
<p>You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evildoers will not be mentioned by name forever- This destruction of Babylon is connected to the impenitence of its king. Likewise Zedekiah of Judah was told something similar; if he didn’t repent, then his land, people and family would suffer. God set these men up with a deal- if they repented, then their equally sinful people and families could have had judgment averted. So it wasn’t that the innocent suffered for the sake of the sin of one leader. Rather, those sinful people could have their judgment averted if one leader repented; just as many sinners are counted righteous by the obedience of the One, the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers- Asking the king to "prepare" to have his children slain could suggest he was being invited to repent. I suggested on :19 that the king of Babylon did this. And so there is no evidence that he saw his children slain.</p><p>That they rise not up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities- This alludes to Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, who is recorded as building cities. There is no strong evidence that Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder of multiple cities, so the point of this language is to direct us back to Nimrod.</p>


text:
<p>I will rise up against them, says Yahweh of Armies, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son, says Yahweh- "Cut off" is the same word translated "lumberjack" in :8. As Babylon cut off the cedars of the temple, so she would be cut off. What we do to God’s people will decide the nature of our eternal judgment. Verse 20 says that Lucifer’s seed will be destroyed. Verse 22 says that Babylon’s seed will be destroyed, thus equating them. <a href='B:50 28:7'>Deu 28:7</a> uses the same language in saying that the judgment upon Israel’s enemies, to have Yahweh "rise up against them... and cut [them] off", would come if Israel were obedient to the covenant. They were not. And that may account for not all of these judgments against the king of Babylon coming true at the time; although the essence of them will in the latter day judgment of Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Yahweh of Armies- This has been seen as a reference to the Medes diverting the water of the Euphrates into pools. But that at best was a limited fulfilment; for Babylon continued to be inhabited a long time after the Medes took it, and it didn’t become "pools of water", as explained on <a href='B:290 13:20'>Isa 13:20</a>. &nbsp;As noted on :22, these judgments were partly dependent upon Israel’s obedience to the covenant; and that condition wasn’t met. And there was some repentance by Nebuchadnezzar.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand- As God thought, so it would happen. It is a common Bible teaching that how a man thinks is expressed in his actions (Pro 23:7; Mat 12:34); a little reflection upon our own actions will confirm this. We think of something and then we do it. Our ‘spirit’ or mind may reflect upon the fact that we are hungry and desire food. We see a banana going spare in the kitchen; that desire of the ‘spirit’ is then translated into action - we reach out for the banana, peel it and eat. This simple example shows why the Hebrew word for ‘spirit’ means both the breath or mind, and also power. Our spirit, the essential us, refers to our thoughts and therefore also to the actions which we take to express those thoughts or disposition within us. On a far more glorious scale, God’s spirit is the same; it is the power by which He displays His essential being, His disposition and purpose. God thinks and therefore does things.</p><p>With Assyria at the height of her power, Isaiah proclaimed her downfall (<a href='B:290 14:24-26'>Isa 14:24-26</a>). The life of faith in God is simply the very opposite of what seems humanly sensible. To give money we’d surely be better saving; risk our lives and health for another; neglect our business or career for the sake of the Lord’s work. These ought to be the normal decisions we make, if we are walking in step with the spirit; and yet it would appear that they are the exceptions to the rule of far too many of our lives. And the point is, God’s heart broke because His people were and are like this.</p>


text:
<p>That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and tread him under foot on My mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders- The prophecy against Babylon now merges with that against Assyria. I have explained on :4 and on <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a> that the prophecy against Babylon was initially intended against Assyria. But it was reapplied and transferred to Babylon. But now in these verses we have a specific prophecy against Assyria, relevant to the time of Isaiah when Judah were under the Assyrian yoke, paying tribute to them. But the intended judgment of Assyria also didn’t quite happen as envisaged. Assyria was not trodden down upon the mountains of Yahweh (the one great mountain- Zion). They didn’t even take Jerusalem.</p><p>"The Assyrian" is mentioned whilst "the king of Babylon" in :4. The prophecy was initially about the Assyrians, but a different prophetic program worked out. So it was applied to the Babylonians, and yet finally will come true of a latter day Babylon / Assyria. And the prophecy was maybe rewritten under inspiration to reflect this; see on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>. Babylon and Assyria are often interchangeable phrases in the prophets because the prophecies about Assyria were transferred to Babylon. Thus, having spoken of the demise of the king of Babylon, v. 25 says, “I will break the Assyrian...". The prophecies about Babylon in Isaiah 47, are repeated concerning Assyria in <a href='B:410 3:4-5'>Nah 3:4-5</a>; <a href='B:410 3:18'>Nah 3:18</a>, and <a href='B:430 2:13'>Zep 2:13</a>; <a href='B:430 2:15'>Zep 2:15</a>; and <a href='B:140 33:11'>2Ch 33:11</a>, says that the king of Assyria took Manasseh captive to Babylon - showing the interchangeability of the terms. <a href='B:370 5:27'>Amo 5:27</a> says that Israel were to go into captivity “beyond Damascus”, i:e. in Assyria, but Stephen quotes this as “beyond Babylon” (<a href='B:510 7:43'>Act 7:43</a>). <a href='B:150 6:1'>Ezr 6:1</a> describes Darius the king of Babylon making a decree concerning the rebuilding of the temple. The Jews praised God for turning “the heart of the king of Assyria” (<a href='B:150 6:22'>Ezr 6:22</a>), again showing that they are interchangeable terms. The prophecy of Isaiah 14, along with many others in Isaiah, fits in well to the context of the Assyrian invasion by Sennacherib in Hezekiah’s time, hence v. 25 describes the breaking of the Assyrian. Verse 13 is easier to understand if it is talking about the blasphemous Assyrians besieging Jerusalem, wanting to enter Jerusalem and capture the temple for their gods. Earlier the Assyrian king, Tilgath-Pilneser, had probably wanted to do the same (<a href='B:140 28:20-21'>2Ch 28:20-21</a>). <a href='B:290 14:13'>Isa 14:13</a>: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven...(symbolic of the temple and ark - <a href='B:110 8:30'>1Ki 8:30</a>; <a href='B:140 30:27'>2Ch 30:27</a>; <a href='B:230 20:2'>Psa 20:2</a>; <a href='B:230 20:6'>Psa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:230 11:4'>Psa 11:4</a>; <a href='B:650 7:26'>Heb 7:26</a>) I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation (mount Zion where the temple was) in the sides of the north” (Jerusalem - <a href='B:230 48:1-2'>Psa 48:1-2</a>).</p><p>The righteous remnant were to release Judah from the yoke and burden of domination by the overpowering Assyria (<a href='B:290 10:27'>Isa 10:27</a>). But they did not fully achieve this, nor did they accept God’s new covenant which was to be the basis for them never again being under yoke (<a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:27'>Eze 34:27</a>). The burden of the Assyrians was to be removed by them being trodden down upon the mountains [an intensive plural for the one great mountain] of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:25'>Isa 14:25</a>). But they never got into Zion, and were not trodden down there. And so the prophecy was rescheduled and reapplied to the victory of the Lord Jesus over sin (see on <a href='B:290 10:4'>Isa 10:4</a>) and the latter day Assyrian. His offer of His yoke in place of the heavy yoke carried by God’s people surely alludes here (<a href='B:470 11:29'>Mat 11:29</a>).</p><p>The parallel prophecy is in <a href='B:410 1:13'>Nah 1:13</a>: "Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart". This is a reference to the Assyrian’s yoke upon Judah (<a href='B:120 18:14'>2Ki 18:14</a>; <a href='B:290 10:27'>Isa 10:27</a>). The implication of "Now..." is that Nahum may have been contemporary with the Sennacherib invasion of Judah at Hezekiah’s time, having himself been one of those taken captive to Assyria from the ten tribes some years before. Some kind of Messianic kingdom could have been established then (<a href='B:410 1:15'>Nah 1:15</a>), but Hezekiah didn’t follow through on his potential, and the exiles didn’t repent. The intended scenario was that Nineveh would be destroyed and the exiles return in repentance; but that didn’t quite happen as it potentially could have done, although the prophetic word will ultimately come true in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations- The idea of a "plan" is that this was a potential scenario; the hand of God was active to work out a plan whereby all the nations within the eretz promised to Abraham would be judged and a remnant amongst them repent, and join themselves with a repentant Israel and Judah in a reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah. But that plan didn’t work out fully at the time; it was reapplied to the last days.</p>


text:
<p>For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?- As explained on :26, this was the Divine plan for those times. It didn’t fully come about then because various preconditions weren’t met; not least that Israel and Judah didn’t repent. But the ultimate plan and intention to reestablish Yahweh’s Kingdom on earth was and is unstoppable.</p>


text:
<p>This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died- This appears to apply to the subsequent prophecy against Philistia. The significance was in the fact that after Uzziah subdued the Philistines (<a href='B:140 26:6-7'>2Ch 26:6-7</a>), Ahaz had allowed them to take some cities in the southern part of Judah (<a href='B:140 28:18'>2Ch 28:18</a>). But Hezekiah was to crush them (<a href='B:120 18:8'>2Ki 18:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent- The rod that smote the nations in the context is clearly Assyria and Babylon, which was to be broken. But Philistia was not to relax because of that; after the fall of those powers, "an adder" was to emerge and crush them. The prophetic potential was that this fiery flying serpent was to be Hezekiah, for he did attack them in <a href='B:120 18:8'>2Ki 18:8</a>. He was to be a Messiah figure; the serpent lifted up on a pole as an ensign (s:w. <a href='B:40 21:8'>Num 21:8</a>), as if directly connected with the seraphim of <a href='B:290 6:2'>Isa 6:2</a>; <a href='B:290 6:6'>Isa 6:6</a> (s:w. "fiery flying serpent"). The Jewish targum also understands the reference here to be to Messiah: "For, from the sons of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah; and his works among you shall be as the flying serpent". But Hezekiah messed up after the Assyrian threat was removed. And so the prophecies of the Messiah conquering the Philistine areas is to be reapplied to the last days.</p><p>Another alternative is to take the Assyrian rod as a reference to Sargon who "took Ashdod" (<a href='B:290 20:1'>Isa 20:1</a>), and took Khanun, King of Gaza, prisoner, putting "all Philistia", all its various local fiefdoms (<a href='B:90 6:18'>1Sa 6:18</a>), into subjection. The fiery serpent who punished them even more would then refer to Sennacherib. But in what sense was Sargon smitten? And how then to understand the kingdom passages which now follow? But see on :31.</p>


text:
<p>The first-born of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed- Adam Clarke: "I will kill “He will slay". The idea is that when the Messiah figure arose at the fall of Babylon (:29), there would be the Kingdom of God reestablished; with plenty of food for the poor and needy of Judah, and the destruction of the remnants of the impenitent Philistines. The "remnant" would refer to those left over after their sufferings at the hands of Babylon and Assyria.</p>


text:
<p>Howl, gate! Cry, city!- This could be read as an appeal for them to repent, and cry to Yahweh in order to avoid the destruction that was otherwise certain (see on <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>).</p><p>You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks- This recalls the prophecies of the Assyrians and Babylonians advancing in perfect order "from the north"; and I suggested on :29 that Sennacherib might have been the flying fiery serpent. But the&nbsp; reference equally could be to Messiah’s forces coming upon them "from the north" in that as noted on :28, what is in view is the Philistine capture of the cities in the southern part of Judah (<a href='B:140 28:18'>2Ch 28:18</a>).</p>


text:
<p>What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of His people will take refuge- The idea could be that the judged, desperate and repentant Philistines send messengers to Zion asking for help, and are told that the afflicted of God’s people have found refuge in the reestablished Zion- implying that the Philistines could likewise. Zion will have been founded in that the foundation corner stone of the Messiah had been laid there (<a href='B:290 28:16'>Isa 28:16</a>). These things didn’t fully happen at the time, but will come to fulfilment in the&nbsp; Lord Jesus at His return. They could have had more fulfilment in Hezekiah, when the messengers of the nations sent to congratulate him after the victory against Assyria and his recovery from terminal illness (<a href='B:140 32:23'>2Ch 32:23</a>). But he let the baton drop at that stage. Later on, the foundation of Zion was again laid (<a href='B:150 3:10'>Ezr 3:10</a>; <a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>; <a href='B:450 4:9'>Zec 4:9</a> s:w:), but again the baton was dropped.</p>


text:
<p>The burden of Moab: for in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing- The idea is that Moab would be overthrown in a night. This didn’t literally happen. I have noted on Is 13:1 and throughout the prophecies of the fall of Babylon that these prophecies against the nations didn’t completely come to pass. The prophetic scenario was that judgment would come upon Israel, Judah and all the surrounding nations; Babylon would fall, and a repentant remnant of all the nations in the eretz promised to Abraham would become part of the reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah. And so likewise this overnight destruction of Moab didn’t happen; the lay waste an entire nation overnight would require Divine intervention. It’s rather like the language of <a href='B:290 13:13'>Isa 13:13</a>, suggesting there would be an earthquake and a Divine judgment on the scale of Sodom’s destruction. This didn’t happen. But it will in the last days, to where the prophecy has been rescheduled and reapplied. The significance of Ar is that according to Mesha’s inscription on the Moabite Stone, it had been taken from Judah in the time of Ahab</p><p>For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing- LXX: "by night the wall of the land of Moab shall be destroyed". The great prophetic theme is that all human defences, be they the walls of Jerusalem, Babylon or Moab, would all prove powerless before the Divine judgment. And that principle applies today, where wealth, scheming and insurance policies can be felt to be a wall against Divine judgment.</p>


text:
<p>They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads; every beard is cut off- LXX "Debon, where your altar is, shall be destroyed". The judgments were always against the idols of these nations, in the hope that a remnant would repent. Weeping over Nebo, a mountain, is strange unless we understand that there was a supernatural Divine judgment intended (see on :1) which would bring down the mountains. The order of the areas here is from south to north; the idea is that all Moab would be desolated. This didn’t happen at the time; see on :1.</p>


text:
<p>In their streets they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops everyone wails, weeping abundantly- The LXX read this as a command: "Gird yourselves with sackcloth in her streets: and lament upon her roofs, and in her streets, and in her ways; howl all of you with weeping". In this case, we would have here a call to repentance, just as Babylon had. Because God wished them to repentant, and the Divine intention was that a minority would. They were to weep on the streets and housetops because this was where their altars were (<a href='B:290 22:1'>Isa 22:1</a> etc:). Jeremiah lamented that Jerusalem’s streets and roofs were full of such idolatry.</p>


text:
<p>Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud- Because the Moabites would cry out and their voice would be heard, “my heart shall cry out for Moab” (<a href='B:290 15:4-5'>Isa 15:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 15:8'>Isa 15:8</a>). As the Lord Jesus is a representative Saviour, we too must feel the judgment that is to come upon others, and in that sense cry out for them as they will cry out. We too will appeal to men with conviction, as Isaiah’s heart cried out for Moab like a young heifer about to be slaughtered, feeling for them in what would come upon them, and desperately appealing for their repentance. <a href='B:300 48:41'>Jer 48:41</a> defines the crying aloud as birth pangs: "the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs". Again the metaphor has hope of a new birth out of this calamity. The Divine hope was that Moab along with Israel would repent and form a reborn people in the restored Kingdom of God in Israel.</p><p>Their souls tremble within them- This could be a reference to their awareness that they had sinned against Yahweh; hence LXX "her soul shall know".</p>


text:
<p>My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction- 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 Jeremiah, knowing that Moab hated Israel (<a href='B:290 25:10'>Isa 25:10</a>) and were evidently worthy of God’s condemnation. 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. Passionate Christian living has such witness at its heart. 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. See on <a href='B:290 16:7'>Isa 16:7</a>.</p>


text:
<p>For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing- I suggested on :1,2 that what was in view was a supernatural Divine judgment upon Moab, rather than a drought which would produce this situation over an extended period. Again we note the destruction of physical features, such as the waters of Nimrim. This would have been due to direct Divine judgment; the destruction of all green things is likewise reflective of such supernatural judgment rather than the effects of invading armies. The desolation of the waters could have been from invaders putting stones in wells as in <a href='B:120 3:25'>2Ki 3:25</a>, but the impression is of a more widespread and supernatural destruction.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows- LXX "Shall Moab even thus be delivered? for I will bring the Arabians upon the valley, and they shall take it". Whether or not Moab would be delivered was left an open question because they would be asked to repent, and accepted the deliverance of Yahweh who alone could save. The later prophecy of <a href='B:300 48:40'>Jer 48:40</a> says that Babylon would effect this judgment upon Moab. Just as Babylon came as an eagle against Judah, so it would against Moab (<a href='B:300 4:13'>Jer 4:13</a>; <a href='B:50 28:49'>Deu 28:49</a>). There was to be noavoiding Divine judgment. So we see here the reapplication of a prophecy about Moab to a later date; instead of bands of Bedouin Arab marauding over her Divinely judged wastelands, and her crossing the brook into Edom, the Babylonians were to judge her, because this earlier prophecy didn’t come to its possible fulfilment at the time.</p>


text:
<p>For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing echoes back to Beer Elim- From the north to the south, the equivalent of the “Dan and Beersheba” of Israel.</p>


text:
<p>For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land- LXX "I will bring Arabians upon Dimon, and I will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama". As explained on :1, the prophetic scenario didn’t completely work out at the time; but it will do in essence in the last days. For "Arabians", see on :7. There is an alliteration between "Dibon" and "blood". The idea is that their being full of blood was potentially possible; but again, that depended upon their repentance as to whether the potential was realized.</p>


text:
<p>Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion- Sela is Petra. This verse seems to be an appeal for Moab to repent and send an offering to Mount Zion, the temple, instead of sending lambs as a tribute to Israel as before (<a href='B:120 3:4'>2Ki 3:4</a>). This was in order to avert the judgment coming upon them, which is spoken of as sure to come ("for it shall be...", :2). God’s word was able to be fulfilled or not, according to human repentance. "The wilderness" would refer to the tract of desert between Sela and Jerusalem.</p><p>LXX "I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is not the mount of the daughter of Sion a desolate rock?". In this case the judgment of Moab and Judah, including the destruction of the temple, is envisaged as happening at the same time. This was part of the wide network of possible prophetic scenarios.</p><p>To the ruler of the land- Moab were to accept that they were living in the land promised to Abraham and were only allowed there in God’s Kingdom by grace. Under David they had given him tribute (<a href='B:100 8:2'>2Sa 8:2</a>), and the tribute they paid to later kings of Israel was in lambs (<a href='B:120 3:4'>2Ki 3:4</a>), so we can assume they sent their tribute to David in the form of lambs; they were being asked to accept that the throne of David had been re-established (see on :5). This tribute was to be given "from Selah to the wilderness", from the frontier city to the other side of the country. The whole of Moab was to accept from the heart that they were living by grace in the territory of God’s Kingdom and to give tribute to the Messiah King of Israel, recognizing that Israel’s God was ruler of the whole land / earth.</p>


text:
<p>For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon- The daughters of Moab could refer to the provincial towns of Moab. The idea may be that the scattered Moabites would be restored if they repented by worshipping Yahweh (:1); and their remnant would then be restored to their land. All this of course was a prophetic scenario that depended upon the repentance of both Judah and Moab in response to the judgments to come upon them at the hands of the Assyrians or Babylonians. But they didn’t respond.</p>


text:
<p>Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!- This is an appeal for repentance, made clearer in the LXX: "take farther counsel, and continually make thou a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; be not thou led captive". As explained on :4, if they had accepted the refugees from Judah and turned to Yahweh, the intended judgment would have been averted, in line with the principles of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. Or it could be that this verse is an exhortation to Judah to accept the repentant remnant of Moab into Zion; for the reestablished Kingdom 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>).</p>


text:
<p>Let My outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land- As explained on :3, if they had accepted the refugees from Judah and turned to Yahweh, the intended judgment would have been averted, in line with the principles of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. The LXX have: "The fugitives of Moab shall sojourn with thee [the change of one accent reverses the sense]; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for thine alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from off the earth". This then would be an address to Judah. They were to accept refugees from Moab and Moab would accept their refugees; perhaps that idea is reflected in the ambiguity of the text here. The "alliance" with Egypt would end, and Babylon would fall. In God’s restored Kingdom which would then be established (:5), the remnants of Moab and Judah would then have an equal place by grace. But the refusal to repent meant that this possibility didn’t happen, and so in essence the scene has been reapplied to events of the last days.</p><p>But the Hebrew is obscure, and we note the term ’outcasts’ occurs in :3 also. The NIV, ESV and other versions suggest the idea is that the Moabite outcasts should be allowed to dwell in Israel, as if in expectation that some (the Moabite ’remnant’ of :14?) would respond to the call of Moab to repentance and would want to become part of the covenant people- and they were to be accepted: "Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you" (ESV). This certainly makes most sense in the context. The prophecy is about Moab and the possibility of Moab’s repentance at the time of Judah’s restoration; to suddenly start talking about the outcasts of Israel would be out of context in the chapter. It was David who was famed for letting the outcasts come and dwell with him (s:w. <a href='B:100 14:13-14'>2Sa 14:13-14</a>), so this could be another hint that Moab were to accept the grace of a Davidic king in Israel (see on 16:1). The double appeal for Israel to let the outcasts of Moab dwell amongst them was perhaps because God had earlier said that Moabites were not to enter into the Israelite congregation (<a href='B:50 23:3'>Deu 23:3</a>). God emphasis that they are His outcasts. By grace, foreseeing Moab’s awful judgment, He urges Israel to accept repentant Moab amongst them. This all goes to show that in wrath He remembers mercy, and at the time of judging others His dominant emotion is concern for them- and He truly has tried all possible ways to avert the tragedy.</p><p>"Let mine outcasts dwell with thee Moab”, God pleads in <a href='B:290 16:4'>Isa 16:4</a>. But the rest of Isaiah 16 is about the awful judgment that will fall upon Moab (<a href='B:290 16:12'>Isa 16:12</a>; <a href='B:290 16:14'>Isa 16:14</a>). The text doesn’t say so, but it’s apparent enough- that if Moab was not merciful to the Jews fleeing the Assyrian invasion, then they would face a like judgment. But that judgment was conditional upon Moab’s behaviour.</p>


text:
<p>A throne will be established in grace, one will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness- It was possible, and envisaged by Isaiah, that a Messianic King would sit upon the re-established throne of David and would provide safety and salvation to the Gentile world who wished to accept Him. See on :4. The same words are used for the eternal establishment of the Messianic throne in the promise to David in <a href='B:100 7:13'>2Sa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:100 7:16'>2Sa 7:16</a>; and Isaiah also uses the phrase in this connection (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>). This didn’t happen in his time, but the potential was there- in the same way as his son of chapter 9 could have been a Messiah King with an eternal Kingdom in Israel.</p><p>"Grace"is also translated"mercy". This would then be seen to have been God’s intention through all the judgments. David’s enthusiasm for the coming of judgment reflected his understanding that it will be a day of the display of Divine mercy. <a href='B:290 16:5'>Isa 16:5</a> speaks of it as"a throne shall be established in mercy, and one [the Lord Jesus] shall sit thereon judging in truth". It will be the ultimate moment of truth, and yet it will be established in mercy.</p>


text:
<p>We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath- This is juxtaposed next to the wonderful possibility of the restored Kingdom of God which they could have a part in (:5). It was their pride which precluded their repentance and the establishment of the Kingdom then.</p><p>His boastings are nothing- The ambiguity of the original is perhaps because we are dealing with various possible scenarios; the fulfilment of the prophetic word was conditional upon various scenarios of repentance. Hence LXX here:"thy prophecy shall not be thus, no not thus".</p>


text:
<p>Therefore Moab will wail for Moab, all of them will wail- It was Moab who would howl for Moab- but Isaiah, feeling for them so strongly, also howled for them; “my bowls shall sound like an harp for Moab” (<a href='B:290 16:11'>Isa 16:11</a>). And he felt the same for his own people, Israel. See on is. 15:4,5.</p><p>You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken- The mourning for the raisin cakes, part of the idol rituals (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), may be mourning in repentance. Hence LXX:"but thou shalt care for them that dwell in Seth, and thou shalt not be ashamed". The ambiguity of the original is perhaps because we are dealing with various possible scenarios; the fulfilment of the prophetic word was conditional upon various scenarios of repentance.</p>


text:
<p>For the fields of Heshbon languish like the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea- The vines of Moab were famous, known even"over the sea"(although this could refer to the vineyards spreading to the Dead Sea). They stretched from Sibmah, in the outskirts of Heshbon, all the way to Jazer and even to the desert; and even to the Dead Sea. This again is a feature of Divine judgment; all that secular man boasts and rejoices in will be brought down.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen- Isaiah was to weep for Moab, even though Moab wept for herself (:7). He so believed the prophecy about Moab and like God, took no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The same"I"who wept for Moab’s judgment was to be the One who brought the judgments:"for I will trample on thy harvest and on thy vintages"(LXX), the classic language of Divine judgment. Through Isaiah, He wept for these Gentiles, so wishing their repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses; I have made the shouting stop- The context is of Isaiah speaking (:11). He realized the power of the words he was uttering. He was manifesting God here; as noted on :9, the same"I"who wept for Moab’s judgment was to be the One who brought the judgments."Shouting"is as AV"vintage shouting". Their joyful treading of the vintage was to be replaced by Yahweh treading them in the winepress of judgment; see on :9. The Hebrew noun is used for both the joyous shout of the grape-treaders and for a battle-cry (<a href='B:300 25:30'>Jer 25:30</a>; <a href='B:300 51:14'>Jer 51:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres- The very core of Isaiah’s being wept for his national enemies, so sure was he that the words flowing from his tongue and pen were true. And yet Isaiah was speaking on God’s behalf, for it was God ultimately who brought the judgments (:10), and so Isaiah’s weeping over Moab’s impenitence was in fact God’s weeping. He is not indifferent to the billions who have refused His offer of repentance and salvation.</p><p>Isaiah’s heart cried out for Moab like a young heifer about to be slaughtered, feeling for them in what would come upon them, and desperately appealing for their repentance. Because the Moabites would cry out and their voice would be heard, “my heart shall cry out for Moab” (<a href='B:290 15:4-5'>Isa 15:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 15:8'>Isa 15:8</a>). As the Lord Jesus is a representative Saviour, we too must feel the judgment that is to come upon others, and in that sense cry out for them as they will cry out. “Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab” (<a href='B:290 16:7'>Isa 16:7</a>)- but Isaiah, feeling for them so strongly, also howled for them; “my bowls shall sound like an harp for Moab” (<a href='B:290 16:11'>Isa 16:11</a>).</p>


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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>).</p>


text:
<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.</p>


text:
<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.</p>


text:
<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.</p>


text:
<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>).</p>


text:
<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>


text:
<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.</p>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


text:
<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>


