# commentaries

text:
<p>Come, say they, I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure- This is the way the flesh reasons; that life shall continue as it is today. Living for the moment is the temptation we continually battle with. Faith is all about looking to the future, and beyond the very narrow horizons of the immediate present. Drunken feasts are used as a metaphor of judgment; they were drinking their own condemnation, and what was so tragic was that they could have worked towards the reestablishment of God’s Kingdom and their own place in eternity. The context in the next chapter is of their idolatry so we can assume these drunken feasts were part of idol worship rituals; like the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11, they turned the worship of the true God into a form of idolatry. Again we see that the false prophets / teachers of :10 are condemned not to much for theological error arising from incorrect intellectual process in expounding God’s word, but for moral false teaching. This is likewise the nature of false teaching in the New Testament.</p>


text:
<p>The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the coming evil- This is probably alluding to what God did to Joash (<a href='B:120 22:20'>2Ki 22:20</a> cp. 23:29). But this was happening to the righteous amongst the exiles. They were suffering real persecution even unto death from the false prophets. Jewish tradition claims that Isaiah and Ezekiel died violent deaths at the hands of the Jews, and likely there is some truth in that. We notice the parallel here between "righteous men" and "merciful men". "Mercy" alludes to the covenants which they were faithful to, but they all the same were characterized by "mercy" as the lead characteristic of those who accepted them and were transformed by them internally.</p>


text:
<p>He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness- see on <a href='B:730 21:12'>Rev 21:12</a>. RVmg. "each one straight before him". <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> had prophesied of the restoration: “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”. Likewise <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a> reminded the returnees that when they had been led through the wilderness to Canaan under Moses, they did not stumble [s:w:]. Although these righteous individuals died without seeing the restored Kingdom of God (:1), they entered into peace and would later be resurrected to participate in it. That is the implication I see in these words.</p><p>Despite the promise of a "straight way" to Zion, both Ezra and Nehemiah wanted to have a Babylonian military escort on the journey back; they weren’t sure that they would be given “a straight way” with Yahweh’s protection. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> records that “Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed [s:w. “stumble”, <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>], and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. They were easily discouraged by the words of the surrounding world, by the apparent hopelessness of their task; and thus they stumbled. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a> LXX describes how Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfill the prophecy. Note how Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit”... They were to walk “each one straight before him” (<a href='B:290 57:2'>Isa 57:2</a> RVmg:), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (<a href='B:330 1:12'>Eze 1:12</a>). <a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:7'>Psa 107:7</a> RV speak of Israel being gathered out of the nations and being led in a “straight way” to Zion, as they had [potentially] been enabled to do on their departure from Egypt. Yet then they spent 38 years walking a distance coverable in just 11 days- because they did not walk in the “straight way”.</p>


text:
<p>But draw near here- This is the language of a summons to judgment. Judgment is in essence ongoing now, and we shouldn’t imagine that God is not paying attention and will only open the books at judgment day. And so those amongst the exiles who were advocating paganism are called to judgment, right then.</p><p>You sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute- They were not in God’s eyes the true Israel. The same ideas are used by Ezekiel about the exiles (<a href='B:330 16:3'>Eze 16:3</a>; <a href='B:330 16:45'>Eze 16:45</a>). The prostitute and sorceress was Babylon; they had so assimilated with Babylon that they were no longer the sons of Zion but of Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>Against whom do you sport yourselves?- ’To takedelight’; and their delight ought to have been in the things of Yahweh rather than their idols and materialism (<a href='B:290 55:2'>Isa 55:2</a>; <a href='B:290 58:14'>Isa 58:14</a>; <a href='B:290 66:11'>Isa 66:11</a> s:w:).</p><p>Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue?- The language of persecution and mockery (<a href='B:230 35:21'>Psa 35:21</a>).</p><p>Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood- See on :3.</p>


text:
<p>You who inflame yourselves among the oaks- The same word in <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a> of how they should have been trees of righteousness. The continual usage of language about Yahweh worship in the context of idol worship suggests that they were justifying their idolatry as a form of idol worship. For at no time did God’s people ever formally annul their relationship with Yahweh. As they had drunken feasts in the name of Yahweh worship (<a href='B:290 56:12'>Isa 56:12</a>), so they inflamed themselves in sexual lust as part of the same rituals.</p><p>Under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?- Offering of children to idols was continuing even amongst the exiles, and Ezekiel appears to allude to it (<a href='B:330 6:13'>Eze 6:13</a>, Ezek. 6:21). They did it under clefts of the rocks, thinking it would be hidden. When instead they should have been as Moses, cowering there in fear and respect of Yahweh’s majesty and glory.</p>


text:
<p>Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; you have even poured a drink offering to them- There is a word play between the Hebrew for "smooth stones" and "portion". The reference may be to some idolatrous practice involving smooth stones. But the word for "smooth stones" also means deceit or flattery, and is used about the idols the exiles worshipped in <a href='B:330 12:24'>Eze 12:24</a>. Yahweh was the portion of His people, but through idolatry done in His Name, He was no longer their portion (<a href='B:50 4:19'>Deu 4:19</a>; <a href='B:300 10:16'>Jer 10:16</a>).</p><p>You have offered an offering- This again confirms the impression that they were offering to the idols as a form of Yahweh worship.</p><p>But shall I be appeased for these things?- Judgment was going to have to come for them (<a href='B:300 5:9'>Jer 5:9</a>), rather than the restoration of the Kingdom which had been possible.</p>


text:
<p>On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice- This is surely an allusion to mount Zion. It could be that the returned exiles committed adultery with their idols there, and that idea is confirmed in :8; or that they used&nbsp; other high mountains as an equivalent of mount Zion.</p>


text:
<p>Behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial- It seems that within the rebuilt temple in Zion there was idolatry going on (see on :7). Or the door posts could refer to their own homes, where God’s law ought to have been written for a memorial (<a href='B:50 6:9'>Deu 6:9</a>; <a href='B:50 11:20'>Deu 11:20</a>); but instead they effectively had there a memorial to their idols, right at the heart of domestic life.</p><p>For you have uncovered to someone besides Me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them: you loved their bed wherever you saw it- This is the whoredom with other gods amongst the exiles spoken of in <a href='B:330 16:25'>Eze 16:25</a>; they were doing the very things for which they had gone into exile for (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a>; <a href='B:350 4:12'>Hos 4:12</a>). Covenant relationship with Yahweh is intimate, an exposing of our nakedness before Him in a way we cannot do to anyone or anything else. They had rejected the new covenant which was offered for a covenant with idols.</p>


text:
<p>You went to the king with oil and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol- "The king" is "Moloch", hence GNB "You put on your perfumes and ointments and go to worship the god Molech. To find gods to worship, you send messengers far and wide, even to the world of the dead". By such sin, they brought themselves down to the grave. Just as they had sent ambassadors to other nations in seeking help against theBabylonians and Assyrians, now they were doing just the same. All this arose because Babylon sent its ambassadors to Judah and they accepted them and later their gods, as noted on Isaiah 39. But now they were sending their ambassadors to the nations, seeking help and relationships rather than being exclusively for Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain’. You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint- Not only is the logic of choosing God’s way so powerful, but the way of the flesh is not satisfying. Sin became a weariness to Israel even before they reaped the punishment for it (<a href='B:290 57:10'>Isa 57:10</a>); their mind was alienated from the lovers they chose; they left the one they left the God of Israel for (<a href='B:330 23:17'>Eze 23:17</a>). They always wanted new gods; they were never satisfied with their idols (<a href='B:300 44:3'>Jer 44:3</a>). GNB "You think your obscene idols give you strength, and so you never grow weak" reveals the classic situation of the addict. They continued in the addiction because they apparently were getting some strength to continue in it from the addiction.</p>


text:
<p>Of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and have not remembered Me, nor laid it to your heart?- This connects with their fear of the Babylonian leadership, which meant they didn’t take seriously the offer of restoration to Judah and the reestablishment of the Kingdom (<a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>). And this resulted in their ’lying’, breaking covenant with Yahweh through not having their covenant with Him laid "in your heart".</p><p>One thing that works against truthfulness is the neuroses that come from fear, the fearful tensions that arise between our real self and the false self. Fear and truth are opposed. This isn’t merely psychotherapeutic babble. The life of brave faith, the life that is lived in the overcoming of fears, the fearless breaking out of our comfort zones… this is the true life, the life in which we have no need to lie nor believe in lies. But of course it’s hard, because we think that the truth, the reality, is what we see around us; whereas faith is believing in what is not seen. Yet actually what is not seen is the reality, and what is seen is very often a lie. And the true life is a life of faith in those things which are not yet visibly seen.</p><p>Haven’t I held peace even of long time, and you don’t fear Me?- God’s patience and lack of immediate judgment against sin ought to lead to yet greater awe and respect of Him; but for many, it becomes a reason to think they can continue in sin.</p>


text:
<p>I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they shall not profit you- This is embedded within condemnation of Israel for idolatry. So we are to read this as irony, with GNB: "You think that what you do is right, but I will expose your conduct, and your idols will not be able to help you". When exactly this happened historically is hard to say; but it will surely come true at the last day. It was idols which would "not profit" (s:w. <a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a>; <a href='B:300 2:8'>Jer 2:8</a>, and about the Egyptians whose idols they accepted, <a href='B:290 30:5-6'>Isa 30:5-6</a>). Their "works" were their idols; and so we have the abiding lesson that any trust in human works is effectively idolatry. Our performance based society makes intensely relevant to us.</p>


text:
<p>When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain- Instead of allowing themselves to be gathered by God, back to the land to Himself (see on <a href='B:290 56:8'>Isa 56:8</a>), they instead gathered idols to themselves. This is the essence of idolatry; a trusting in our own works (:12), rather than the faith to let God work in us. The allusion may be to the image vision of Daniel 2. The Jews who associated themselves with Babylon would share her judgment, and be blown away by the wind; whereas the faithful remnant would grow into the mountain which would begin as the holy mount in Zion, and then spread to cover the earth. We note the offer of possession of the land and mount Zion is now made to "he who takes refuge in Me", and not "they". This is in line with the refocus of Yahweh upon individuals rather than the collective, national group (see on <a href='B:290 56:1-2'>Isa 56:1-2</a>)</p>


text:
<p>He will say, Cast up, cast up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people- The context has spoken of Israel’s idolatry, and so the stumbling-blocks to be cleared refer to their idolatry. This teaches that a level way must be made amongst the Jewish people, i:e. the stumbling blocks and ‘valleys’ must be removed from their path. “Cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people” is therefore a command to God’s people to undo the generations of false shepherding which Israel have experienced: “They have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up” (<a href='B:300 18:15'>Jer 18:15</a> s:w. “cast… up” in <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a>). Once we have prepared the way in this sense in the last days, then the highway is in place over which the Lord Jesus will return. This is how vital our work is for the Jewish people. Then the essence of the prophecies of the way to Zion in Isaiah 40 will come about. But for the exiles, their way was blocked by their addiction to idolatry.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a broken and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite- The idea may be that when and if Yahweh returned to Zion, He would again dwell in the holiest place (LXX), the shekinah would again be seen in the Most Holy place; but no less would He dwell in the hearts of the&nbsp; humble, those with broken spirits like David’s after his repentance. This is in line with the refocus of Yahweh upon individuals rather than the collective, national group (see on <a href='B:290 56:1-2'>Isa 56:1-2</a>). We note the juxtaposition of ideas- the exalted lofty one, dwelling in the hearts of men. It’s the same idea as in <a href='B:290 55:7-9'>Isa 55:7-9</a>; the God whose thoughts are not the thoughts of men can have His thinking experienced and shared by mere men. Yet the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48 had no "Most Holy place". Perhaps the idea was that seeing they had refused to rebuild the temple as asked, God would instead send His Spirit into the hearts of repentant people to "revive" them. This is exactly what He offered the exiles under the new covenant. See on :16.</p><p>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>; <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>


text:
<p>For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before Me, and the souls who I have made- This continues the allusion to a court case which began in :3. Yahweh will not endlessly contend in court with sinners- otherwise He would end up destroying all His creation, those in whom He had placed His Spirit. He would cut short His quite legitimate contention and judgment of His people in order to save at least some. Verse 15 has just spoken of God reviving the hearts of the repentant. The LXX suggests that here we have an extension of that thought:"I will not take vengeance on you for ever, neither will I be always angry with you: for my Spirit shall go forth from me, and I have created all breath". The gift of the Spirit was to be given when the judgment of God finished. At the end of the 70 years there could have been a restoration&nbsp; based around the gift of the Spirit to revive the hearts of the repentant (:15). But they weren’t interested in repentance nor in true spirituality (see on :17).</p><p>The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>; <a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will He be angry for ever?” (<a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>). It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded, no time to look at it, too busy sowing my seeds, weeding my garden, having coffee… God is angry with sinners, but He will not be angry for ever because “from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life”; His passionate, constant outpouring of energy into His creation means He simply won’t be angry with man for ever. But amongst the Jews there was a revulsion against the idea of God having passion, being angry, and His children sharing those same emotions. It’s the same basic approach as the obsession we have today with ‘nice speak’- don’t be too committed, go so far but no further, don’t appear extreme. Here the spirit of the prophets must be our urgent example- we are to have passion for the positions we adopt. And of course that involves us in being careful, Biblical and prayerful about what positions we adopt. It was the passion with which the Lord Jesus held to His positions that so endeared Him to the Father. Because He so loved righteousness and hated iniquity, the Father so highly exalted Him (<a href='B:650 1:9'>Heb 1:9</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him- We would rather expect God to give their idolatry and marital unfaithfulness to Him as reason for His anger. But rather it was their covetousness which is cited here, the petty materialism which so took a grip upon them that they turned to idols in the hope of some petty material blessing. See on <a href='B:290 56:11'>Isa 56:11</a>.</p><p>I hid Myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart- I noted on :16 that the Holy Spirit would have been given to the exiles to change their hearts- if they wanted it and if they were brokenhearted like David for their sins. But they didn’t want that transformation- and went on backsliding in the way of their heart / spirit rather than accepting God’s heart and Spirit. The implication is that God’s hiding of His face during the exile was in fact to elicit their seeking of His face. And yet they refused. And this partially explains theapparent silence of God in our lives; to elicit a more intense search for Him.</p><p><a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would"see"the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me... and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</p>


text:
<p>I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners- Having lamented the lack of spiritual transformation in the people, God now looks forward to how ultimately He will give His Spirit to His people (see on :15-17). He will heal and lead by His Spirit, the Comforter which gives comfort. We would perhaps have expected Him to offer this healing and restoration to those who repented. But these is no mention of this; rather does this follow on from God’s statement in :17 to the effect that if He endlessly contends with His sinful people He will end up destroying them. So despite having"seen his (sinful) ways", God now proposes to"heal him"and lead him back to Him, even if he is stubborn to follow. He would"create"peace with Him in order to effect this healing (:19).</p>


text:
<p>I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Yahweh; and I will heal them- See on :18. The idea may be"Peace to him that is far off (in Babylon), and to him that is near"(in the land). But as explained on :17,18, God appears to be saying that if He endlessly contends with His sinful people He will end up destroying them. So despite having"seen his (sinful) ways", God now proposes to"heal him"and lead him back to Him, even if he is stubborn to follow. He would"create"peace with Him in order to effect this healing (:19). And so He is willing to give peace with Him both to those far from Him, and those who had come near to Him. It was only the stubbornly and insistently"wicked"who would not be calmed / given peace (:20).</p>


text:
<p>But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt- As noted on :15-18, the Spirit was offered to the exiles, and we have read of the peace this would bring if it was accepted (:18,19); and I suggested on :18,19 that God was willing to as it were force through His healing with even those who were"far off"from Him. But if it were stubbornly refused, then therecould be no peace in the hearts or experience of the unspiritual. The wicked amongst Israel would be like the sea of the Gentiles, always associated with casting up and endlessly recycling dirt.</p>


text:
<p>There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked- See on :20."The wicked"are the Jewish exiles of <a href='B:290 48:18'>Isa 48:18</a> who refused the potential peace with God which was offered if they repented and returned to Judah to reestablish His Kingdom of peace.</p>


text:
<p>Cry aloud- The first 12 verses in this chapter are similar in essence to <a href='B:290 1:1-31'>Isa 1:1-31</a>. This is just one of many connections between the later part of Isaiah (Isaiah 40-66) and the earlier part (Isaiah 1-35). The two sections are connected by the historial interlude of Isaiah 36-39, where Isaiah works with Hezekiah towards repentance, and then has to judge him for his pride and collapse of faith, concluding that his sons shall go into captivity in Babylon. As I explained on Isaiah 36-39, Hezekiah sinned quite badly and let the baton drop. A Messianic Kingdom could have been established after the defeat of the Assyrian invader outside Jerusalem, but this possibility was ultimately deferred until our last days. But God didn’t give up working with Judah. At the time of the restoration, there could again have been a Messianic Kingdom, the temple of Ezekiel 40-48 could have been rebuilt; but due to short termism and lack of repentance, this didn’t happen. Therefore the same appeals are made to the returned exiles as were made to Judah in the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah.</p><p>This appeal in :1 is therefore in order that the returned exiles got a grip on their spirituality and relationship with God, so that yet another disaster and invasion could be avoided, and the Kingdom of God re-established in the land. But such invasions came under Antiochus and others, as Daniel 11 outlines. Again the land and people were dominated by their enemies. The appeal to repent so that this would not happen had already been made by Isaiah in his own day, in the context of Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion. This explains the copious connections between the first half of Isaiah and the second half, the so-called Deutero Isaiah.</p><p><a href='B:290 58:1-2'>Isa 58:1-2</a> is a criticism of Judah in exile and also of those who did return to the land- they sought God daily, and yet abused their brethren (<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a>), just as recorded in <a href='B:160 5:15'>Neh 5:15</a>. If they had ceased from their sins,"Then shall your light break forth as the morning", if they had fed the hungry etc, then would’ve been fulfilled the Messianic Kingdom prophecies of the light of Zion rising above the Gentiles etc (<a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a>; <a href='B:290 58:12'>Isa 58:12</a> cp. <a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>).</p><p>But who is being asked to"cry aloud"or ’proclaim’ this call to repentance? The second half of Isaiah begins with this same invitation to ’proclaim’ to Judah the possibility of repentance and forgiveness. The same Hebrew word is used so often in Isaiah 40. John the Baptist, the Elijah prophet, was the one asked to make this proclamation (<a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a> s:w:). And it is the Christian preachers who take over the proclamation (<a href='B:290 40:6'>Isa 40:6</a> = <a href='B:670 1:24'>1Pe 1:24</a>). Initially, it was the ministry of the prophets like Haggai and Zecharahiah who made this call for repentance to the exiles (<a href='B:450 1:4'>Zec 1:4</a>; <a href='B:450 1:17'>Zec 1:17</a>; <a href='B:450 7:7'>Zec 7:7</a>; <a href='B:450 7:13'>Zec 7:13</a>, the prophets cried / called out aloud for Judah’s repentance but were not answered). But it went largely unheeded:"When I called [s:w. "cry aloud"], none answered"(<a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 65:12'>Isa 65:12</a>; <a href='B:290 66:4'>Isa 66:4</a>; <a href='B:350 11:2'>Hos 11:2</a>; <a href='B:450 1:4'>Zec 1:4</a>). And the prophets themselves didn’t make the call as they ought to have done:"None calls [s:w. "cry aloud"] for justice..."(<a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>). John the Baptist likewise called for Judah’s repentance, as did the early Christian preachers; and we are to make this call to Israel in the last days. And finally it will be heeded; a minority in Israel will respond, albeit due to the tribulation to come upon the land, and then the Messianic Kingdom shall finally come. The One who ultimately makes the"call"or ’crying aloud’ is the Lord Jesus, the Messiah (<a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>"... to proclaim / call out / cry loud liberty... to call out the time of Yahweh’s acceptance / the acceptable year of the Lord"). But He works through the voice of His people, those who are in Him. This is how in practice He will make this appeal / proclamation / crying out aloud to Israel, both now and in the very last days. The calling out to repent is on the basis of the fact that God has called out / proclaimed His radical acceptance. If we accept it, then sin is no longer any barrier between Him and us.</p><p>Don’t spare- Literally, don’t restrain. It’s the same phrase as used in <a href='B:290 54:2'>Isa 54:2</a> about Judah not holding back but lengthening the cords of their tent as far as they can. The idea is that the extent of the fulfilment of God’s purpose is in our hands. These prophecies all had potential fulfilments in the time they were given; the preacher to Israel should be aware that according to his or her success, so the extent of the progress of God’s program goes forward.</p><p>Lift up your voice like a trumpet- As noted above, there are many connections here with the crying out / proclamation of forgiveness and therefore the call to repent, which we find in Isaiah 40. In <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a> the same phrase is used, of lifting up the voice to tell Jerusalem that there is good news- her God"shall come", through manifestation in His Son, and re-establish Israel’s Kingdom as God’s Kingdom. Yet there the voice is lifted up in calling for repentance. The reality of the possibility of being part of His Kingdom is of itself a call to repentance. Anyone who says yes to those"good tidings", the Gospel, will naturally be moved to repentance by doing so. The trumpet being the crying aloud or proclamation sounds like the proclamation of the day of atonement. But the spirit of that day was to be proclaimed to men as an ongoing experience, which is very much in the spirit of the Lord Jesus now that the ritual feasts have been ended. Now the atonement and the subsequent appeal for repentance to accept it is to be proclaimed to all men, all the time.</p><p>And declare to My people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins- The family of the historical Jacob were very weak spiritually, and yet from them came the foundations of God’s people. This was and is to be remembered as an encouragement in our witness. These words are quoted in <a href='B:400 3:8'>Mic 3:8</a>; he was one of the prophets called upon to make this proclamation, both in Isaiah’s day and yet also, as with Isaiah, his words therefore also have reference to the exiles who had returned and needed to repent.</p>


text:
<p>Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways- The word"yet"is such a challenge. They were disobedient, sinful and rejected by God."Yet"they sought God daily, offering the daily sacrifices (’seeking’ in Hebrew thought is to worship), and enthusiastic to have His word explained to them. One can attend meetings regularly, love the worship, and genuinely enthuse to intellectually, academically understand the Bible. And"yet"do no righteousness, and actually forsake the spirit of what"God"is all about. This is the problem with religion. If left at mere religion, it can blind us to true spirituality. They ’delighted’ to know God’s ways and to ’draw near to God’, perhaps a reference to prayer or sacrifice. But this same category of persons chose the things which Yahweh did not delight in, and also"delighted in their abominations"(<a href='B:290 65:12'>Isa 65:12</a>; <a href='B:290 66:3-4'>Isa 66:3-4</a> s:w:). The abominations there listed were not idol worship; their arrogance and exclusivity was as if they offered pig’s flesh to God. Their legally correct sacrifices were therefore seen as no better than that. This dualism in the human nature is encouraged by religion, if our faith is left at mere religion. These verses are one of the greatest challenges to all involved in serving God through organized religion. Prayer, sacrifice, worship, Bible study, attendance at meetings... can all be performed as just one pole of a dualistic, religious mindset. Whilst we get on and"delight"in displeasing God. Once we appreciate&nbsp; the challenge, we will no longer be shocked at the hypocrisy rampant in all forms of organized religion; that a person can do all these things, appearing a stalwart member of a church, and yet at the same time be involved with things which disgust God.</p><p>As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of Me righteous judgements; they delight to draw near to God- The call to repentance of :1 was not heeded exactly because of the veneer of religion which these Jews then had. This is the problem with religion. It shields us from the piercing appeal for repentance and real, live relationship with God."Did righteousness"is the phrase translated"do justice"in <a href='B:10 18:19'>Gen 18:19</a>, which was to be a feature of the true seed of Abraham. As noted above, Israel went through all the motions of religious worship, but did not"do justice". The historical accounts in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi give many examples of this; and the lack of justice was expressed in terms of how they treated their own brothers. If the Jews had ’done righteousness’ at the time of the restoration, then it would have hastened the revelation of God’s justice in the re-establishment of His Kingdom on earth at that time (<a href='B:290 56:1'>Isa 56:1</a> s:w:). For it is Messiah who would ’do justice’ in His Kingdom (<a href='B:300 23:5'>Jer 23:5</a>; <a href='B:300 33:15'>Jer 33:15</a> s:w:). The commands of Ezekiel 40-48 about rebuilding a Messianic temple included the command to ’do righteousness’ (<a href='B:330 45:9'>Eze 45:9</a>). But the Jews didn’t do this, and thereby precluded the possibility of those prophecies coming true at the restoration.</p>


text:
<p>‘Why have we fasted’, they say, ‘and You don’t see?- <a href='B:450 7:5'>Zec 7:5</a> says that the Jews at the time of the restoration fasted, but not to God. And here we see part of a major theme in Biblical teaching about spirituality- that spiritual disciplines can be performed, but not really, in God’s book. We can pray and worship, but without achieving real prayer and worship; we can pay lip service to the idea that God’s word is inspired and His real voice to us, and yet let the words glide over us. We can give, but for the sake of appearance and the praise of men. And so they fasted, but not to God. And complained that God apparently didn’t recognize it. If they had really fasted on"the fasting day", then the whole Babylonian invasion and exile could have been averted (<a href='B:300 36:6'>Jer 36:6</a>; <a href='B:300 36:9'>Jer 36:9</a>); they fasted but were not heard (<a href='B:300 14:12'>Jer 14:12</a>). But now the captivity had ended, still they had not learnt that lesson.</p><p>Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge?’- The day to ’afflict the soul’ in fasting was specifically the day of atonement, the only fast required under the Mosaic law (<a href='B:30 23:27'>Lev 23:27</a> s:w:). They kept the day of atonement legally, but with no recognition of sin; just as we can keep the Lord’s supper with no sense of our sins, no flame of passion to respond to His grace witha similar grace. <a href='B:30 23:29'>Lev 23:29</a> even taught that the soul who would not afflict themselves would be cut off from the people of God. But that is an example of the Law of Moses revealing how God judges the heart; for no priest could ever&nbsp; ascertain whether or not a worshipper was afflicting their soul as required. If we do not repent, and afflict our souls for our sins, then we likewise are signing ourselves out of God’s true people. And only we know whether or not we do this. For such affairs of the heart cannot be judged by human eyes.</p><p>Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your labourers- If they had truly afflicted their souls in repentance and in awe of their receipt of God’s forgveness, then they would have reflected that grace to others, which is God’s pleasure or will. And that principle is true of us too. We are not to be like the unforgiving servat who demanded what was owed; the AV renders"oppress"as"exact"(<a href='B:470 18:28'>Mat 18:28</a>). Perhaps the Lord had this teaching in mind when constructing His parable. The oppression of their workers was the kind of thing going on at the restoration (Nehemiah 5). Israel failed to do God’s pleasure and instead kept His laws whilst doing their own pleasure or will; and therefore the prophecy of the suffering servant who was to do God’s pleasure at the restoration was changed in fulfilment from Israel as a people to Messiah as a person (<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>). The same word for"pleasure"is used in :13 of how these Jews did their pleasure on the Sabbath rather than God’s pleasure. We can so easily serve God for our own pleasure, in ways which simply reinforce our natural passions and personality types. The challenge to us is indeed piercing and insistent.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high- As noted on :3, the restored Jews fasated for their own pleasure rather than God’s. They took pleasure from being more righteous than others, endlessly striving and contending with others as to how fasting should be done, even inventing new fast days (<a href='B:450 7:5'>Zec 7:5</a>; <a href='B:450 8:19'>Zec 8:19</a>). All the Law required was fasting on the Day of Atonement. The endless controversies over interpretation and ritual which have characterized the walk of so many Christians may well have been simply for their own"pleasure"and justification of striking other believers with a wicked fist. The Catholic and Orthodox churches argue bitterly about ritual, and the Protestant denominations argue over interpretation of Bible passages. Much of this was nothing to do with personal relationship with God, making your voice heard in His ears in highest heaven; but rather in order to put others down that we might appear the better. For the way the Jews criticized others for not fasating as they considered they ought to was effectivly striking their brother with a wicked fist. The allusion is to how righteous Naboth was struck down with a wicked fist when a fast had been proclaimed (<a href='B:110 21:9-13'>1Ki 21:9-13</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul?- As noted on :3, the only fast"chosen"or proclaimed by God was that on the Day of Atonement, when every person was to afflict their soul. The Jews kept this feast insincerely, bowing their heads like a bulrush blown in the breeze. All such false humility, using phrases like"Of course, we’re all sinners"insincerely, is so abhorrent to God.</p><p>Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?- The repentance and contrition required by the Day of Atonement was internal, rather than an external use of sackcloth. Judah had gone into exile exactly because they had rent their garments and not their hearts (<a href='B:360 2:13'>Joe 2:13</a>). And the restored Jews had not learnt that lesson. The Day of Atonement was the"acceptable day", and the acceptable day is now every day for us as Christians (<a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a>). We are to live our whole lives, every day, in the spirit of the Day of Atonement; both confessing sin and receiving the pronouncement of forgiveness which fills us with all joy and peace.</p>


text:
<p>Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?- See on <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>. As noted on :3 and :4, the result of keeping the Day of Atonement properly was to release the bonds of others because our bonds of sin and its consequence have been released. Instead, the resotred Jews at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah were bringing their own brothers into bondage to them, taking their lands from them and then making them their slaves. Such releasing of others from their bonds, both to us and others, can happen on any day; the Day of Atonement was to be realized in the daily experience of the believers.</p><p>Consider how the Lord brings together various passages from Isaiah in His opening declaration in <a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a>: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach [proclaim] [Heb. ‘call out to a man’] the acceptable year of the Lord”. This combines allusions to <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>&nbsp;(<a href='B:30 25:10'>Lev 25:10</a>), <a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> LXX&nbsp;and&nbsp; <a href='B:290 61:2'>Isa 61:2</a>:&nbsp;<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a> AV: “To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free (cp. <a href='B:50 15:12'>Deu 15:12</a> re freedom of slaves, s:w:), and that ye break every yoke?” is in the context of an insincerely kept year of Jubilee in Hezekiah’s time, after the Sennacherib invasion; andalso at the time of the restoration. Isaiah 58 has many Day of Atonement allusions- the year of Jubilee began on this feast. We are as the High Priest declaring the reality of forgiveness to the crowd Hence <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a> asks us to proclaim a Jubilee of atonement. The Greek for “preach” in <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a> and for “preach / proclaim the acceptable year” in <a href='B:490 4:19'>Luk 4:19</a> are the same, and the word is used in the LXX for proclaiming the Jubilee. And the LXX word used for ‘jubilee’ means remission, release, forgiveness, and it is the word used to describe our preaching / proclaiming forgiveness in <a href='B:490 24:47'>Luk 24:47</a>. It could be that we are to see the cross as the day of atonement, and from then on the Jubilee should be proclaimed in the lives of those who accept it. It’s as if we are running round telling people that their mortgages have been cancelled, hire purchase payments written off... and yet we are treated as telling them something unreal, when it is in fact so real and pertinent to them. And the very fact that Yahweh has released others means that we likewise ought to live in a spirit of releasing others from their debts to us: “The creditor shall release that which he hath lent… because the Lord’s release hath been proclaimed” (<a href='B:50 15:2'>Deu 15:2</a> RV).</p><p>There are many connections within Isaiah between the servant songs, and the descriptions of the people of Israel into which the songs are interspersed. The saviour-servant was to bring out the prisoners from the dungeons (<a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>), so was every Israelite “to let the oppressed go free…loose the bonds”, and to “undo the bands of the [heavy] yoke” (<a href='B:290 58:6'>Isa 58:6</a>) as Christ did (<a href='B:470 11:28-29'>Mat 11:28-29</a>); His work of deliverance is to be replicated by each of us in our witness. Whoever is in Him will by this very fact follow Him in this work. In Isaiah’s first context, the suffering servant was King Hezekiah. Yet all Israel were to see themselves as ‘in’ him, as spiritual Israel are to see themselves as in Christ. “He was oppressed”, as Israel at that time were being “oppressed” by Assyria. As they were covered in wounds and spiritual sickness (<a href='B:290 1:5-6'>Isa 1:5-6</a>), so the suffering servant bore their diseases and rose again in salvation victory.</p><p>The passage in :6-13 seems to be a reference to an insincerely kept day of atonement in Ezra or Nehemiah’s time, as well as Hezekiah’s. The Jewish nobles were oppressing the poor and thereby keeping the feast with no meaning. If they had properly kept the feast, then the promised Kingdom conditions would have burst forth to the world around them. But they were too caught up with their own self-benefit to be bothered to show true care for their brethren. If they had, then the glory of Yahweh would have entered the temple, just as Ezekiel 43 had prophesied would happen, if the Kingdom was built as commanded. Notice how <a href='B:290 60:1-3'>Isa 60:1-3</a> speaks of how Zion’s light would certainly come and give light to the world- even though the prophecy was actually conditional on Judah keeping the Sabbath and caring for their poor brethren: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee…&nbsp; And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Nehemiah repaired the breaches, Ezra laid the foundations of the temple…the prophecy of Isaiah 58 was fulfilled on the surface, but not in its Kingdom sense, because they failed to keep the Sabbath etc. <a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a> says that if they drew out their soul to the hungry, if they allowed themselves to feel the hunger of others, then would their light rise and their darkness be as the noonday. And thus the prophecy of <a href='B:290 60:1-2'>Isa 60:1-2</a> that Zion’s light is going to dawn was conditional upon the Jews caring for their hungry amongst them- even though in that passage, the condition isn’t directly stated. The restoration was therefore only a sham of what was possible.</p><p>There are several links between Isaiah 58 and Nehemiah 5, where we read of poor Jews who had to mortgage their vineyards and even sell their children in order to pay their debts. The “oppressed” or “broken victim” of Isaiah 58, to whom we are invited to proclaim deliverance, were therefore in the very first instance those under the throttling grip of poverty, who had become bondslaves because of their debts and now had no hope of freedom, apart from the frank forgiveness of a year of Jubilee. We take a like message to Westerners overburdened with mortgage payments, to those suffering from absolute poverty in the developing world, and to all those with a sense of debt and being trapped within their life situation. We pronounce to them a year of Jubilee, a frank forgiveness, a way of real escape and freedom.</p><p><a href='B:290 58:7'>Isa 58:7</a> Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?- The leaders of Judah in Nehemiah’s time were abusing their brethren. Their receipt of grace should have led them be generous to their poor brethren, rather than exploiting them. And that principle is true for us; for the restoration is used in the New Testament as a type of our redemption from the Babylon of sin and this world. And yet too many like to kid themselves that their response to grace is to do the opposite; to cast out their own brethren from their houses and then ignore their need, physically and spiritually.</p>


text:
<p>Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?- The leaders of Judah in Nehemiah's time were abusing their brethren. Their receipt of grace should have led them be generous to their poor brethren, rather than exploiting them. And that principle is true for us; for the restoration is used in the New Testament as a type of our redemption from the Babylon of sin and this world. And yet too many like to kid themselves that their response to grace is to do the opposite; to cast out their own brethren from their houses and then ignore their need, physically and spiritually.<p>


text:
<p>Then your light shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall be your vanguard- This is the language of the establishment of the glorious Messianic Kingdom (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>; <a href='B:290 60:3'>Isa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:290 60:19-20'>Isa 60:19-20</a>). That Kingdom could have been established then, if the returned exiles had lived as they should have done; and so the prophecies have been deferrred in fulfilment until the Lord’s return. The light of Zion was Messiah; this figure could have arisen then at the restoration. But he didn’t, and the true fulfilment was in the Lord Jesus, who was the light which arose in the darkness (:10; <a href='B:470 4:16'>Mat 4:16</a>; <a href='B:490 1:79'>Luk 1:79</a>)."Healing"translates a word meaning ’restoration’; the Kingdom of God in the form of Israel’s Kingdom would have been restored. The same ideas are found in <a href='B:460 4:2'>Mal 4:2</a>, where again the promise is repeated, that the Messianic sun of righteousness could have arisen at the restoration with healing in His beams. But that had to be delayed in fulfilment until our last days. Judah at this time were spiritually weak;"your righteousness"doesn’t refer to their own, but to that of Messiah as"the Lord our righteousness". The Messiah figure bearing this title could have appeared at the restoration from Babylon (<a href='B:300 23:6'>Jer 23:6</a>; <a href='B:300 33:16'>Jer 33:16</a>; <a href='B:300 51:10'>Jer 51:10</a>). It could have come"speedily"had they heeded these prophetic words. But it didn’t, and was delayed. Yahweh’s glory is parallel with"your righteousness", and this again should be read as a Messianic title. As Paul explains in Romans, it is through faith in Jesus as Messiah and identification with Him that His righteousness becomes ours.</p>


text:
<p>Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry and He will say, ‘Here I am’. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly- The Jews complained that despite their fasting, God was not answering (:3). The answer is that they were abusing their brethren, as recorded in Nehemiah 5. They were not only enslaving their brethren literally, but by placing heavy legalistic burdens upon, putting forth the finger in accusing them of spiritual inferiority (see on :4). This doing down of our brethren is the very opposite of the response to grace and restoration which we have received in Christ. It is called here"speaking wickedly". By treating our brethren like this, we place a barrier between God and ourselves, as John’s letters also state; and our prayer experience will reflect that barrier.</p>


text:
<p>And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday- As noted on :8, Zion’s light refers to the coming of Messiah. His coming was and is dependent upon the spirituality of the Jews and their repentance. And that shall only come in the last days as a result of a tribulation and holocaust like none other in their history."Darkness"and"obscurity"are used in Isaiah to refer to Judah’s sinfulness and also their judgment for that sin. Despite all that, if they had shown love and justice to the poor, then Messiah’s light would have broken in upon that darkness.</p>


text:
<p>And Yahweh will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones- The allusion is to how Yahweh"guided"(s:w:) Israel in the desert and satisfied them with food and water (s:w. <a href='B:20 16:8'>Exo 16:8</a>; <a href='B:20 16:12'>Exo 16:12</a>"bread to the full"), strengthening their bones for the wilderness journey. This guidance is typical of our journey after baptism towards God’s Kingdom (<a href='B:530 10:1-3'>1Co 10:1-3</a>). But our experience of that guidance will in fact be eternal [the idea behind"continually"]. The kind of Divinely guided life we experience now shall eternally continue. If they satisfied the soul of others in need (:10 s:w:) then their soul would be eternally satisfied. There is an absolutely direct connection between what we do for others now, and what God shall do for us eternally. This is not to say that salvation itself is upon the basis of works- for it is by grace alone. Yet it is also true that how we live now shall be reflected eternally in the nature of our eternal existence. At the time of the restoration, the Jews were not satisfied (<a href='B:440 1:6'>Hag 1:6</a> s:w:) despite all their efforts to achieve self-satisfaction. And lack of satisfaction was part of the repeated experience of an Israel who put their own pleasure first (<a href='B:30 26:26'>Lev 26:26</a>; <a href='B:230 59:15'>Psa 59:15</a>; <a href='B:250 1:8'>Ecc 1:8</a>; <a href='B:250 4:8'>Ecc 4:8</a>; <a href='B:250 5:10'>Ecc 5:10</a>; <a href='B:250 6:3'>Ecc 6:3</a>; <a href='B:290 9:20'>Isa 9:20</a>; <a href='B:330 16:28'>Eze 16:28</a>; <a href='B:350 4:10'>Hos 4:10</a>; <a href='B:400 6:14'>Mic 6:14</a>). Yet the righteous are often described as being satisfied both in this life and in the restored Kingdom; David and the righteous died"full"or satisfied (s:w:) with their days (<a href='B:130 23:1'>1Ch 23:1</a>). We see evidence of this all around us; those who make their own satisfaction their priority live unsatisfied lives.</p><p>And you shall be like a watered garden- This is exactly the language of <a href='B:300 31:12'>Jer 31:12</a> about the restored Kingdom; it really was possible at the time of the restoration. Eden could have been restored.</p><p>And like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail- If they did all these things of :6-13, there would be no drought; but Malachi records how there was drought, because they had not fulfilled these conditions. And so the promises were reapplied and rescheduled. Therefore the Lord promises believers even now this experience of being like an ever bubbling spring, through the experience of the Holy Spirit gift (<a href='B:500 4:14'>Joh 4:14</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38-39'>Joh 7:38-39</a>). It’s a case of now but not yet. We can begin to experience now the kind of life we shall eternally have in the Kingdom; in this sense, in the language of John’s Gospel, we have eternal life now.</p>


text:
<p>Those who shall be of you- These words are inserted by the translaters. Literally,"Of you..."; the reference could be to an individual, not the nation.</p><p>Shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations- This all alludes to <a href='B:160 13:22'>Neh 13:22</a>. The restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah could have been far more glorious. There was an external appearance of rebuilding, but actually the Kingdom of God was not restored in Israel because the people simply didn’t want it. This is why some rejoiced but others wept when the temple was dedicated; those who wept did so because they realized that this was not in fact the temple of the restoration prophecies.</p><p>And you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in- <a href='B:160 6:1'>Neh 6:1</a> says that there was no breach [s:w:] in the walls. But that was only external. The restoration prophets use this word to describe the breach between God and Israel which was not filled at that time because the potential Messiah figures didn’t or couldn’t do so (<a href='B:290 30:13'>Isa 30:13</a>; <a href='B:330 13:5'>Eze 13:5</a>; <a href='B:330 22:30'>Eze 22:30</a>), failing to be the prophet like unto Moses who did stand in that breach (<a href='B:230 106:23'>Psa 106:23</a> s:w:). <a href='B:370 9:11'>Amo 9:11</a> speaks of the possibility of reviving the tabernacle of David that had fallen, and closing up the breach at the same time as the ruins were revived. But this didn’t happen; for this prophecy was to have its fulfilment in the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:510 15:16'>Act 15:16</a>).</p><p><a href='B:290 58:13'>Isa 58:13</a> If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of Yahweh honourable; and shall honour it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words- Judah abused the Sabbath, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, wishing to trade with the Gentiles on that day; <a href='B:370 8:5'>Amo 8:5</a> speaks of their longing for the Sabbath to end that they might get on with their trading. The Sabbath was intended to be a time when Israel would hear God’s words and not speak their own words; to stop talking, and listen. We too can in essence make that same mistake, going through the motions of religion when our hearts are set upon our next social or business meeting. We should"delight"in God’s ways; and if we do, then we shall eternally delight ourselves in them (:14). We can begin to live the Kingdom life now. For throughout our eternity, the ways and things of God shall be our eternal focus. And they ought to be now as far as possible. In this sense, we can live the eternal life now.</p>


text:
If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of Yahweh honourable; and shall honour it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words- Judah abused the Sabbath, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, wishing to trade with the Gentiles on that day; <a href='B:370 8:5'>Am. 8:5</a> speaks of their longing for the Sabbath to end that they might get on with their trading. The Sabbath was intended to be a time when Israel would hear God's words and not speak their own words; to stop talking, and listen. We too can in essence make that same mistake, going through the motions of religion when our hearts are set upon our next social or business meeting. We should &quot;delight&quot; in God's ways; and if we do, then we shall eternally delight ourselves in them (<a href='B:290 58:14'>:14</a>). We can begin to live the Kingdom life now. For throughout our eternity, the ways and things of God shall be our eternal focus. And they ought to be now as far as possible. In this sense, we can live the eternal life now.</p><p><a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Is. 58:12,13</a> prophesied that the acceptable rebuilding of Zion was dependent upon Judah keeping the Sabbath acceptably; and yet Nehemiah's record makes clear their tragic abuse of the Sabbath at the time of the restoration; and this therefore meant that the rebuilding of the temple and city were not going to fulfil the Messianic prophecies about them which existed.</p><p>Isaiah repeatedly stated that the surrounding nation would come to Zion and share in her joy. <a href='B:20 23:124'>Ex. 23:12</a> had commanded that the Gentile who lived with Israel must keep the Sabbath. If the Jews had not done their pleasure on the Sabbath, then the Messianic Kingdom could have come (<a href='B:290 58:13-14'>Is. 58:13,14</a>). But instead the Gentiles who lived around Jerusalem traded with the Jews on the Sabbath (<a href='B:160 13:16'>Neh. 13:16</a> RSV), they intermarried, and Israel / Zion was not a city set on a hill to enlighten the surrounding world; because they preferred to be influenced by the world around them, rather than vice versa.</p><p>The Sabbath was a release from the everyday things of life, the need to search for food (in the wilderness years), to work, from doing one's own pleasure and speaking words which relate to one's own earthly desires (<a href='B:290 58:13-14'>Is. 58:13,14</a>). It is therefore fitting that in our present experience of life, these necessary daily things will not obsess us; and if we may be made free from them, we will &quot; use it rather&quot; . Sodom was condemned for this revelling in the legitimate daily activities of life- attending and organizing weddings, eating, drinking... So let's drive away our nervousness at the idea of serious commitment; we are a priesthood, the centre of our lives is the service of God, His tabernacle is what we camp around by night and carry by day.</p>


text:
<p>Then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh- This describes how eternally, in the restored Kingdom of God, we will ’delight outselves’ in Yahweh; and yet we can do this now. For the same word is used of how He should be our delight now. <a href='B:230 37:4'>Psa 37:4</a>; <a href='B:230 37:11'>Psa 37:11</a> make the same point- we are to delight in Him now, so that we shall eternally do so. We are to live the Kingdom life now. If the things of God are to be our eternal delight, they should be now. The things of the Kingdom are not to be a mere hobby or occasional interest for a few hours / week, but the delight of our souls in every way, reflected in our attitudes to everything in our lives.</p><p>And I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth- To ride on high places could mean to bask in triumph and victory. The earth / eretz / land promised to Abraham [the common reference of eretz] was not fully under Jewish control when they returned from the captivity in Babylon. But it could have been. And the"high places"of the land of course recall the places of idolatry. They could have triumphed over all their historical sins and temptations.</p><p>And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father-"Jacob"rather than the other patriarchs is repeatedly mentioned in the restoration prophecies because he was clearly the weakest in spiritual terms, and yet from that weakness was led to great heights, had righteousness imputed to him, and was restored to the land of promise by God’s grace. He therefore became an appropriate pattern for the returned exiles. The Hebrew translated"feed"also means"to eat"; this word is so commonly used about Jacob ’eating’ at various points in his life when covenant relationship was being celebrated and ratified. The list is impressive: <a href='B:10 25:34'>Gen 25:34</a>; <a href='B:10 27:19'>Gen 27:19</a>; <a href='B:10 28:20'>Gen 28:20</a>; Gen 3146; <a href='B:10 31:54'>Gen 31:54</a>. The idea would be that the covenant with the patriarchs could have come true to that generation, if they followed the path of Jacob. And as Jeremiah 31 emphasizes, the promises to the patriarchs were in fact the new covenant which we too share in.</p><p>For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it- It was spoke just as that same mouth had stated that within 40 days, Nineveh would be destroyed. But God can change and adjust His stated purpose in accordance with human repentance and response, or lack thereof.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened that it can’t save; neither His ear heavy, that it can’t hear- The context is that although their ears were"heavy", God’s ears were not heavy to them, if they would pray in repentance (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:10'>Isa 6:10</a>). Again Isaiah is answering all the possible excuses given by the exiles for not repenting and returning to the land. In <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a> the idea of Yahweh’s hand being shortened is used as an excuse not to respond to God’s call to quit Babylon for Zion. The idea was that His ability to act, His hand, was somehow limited or ’reaped down’. They assumed the fact they had been reaped in the harvest of judgment meant that their God had been (<a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:300 9:22'>Jer 9:22</a>; <a href='B:350 8:7'>Hos 8:7</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13'>Hos 10:13</a>). They simply refused to accept the repeated prophetic message that it was the God of Israel who brought judgment upon Israel. They treated Him as the surrounding peoples treated their gods- always saving them in trouble, and if they didn’t, then the god had died with them.</p>


text:
<p>But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear- God’s apparent silence and inaction was not because His hand was shortened, i:e. He was unable to act or limited in possibility. The limitation of possibility was because of their sins. His ear was not intrinsically deaf (:1), instead He would not hear because of their sins at the same time as their prayers. Their prayers were"hindered"in the sense of <a href='B:670 3:7'>1Pe 3:7</a>.</p><p><a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would"see"the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face fromZion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me... and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness- The lies spoken may well have been to God, in dishonestly proclaiming they were His covenant people when instead they were involved in child sacrifice and perhaps other murders related to their idolatry. Their defilement with blood meant they were ritually unclean, and this unable to serve Him. In the same breath as they proclaimed His covenant, they were muttering words of wickedness.</p>


text:
<p>None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth- AV"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth". The prophetic intention was that Zion would be ’called’ the city of"righteousness"(<a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a> s:w:). But the individual Jews were not interested in appealing for justice and truth. The day when the earth would be governed in"righteousness and... truth"was not going to come whilst Judah themselves didn’t love the things of the Kingdom and refused to live the Kingdom life themselves (s:w. <a href='B:230 96:13'>Psa 96:13</a>). It was Messiah who was to be girded with"righteousness and... truth"(s:w. <a href='B:290 11:5'>Isa 11:5</a>). But not one candidate of the various potentials had acted like this. The prophecies were therefore reapplied and deferred to the Lord Jesus.</p><p>They trust in vanity, and speak lies-"Vanity"is the usual term for idols. Idolatry is a worship of nothingness, and again this is the essence of so much in the empty, contentless world of today. This is the modern day idolatry. And it is manifest in ’speaking lies’. A lack of attention to truth and disinterest in truth and ultimate reality leads to personal dishonesty, a speaking of lies.</p><p>They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity- There is a theme in Isaiah of conceiving, suffering pain in labour- but bringing forth in vain (<a href='B:290 26:18'>Isa 26:18</a>; <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>; <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>):&nbsp; And so did Hezekiah, in that he and his children turned away from true faith (<a href='B:290 39:7'>Isa 39:7</a>). In Isaiah’s immediate context, the application would have been to the sense that the remnant had come to the birth but there was not strength to bring forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>); apart from a few individuals, there was no bringing forth of a significant repentant remnant who would be the basis for the restored Kingdom. It felt like they were still under the curse of bringing forth in pain but in vain. The pain in vain at the time of the Assyrian invasion led to Micah offering a reworked version of all this; they were to be in pain at the hands of the Babylonians, but would bring forth in Babylon in that they would there repent, and the spiritually reborn remnant would emerge and their captors therefore judged (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). But that possibility also didn’t work out:&nbsp; And so this idea of bringing forth but not in vain, but rather finding meaning in the resurrection of Messiah and all in Him, came to be reapplied to the birth of the Lord Jesus from the grave in resurrection; and it would characterize the establishment of the Kingdom age in Zion (<a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>).</p><p>These words are quoted in Romans 3. Eliphaz thought there were only a few very sinful people in the world (<a href='B:220 15:35'>Job 15:35</a>); but His words are quoted by the Spirit in <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a> concerning the whole nation of Israel; and this whole passage in <a href='B:290 59:4-8'>Isa 59:4-8</a> in turn is quoted in <a href='B:520 3:15-17'>Rom 3:15-17</a> concerning the whole human race. This same path of progressive realization of our sinfulness must be trodden by each faithful individual, as well as on a communal level.</p>


text:
<p>They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper- GNB"The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake!". The people in view appear to be teachers or leaders, because they have people who as it were eat their eggs.</p>


text:
<p>Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands- GNB"But your plots will do you no good—they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!". Their acts of violence would not ultimately be covered before God by carefully spun webs of excuses and self justification.</p>


text:
<p>Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths- See on :4. This is quoting <a href='B:240 1:16'>Pro 1:16</a>. Again we note the parallel between thoughts and paths; the path of a man’s life is a reflection of his thoughts. And our thought patterns are the absolutely essential core of all spirituality and relationship with God. There is clearly the accusation that the restored exiles were guilty of plotting murder, and they did shed innocent blood. The reference may not be solely to child sacrifices, and the sacrifice of other vulnerable individuals; but to actual plans to kill the prophets such as Isaiah.</p>


text:
<p>The way of peace they don’t know; there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace- These people were false teachers, because they had others who would walk in their ways; hence GNB"no one who walks that path will ever be safe". The leadership of the exiles was deeply corrupt, as we find implied between the lines of Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi.</p>


text:
<p>Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us: we look for light, but behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity- The hope of Zion’s light and the brightness of her Kingdom morning was precluded by the behaviour of the Jews and their idolatry. The restored Kingdom could have come then, but it didn’t- because of them. So much potential was wasted; and :11 also laments this. But we can also read this as not just Isaiah’s lament that the window of deliverance had been removed from them; but also as the cynical words of the exiles. Passages like Ezekiel 18 imply a certain bitterness of Israel towards their God, considering that He had dealt with them unfairly, and inappropriately punished them for the sins of their fathers. Despite Yahweh having enabled their exit from Babylon, they complained: “Vindication remains far removed from us and deliverance does not reach us” (<a href='B:290 59:9'>Isa 59:9</a>). This was an awful spurning of the great salvation enabled for them. They remonstrated against God’s message of deliverance from captivity: “Can prey be taken from a warrior? Or can prisoners of a tyrant be rescued?” (<a href='B:290 49:24'>Isa 49:24</a>). They thought their salvation was too hard even for God. They made the same mistake as all who reason that their situation or personality is too far gone for God to redeem. For the ‘salvation’ of the exiles in Babylon is alluded to in the New Testament as a prototype of our salvation in Christ. The good news of potential deliverance from Babylon is quoted as the good news of salvation from sin (<a href='B:290 52:7-10'>Isa 52:7-10</a> = <a href='B:480 1:15'>Mar 1:15</a>; <a href='B:470 10:7-8'>Mat 10:7-8</a>; <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>; <a href='B:560 6:15'>Eph 6:15</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> = <a href='B:490 4:16-21'>Luk 4:16-21</a>). Time and again in the restoration prophecies we encounter statements intended to answer the skepticism felt by the exiles about the promises of redemption from Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:27-31'>Isa 40:27-31</a>; <a href='B:290 42:22'>Isa 42:22</a>; <a href='B:290 43:22'>Isa 43:22</a>; <a href='B:290 46:12'>Isa 46:12</a>; <a href='B:290 48:4'>Isa 48:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men- Darkness at noon was what happened at the crucifixion; this was the judgment upon Israel for their attitudes, because the killing of their own King and Messiah was the ultimate climax and final term of all their sinful behaviour. The apostate Jews have been condemned earlier in this chapter; the words we now are reading in :9-14 are now as it were spoken by them. Perhaps they are an imagination of the kinds of words these people would speak and the feelings they would feel in their day of final condemnation; recognizing in every detail their sins, but tragically too late. The time for such confession is now. All their human strength, appearing as"lusty", was now as death itself. Their stumbling at noonday was the curse for disobedience to the covenant (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:37'>Lev 26:37</a>).</p>


text:
<p>We roar all like bears, and moan bitterly like doves- Perhaps suggesting both men and women were in lamentation. This is the weeping and gnashing of teeth of the condemned, roaring like the waves who cannot pass over the bound set for them at the beach (s:w. <a href='B:300 5:22'>Jer 5:22</a>), unable to enter the kingdom. One moment they will be roaring, the next moaning quietly; the same word is used of how they had muttered or uttered false words (:13). By doing so, they were living out their own condemnation.</p><p>We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us- The salvation and justice of the restored Kingdom was precluded by the behaviour of the Jews and their idolatry. The reestablished Kingdom could have come then, but it didn’t- because of them. So much potential was wasted; and :9 also laments this. But this is also the picture of the condemned Jews at the last day, desperately wanting salvation, but finding it now too far from them.</p>


text:
<p>For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them- The confession of sin in :12-15 was perhaps God’s fantasy about His people’s repentance, the kind of thing we see in Hosea’s fantasy about Gomer’s return to him. Or it could have been Isaiah’s pro forma expression of repentance which he intended Judah to make. Or as suggested previously on these verses, this is the recognition of sin by the condemned but all too late. They realize all too late that their sins have not been taken away from them, for they had refused the sin bearer. Their own sins testified at the day of judgment"before You"and called for their own condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood- We see the common Biblical parallel between thoughts and words; hence GNB"Our thoughts are false; our words are lies"."Uttering"is the word used in :11 for how the condemned will mutter or moan in condemnation; but by muttering false words in their hearts, they were living out their own condemnation experience.</p>


text:
<p>Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off- This contrasts with the frequent statements that Yahweh’s truth righteousness was"near"in the sense that His restored Kingdom could so soon have been established. But now it was far away, because the window of opportunity was now closed because of their impenitence. Thus GNB"Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near".</p><p>For truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter- As just noted, the righteousness which was to enter Zion by the highway prepared in Isaiah 40 was not going to enter. There was an open, public, unashamed rejection of God’s"truth", His covenant. GNB"Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there". The street or square may refer to the place of judgment, the law court. The injustice there meant that the Kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:450 8:16'>Zec 8:16</a> was disallowed of fulfilment.</p>


text:
<p>Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey- LXX"And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside their mind from understanding". Those who ’don’t understand’ do so not simply because of intellectual failure, but because they do not want to understand."He who departs from evil"is the term used about Job (s:w. Job 18; <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>); and he too became a"prey"to evil. Job represents not only the exiles, but the righteous remnant amongst them who departed from evil but suffered all the same.</p><p>Yahweh saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice- The lack of justice and honesty might seem relatively small issues compared to the murder and gross idolatry mentioned as going on at the time. But the prophets often make clear that it is attitudes to justice which reflect the essence of a person’s spirituality.</p><p>In the Lord Jesus we see a heart that more than bled for the salvation of others. He didn’t live out His perfect life in isolation from others, withdrawn from society, insulated from the world’s pain. <a href='B:290 59:15-20'>Isa 59:15-20</a> speaks of how He came to perceive that really there was nobody apart from Him who could bring about such great salvation to the world:"And the Lord saw it, and it displeased [s:w. grieved] him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke". So many of these phrases and ideas are picked up in the New Testament and applied to the Lord Jesus in His time of dying. It was His grief that inspired Him.</p><p>Scripture repeatedly speaks as if God notices things and is then hurt by what He sees (<a href='B:390 3:10'>Jon 3:10</a>; <a href='B:10 29:31'>Gen 29:31</a>; <a href='B:20 3:4'>Exo 3:4</a>; <a href='B:50 32:19'>Deu 32:19</a>; <a href='B:120 14:26'>2Ki 14:26</a>; <a href='B:140 12:7'>2Ch 12:7</a>; <a href='B:330 23:13'>Eze 23:13</a>; <a href='B:290 59:15'>Isa 59:15</a> cp. <a href='B:490 7:13'>Luk 7:13</a>). If He knew in advance what they were going to do, this language is hard for me to understand. But God is therefore hurt and ’surprised’ at sin- He saw Israel as the firstripe grapes, but they were worshipping Baal even then (<a href='B:350 9:9'>Hos 9:9</a>). Thus God can allow Himself to feel an element of surprise- and this was a shock to Jeremiah, who queried:"Why are You like a man who is caught by surprise…?"(<a href='B:300 14:9'>Jer 14:9</a>).</p>


text:
<p>He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor- None of the potential Messiah figures worked out; and it seems about nobody responded to the prophetic call for the exiles to repent. God was ’desolated’ ["wondered"]about this, so great were His hopes for some response. And yet God wished to try to save them anyway by His dramatic intervention, which was to come to full term in the person and work of His own son. LXX suggests this was by His pure mercy and grace alone:"so he defended them with his arm, and stablished them with his mercy".</p><p>Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness, it upheld Him- see on <a href='B:20 2:11-12'>Exo 2:11-12</a>. The arm of Yahweh, the practical articulation of His power, is ultimately the Lord Jesus. &nbsp;God sent His prophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son. There is a clear parallel between <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> and <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a>. The same words are used, but there is one difference. In <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>,"His righteousness, it upheld Him", but in <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> it was God’s fury which upheld / sustained Him. The Messianic arm of Yahweh which brought salvation did so only because as Son of Man, the Lord Jesus is the only human who can rightly judge sin on behalf ofGod’s anger. His necessary anger / wrath in judging sin is therefore part of the wider nexus of the absolutely legitimate salvation He achieved through the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle- Yahweh’s arm which was to bring salvation (:16) required that the saviour referred to act as a high priest; hence the usage of priestly language here for the breastplate:; indeed all the items of clothing here are described with words which are found in the description of the high priestly clothing in Exodus 28. The"garments"are s:w. <a href='B:20 28:3-4'>Exo 28:3-4</a>. The"helmet"alludes therefore to the high priestly mitre; the"mantle"to the priestly"robe"(s:w:) of <a href='B:20 28:4'>Exo 28:4</a>; <a href='B:20 28:31'>Exo 28:31</a> etc. And yet the suffering servant had been named"Israel, he was representative of all God’s people. And so these words are applied to us, in that we are "in Christ" and all that is true of Him is true of us- even His High Priestly work for sinners. Thus 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>According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense- The adversaries and enemies of God’s people are the enemies of God Himself and His Son. The salvation to be achieved by Yahweh’s arm, His Son (:16,17) required the judgment of sin. Clothed as it were in high priestly clothing (:17), the priest-king-saviour will finally do justice- at the day of judgment. Their judgment will be according to what they did (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:290 65:6'>Isa 65:6</a>); although <a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a> says that some will be recompensed double. By contrast, the exiles were not receiving punishment according as their deeds deserved, but less (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). These different degrees of recompense suggest that Divine judgment is far more complex than a simple ’measure for measure’. The greater complexity is because He weighs motives and inflexions of meaning attached to actions which all require different judgments. And then on top of that, there is the credit He gives for forgiveness, and for the prayers and faith of others influencing the final outcome of judgment in any given case.</p>


text:
<p>So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun- The judgments upon the surrounding nations were intended to bring forth repentance and acceptance of Israel’s God, from east to west.</p><p>For He will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh drives- AV "the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him". This elsewhere refers to the pole lifted up, the Lord Jesus, lifted up as crucified as the rallying point of faith in the midst of the stream of Divine judgments.</p>


text:
<p>A Redeemer- "A redeemer" [although the text is unclear] rather than "the redeemer" could suggest there were other potential redeemers which could have arisen before the Lord Jesus came. As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren</p><p>Will come to Zion- No redeemer came to Zion as planned because the Jewish lack of repentance precluded it. So under inspiration, Paul changes this to "the redeemer shall come out of Zion" (<a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>), thereby combining the sense with that of <a href='B:230 14:7'>Psa 14:7</a>.</p><p>And to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob, says Yahweh- &nbsp;The LXX and <a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a> have "shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob". The ambiguity is because man’s turning away from sin is also a gift from God, in this case that requested in <a href='B:310 5:2'>Lam 5:2</a>. Repentance and not just forgiveness is given from God; this is His grace to the extreme. Those who turn from sin are turned from sin by the Lord. The blessing promised to Abraham was not only forgiveness of sins, but that the Lord Jesus would turn away Abraham’s seed from their iniquities (<a href='B:510 3:26'>Act 3:26</a>). Yet we only become Abraham’s seed by repentance and baptism. Our repentance and desire not to sin is therefore confirmed after our baptism. Paul’s citation of this is deliberately altered to teach the truth that the majority of Israel will not turn before He comes. To them He will come and turn ungodliness away from them (<a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>). But Israelite repentance is a condition for the Lord’s return.</p>


text:
<p>As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Yahweh. My Spirit which is on you, and My words which I have put in your mouth- This would be achieved if they accepted the Spirit, part of the package offered in the new covenant. His words would be written in their hearts too. Having Divine words put in the mouth meant they were to be as Aaron and Moses before Pharaoh (s:w. <a href='B:20 4:15'>Exo 4:15</a>); for it was also Moses who was covered in the shadow of Yahweh’s hand as He passed by in the parallel passage in <a href='B:290 51:16'>Isa 51:16</a>. Remember that they were bidden flee Babylon before she fell to the Medes. The servant figure need not have feared the king of Babylon, he was intended to go to him and plead as Moses "let My people go". But the exiles feared men, perhaps one particular ruler of Persia or Babylon, whom they thought would not allow their restoration; see on <a href='B:290 51:12'>Isa 51:12</a>. They feared him rather than God, and so they didn’t flee Babylon as asked.</p><p>Shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says Yahweh- The promise of the new covenant and the associated gift of the Spirit was that if they said "yes" to it, then they would be preserved eternally faithful. For the Messianic Kingdom would then begin. A connection between Joshua and Israel is developed here, which describes the new covenant which God will make with Israel in the Messianic Kingdom in terms evidently reminiscent of Joshua- as if the new covenant was made with him, thereby enabling him potentially to be part of a Messianic Kingdom even in his day:&nbsp; “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: my Spirit that is upon thee [“Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him” <a href='B:50 34:9'>Deu 34:9</a>; <a href='B:40 27:18-23'>Num 27:18-23</a>] , and my words which I have put in thy mouth [<a href='B:50 18:18'>Deu 18:18</a> - God’s words were put in Joshua’s mouth], shall not depart out of thy mouth [“this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth”, <a href='B:60 1:8'>Jos 1:8</a>, s:w:], nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever”:&nbsp; See on <a href='B:60 1:6'>Jos 1:6</a>. But these things were to come true in the greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus.</p><p>From henceforth and forever- The Spirit would abide in them for ever. In other words, the sense of Spiritual strength from God which Israel will have will not just diminish into nothing, it will not just fade away. I think this is one of the saddest aspects of our present spiritual experience. You see a keen young brother emerge from the waters of baptism, entering the new covenant, throw himself into the study and preaching of the word, he grows spiritually... and then he slips, slips and slips, until he slides down the slippery path into the world. We go to a Bible study, a Bible conference, we read the word of the new covenant together in intense fellowship. And then it all slips away, we lose the reality of our calling, we’re strong for the next day, perhaps the day after, and then back to base level. But then we will spiritually run and not faint, walk in the new and living way and not be weary. This is surely one of the most wonderful aspects of the Kingdom life; constant growth, no regrets, no looking back over our shoulder, no sense of spiritual anti-climax. No more fading away spiritually, instead the energy of constant growth.</p>


text:
<p>Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen upon you- Even before the exile, Israel and Judah had been invited to perceive that light, hence <a href='B:290 9:2'>Isa 9:2</a> LXX "O people walking in darkness, behold a great light". But they didn’t. And so the returned exiles, "Zion", are asked at a later stage to arise and shine because their light had come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). But again they didn’t, and so these prophecies of a light coming are reapplied to the Lord Jesus, who was perceived by a new Zion as the light of the world. I explained on <a href='B:290 30:26'>Isa 30:26</a> how the coming of Zion’s supernaturally bright light is to come therefore when Babylon falls; and this has therefore been deferred to the latter day fall of Babylon.</p><p>"Arise" is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to "Arise... Jerusalem!" (<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form ofYahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival.</p><p>Zion’s light would certainly come and give light to the world- even though the fulfilment of the prophecy at the restoration from Babylon was actually conditional on Judah keeping the Sabbath and caring for their poor brethren: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee…&nbsp; And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Nehemiah repaired the breaches, Ezra laid the foundations of the temple…the prophecy of Isaiah 58 was fulfilled on the surface, but not in its Kingdom sense, because they failed to keep the Sabbath etc. <a href='B:290 58:10'>Isa 58:10</a> says that if they drew out their soul to the hungry, if they allowed themselves to feel the hunger of others, then would their light rise and their darkness be as the noonday. And thus the prophecy of <a href='B:290 60:1-2'>Isa 60:1-2</a> that Zion’s light is going to dawn was conditional upon the Jews caring for their hungry amongst them- even though in that passage, the condition isn’t directly stated. The restoration was therefore only a sham of what was possible.</p><p>Let’s remember that the exiles were symbols of us. We in this life are passing through “the time of our exile” (<a href='B:670 1:17'>1Pe 1:17</a> RSV). The restoration command to the exiles in Babylon to arise and shine, as their light had come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>) went unheeded by them; they preferred to stay in Babylon. And so this is reapplied to us as the new Israel in <a href='B:560 5:14'>Eph 5:14</a>.</p><p>The LXX suggests that the coming of this light of Zion depended upon their being willing to accept it: "Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come".</p>


text:
<p>For behold, darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you- The darkness contrasts with the light which dawns mentally, internally, in minds which have desired to be enlightened (:1 LXX). Darkness covering the earth is the language of Genesis 1; we as the readers / audience are left in expectation of a new creation being spoken about. But we are also given the impression that Israel was being treated as Egypt whom they trusted in, suffering the plague of darkness. But ’covering with darkness’ is a phrase only used elsewhere of death (<a href='B:220 23:17'>Job 23:17</a>; <a href='B:250 6:4'>Ecc 6:4</a>). It was through death and judgment that the new life and creation could come forth. The land, of Israel, and "the peoples" (Gentiles) are paralleled here; for it was the Divine intention that the judgments upon the surrounding world would also be those upon Israel, and yet out of that was to emerge a repentant remnant of Jews and Gentiles who would merge into a new multiethnic people of God in the day when Yahweh would arise in glory. In a literal sense there was to be the light of God’s glory in Zion when He personally dwelt there.</p>


text:
<p>Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising- <a href='B:290 60:1-3'>Isa 60:1-3</a> reasons that Zion’s light was soon to come, but Judah were to reflect that light as if it had already come; in the same way as God’s light was to rise, so Judah were to arise as if they were that light. The message is that they were to believe that the Messianic light of the world was to arise soon, and were to act as if that time had already come; they were called to live the Kingdom now life, to showcase God’s Kingdom to the world. In this sense, Zion’s sons are described as coming from all parts of their dispersion and being about to come to Zion; and yet they are described as having already "come" (<a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>). The mixing of the tenses, present and future, is to suggest that they were to believe that this would happen and to act now as if it was already happening. "You shall see and be lightened" (<a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a> RV)- and yet they were to act as if their light had in fact already come (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). Yet Judah sadly didn’t believe that the restoration prophecies would come to pass, and so they didn’t act as if they would come true. Instead of being a light to the world, they accepted the Gentile darkness instead of God’s light. Mazdak, the Persian god of light, effectively became their god, instead of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you- The ’coming / assembling’ and ’drawing near / gathering’ of the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>) would have been primarily fulfilled at the restoration (same words in <a href='B:160 1:9'>Neh 1:9</a>). But most of the exiles remained in the lands of their captivity, just as people resist the Gospel’s call today. They had to themselves bring and gather themselves (<a href='B:290 45:20'>Isa 45:20</a>; <a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>; <a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>), so that God would confirm this by bringing and gathering them (<a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>; <a href='B:330 34:13'>Eze 34:13</a>; <a href='B:330 36:24'>Eze 36:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:21'>Eze 37:21</a>; <a href='B:450 10:10'>Zec 10:10</a>). See on <a href='B:290 56:8'>Isa 56:8</a>. And so today with all who wish to be in God’s Kingdom; our desire to be there and first moves towards it will be confirmed many times over by God’s work through His Spirit.</p><p>Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms- See on :3:&nbsp; The LXX suggests it would be as a result of the children born in exile returning along with the repentant Gentiles of the lands of their captivities: "lift up thine eyes round about, and behold thy children gathered: all thy sons have come from far, and thy daughters shall be borne on men’s shoulders". This is a commonly expressed prophetic vision. It didn’t however come about, and the essence of it has therefore been delayed and reapplied. The later feeding miracle occurred on the other side of Galilee to Magdala (<a href='B:470 15:39'>Mat 15:39</a>), suggesting the miracle occurred in Gentile territory, with people present from "far off" (<a href='B:480 8:3'>Mar 8:3</a>; hence the guests "glorified the God of Israel", <a href='B:470 15:31'>Mat 15:31</a>). Surely there were Gentiles present at that meal, and the LXX uses this phrase to speak of how Gentiles from "far off" would come and sit down at the Messianic banquet of the last days (<a href='B:290 60:4'>Isa 60:4</a>; <a href='B:300 46:27'>Jer 46:27</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you- "You shall see and be lightened" (<a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a> RV). See on :3:&nbsp; "Turned" is AV "converted", suggesting there would be repentance amongst the nations of their captivity; see on :4. The nations around Israel were to repent and bring their presents to them. This began to happen after the destruction of the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time, but he entered into covenant with the Gentiles rather than bringing them to the God of Israel, the light of Zion. Perhaps Nehemiah was some kind of potential Messiah- for in <a href='B:160 5:17'>Neh 5:17</a> the surrounding Gentiles ‘came up’ to him and shared in the luxurious temple meals (a common Kingdom prophecy- the same Hebrew words are used for the Gentiles ‘coming up’ to the temple in <a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a>; <a href='B:290 60:11'>Isa 60:11</a>; Jer 1619; <a href='B:440 2:7'>Hag 2:7</a>; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>). Those meals could have been the Messianic banquets. But finally at the last day, all these prophecies shall be fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus, despite all the previous failures in fulfilment.</p>


text:
<p>The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Yahweh- The gold and frankincense brought from the east recalls the gifts of the wise men to the infant Jesus. The conversion of the Gentiles [proclaiming the praise of Yahweh] which was possible at the restoration didn’t happen, and so it was reapplied and reinterpreted. They would proclaim Yahweh’s praise just as the Israelites themselves would (<a href='B:290 63:7'>Isa 63:7</a>) because the Gentiles would now identify themselves with the Israelites in forming the new multiethnic people of God which was to be formed on the basis of repentance and acceptance of the new covenant.</p>


text:
<p>All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you- Kedar and Nebaioth were sons of Ishmael. The idea may be that finally the Jew - Arab conflict within the family of Abraham is resolved, and they too come to offer sacrifice to Israel’s God.</p><p>They shall come up with acceptance on My altar; and I will glorify the house of My glory- <a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a> prophesied that God would “glorify the house of my glory”, LXX "my house of prayer shall be glorified". But this was in fact a conditional prophecy, capable of fulfilment through the freewill efforts of the returning exiles. For they were empowered by Artaxerxes “to beautify [s:w. “glorify”] the house of the Lord” (<a href='B:150 7:27'>Ezr 7:27</a>). All their efforts to glorify / beautify the house, therefore, would have had God’s special and powerful blessing behind them. But was the house ultimately glorified? No- for Israel would not. They got sidetracked by beautifying their own homes, building “cieled houses” for themselves (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>). The word for “cieled” occurs in <a href='B:110 6:9'>1Ki 6:9</a>; <a href='B:110 7:3'>1Ki 7:3</a>; <a href='B:110 7:7'>1Ki 7:7</a> to describe the roofing of the first temple- which they were to be rebuilding, rather than building their own houses. The glory would have entered the house of God’s glory as it did at the inauguration of the first temple (<a href='B:140 7:1-3'>2Ch 7:1-3</a>). Ezekiel prophesied that ultimately the glory would fill the temple as it had done then (<a href='B:330 43:4-5'>Eze 43:4-5</a>). But God’s prophesy of this in <a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a>, that He would glorify His house, meant that He was prepared to work through men to glorify it. The fulfilment of Ezekiel’s vision of the cloud of glory entering the temple again could have been fulfilled if the exiles had done what Artaxerxes empowered them to do- to glorify the house of glory. And so the fulfilment was delayed. The glory of the temple the exiles built was tragically less than the glory of the first temple; and so it would only be in the last day of Messiah’s second coming that the house shall truly be filled with glory (<a href='B:440 2:3'>Hag 2:3</a>; <a href='B:440 2:7'>Hag 2:7</a>; <a href='B:440 2:9'>Hag 2:9</a>). And the lesson ought to be clear for us, in the various projects and callings of our lives: it becomes crucial for us to discern God’s specific purposes for us, and insofar as we follow His leading, we will feel a blessing and power which is clearly Divine:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?- The reference is to the exiles returning to Judah along with the repentant Gentiles. LXX "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with young ones to me?"; GNB "What are these ships that skim along like clouds, Like doves returning home?". Perhaps in view is the dove returning to Noah’s window once the flood of Divine judgment receded.</p>


text:
<p>Surely the islands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far- No specific location may be in view, as "ships of Tarshish" was a phrase used like "an Indiaman" was once used to refer to a long distance trading vessel. Thus GNB "They are ships coming from distant lands, bringing God’s people home". The text can also read "the ships of Tarshish as at the first", referring to how they brought gold and silver in the days of Solomon and the earlier kingdom of God which was now to be restored. There is another such allusion to Solomon’s times in :13.</p><p>Their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you- The Gentiles will be converted because of how God had saved and glorified His sinful people; for these Gentiles had been host nations for the Jewish exiles and were well aware of their sins. It is God’s grace to sinners which is observed by others and causes them to turn to Him- and this is always the most powerful tool in the work of conversion, rather than advertising theological, abstract truths and expecting the general public to fall down in amazement before them.</p>


text:
<p>Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you- It could be that their refusal of Gentile help to build the temple, insisting that only Jews work in it (<a href='B:150 4:3'>Ezr 4:3</a> cp. <a href='B:160 2:20'>Neh 2:20</a>), was actually going too far; by being so exclusive, they were disallowing the fulfilment of the prophecies both in Zechariah 6 and in Isaiah, that Gentiles would help in the final rebuilding of Zion. As with some of us, their quite correct refusal to allow “the adversaries of Judah” (<a href='B:150 4:1'>Ezr 4:1</a>) to fellowship with us in the work can lead us to an exclusive approach to fellowship, that actually disallows the essentially outgoing and inclusive spirit of the God we serve. The Jews returned from Babylonian having swung to the opposite extreme from their earlier worldliness; they returned proud and refusing contact with the Gentile world, considering themselves saved by their own strength. And this is perhaps reflected in the way they refused on principle to allow any Gentiles to help them in the building work. <a href='B:290 60:10-11'>Isa 60:10-11</a> had foretold: “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee [as in the decree of Cyrus]…Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night”; and them as Ezekiel 43 had also described, “I will glorify the house of my glory” (<a href='B:290 60:7'>Isa 60:7</a>).</p><p>The reality was that the walls were built from a motive not of glorifying Zion in fulfilment of prophecy, but for defence against the Gentiles:&nbsp; But the gates had to be shut to keep the Gentiles out (<a href='B:160 13:19'>Neh 13:19</a>), lest they yet further corrupted the Jews who were eager to trade with them on the Sabbath rather than convert them to the God of Israel. Instead of bringing their goods through the gates to lay before Yahweh, they brought in their goods to sell to His people in trade. But returned Judah didn’t act as a nation of priests, the food the Gentiles brought in to Zion was to be sold for profit to the Jews. They failed to be a missionary nation, and rather were mere trading / economic partners on an equal footing [cp. the church today?]. The prophecy that the gates would be always open will now only come true in the future Kingdom of God on earth (<a href='B:730 21:25-26'>Rev 21:25-26</a>).</p><p>For in My wrath I struck you, but in My grace have I had mercy on you- As explained on :9, the Gentiles will be converted because ["for in My wrath..."] of how God had saved and glorified His sinful, condemned people by grace; for these Gentiles had been host nations for the Jewish exiles and were well aware of their sins. It is God’s grace to sinners which is observed by others and causes them to turn to Him- and this is always the most powerful tool in the work of conversion, rather than advertising theological, abstract truths and expecting the general public to fall down in amazement before them.</p>


text:
<p>Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive- AV "Therefore your gates...". The “therefore” connects with the preceding verse, as if the gates would always be open in order to constantly welcome repentant Gentiles:&nbsp;&nbsp;When the city and temple was rebuilt, Gentiles would come and feed Israel’s flocks and name them all “the priests of the Lord” and bring them food to eat in tribute (<a href='B:290 61:4-6'>Isa 61:4-6</a>). And yet Nehemiah had to close the gates of Jerusalem to stop Sabbath trading, thereby precluding the fulfilment of this prophecy at the time. The prophecy will therefore come to final fulfilment in the new Jerusalem to be established at the Lord’s return (<a href='B:730 21:25'>Rev 21:25</a>). Although clearly the fulfilment may not be strictly literal, but will be a reinterpretation and reapplication of these words which initially could have had a literal fulfilment at the restoration.</p>


text:
<p>For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterlywasted- Connecting with :11 ["for..."], the nations of the land would either perish, or enter into the open gates of Zion in covenant relationship with Yahweh. Thus a situation would come about whereby the earth was only populated by those in covenant relationship with God.</p>


text:
<p>The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious- But Haggai lamented that instead, Judah dwelt in “cieled houses”, they used the exotic trees of the land for their own homes, whilst the house of Yahweh lay desolate. Thereby the prophecy of <a href='B:330 43:7'>Eze 43:7</a> was precluded from fulfilment: "the place of His throne, the place of the soles of His feet, where He will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever". The intention was that the ark would no longer be His footstool (<a href='B:300 3:16'>Jer 3:16</a>; <a href='B:230 99:5'>Psa 99:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:7'>Psa 132:7</a>; <a href='B:130 28:2'>1Ch 28:2</a>), but He Himself would be dwelling in the temple. The idea was that as cedars had been sent from Lebanon for the building of the first temple, so they would again; the impression is of a restored Kingdom of God in Israel as it previously was, but to an even greater extent. See on :9.</p>


text:
<p>The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel- This prophecy started to come true after Haman’s demise: “the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet”. But Judah didn’t do their part in fulfilling the rest of the prophecy, which speaks of a rebuilt Zion. The promise that Judah’s persecutors would bow before them was only partially fulfilled in Haman’s destruction; the main fulfilment now awaits the Kingdom, although in a reinterpreted form (<a href='B:730 3:9'>Rev 3:9</a>). The renaming of the city is like that of <a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a> "Yahweh is there", because the idea was that He would literally come and dwell in Zion; the kingdom of heaven was to be transferred to earth. This wonderful possibility didn’t come about at the restoration because the returned exiles didn’t rebuild the temple and operate it according to the commandments of Ezekiel 40-48.</p>


text:
<p>Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations- The hatred was by God as well as man: “I hated them” (<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). This was the wrath of love unrequited and spurned. God is emotional and speaks in anger, and truly had these feelings; but the pole of His love is greater than that of His judgment. We note how God as it were takes the blame for Israel being "forsaken"; they had forsaken Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:28'>Isa 1:28</a>), but He expresses it in terms of Him having forsaken them.</p>


text:
<p>You shall also drink the milk of the nations, and shall nurse from royal breasts- This continues the figure of <a href='B:290 49:21'>Isa 49:21</a>: "Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?’". Children born through another were still reckoned as the wife’s children (<a href='B:10 16:1'>Gen 16:1</a>; <a href='B:10 30:1'>Gen 30:1</a>). The children of Zion were therefore suckled by the Gentiles (<a href='B:290 60:16'>Isa 60:16</a>).</p><p>And you shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob-&nbsp;As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren.</p>


text:
<p>For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron- The language of Israel’s return from captivity as found in Isaiah and Ezekiel all has evident reference to the second coming and the final establishment of the Kingdom. It isn’t just that Israel’s return under Ezra and Zerubbabel was a type of that final homecoming. It could have been the Kingdom- had they obeyed the prophecies. It was all about a potential Kingdom of God. But they were too caught up with their own self-interest, with building their own houses rather than God’s; and so it was all deferred. Using the prophetic perfect, God had prophesied that at the time of the restoration, He would come and dwell in rebuilt Zion (<a href='B:450 8:3'>Zec 8:3</a>)- just as Ezekiel’s prophecy had concluded: “The name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there” (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>). Clearly, Ezekiel’s prophecies could have been fulfilled at the restoration; God was willing that they should be. But human apathy and self-interest stopped it from happening as it could have done. When the foundation stone of the temple was laid, there should have been excited acclamation: “Grace, grace unto it” (<a href='B:450 4:7'>Zec 4:7</a>). But instead the old men wept when the foundation was laid, knowing that the temple was nothing compared to what it ought to be (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). The glory of the restored temple was prophesied as being far greater than that of the former (<a href='B:440 2:9'>Hag 2:9</a>); <a href='B:290 60:17'>Isa 60:17</a> alluded to this in prophesying that “For brass [in Solomon’s temple] I will bring gold, and for iron [that was in Solomon’s fixtures] I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron”. But it simply didn’t happen, because God’s people were satisfied with a small, inglorious temple so that they could get on with building their own “cieled houses” (the same word is used in describing how the temple of Solomon was “covered”, or cieled, with cedar). And the old men wept at the fact that the glory of the new house was less than that of the earlier one.</p><p>I will also make your officers peace, and righteousness your ruler- "Officers" is the word commonly used for "visitation", in the sense of the enemies of Judah judging and dominating her in the day of her visitation. "Ruler" or AV "exactor" is the word for "taskmaster" and has been used by Isaiah of Judah’s dominators and abusers (<a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a>; <a href='B:290 14:2'>Isa 14:2</a>; <a href='B:290 14:4'>Isa 14:4</a>); the reference is to the repentance of Israel’s historical abusers and their being given peace with God and imputed righteousness, so that they might also enter covenant with Yahweh along with a repentant Judah. All this was due to the way the Lord Jesus was "oppressed" as Israel’s representative (<a href='B:290 53:7'>Isa 53:7</a>) and thus became the basis for righteousness to be imputed to all who had been oppressed and had oppressed others.</p>


text:
<p>Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise- "Salvation" is literally "Jesus". But Nehemiah records how the walls and gates were given very mundane names, connected to what merchandise was traded there [e.g. fish]. And so they chose not to make ’Jesus’ their wall- and so His coming was deferred or re-interpreted. Yet Nehemiah encouraged the singing of praise on the walls of Zion (<a href='B:160 9:5'>Neh 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 12:46'>Neh 12:46</a>), surely in a conscious effort to fulfill the words of <a href='B:290 60:18'>Isa 60:18</a> - that Zion’s gates in Messiah’s Kingdom would be praise. The "violence" in view was not only that of foreign invaders, but the violence done by the Jews to each other (s:w. <a href='B:290 59:6'>Isa 59:6</a>; <a href='B:300 6:7'>Jer 6:7</a>). We note that the promise of peace is limited to "within your borders". The initial intention was that the Kingdom would be reestablished within the eretz promised to Abraham:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory- It seems that Yahweh Himself would have dwelt in Zion, the "brightness" of the cherubim would have returned there (s:w. <a href='B:330 1:4'>Eze 1:4</a>; <a href='B:330 1:13'>Eze 1:13</a>) resulting in a visible light which would have eclipsed the need for light from the sun and moon (<a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, "shining" is s:w. "brightness"). Such great potentials were wasted. But these things will come true in the last days and are alluded to in <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a> as having literal truth when the Lord Jesus returns. This would be the fulfilment of the promise to David, that his glorified kingdom would be as the "brightness" after the rain of judgment (<a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a> s:w:). But until then these things are reapplied in a spiritual sense to the way the Lord Jesus, who is the light of God’s glory, is to be the light of our world in which we live, move and understand life. He who has no light can find "brightness" in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>). This was hinted at even in <a href='B:240 4:18'>Pro 4:18</a>, where the path of the just is as the "brightness" (s:w:) shining more and more unto the perfect day:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended- See on :19. Sun and moon were not to be destroyed, but to be replaced in function by the light of Yahweh. Hence LXX "nor shall the moon be eclipsed". The sun and moon, as in Joseph’s dreams, may refer to the leadership of Israel. They would no longer be eclipsed by captivity and exile, although they would be replaced in function. "Withdraw" is the word for "gather", used of the gathering of Judah into captivity (<a href='B:290 16:10'>Isa 16:10</a>; <a href='B:290 17:5'>Isa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:290 24:22'>Isa 24:22</a>; <a href='B:290 33:4'>Isa 33:4</a>). These words are quoted as being true of God’s future Kingdom on earth (<a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>); they were reapplied to a later fulfilment rather than coming true at the restoration. The days of mourning refer to the days of exile, as demonstrated by the mourning of the book of Lamentations and <a href='B:230 137:1'>Psa 137:1</a>. But the exiles preferred to stay in exile; and thus precluded the possibility of these words having any primary fulfilment. "Days of mourning" is a phrase used several times for funeral mourning. There would be final comfort over the loss brought about by death- ultimately, through the resurrection of the dead</p>


text:
<p>Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified- Their salvation would be on account of their identity with the Messianic "branch", the Lord Jesus; they would be "in Christ" and thereby saved. Inheritance of the land forever is the language of the Abrahamic covenant; this would come true because of righteousness being imputed to them. And the end result of that system of salvation, as Paul brings out in Romans, would be glory to God.</p>


text:
<p>The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time- Despite LXX "I the Lord will gather them in due time", this connects back to <a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a>, where we read that the Jews mocked Isaiah and his God, saying "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it". There was clearly opposition to Isaiah’s prophecies. The idea of judgment coming would have been mocked in these kinds of words. But we wonder whether this is really a verbatim quotation from these people; or whether God read their thoughts as effectively saying this, and as being the real implication of their positions. For there is no evidence that Judah abandoned Yahweh; rather did they claim obedience and loyalty to Him, although they claimed the same about their idols whom they worshipped in His Name. But God was not deaf to their words, or the implications of their thoughts and actions. He in fact heard their mocking ’prayer’, because He here says that He will "hasten His work" (s:w:).</p>


text:
<p>The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted- The sending forth of Isaiah was the sending forth of God’s word to His people (s:w. <a href='B:290 6:8'>Isa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:290 9:8'>Isa 9:8</a>). 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. In the immediate context, Isaiah himself was the servant messenger sent forth (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>; <a href='B:290 48:16'>Isa 48:16</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>); but he was largely rejected, and Jewish tradition has it that Isaiah was sawn in two by Hezekiah’s son Manasseh (<a href='B:650 11:37'>Heb 11:37</a>). And so the messenger came to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. He came to proclaim “the opening of the prison”, or “the opening of the eyes to them that are bound” (<a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> RVmg:)- He came to open blind eyes, to change the self-perceptions which imprison most of humanity. But that was possible if they wished to see. The Israelites were seen as grasshoppers by their enemies- and so this is how they came to perceive themselves (<a href='B:40 13:33'>Num 13:33</a>). <a href='B:240 23:7'>Pro 23:7</a> RV observes: “As he reckoneth within himself, so is he”. We are defined by our own self-perception. We must come in the end to perceive ourselves from God’s perspective and not according to how men perceive us.</p><p><a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a> parallels “the poor” with “the brokenhearted... the captives... the bruised”. The whole mission of Jesus was to bring good news to the poor (<a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a> cp. <a href='B:490 4:18-21'>Luk 4:18-21</a>; <a href='B:470 11:5'>Mat 11:5</a>). This doesn’t mean that the materially rich are outside the scope of the Gospel. It means that we are all “the poor”. Therefore the huge emphasis on helping the poor applies to the poor themselves- to be generous to the poor in spirit. You don’t need money in your pocket to be generous to “the poor”. Paul could say that although he was poor, he made many rich (<a href='B:540 6:10'>2Co 6:10</a>).</p><p>To proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound- The allusion is to the proclamation of the year of Jubilee on the day of atonement. Through the cross, freedom was obtained for the spiritually imprisoned; but that jubilee is to be proclaimed by us. And so the Lord Himself quoted <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> about Himself: He proclaimed liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. For the Babylonian exiles refused to accept they were imprisoned and largely didn’t want the freedom proclaimed. But this passage is evidently behind Peter’s assertion that after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus preached to the spirits in prison (<a href='B:670 3:18-19'>1Pe 3:18-19</a>). His resurrection was the basis of His command to go into all the world and preach the word; and thereby His preachers went out to do and continue the work which He personally had done. Those who are bound are expanded into "the bruised" in <a href='B:490 4:18'>Luk 4:18</a>; alluding to the temporal bruising of the heel of the seed&nbsp; of the woman by sin, the seed of the serpent (<a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>). The opening of the prison in practice means, for now, the opening of blind eyes to the wonderful spiritual vista of the Kingdom and things of the Lord Jesus.</p><p>The teaching of Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality of God’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</p>


text:
<p>To proclaim the time of Yahweh’s grace, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn- "Time" is "year", alluding to the year of Jubilee of :1 being proclaimed. We note the contrast between a year of grace and the singular day of vengeance. When reading this passage (<a href='B:490 4:20-21'>Luk 4:20-21</a>), the Lord Jesus stopped His reading after "the year of Yahweh’s grace"; because the "day of vengeance" had been postponed by His work until the last day (<a href='B:600 1:7-9'>2Th 1:7-9</a>). The comfort of the mourners was that spoken of in Isaiah 40; the coming of Messiah was to be prefaced by comfort to the mourners, those who mourned for their sins. It is not those generally in sorrow who are in view, but those who mourn their sins in repentance.</p>


text:
<p>To appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes- "Garland" is literally a bonnet, and is used of the bonnets with which the priests were to be clothed in the restored temple (<a href='B:330 44:18'>Eze 44:18</a>; <a href='B:20 39:28'>Exo 39:28</a>). But they refused to build and operate the structure of Ezekiel 40-48 and so precluded any possibility of this being fulfilled in them; and they didn’t mourn for their sins.</p><p>The oil of joy- The term is only used for the anointing of the sinless Messiah, the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 45:7'>Psa 45:7</a> = <a href='B:650 1:9'>Heb 1:9</a>). But His anointing will become that of all who are "in Christ".</p><p>For mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness- Mourning is contrasted with being planted as trees of righteousness, confirming the suggestion on :2 that the mourning in view is of penitence, rather than sadness in general. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away in that forgiveness and salvation will finally come. The joy which replaces the mourning is the joy of good conscience with God. Nehemiah in his mourning for the state of his people began to fulfill <a href='B:290 61:3'>Isa 61:3</a>, concerning how those who wept over Zion would be given joy- but the prophecy continues to speak of how the old wastes of Zion would be rebuilt and repaired, and the Messianic age ushered in. He didn’t go on to fulfill this. Mourning being turned into joy would have happened if the mourning exiles (<a href='B:230 137:1'>Psa 137:1</a>; <a href='B:310 1:4'>Lam 1:4</a>) had accepted the new covenant offered them (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:13'>Jer 31:13</a>); but they rejected it. And so this comes true in the experience of those in our age who accept that covenant.</p><p>That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that He may be glorified- This is the time of <a href='B:330 34:29'>Eze 34:29</a> (s:w:), and also of <a href='B:290 60:21'>Isa 60:21</a> "Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified". Their salvation would be on account of their identity with the Messianic "branch", the Lord Jesus; they would be "in Christ" and thereby saved. Inheritance of the land forever is the language of the Abrahamic covenant; this would come true because of righteousness being imputed to them. And the end result of that system of salvation, as Paul brings out in Romans, would be glory to God.</p>


text:
<p>They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations- "Arise / raise up" is the word used often of the ’rising up’ of the exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (<a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 3:2'>Ezr 3:2</a>; <a href='B:150 9:5'>Ezr 9:5</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:1'>Neh 3:1</a>). This was a fulfilment of the command to "Arise... Jerusalem!" (<a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:2'>Isa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). But this ’arising’ was to be associated with the dawning of Zion’s light in the form of Yahweh’s glory literally dwelling over Zion (<a href='B:290 60:1'>Isa 60:1</a>). This didn’t happen at the time, because the appearance of ’arising’ by the exiles was only external and wasn’t matched by a spiritual revival.</p><p>And they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations- The temple still lay “waste” (<a href='B:440 1:4'>Hag 1:4</a>; <a href='B:440 1:9'>Hag 1:9</a>) just as it had lain “desolate” [s:w. <a href='B:300 33:10'>Jer 33:10</a>; <a href='B:300 33:12'>Jer 33:12</a>] after the Babylonian destruction. The ‘restoration’ was in fact not really a restoration at all, in God’s eyes. Thus Ezra sat down desolate [AV “astonied”] at the news of Judah’s apostasy in marrying the surrounding women; using the very same word as frequently used to describe the ‘desolate’ Jerusalem that was to be rebuilt (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a> cp. <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:290 49:19'>Isa 49:19</a>; <a href='B:290 54:3'>Isa 54:3</a>; <a href='B:290 61:4'>Isa 61:4</a>). He tore his priestly garment (<a href='B:150 9:3'>Ezr 9:3</a>), as if he realized that all Ezekiel’s prophesies about those priestly garments now couldn’t come true (s:w. <a href='B:330 42:14'>Eze 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 44:17'>Eze 44:17</a>; <a href='B:330 44:19'>Eze 44:19</a>). <a href='B:290 58:12-13'>Isa 58:12-13</a> prophesied that the acceptable rebuilding of Zion was dependent upon Judah keeping the Sabbath acceptably; and yet Nehemiah’s record makes clear their tragic abuse of the Sabbath at the time of the restoration; and this therefore meant that the rebuilding of the temple and city were not going to fulfill the Messianic prophecies about them which existed. And this seems to have been foreseen in this prophecy, because it speaks of the desolations of "many generations", implying a far longer desolation than the 70 years exile in Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>Gentiles shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plough men and your vine dressers- This is all because "But you shall be... priests" (:6). The picture is of all their secular matters being attended to by Gentiles so that they might focus upon their priestly work. This is surely the hope anddream of every servant of God; to have all secular issues taken care of, so they can focus upon spiritual things.</p>


text:
<p>But you shall be named the priests of Yahweh; men will call you the ministers of our God- Time and again, the Old Testament speaks of the priests ministering in the priest’s office. The priests are specifically called God’s ministers (<a href='B:290 61:6'>Isa 61:6</a>; <a href='B:300 33:21'>Jer 33:21</a>; <a href='B:330 45:4'>Eze 45:4</a>; <a href='B:360 1:9'>Joe 1:9</a>; <a href='B:360 1:13'>Joe 1:13</a>; <a href='B:360 2:17'>Joe 2:17</a>):&nbsp; "Men", the Gentiles, would treat Israel as their priests. The early Christians would have heard and read many of the New Testament references to ministers and ministry as invitations to see themselves as a new priesthood. The Lord said that we should aim to be a minister, a priests, to every one of our brethren, not expecting them to minister to us, but concentrating on ministering to them (<a href='B:470 20:26'>Mat 20:26</a>). This is exactly against the grain of our nature, and also of the concept of religion we find in the world. People expect to have others spiritually ministering to them. They expect a priest-figure to do all their thinking for them. But our Lord said that we are each other’s priests, we’re not here to be ministered&nbsp; (’priest-ed’) to, but to minister, and give our lives in service to each other.</p><p>You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory- The Hebrew is difficult, literally "in their splendor you shall&nbsp;be substituted&nbsp;in their stead". The idea seems to be that the Gentiles will not glory in their own wealth, but rather in how much they can do for Israel.</p>


text:
<p>Instead of your shame you shall have double- LXX "thus shall they inherit the land a second time". Or the idea may simply be that they inherit double what they ought to, such is God’s grace to them and desire to load them with double blessing (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>; <a href='B:450 9:12'>Zec 9:12</a>), just as He gave double to Job as representative of restored Israel (<a href='B:220 42:10'>Job 42:10</a>).</p><p>And instead of dishonour they shall rejoice in their portion- Their "portion" is parallel with "their land". But they didn’t rejoice in their land because they preferred the softer life of Persia, as the book of Esther makes clear; rather than returning to a desolated land and rebuilding God’s Kingdom there.</p><p>Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be to them- &nbsp;“In their land” the Jews would receive “everlasting joy”- but they didn’t want to return to their land to receive it.</p>


text:
<p>For I, Yahweh, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them-</p><p>A love as strong as God’s is going to also elicit the emotion of hatred and anger when that love is rejected and abused. He "hated" (s:w:) Judah’s insincere worship and relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 1:14'>Isa 1:14</a>; <a href='B:290 61:8'>Isa 61:8</a>; <a href='B:300 44:4'>Jer 44:4</a>). But it is hard to separate the sin from the sinner. That distinction may be helpful for us in order to avoid judging others too personally, but God it seems doesn’t make that decision. He gave Israel into the hands of those who hated her (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:27'>Eze 16:27</a>; <a href='B:330 16:37'>Eze 16:37</a>) and in that sense He hated her. The feelings of hatred which Hosea had for Gomer due to her abuse of His love were those of God for Israel: "There I hated them" (<a href='B:350 9:15'>Hos 9:15</a>). God is not simply "love" in the abstract. He is love for real, with all the emotion and psychological complex which goes along with love; and this will include hatred if that love is abused.</p><p>Isaiah 61 gives a detailed prophecy of the restoration and how it could flourish into God’s Kingdom, and then adds that "I hate robbery for burnt offering"; as if to say that if Judah offered with the right spirit and showed justice, then the everlasting covenant would be entered with them. But this just didn’t happen. They themselves disallowed it.</p>


text:
<p>Their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yahweh has blessed- The implication seems to be that the children of the repentant exiles would be known among the nations, as if they would travel amongst them revealing by example and teaching the Abrahamic covenant. They would be the fulfilment of the promises of blessing upon the seed.</p>


text:
<p>I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels- Isaiah as representative of the true Israel rejoices in prospect of salvation, imagining and understanding how his salvation was due to being clothed as a high priest; being, in our terms, "in Christ". The LXX uses the language of the High Priest: "he has put a mitre on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornaments (NEV"jewels") as a bride". The jewels would then allude to the precious stones of the breastplate. It is the Messianic priest, the Lord Jesus, who is in view; and all those who are in Him. The idea is that high priest is getting married, and as he would clothe himself with these things to go into the sanctuary on service, he now does so in order to marry. His service of his wife is therefore in being her loving high priest.</p><p>We have been clothed with God’s righteousness (<a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:730 3:18'>Rev 3:18</a>) , and therefore we should be clothed with humility too, as our response to this (<a href='B:670 5:5'>1Pe 5:5</a>). And the element of unreality here is that God as it were dresses up His own bride. Israel is so often set up as the bride of God (<a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4-5'>Isa 62:4-5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:2'>Jer 2:2</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:350 2:19-20'>Hos 2:19-20</a>). This is why any infidelity to God is spoken of as adultery (<a href='B:460 2:11'>Mal 2:11</a>; <a href='B:30 17:7'>Lev 17:7</a>; <a href='B:30 20:5-6'>Lev 20:5-6</a>; <a href='B:50 31:16'>Deu 31:16</a>; <a href='B:70 2:17'>Jdg 2:17</a>; <a href='B:70 8:27'>Jdg 8:27</a>; <a href='B:70 8:33'>Jdg 8:33</a>; <a href='B:350 9:1'>Hos 9:1</a>). The very language of Israel ’selling themselves to do iniquity’ uses the image of prostitution. This is how God feels our even temporary and fleeting acts and thoughts of unfaithfulness. This is why God is jealous for us (<a href='B:20 20:15'>Exo 20:15</a>; <a href='B:20 34:14'>Exo 34:14</a>; <a href='B:50 4:24'>Deu 4:24</a>; <a href='B:50 5:9'>Deu 5:9</a>; <a href='B:50 6:15'>Deu 6:15</a>)- because His undivided love for us is so exclusive. He expects us to be totally His.</p>


text:
<p>For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nation- The returned exiles, or [later] all who wished to become part of God’s restored Kingdom, would be empowered by the water of the Spirit (see on <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>) to "spring up" on what had previously been dry ground (<a href='B:290 44:4'>Isa 44:4</a>). That Spirit would be articulated partly through the prophetic word(<a href='B:290 55:10'>Isa 55:10</a> s:w. "bud" AV). This will be the restored Eden, where Yahweh had caused the vegetation to "spring up" (s:w. <a href='B:10 2:5'>Gen 2:5</a>). This springing up or growing would be in the fulfilment of the promises to David of the establishment of the Kingdom of his seed (s:w. <a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>; <a href='B:230 132:17'>Psa 132:17</a>). But the springing up would be of a community of people, the plural seed who were "in" the singular Messianic seed. And this is now experienced through baptism into the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>). It is "righteousness" which would "spring up" (s:w. <a href='B:290 61:11'>Isa 61:11</a>); the work of the Spirit would result in the seed becoming righteous through their spiritual transformation. And yet it will also be on account of their status as "in" the "branch of righteousness" which will "spring up" (<a href='B:300 33:15'>Jer 33:15</a>). The work of the Spirit will be, and is, to transform the plural seed in practice into what they are by status in the Messiah- righteous. And it is this power, this gift, this Divine ’causing’ us to be righteous, which every spiritual person so thirsts for.</p>


text:
<p>For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest- At times the prophets are found pleading with God to change the word which they themselves had pronounced and knew to be justified. <a href='B:290 62:1-7'>Isa 62:1-7</a>; <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a> even appear to be Isaiah’s challenge to the Lord to not let His judgment remain on Zion- Isaiah will not keep silent, nor will his fellow prophets, until God acts. He begs God to not restrain Himself, and to take note of the desolation caused (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:8-12'>Isa 64:8-12</a>).</p><p>The statement that God will not "rest" for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) must be understood in the context of the faithful at that time urging God not to "be still" [same Hebrew word translated "rest"] for His people (<a href='B:230 83:1'>Psa 83:1</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). This is an allusion to Boaz not being at rest until he had redeemed Ruth and Naomi; see on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. God is not at rest, He is not distant from us; and yet His people in Babylon felt that He was. It’s no wonder that we are tempted to feel the same. Yet we must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>).</p><p>We must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>). The fact that God will never ’hold His peace’ for His people’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) means that we should likewise not ’hold our peace’ for them (the same Hebrew is used in <a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a>). In our prayers for them, we are to give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>). And so the connection between <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>; <a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a> leaves us with an amazing challenge: His restless activity and concern for His people should be ours. It must be ours, if we are His children. Being bored from having ‘nothing to do’ just isn’t part of the believer’s life; His huge activity, the endless surging of His Spirit, is to be replicated in us as we too seek the good of others. If this connection is firmly established between His activity and ours, His Spirit and ours… then quite naturally we will seek to maximize our time for Him and be minimalists in the hours we spend upon the things of this life. As He never slumbers nor sleeps in His restless activity and thought for His people, so we shall likewise be in the Kingdom age; and our desire to be there is not because we fancy an eternal tropical holiday with palm trees blowing in the mind, but because we wish to be more closely aligned with His activity, with His Spirit, and not be held back by the limitations of our current natures.</p><p>Until her righteousness- The Lord Jesus, "the Lord our righteousness".</p><p>Go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns- It seems that Yahweh Himself would have dwelt in Zion, the "brightness" of the cherubim would have returned there (s:w. <a href='B:330 1:4'>Eze 1:4</a>; <a href='B:330 1:13'>Eze 1:13</a>) resulting in a visible light which would have eclipsed the need for light from the sun and moon (<a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>, "shining" is s:w. "brightness"). Such great potentials were wasted. But these things will come true in the last days and are alluded to in <a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a> as having literal truth when the Lord Jesus returns. This would be the fulfilment of the promise to David, that his glorified kingdom would be as the "brightness" after the rain of judgment (<a href='B:100 23:4'>2Sa 23:4</a> s:w:). But until then these things are reapplied in a spiritual sense to the way the Lord Jesus, who is the light of God’s glory, is to be the light of our world in which we live, move and understand life. He who has no light can find "brightness" in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 50:10'>Isa 50:10</a>). This was hinted at even in <a href='B:240 4:18'>Pro 4:18</a>, where the path of the just is as the "brightness" (s:w:) shining more and more unto the perfect day:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Some prophecies are dependent on prayer for their fulfilment. This is an example: “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness”. But this is dependent upon prayer: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem…ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (:6,7). The prophecy that “I will not rest” was dependent for fulfilment upon the faithful continuing to pray and thereby not giving Him rest. Of course, they pray from their own freewill; there is the possibility they won’t pray, and thereby, surely, there’s the possibility the statement “I will not rest” is purely conditional on our prayers…?</p>


text:
<p>The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh shall name- They would perceive that their righteousness was in the Lord Jesus, "the Lord our righteousness", and that He was the glory of the people of Israel (<a href='B:490 2:32'>Luk 2:32</a>). As is the case today, the witness to the Lord Jesus is most powerfully through the people whom He has redeemed. Their new name would be related to their being counted righteous; just as today, baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus means we are covered in the clothing of His righteousness.</p>


text:
<p>You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God- It is God’s people who are in His hand (<a href='B:50 33:3'>Deu 33:3</a>). The idea is that God is crowned with His people, they are His glory, and He is theirs, just as Paul’s converts were his joy and crown.</p>


text:
<p>You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married- LXX "thy land shall be inhabited"; this fits with the meaning of the names given:, for "Beulah" = "Inhabited by Yah"; "Hephzibah" = ’delight of Yah’. But the Hebrew Masoretic text reading "married" connects with how God speaks of how He would remarry Zion n the same way as her sons would remarry her (:4,5)- but her sons chose to stay in Babylon, and so the joyous wedding ceremony God envisaged didn’t happen. They preferred to nurse their own negative self-image, that Yahweh had forsaken them (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>).</p><p>God not only forgives, but He delights in doing so (as <a href='B:400 7:18'>Mic 7:18</a>); the way He is spoken of as ‘delighting’ in spiritually weak Israel is part and parcel of Him lavishing grace as He does (<a href='B:40 14:8'>Num 14:8</a>). It must be so awful to have such a wonderful spirit of lavishing grace and love, consciously giving out life and patient forgiveness to so many; and yet not be appreciated for it, to have puny humans shaking their fist at God because they die a brief moment of time sooner than they think they should, to have tiny people arrogantly questioning His love. Seeing that God is Almighty, and God could have made [and could re-make] His creation to ‘understand’ and respond in a robot-like way... and seeing God has real and deep emotional feelings... it all makes God almost a tragic figure.</p>


text:
<p>For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you- LXX makes this more relevant to the exiles returning and living in Zion: "And as a young man lives with a virgin, so shall thy sons dwell in thee". But most of the sons of Zion didn’t return there, preferring Babylon; and of those who did, most wouldn’t live in Jerusalem but preferred living outside the city and developing their own farmsteads (see on <a href='B:160 11:1-2'>Neh 11:1-2</a>). "Sons" is banayich but this is also a form of banah, to build. Her sons were to be her builders. The land and physical city of Jerusalem is likened to a female and the exiles as the young man. But the truth was that by declining the invitation to return to the land, the exiles were declining marriage.</p><p>But :4 has said that it is Yahweh as the man who delights in the young woman Zion. The exiles are therefore asked to identify with Him. So God likens Himself to the young man marrying the virgin of Zion; even though she has acted as a whore, He sees her now as a born again virgin. It seems evident that there must have been some kind of previous creation(s), e.g. for the creation of the Angels. God existed from infinity, and yet only 2,000 years ago did He have His only and His begotten Son. And that Son was a human being in order to save humans- only a few million of us (if that), who lived in a 6,000 year time span. In the specter of infinite time and space, this is wondrous. That the Only Son of God should die for a very few of us here, we who crawled on the surface of this tiny planet for such a fleeting moment of time. He died so that God could work out our salvation; and the love of God for us is likened to a young man marrying a virgin (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>). Almighty God, who existed from eternity, is likened to a first timer, with all the intensity and joyful expectation and lack of disillusion. And more than this. The Jesus who didn’t pre-exist but was like me, died for me, in the shameful way that He did. Our hearts and minds, with all their powers, are in the boundless prospect lost. His pure love for us, His condescension, should mean that we also ought to reach out into the lives of all men, never thinking they are beneath us or too insignificant or distant from us. No wonder <a href='B:690 4:15-16'>1Jn 4:15-16</a> describes believing that Jesus is the Son of God as believing the love that God has to us.</p><p>And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you- This suggests that Yahweh’s joy over the restored state of Zion was a reflection of the joy which the exiles showed over her. They should have responded to the decree of Cyrus with real joy, according to <a href='B:230 126:1-3'>Psa 126:1-3</a>: “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad”. But their joy wasn’t so ecstatic. They were happy for those who chose to return and gave them material help to this end, but the majority didn’t feel the joy personally. This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him(<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</p>


text:
<p>I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who call on Yahweh, take no rest- The watchmen were looking for the return of the exiles from Babylon and were giving Yahweh no rest until He brought this about. But they were "set" there, just as God gives repentance. He gave them that mindset. See on :1.</p><p>Prayer is a way of making us realize the presence of the God who is always present. God’s people are told to "keep not silence" in their prayers to God (<a href='B:290 62:6'>Isa 62:6</a>). But the same Hebrew word is translated "Give Him no rest" in the next verse (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>). Insofar as the voice of prayer is never silent world-wide, so far God is never, in that sense, at rest. The extent of His activity for us is simply huge.</p><p><a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a> speaks of watchmen [= the prophets, <a href='B:330 3:17'>Eze 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 6:17'>Jer 6:17</a>; <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>] set upon Jerusalem’s walls as watchmen, keeping no silence [in their prophesying] until Jerusalem was established. For the link between the prophets and standing on a watchtower, see <a href='B:420 2:1'>Hab 2:1</a>. Is this not a reference to Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah prophesying as the basis upon which the newly built walls of Jerusalem would be preserved, and the city develop into the Messianic Kingdom hoped for? Note that the rebuilt Jerusalem of Ezra’s time and the latter day Jerusalem are the same thing in Isaiah; the Kingdom could’ve come then. Watchmen upon the walls were looking for something- for the approach of the Messianic messenger with good tidings of Judah’s full return from captivity, of which Isaiah had spoken in <a href='B:290 52:7-8'>Isa 52:7-8</a>. But most of Judah preferred to stay in Babylon, took up a collection for the few who did return… and no Messiah could appear with that news. God had promised this- but He asked to be put in remembrance of His promises (<a href='B:290 43:26'>Isa 43:26</a>), i:e. He asked for those watchmen to be His ‘rememberancers’, even though He cannot in that sense forget them (<a href='B:230 119:49'>Psa 119:49</a>; <a href='B:300 14:21'>Jer 14:21</a>). In all this we see an exquisite picture of how God works with men, how His promised faithfulness and omnipotence all the same has built into it a requirement for human prayerfulness and response. The reality was that the watchmen / prophets of Israel were blind, ignorant and sleepy (<a href='B:290 56:10'>Isa 56:10</a>).</p><p>Compare the following passages:</p><p>“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,&nbsp; And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>)</p><p>with</p><p>“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (<a href='B:560 1:15-17'>Eph 1:15-17</a>).</p><p>The ideas of praying without ceasing and making mention occur in both passages. Surely Paul had the Isaiah passage in mind. It seems that he saw the ecclesia as the spiritual Zion. In the same way as Zion’s watchmen were exhorted to pray for her without ceasing until the Kingdom is established there, so Paul prayed for the spiritual growth of his brethren. The implication is surely that once a certain level of spirituality had been achieved, then the Lord will return to establish His Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>And give Him no rest, until He establishes and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth- See on :6. This was partially fulfilled by a minority praying for the restoration of Zion during the 70 years captivity; Daniel and his friends are evident examples. Several passages in Isaiah (e.g. <a href='B:290 64:8-12'>Isa 64:8-12</a>) record model prayers for Zion’s restoration. But the prayers dried up after the return; Isaiah’s exhortation was ignored. The returnees did keep silence, and therefore Zion was not established as a praise in the earth.</p><p>Our prayers are to give the Father no "rest" (<a href='B:290 62:7'>Isa 62:7</a>), no cessation from violent warfare (Heb:). Isaiah had prophesied that God would not rest until Zion be restored. Watchmen would be set upon Zion’s walls who would give Him no rest until the walls be rebuilt (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>; <a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). At this time, Zion was felt by God to be the “apple of his eye” (<a href='B:450 2:8'>Zec 2:8</a>). This prophesy started to be fulfilled straight after the Babylonian invasion when Jeremiah urged the desolated people to pray: “O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease” (<a href='B:310 2:18'>Lam 2:18</a>). The prayerful remnant gave themselves no rest; and thus was fulfilled the prophecy that God would have no rest. Sincere prayer according to God’s will meant that there was a strange mutuality between the Father and those who prayed to Him. Both He and they considered Zion to be the apple of their eye; and thus the prayers were ultimately answered and Zion was restored.</p><p>What we bring to our mind in prayer, we bring to God’s mind. Those who pray for Jerusalem “keep not silence”- and therefore they give God “no rest” (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But the Hebrew word for “keep not silence” and for ‘give no rest’ is one and the same! There’s a clear play on words here. If we give ourselves no rest in prayer, then we give God no rest. His Spirit or mind becomes our spirit or mind, and vice versa. And hence the telling comments in Romans 8 about our spirit / mind being mediated to God in prayer through Jesus, in His role as ‘the Lord the Spirit’ (<a href='B:520 8:26-27'>Rom 8:26-27</a>). Yet God Himself had stated that He will not rest nor hold His peace for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>). Yet His doing this is conditional upon His prayerful people not allowing Him to rest due to their prayers.</p><p>The failure of the restored exiles to fulfill these things led to their reapplication and reinterpretation. Paul in <a href='B:520 1:9'>Rom 1:9</a> ["unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers"] is surely alluding to <a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>: “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth”. Paul saw the Gentile believers in Rome as spiritual Jerusalem. It’s not that God forgets and needs reminding, but rather that by our prayers for others we as it were focus His special attention upon them. Paul several times states that he is day and night, continually in prayer for others. He likely had the Isaiah passage in mind; his brethren in Christ were now for him the Jerusalem upon whom his hopes were set, rather than upon the physical city as had been the case in Judaism.</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have laboured- To lose the fruits of agricultural labour to invading foreigners was part of the curses for breaking covenant with Yahweh. He promises here, therefore, not to punish sin any more. This would be because of His right hand and strength, terms which apply to His manifestation in His Son the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:230 80:17'>Psa 80:17</a>). Such a situation implies the emergence of a situation where sin has already been appropriately punished, and Israel are not going to sin any more. The intention of the new covenant was to place God’s Spirit within His people so that they didn’t sin and were immortalized. If this Spirit is within us and is already beginning to work, we likewise have thereby the guarantee that we too shall emerge into the Kingdom of God, immortal and unable to sin (<a href='B:560 1:14'>Eph 1:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>But those who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of My sanctuary- The "it" refers to the new wine made from grapes they had themselves gathered (:8). The allusion is to the commands to bring their tithes and offerings to the sanctuary and eat them there, rather than in their homes (<a href='B:30 19:23-25'>Lev 19:23-25</a>; <a href='B:50 12:17-18'>Deu 12:17-18</a>). This at best would be fulfilled in essence rather than to the letter in the final fulfilment of the last days. The new covenant offered to the exiles was not the same as the Mosaic law, which was the old covenant which they had broken. But the flavour of this idea of bringing tithes and eating them in the sanctuary suggests that this was intended to have happened at the time of the restoration. So much potential was wasted.</p>


text:
<p>Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Cast up, cast up the highway! Gather out the stones!- This prepared highway is a major theme of Isaiah, e.g. <a href='B:290 26:7'>Isa 26:7</a> "The way of the just is uprightness; Youwho are upright make the path of the righteous level". This is the language of Isaiah 40. The way was open for the exiles to return as righteous, justified by faith, to a restored Zion; and if they made that journey, Zion’s gates were open to them (see on <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>). That way was potentially prepared at the restoration, but the exiles chose to remain in Babylon and Assyria, and those who did return did so without accepting the call to repentance which is part of the making straight of the path to Zion. But it was all potentially prepared. It is for us now to walk in that path likewise to Zion. In the future it seems there may be literal highways prepared leading to Zion for the repentant remnants of the nations (see on <a href='B:290 11:16'>Isa 11:16</a>; <a href='B:290 19:23'>Isa 19:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>; <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>; <a href='B:300 31:21'>Jer 31:21</a>).</p><p><a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>, which is quoted in <a href='B:490 3:4'>Luk 3:4</a>, speaks of “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”, whereas <a href='B:290 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a> speaks of “Prepare ye the way of the people”. Yet tragically, the way / path of Israel was not the way / path of the Lord (<a href='B:330 18:25'>Eze 18:25</a>). We are not only Jesus to this world but also effectively we are the witness to God Himself. We minister His care to others; to the extent that Paul could write both that he was a minister of God, and also a minister of the church (<a href='B:540 6:4'>2Co 6:4</a>; <a href='B:580 1:24-25'>Col 1:24-25</a>).</p><p>Lift up a banner for the peoples- LXX "the Gentiles". Clearly enough, the bronze serpent lifted up on the “standard” or pole was a symbol of Christ crucified. But time and again throughout Isaiah, we read that a “standard” or ensign will be “lifted up” in order to gather people together to it (<a href='B:290 5:26'>Isa 5:26</a>; <a href='B:290 13:2'>Isa 13:2</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 62:10'>Isa 62:10</a>). This was the idea of an ensign lifted up. Thus our common response to the cross of Christ should be to gather together unto Him there. And we need to take note that several of those Isaiah passages are speaking about what shall happen in the last days, when divided Israel will unite on the basis of their acceptance of the crucified Jesus. They along with "the peoples", the Gentiles, will come by the same path to eternal fellowship with Yahweh and with each other in Zion.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth- The ends of the eretz were Babylon and Persia, where the exiles were. They were being asked to repent and quit exile because their salvation was coming. But they stayed put.</p><p>Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes- “Your salvation” could refer to Joshua-Jesus, the high priest, returning from Babylon. But Joshua didn’t live up to the conditional prophecies made about him in Zechariah. Ezra and Nehemiah seem to have taken over the priestly and kingly work of Joshua and Zerubbabel respectively. Nehemiah’s record concludes on the negative note that Judah had forsaken Zion (<a href='B:160 13:11'>Neh 13:11</a>). Nobody wanted to live in Jerusalem because of the persecution there; the Levites even went and lived outside it where they had “fields”, because they weren’t given their tithes (<a href='B:160 13:10'>Neh 13:10</a>. Lots had to be drawn to get people to live there (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>). It became a ghost town, when it should have been inhabited as a town without walls for the multitudes of returned exiles joyfully dwelling there (<a href='B:450 2:5'>Zec 2:5</a>). It was God’s intention that ten men (a reference to Israelites of the ten tribes?) would take hold of the skirts of a Jew (i:e. one of Judah) and come with him to worship in the new temple (<a href='B:450 8:23'>Zec 8:23</a>). But in fact the opposite happened. So few wanted to live in Jerusalem, that the rulers had to cast lots to force one in ten Jews to go and live in Jerusalem (<a href='B:160 11:1'>Neh 11:1</a>). And the ten tribes didn’t really unite with Judah, but went off and got lost in the Gentileworld.</p><p>Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him’- The "reward" of God will be in the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham (<a href='B:10 15:1'>Gen 15:1</a> s:w:) in salvation (<a href='B:290 62:11'>Isa 62:11</a>), at the time when Judah were restored from captivity and accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:16'>Jer 31:16</a>). This huge potential is all deferred to the last days, when the Abrahamic covenant will be finally fulfilled in the return of the Lord Jesus to earth bringing His rewards with Him (<a href='B:730 22:12'>Rev 22:12</a>).</p>


text:
<p>They shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh: and you shall be called Sought out, A city not forsaken- See on :11. There was envisaged a new nomenclature for anything related to God’s people, land, temple and city. This didn’t happen to the restoration, with the gates of Jerusalem being given totally secular names such as "fish gate". The "they" in view are those who love at the ends of the earth / eretz promised to Abraham (:11), in Egypt, Babylon and Persia where the Jews were exiled. Those who had hosted Judah in captivity and witnessed their idolatry and hypocrisy would marvel at the extent to which they had been redeemed and not forsaken by their God, when He had every reason to have treated them otherwise. This wonderful testament to Divine grace didn’t happen at the time of the restoration; but it will do so in the last days. And therefore Jerusalem will be "sought out", as the Gentiles "seek" the ensign / standard pole in Zion (<a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>), which the New Testament interprets as the cross of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This one who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength?-&nbsp; These verses appear to be the Divine fantasy, a potential prophecy, about the Messiah saviour judging Babylon and then also Edom on His way to Zion along with the repentant remnant of both Jews and Gentiles. This is a repeated theme in the prophets- that Babylon was to fall and the nations judged, and thereby both elicit repentance from a Gentile minority and also release the Jews. These things didn’t happen as they could have done at the time of the restoration of the exiles. But they will in essence be fulfilled in the future work of the Lord Jesus.</p><p>According to Jewish tradition, Nehemiah’s real name was Zerubbabel, the branch (Sanhedrin 38a)- perhaps the same Zerubbabel as mentioned in Haggai and Zechariah. The Hippolytus Chronicle 7:3:37 even claims Nehemiah was a direct descendant of David and in the direct kingly line. His name, ‘comfort of Yahweh’, invites us to see him as the potential fulfilment of the <a href='B:290 40:1-2'>Isa 40:1-2</a> prophecy about a Messiah figure arising to the exiles, giving them God’s comfort. At the time of Judah’s redemption, while the temple had been trodden down by her enemies, the promised Messiah figure of <a href='B:290 63:1-3'>Isa 63:1-3</a>; <a href='B:290 63:18'>Isa 63:18</a> was to come from Edom and Bozrah - both code names for Babylon. The words "Bozrah" and "Babylon" have similar root meanings (’high / fortified place’). And he was to lament how the people of Judah were not with him- "of the people there was none with me". But this is the very spirit of Nehemiah, when he returns to Jerusalem from Babylon and looks around the ’trodden down’ city at night, not telling the people of the Jews about his inspection- i:e. the people were not with him (<a href='B:160 2:11-16'>Neh 2:11-16</a>). But all potential fulfillments of this prophecy failed, and so the prophecies were reapplied and reinterpreted with reference to the Lord Jesus.</p><p>It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save- So often, God’s righteousness is associated with His salvation. Paul in Romans writes much about this. ’Rightness’ means also ’justice’. By grace, we are counted right in Christ, and thereby will be saved. Yet in the world, there is huge angst about the issue of justice. It is inbuilt into our natures to feel outrage at injustice. It’s not fair, it’s not right... that I was treated like this, that they did that to her, that this or that group in society are not equally treated. And these are the conflicts which are the endless narrative of human history and existence. The sense of not having been given justice makes for depression, obsessions, anger, bitterness... But for those of us in Christ, we who were unjust have been counted right, we have found the ultimate experience of justice; and can rest assured that finally, all shall be made right, justice shall eternally be done at the Lord’s return. Not for us lifetimes spent in resentment, bitterness, endless restimulation of issues of past injustice. For we have been saved, by grace, and ’right’ has triumphed in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Yahweh’s salvation and righteousness.</p>


text:
<p>Why are you red in your clothing- In the context of the answer in :3, we could assume that the force of the question is "Why are you alone red…?".</p><p>And your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?- <a href='B:290 63:2-3'>Isa 63:2-3</a> explains how in the process of obtaining salvation, the Lord’s clothing would be made red. Red clothes in Isaiah suggest sinfulness that needs cleansing (<a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>). He was completely identified with us, to the point of feeling a sinner even although He never sinned. "Treads" is the same Hebrew word used in <a href='B:40 24:17'>Num 24:17</a> of how the Messianic star out of Jacob would tread down Israel’s historical enemies, who would be as it were reincarnated in the last days. This is the time of the ’treading down’ of all the peoples of the eretz who were against Israel (s:w. <a href='B:300 25:30'>Jer 25:30</a>), the ’treading down’ of the daughter of Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:33'>Jer 51:33</a> s:w:). But it was not just Gentiles whom the Messianic figure was to tread down;&nbsp; "the Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress" (<a href='B:310 1:15'>Lam 1:15</a>; <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a> s:w:). The judgment of Babylon and her supporters, epitomized by Edom (:1), was to be at the same time as the judgment of the apostate people of God. And out of a trodden down wine vat there comes wine- the symbol of blessing and the new covenant.</p>


text:
<p>I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me: yes, I trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath- The way the Saviour is "alone" would allude to the way that no other man rose up to the call to be the prophesied servant of the Messianic prophecies (<a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). The judgments are likewise performed by Him "alone" in the sense that the judgments upon the nations will be supernatural and only later will a repentant remnant be used as Yahweh’s "weapons of war".</p><p>And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I have stained all My clothing- There is a connection between the Lord’s death and the judgment of the world; "now is the judgment of this world" He commented, with reference to His upcoming crucifixion (<a href='B:500 12:31'>Joh 12:31</a>). He alone has the right to judge, because He alone had our nature and never sinned. The Lord having His own clothes put back on Him meant that He would have been dressed in blood sprinkled garments for the walk to Golgotha. His holy mind would have been on these Messianic prophecies of <a href='B:290 63:3'>Isa 63:3</a> about a Messiah with blood sprinkled garments lifted up in glorious victory. Or perhaps He saw the connection to <a href='B:30 8:30'>Lev 8:30</a>, where the priests had to have blood sprinkled garments in order to begin their priestly work. This would have sent His mind to us, for whom He was interceding. Likewise when He perceived that His garment would not be rent, He would have joyfully perceived that He was indeed as the High Priest whose garment was not to be rent (<a href='B:20 39:23'>Exo 39:23</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come- see on <a href='B:20 2:11-12'>Exo 2:11-12</a>. This is the year of Jubilee pronounced in Isaiah 61. We note the difference between the single "day" of vengeance compared to the whole "year" of redemption. Saving is by far God’s preferred activity. Those to be redeemed are not simply "Israel", but those of them who want the redemption which will come about throughthe "vengeance" of the judgments. For as explained on :2, the Jews are to be judged along with the Gentiles.</p><p>This chapter was quoted by Judas Maccabeus, who killed 20,000 from Edom in his campaigns against the Idumeans (:1); and John Hyrcanus, his brother Simon’s son and successor, also defeated the Edomites and forced them to become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and to be circumcised. At best it could be argued that the Maccabees were potential fulfillments of the prophecies, but they failed to do so. And so the final fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me; and My wrath, it upheld Me- The arm of Yahweh, the practical articulation of His power, is ultimately the Lord Jesus. The way the Saviour is "alone", as in :3, would allude to the way that no other man rose up to the call to be the prophesied servant of the Messianic prophecies (<a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). &nbsp;None of the potential Messiah figures worked out; and it seems about nobody responded to the prophetic call for the exiles to repent. God was ’desolated’ ["wondered"]about this, so great were His hopes for some response. And yet God wished to try to save them anyway by His dramatic intervention, which was to come to full term in the person and work of His own son.</p><p>God sent His prophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son. There is a clear parallel between <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> and <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a>. The same words are used, but there is one difference. In <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>, "His righteousness, it upheld Him", but in <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> it was God’s fury which upheld / sustained Him. The Messianic arm of Yahweh which brought salvation did so only because as Son of Man, the Lord Jesus is the only human who can rightly judge sin on behalf of God’s anger. His necessary anger / wrath in judging sin is therefore part of the wider nexus of the absolutely legitimate salvation He achieved through the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>I trod down the peoples in My anger, and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth- Blood from the sacrifices was poured out on the earth to symbolize that life is God’s alone. This is the scene of <a href='B:290 34:6'>Isa 34:6</a>, where Yahweh has a great sacrifice to make in Bozrah and Idumea, which is the context here too (:1). The implication could be that through their heavy judgment, they would become an acceptable sacrifice to Him; see on <a href='B:290 34:2'>Isa 34:2</a>; <a href='B:290 34:6'>Isa 34:6</a>.</p>


text:
<p>I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His grace- The same words would be said by the Gentiles; they would proclaim Yahweh’s praise just as the Israelites themselves would (<a href='B:290 60:6'>Isa 60:6</a>). The Gentiles would now identify themselves with the Israelites in forming the new multiethnic people of God which was to be formed on the basis of repentance and acceptance of the new covenant. This praise is to be the result of His judgments upon the wicked, both of Israel and the Gentiles. Hence LXX "The Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy, and according to the abundance of his righteousness". The term "the house of Israel" suggests that both Judah and the ten tribe kingdom would be united by the experience of grace; and that is indeed the basis for unity amongst God’s people to this day.</p>


text:
<p>For He said, Surely, they are My people, children who will not deal falsely: so He was their Saviour- The eagerness of the God who was in love with His woman Israel is quite something. "Surely theyare my people, children that will not lie!" (<a href='B:290 63:8'>Isa 63:8</a>), He triumphed. But this was because of His mercy and love to them (:7). That love as it were blinded His eyes to their sin. And this is the basis of our being counted righteous if we are in His beloved Son. But with Israel, "then I saw that she was defiled... then my mind was alienated" (<a href='B:330 23:13'>Eze 23:13</a>; <a href='B:330 23:18'>Eze 23:18</a>). How does this square with the omniscience of God? He stopped restraining His omniscience. He saw them for who they were, unfaithful, and reacted. He did everything He could for His vineyard, and was then so bitterly disappointed when it brought forth wild grapes (<a href='B:290 5:4'>Isa 5:4</a>).</p><p>The Father is ever seeking for some positive response, and is highly sensitive to it. He told Moses: “If they will not believe… neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign [but] if they will not believe also these two signs…” (<a href='B:20 4:8'>Exo 4:8</a>). The God who knows the end from the beginning gives the impression that He is sure they will believe- even though they didn’t. He is so seeking for faith in His creatures (cp. “surely they will reverence my son”, <a href='B:470 21:37'>Mat 21:37</a>, and <a href='B:20 19:21'>Exo 19:21</a> cp. 20:18). In this, Isaiah says, He shows His matchless grace: “For He said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so [therefore] He was their Saviour… but they rebelled, and vexed His holy [gracious] spirit” (<a href='B:290 63:8'>Isa 63:8</a>; <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>). Our tendency is to notice the negative in others, and let it outweigh the positive. God works quite the other way. He hopes for positive response, and even speaks as if He will get it when He knows He won’t.</p>


text:
<p>In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity he redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old- The same grace shown in saving Israel from Egypt, despite them still carrying the idols of Egypt with them and the tabernacle of Remphan, was to be shown in redeeming the exiles from Babylon. Just as God in love and pity carried them through the wilderness despite their unfaithfulness. And it will again be shown in the final salvation of God’s people. "The angel of His presence" was the same Angel which went with Israel through the wilderness, fulfilling the promise that "My presence shall go with thee" (<a href='B:20 33:14'>Exo 33:14</a>). But that Angel was intensely representative of God; to the point that the LXX offers: "not an ambassador, nor a messenger, but Himself saved them". Thereby in all their affliction, He was afflicted; and He achieves an even more powerful identity with our experiences through the work and nature of His Son, who is far greater and more effective than the ministry of Angels. "Afflicted" is the word used in :18 of the Babylonian "adversaries" who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted.</p>


text:
<p>But they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He Himself fought against them- see on <a href='B:500 14:26'>Joh 14:26</a>; <a href='B:500 14:30'>Joh 14:30</a>; <a href='B:10 8:1'>Gen 8:1</a>; <a href='B:60 24:17'>Jos 24:17</a>. "His holy spirit" refers initially to the Angel of His presence (:9), for God makes His angels spirits (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>). They refused to follow the leadership of the Angel; for many of the exiles remained in Babylon / Persia, as the book of Esther makes clear. Likewise Israel had "rebelled" in not following God’s saving plan in the wilderness and wanting to return to Egypt rather than go forward to the promised land (s:w. <a href='B:50 9:23'>Deu 9:23</a>). And it grieved the spirit / Angel, representative of God Himself (:9). This describes the work of the Holy Spirit Angel with regard to punishing Israel in language which hints at the flood: "It repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth (land), and it grieved Him at His heart" (<a href='B:10 6:6'>Gen 6:6</a>) connects with "They rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit (cp. grieved at the heart): therefore He was turned to be their enemy (cp."repented"), and He fought against them". <a href='B:680 3:6-7'>2Pe 3:6-7</a>; <a href='B:470 24:37'>Mat 24:37</a> and <a href='B:340 9:26'>Dan 9:26</a> (an impressive trio) say that the flood is a type of God’s judgement of the earth at the second coming- and we know that Jesus will come with His Angels with Him to do this, in the same way as the Angels were prominent in this earlier "coming" of the Lord at the flood.</p><p>God (in the Angel of the presence) "wasturned to be (Israel’s) enemy" because of their sin (<a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>)- likewise Job complains that his satan-Angel has "turned to be cruel to me" (<a href='B:220 30:21'>Job 30:21</a> AVmg:).</p><p>The gift of the Spirit, a new heart and opened eyes, was to be part of the new covenant deal offered to the exiles. They refused it, and so in a different form it is now offered to all who are baptized into Christ. The same gift of the Spirit is now available to us- but we are not forced to follow where we are led, towards salvation in the same reestablished Kingdom of God on earth. Thus <a href='B:560 4:30'>Eph 4:30</a> is a quotation from <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a> - a lament about how Israel in the wilderness "vexed His holy spirit" with their continued provocations. <a href='B:230 78:40'>Psa 78:40</a> says the same: "How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert!". Putting these verses together, we see that to provoke God, to grieve Him, is the same as vexing or grieving His spirit. Paul’s point was that the Ephesian believers had likewise been redeemed from ’Egypt’ and had been sealed by God "with that holy spirit of promise" (<a href='B:560 1:13'>Eph 1:13</a>). I understand this to mean that God’s spirit works upon and merges with the human spirit in the heart and life of the baptized believer in Christ. But by turning away from that leading, we are vexing or grieving God through frustrating the way of His spirit which He has put within us. Clearly it was God whom Israel grieved in the wilderness, and it is God whom we grieve by provoking and frustrating His spirit in us.</p>


text:
<p>Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His holy spirit in their midst?- see on <a href='B:20 34:27'>Exo 34:27</a>. &nbsp;It could be argued that this is the same "Spirit of the Lord [which] caused him (Moses) to rest: so didst Thou lead Thy people" (by an Angel in the wilderness, :14), the Spirit-Angel of :9,10. This shows God as it were looking back to the days when He led them through the wilderness by the Angel, and in wrath remembering mercy. "Where is He that brought them up..." He asked Himself. We have here an insight into the thought processes of God Almighty, recalling, as it were, how He had been with them at the exodus. Although the pole of His love and grace wins out within His personality over the pole of judgment, a struggle is involved; and the summary conclusion that "God is love" is not arrived at without appreciating this tension and struggle within Him. Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e.g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? Who divided the waters before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?- Israel were led by God’s hand (<a href='B:650 8:9'>Heb 8:9</a>; <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a>); but in practice by Moses’ hand (<a href='B:230 77:20'>Psa 77:20</a>; <a href='B:290 63:12'>Isa 63:12</a>). The Name of Yahweh is not simply a word, a lexical item, pronounced something like Yahoovah or Yahweh. His Name is His character and personality, which has been developed and exhibited historically. His salvation of His sinful, idol worshipping people from Egypt exhibited and exemplified His saving grace; and He wished again to show that same "arm" and "Name" in saving the exiles and bringing them to the Kingdom of God. They too frustrated His saving plans; and so that same mighty arm is outstretched in redeeming a new people, who are to leave the things of this world and likewise allow themselves to be led on a spiritual journey towards God’s Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>Who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble?- <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> had prophesied of the restoration: “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”. Likewise <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a> reminded the returnees that when they had been led through the wilderness to Canaan under Moses, they did not stumble [s:w:]. But both Ezra and Nehemiah wanted to have a Babylonian military escort on the journey back; they weren’t sure that they would be given “a straight way” with Yahweh’s protection. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> records that “Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed [s:w. “stumble”, <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>], and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. They were easily discouraged by the words of the surrounding world, by the apparent hopelessness of their task; and thus they stumbled. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a> LXX describes how Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfill the prophecy. Note how Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit”... They were to walk “each one straight before him” (<a href='B:290 57:2'>Isa 57:2</a> RVmg:), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (<a href='B:330 1:12'>Eze 1:12</a>). <a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:7'>Psa 107:7</a> RV speak of Israel being gathered out of the nations and being led in a “straight way” to Zion, as they had [potentially] been enabled to do on their departure from Egypt. Yet then they spent 38 years walking a distance coverable in just 11 days- because they did not walk in the “straight way”.</p>


text:
<p>As the cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of Yahweh caused them to rest; so You led Your people- see on <a href='B:50 34:5-6'>Deu 34:5-6</a>. The "rest" was the promised land, and it was that same land to which Yahweh was willing to lead Israel from Babylon; but it was a redemption refused. We too as a new Israel are being led toward the "rest" of the Kingdom (<a href='B:650 4:9'>Heb 4:9</a>). If we follow AV "the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest", we could make the referent of "him" to be Moses, who was led to his rest in death by an Angel, the "spirit of Yahweh" of :9-11. But more essentially the reference is to God leading His people as a shepherd, into the valley of rest.</p><p>To make Yourself a glorious name- See on :12.</p>


text:
<p>Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of Your holiness and of Your glory: where are Your zeal and Your mighty acts? The yearning of Your heart and Your compassion is restrained toward me- Isaiah, or the faithful remnant, seek to remind God of His compassion shown at the exodus to an equally apostate people who took the idols of Egypt with them through the Red Sea. He Himself had this memory within Him (:11), and they are appealing for Him to recall that and act with a similar saving grace. Or it could be that here we are being told how the situation in :11 came about. Why did God recall His previous acts of saving grace toward sinful Israel? Because He had been ’reminded’ of it by this prayer of the faithful. They were His rememberancers, the watchmen on Zion’s walls reminding Him, as it were, of His previous saving actions and grace towards His very immature and faithless people. The tension within His heart we commented upon on :11 had been provoked by this prayerful appeal to recall the yearning of His heart toward His people. God had earlier accepted that throughout the captivity He had been "restrained toward" Israel, but now He would be restrained no longer (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>). But He did so because of the prayer of the faithful not to restrain Himself longer (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). The tragedy is that His unrestrained desire to save and redeem the exiles was still refused by them; and perhaps there were few who really begged Him to no longer restrain Himself. For they were quite happy with their prosperous lives in Babylon and Persia. And so the events of the last days will elicit this more intense prayer, and Yahweh will finally act unrestrainedly in this earth.</p>


text:
<p>For You are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: You, Yahweh, are our Father- This is a prayer of penitence, recognizing that although Yahweh is their Father, they have not acted as the seed of Abraham and Jacob. It is such penitence fromGod’s people which is required for His saving arm to be fully revealed in the last days.</p><p>Our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name- God’s essential preference for saving grace rather than judgment is an essential part of His character; see on :11. That Name or personality was eternal and didn’t change, and it is this which is being appealed to through the recollection of how He had historically articulated that grace within His Name. And His imputation of righteousness, the things of His Name placed upon His people, may be in view if we follow the LXX: "Thy name has been upon us from the beginning".</p><p>&nbsp;As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren</p>


text:
<p>O Yahweh, why do You make us to err from Your ways, and harden our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, the tribes of Your inheritance- God does in fact lead men in a downward spiral as well as in an upward spiral of relationship with Him – Pharaoh would be the classic example. It is perhaps this situation more than any which we should fear – being hardened in sin, drawing ever closer to the waterfall of destruction, until we come to the point that the forces behind us are now too strong to resist... Saul lying face down in the dirt of ancient Palestine the night before his death would be the classic visual image of it. And the Lord urges us to pray earnestly that we are not led in that downward spiral of temptation. This recognition that they have been hardened in their ways can be read as part of the confession of sin in :16. The request to restore all the tribes suggests that those praying this prayer have moved on from the sectarian division between Israel and Judah. Again, it is the experience of repentance and receipt of restoring grace which is the ultimate basis for unity between God’s people. And yet it could be argued that :16-19 is the cynical complaint of a sector within Jewish society who accepted that they had not been as Abraham and Jacob (:16), but still lamented all the judgment which had come upon them without specifically joining the dots and realizing it was their lack of repentance which was responsible for the situation.</p>


text:
<p>Your holy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary- Eternal inheritance had been promised, and compared to eternity, Judah had possessed the land only a little while before being driven out. Or as LXX "that we may inherit a small part of thy holy mountain". The mountain or Kingdom of Yahweh was envisaged as filling the entire eretz promised to Abraham, and only a small part of it, Palestine, was being possessed by Judah. The hope and prayer was therefore, in this case, that the entire land would be possessed. "Afflicted" in :9 is the word used here in :18 of the Babylonian "adversaries" who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted (:9).</p>


text:
<p>We have become as they over whom You never bear rule, as those who were not called by Your name- LXX "We are become as at the beginning, when thou didst not rule over us, and thy name was not called upon us". This is a request, therefore, to start over with Israel, giving them a new covenant and a new land inheritance, but for ever. I suggested on :16,17 that we have here a confession of sin; and this involves here recognizing that they are no better than Gentiles.</p><p>Or we can read with AVmg. : "We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; thy name was not called upon them". God’s Name was called upon us at baptism into the Name. This bearing of His Name means that the principles of that Name bear rule over us in our lives. The Name is called upon us; and therefore and thereby we are Yahweh’s servants, dominated by His principles and character. Because the Name was called upon the temple, therefore it was simply impossible that those who realized this could worship idols in it (<a href='B:120 21:4'>2Ki 21:4</a>; <a href='B:120 21:7'>2Ki 21:7</a>); whatever has God’s Name called upon it, whatever bears His image, must be devoted to Him alone. The Lord pointed out that this applies to our very bodies, which being in God’s image should be given over to Him.</p>


text:
<p>Oh that You would tear the heavens, that You would come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence- This chapter appears to be the continued request of some amongst God’s people for Yahweh to no longer restrain Himself in (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>). But that restraint had been because of their sins. There does indeed follow a confession of sin, but the plea seems to more be for immediate Divine salvation than for forgiveness. The mountains quaked at the exodus, and the prayer is that God would act again as He had acted then (as in <a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>). But <a href='B:290 63:9-14'>Isa 63:9-14</a> have stated that God indeed would act like that; the entire prophecy of God’s intended restoration of His people is shot through with allusion to the wilderness journey and exodus from Egypt. He was willing and eager to do this. It was Israel’s impenitence which precluded it.</p>


text:
<p>As when fire kindles the brushwood- Perhaps a reference to the burning bush. The plea was for God to act as He had done at the exodus from Egypt.</p><p>And the fire causes the waters to boil- The idea may be as GNB "they would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire".</p><p>To make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!- This trembling of the nations was to happen at the fall of Babylon and her confederacy (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:9'>Isa 14:9</a>), when Jerusalem would be restored (<a href='B:300 33:9'>Jer 33:9</a>). But the attitude of the exiles precluded these things from happening. It is one thing to pray for things, but another to live in the spirit of them and act as if we do indeed really want them; see on <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a>. Likewise it was one thing to pray that Yahweh’s Name be known to His enemies; but it was quite another for them to make known His Name to them, as they were intended to (<a href='B:290 12:4'>Isa 12:4</a> s:w:).</p>


text:
<p>When You did awesome things which we didn’t look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence- Again the plea is for God to act as He had done at the exodus; the great salvation then had been performed by grace, it was not what they had looked for. And so they ask for God to do the same; but as explained on :1, Isaiah’s entire prophecy of God’s intended restoration of His people is shot through with allusion to the wilderness journey and exodus from Egypt. He was willing and eager to do this. It was Israel’s impenitence which precluded it</p>


text:
<p>For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides You, what God has prepared for him who waits for Him- The idea is that the restoration and entry into the reestablished Kingdom was going to be the most wonderful of all God’s saving acts seen throughout history; and no god besides Yahweh could achieve this. But this is quoted in <a href='B:530 2:9'>1Co 2:9</a> as if it means that God alone appreciates the wonder of what He is going to do: “Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, besides you, what He has prepared for him that waits for him”. Paul continues in <a href='B:530 2:9-10'>1Co 2:9-10</a>: “It is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit”. The passage in Isaiah 64 says that no one except God can understand the things He has prepared for the believers. However <a href='B:530 2:10'>1Co 2:10</a> says that those things have been revealed to us. We can accept His Spirit, His mind, and perceive things from His perspective.</p>


text:
<p>You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness- God is in search of man, and man is in search of God. "Meet" is the same word translated ’intercede’; that meeting is due to the intercession of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). Their ’meeting’ is now in this life; and the heavens are electric with joy therefore when the lost sheep is found. All the Angels of heaven rejoice... when the Father meets the prodigal son. The Father (manifest in the Lord) runs out to meet the son. That story was masterfully tied back in to <a href='B:290 64:5-8'>Isa 64:5-8</a>: "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways…we have sinned…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…but now, O Lord, thou art our father". The patient, hopeful father saw in the son a boy rejoicing and working righteousness; but this was hardly how he felt! And so it will be with Israel in the last days. And so it is with each of us now, in our times of repentance. That surpassing grace is ours; we are seen as working righteousness when all we have is a bitter self-loathing and desire to somehow get back to God.</p><p>Those who remember You in Your ways- The faithful Israelite was to remember the ways in which they were led through the wilderness to the promised land (s:w. <a href='B:50 8:2'>Deu 8:2</a>; <a href='B:50 24:9'>Deu 24:9</a>; <a href='B:50 25:17'>Deu 25:17</a>). They were to perceive the hand of God in their personal history, leading them to meeting with Him. But the exiles chose their own ways and not His (<a href='B:290 66:3'>Isa 66:3</a> s:w:).</p><p>Behold, You were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?- AV "we shall be saved". In this case we would have a confident expression of faith in salvation despite recognizing that they had always sinned against Him ["for a long time" = olahm, eternally]. It could be that <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s servants, who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon. The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them.</p>


text:
<p>For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away- We feel inadequate as employees, students, parents, partners... fearing we won’t make the grade. And we tend to feel the same way before our God too. But in Christ, clothed with His righteousness, we need not feel like this. Indeed, we should not. We have tended to misquote a number of Bible verses to justify our feeling that we can never please God- e.g. <a href='B:290 64:6'>Isa 64:6</a> "All our righteousness are as filthy rags". Yet the context is clearly of a repentancefrom sin, recognizing that despite all their external good works, Israel were ritually unclean before God. We can and do please God! The wonder of this should never cease to impress us. J:R:R. Tolkien truly observed: "…the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks. To do as we say in the Gloria in Excelsis: …We praise you, we call you holy, we worship you, we proclaim your glory, we thank you for the greatness of your splendour":&nbsp; This admission of national sin must be contrasted with :5 AV "we shall be saved"- despite all this.</p>


text:
<p>There is none who calls on Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You- This is a recognition that the restored exiles had not allowed themselves to be stirred up as intended. God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be "raised up" [s:w:]- <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>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to "Awake!"- the same word translated "stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’. God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</p><p>Yahweh would "stir up" Cyrus (s:w. <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>), so this could have been fulfilled through that stirred up "mighty man" of <a href='B:290 42:13'>Isa 42:13</a>. But he failed. The "mighty man", the gibbor, therefore became reapplied to the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> s:w:). But He will act through the stirring up of a repentant Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>), seeing that no man would be ’stirred up’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). All the potential candidates had refused the Divine nudges to be stirred up. There was apparently not a single one in the community who would ’hold fast’ the offered new covenant (s:w. "who holds it fast" in <a href='B:290 56:2'>Isa 56:2</a>; <a href='B:290 56:4'>Isa 56:4</a>; <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a>); apart from the Messianic "son of man" (see on <a href='B:290 56:2'>Isa 56:2</a>).</p><p>For You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities- <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would "see" the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had triedto teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was "hid from Yahweh" (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile "for a little moment" when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that "I hid me... and he went on proudly in the way of his heart" (<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</p>


text:
<p>But now, Yahweh, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand- Several passages in Isaiah such as this in :8-12 record model prayers for Zion’s restoration. But the prayers dried up after the return; Isaiah’s exhortation was ignored. The returnees did keep silence, and therefore Zion was not established as a praise in the earth. The plea was for Yahweh to continue working with them, rather than casting them away as clay which refused to be malleable in His hands.</p><p>We note that ‘God the Father’ is the only God. It is therefore impossible that there can be a separate being called ‘God the Son’, as the false doctrine of the trinity states. The Old Testament likewise portrays Yahweh, the one God, as the Father (e.g. <a href='B:290 63:16'>Isa 63:16</a>; <a href='B:290 64:8'>Isa 64:8</a>). As there is only one God, it is impossible that Jesus could be God; if the Father is God and Jesus is also God, then there are two Gods. “But to us there is but one God, the Father” (<a href='B:530 8:6'>1Co 8:6</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Don’t be furious, Yahweh, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg You, we are all Your people- As noted on :1, this is asking Yahweh to do what He had Himself multiple times promised to do- to not remember sin forever, and to look on His people with pity rather than grace. But He would no longer remember iniquity if they accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>). And thus man is brought to God- desiring and praying for the very things which we then realize He has been earnestly offering us all the time. As the Yiddish couplet says, "And going out to meet Him, I met Him coming towards me".</p>


text:
<p>Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation- Isaiah’s later prophecies are in response to the judgment of Isaiah 39, that Judah were to go into captivity in Babylon and Jerusalem be desolated. This is therefore as it were a pro forma prayer for the captives- which it seems they did not pray, or prayed simply from the secular point of view of lamenting the loss of what were the icons of their culture and self-identity, rather than being the prayer of repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised You is burnt with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste- We could comment that they parallel "Your cities" with "our house... places", as if recognizing that what is Yahweh’s is theirs. Or we could more negatively respond that it was God’s house, not theirs. They only mourned for the loss of it insofar as it was a reflection of what they revelled in anyway, as an expression of themselves, rather than a means of worshipping God. And their fathers not only praised Yahweh there but offered idol sacrifice there, as Ezekiel demonstrates.</p>


text:
<p>Will You refrain Yourself for these things, Yahweh?- God had earlier accepted that throughout the captivity He had been "restrained toward" Israel, but now He would be restrained no longer (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>). But He did so because of the prayer of the faithful not to restrain Himself longer (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). The tragedy is that His unrestrained desire to save and redeem the exiles was still refused by them; and perhaps there were few who really begged Him to no longer restrain Himself. For they were quite happy with their prosperous lives in Babylon and Persia. And so the events of the last days will elicit this more intense prayer, and Yahweh will finally act unrestrainedly in this earth.</p><p>The statement that God will not "rest" for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) must be understood in the context of the faithful at that time urging God not to "be still" [same Hebrew word translated "rest"] for His people (<a href='B:230 83:1'>Psa 83:1</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). This is an allusion to Boaz not being at rest until he had redeemed Ruth and Naomi; see on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. God is not at rest, He is not distant from us; and yet His people in Babylon felt that He was. It’s no wonder that we are tempted to feel the same. Yet we must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>). Much of the later chapters of Isaiah speaks of the faithful remnant in Babylon. The prayers and thoughts of that faithful minority often surface- this and <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> is an example. Thus they fulfilled the prophecy that Zion’s watchmen would give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But overall, the poor response of Judah seems to have led God to abandon the plan for the gloriously rebuilt Messianic temple. The plan of saving His people and reestablishing His Kingdom was reinterpreted, delayed and reapplied.</p><p>Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?- Afflicted"is the word used in <a href='B:290 63:18'>Isa 63:18</a> of the Babylonian"adversaries"who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted (<a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a>). Here again we see their confession of sin tinged by misunderstanding and a lingering sense of injustice on God’s part.</p>


text:
<p>I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ to a nation that was not called by Myname- The idol worshipping exiles still sought Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:330 14:3'>Eze 14:3</a>; <a href='B:330 20:3'>Eze 20:3</a>; <a href='B:330 20:31'>Eze 20:31</a>). The nation not called by Yahweh’s Name would be Israel who were unknown to Abraham and Jacob and who were as if Yahweh’s Name had not been called upon them,"as those who were not called by Your name"(<a href='B:290 63:16'>Isa 63:16</a>; <a href='B:290 63:19'>Isa 63:19</a>). The people in view are those of :2,3, who are clearly Israel. But Yahweh was willing to be sought and found by them even in that state. God set them up with the possibility to return to Judah, to establish there a Messianic-style Kingdom, giving them the commands in Ezekiel 40-48 for a glorious temple; but most of them preferred the soft life in Babylon, and those who did return proved small minded, selfish and disinterested in the vision of God’s glory. In this context, Isaiah ends his restoration prophecies on a tragic note from God:"I was ready to be sought... I was ready to be found"(<a href='B:290 65:1'>Isa 65:1</a>) by the unspiritual exiles in Babylon. But Israel would not. He pictures Himself standing there crying"Here am I, here am I!"- to be rejected by a people more interested in climbing the endless economic and social ladder in Babylon and Persia.</p><p>Yet Paul appears to quote these words out of context, at first blush, applying them to the calling of the Gentiles who did not seek God (<a href='B:520 10:20'>Rom 10:20</a>). But this is not so out of context; for as noted on <a href='B:290 63:19'>Isa 63:19</a>, apostate Israel were effectively as Gentiles. This calling of apostate Israel was the same therefore as the calling of the Gentiles. Although we can note that many Old Testament passages are quoted in the New Testament without strict attention to context.</p>


text:
<p>I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts- LXX"After their own sins". Again we see the focus of the Biblical revelation upon thoughts and mental patterns as being the essence of sin. Our thoughts are our"way", and we walk in practice according to our way. This is why the gift of God’s Spirit or thinking is so essential for real transformation. Otherwise we will continue in rebellion against God.</p>


text:
<p>A people who provoke Me to My face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks- The provocation was to God’s face, or LXX"in My presence", as if the temple precincts were in view; or perhaps the Angel of His presence of <a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a> is in view, whom they rebelled against and grieved by refusing to repent and return from Babylon. Perhaps they had placed bricks and a garden structure there in which they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And the context is of the failure of the restored exiles; despite all the Godly influence of Ezra and Nehemiah, this is what was going on in the early generations after the exiles returned.</p><p>We note that <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a> LXX is clear that demons don’t exist: “[Israel] burn incense on bricks to demons, which exist not”. The idols of the nations, representing as they did the supposed ‘demons’ of the cosmos, were “vanity” because what the demons and gods they supposedly represented did not exist – they are “beings that are nothing” (<a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a> LXX), “a thing of nought” (<a href='B:300 14:4'>Jer 14:4</a>). See on :11; <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Who sit among the graves and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels- This seems to refer to various idol rituals, LXX"They lie down to sleep in the tombs and in the caves for the sake of dreams". The"vessels"may have been those of the temple which were returned from Persia to Jerusalem. Legion’s situation was clearly presented as alluding to this verse; his madness was that of the returned exiles in their idolatry. His cure therefore looks forward as an acted parable to the final psychological healing of Israel through the work of the spirit of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>Who say, ‘Stand by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you’. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burns all the day-"Stand by yourself"translates the common Hebrew term"draw near", which is that commonly used about drawing near to Yahweh in worship and offering. So the idea is that others were being told that they could do their worship"by yourself"and not with those who considered themselves spiritually superior (LXX"I am pure", see on <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>)- even though they were offering unclean offerings to Yahweh themselves (:4). This shows that the mentality of ’guilt by association’ has always been engrained amongst God’s people. It takes away any sense of self-examination and self awareness. For those saying this to the faithful remnant were idolaters and seriously morally compromised. This hypocrisy provoked the strongest wrath in God, and we must remember that whenever the guilt by association mentality emerges in our own thinking. See on <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, it is written before Me- Such self righteousness, insisting they were pure and condemning others when they were such idolaters, was what so deeply incited Yahweh’s anger. Isaiah’s words were written before God; the word spoken and preserved through Isaiah was and is also written in Heaven before God.</p><p>I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom- Their judgment will be according to what they did (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:290 65:6'>Isa 65:6</a>); although <a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a> says that some will be recompensed double. By contrast, the exiles were not receiving punishment according as their deeds deserved, but less (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). These different degrees of recompense suggest that Divine judgment is far more complex than a simple ’measure for measure’. The greater complexity is because He weighs motives and inflexions of meaning attached to actions which all require different judgments. And then on top of that, there is the credit He gives for forgiveness, and for the prayers and faith of others influencing the final outcome of judgment in any given case.</p>


text:
<p>Your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Yahweh, who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed Me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom- We doubt whether the Jews literally uttered blasphemy against Yahweh on the idol shrines in the mountains or hills. But that was the implication of their worshipping other gods, and Yahweh heard their actions as speaking like this. I suggested on :3 that this idolatry may have been taking place in the temple; therefore"mountains"and"hills"may be an intensive plural referring to the one great mount, the hill of Zion where the temple was located. Thus in :9"My mountains"(AV) become LXX"My holy mountain"(singular). It was this category of idolater who also ordered the faithful remnant to worship away from (see on :5).</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, As the new wine is found in the cluster and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for My servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all- The idea seems to be that the grape harvest was generally bad, but for the sake even of a minority, the vine of Israel would have been saved. Hence LXX"As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all". But it was this remnant which were being so abused by the hypocritical religious leadership; see on :5.</p><p>The shortening of the days for the sake of a remnant is predicted in <a href='B:290 65:8-9'>Isa 65:8-9</a>: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed [Jesus] out of Jacob… and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there”. The “elect” are paralleled with “my servants”. Because of them, the minority of faithful fruit, the whole tree is not destroyed. This is exactly the image of the fig tree parable; because of the beginnings of spiritual fruit on the tree of Israel, the whole nation will not be cut off and they will be saved by the coming of the Kingdom. The Lord’s description of the shortening of the days uses some rather odd past tenses: “Except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect’s sake…he shortened the days” (<a href='B:480 13:20'>Mar 13:20</a> RV). One wonders if we have here an allusion back to the days of Noah, where again there was the possibility that no flesh would have been saved. The 150 days of flooding is perhaps the basis of Rev 910, where Israel is to have 150 days of tribulation at the hands of her Arab enemies in the last days. The connection between the passages would therefore seem to be teaching that the final 150 days tribulation will be shortened due to the repentance of the remnant.</p>


text:
<p>I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains; and My chosen shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there- See on :8. AV: “And I will bring forth a seed [singular] out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor [singular] of my mountains: and mine elect [plural] shall inherit it, and my servants [plural] shall dwell there”. His obedience would enable the peoples’ establishment as the Kingdom, upon the"mountains", perhaps an intensive plural for the one great mountain, Zion. See on <a href='B:290 66:21'>Isa 66:21</a>. Or as with LXX, the reference could be to Yahweh’s intention to lead the repentant Judah out of Babylon to the"mountains", the one great mount, Zion:"And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of Juda, and they shall inherit my holy mountain"(see on :7).</p><p>The reason why there are no accusers against us, not even our own sins, is because we are “God’s elect” (<a href='B:520 8:33'>Rom 8:33</a>). The supreme chosen one of God was of course the Lord Jesus, “My elect, in whom My soul delights” (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>). And yet later on in the servant songs of Isaiah,"My elect” clearly refers to the people of Israel (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>; <a href='B:290 65:9'>Isa 65:9</a>; <a href='B:290 65:22'>Isa 65:22</a>). The true Israel of God are therefore those counted as somehow “in” the elect one, the singular servant of God, Messiah Jesus. Those baptized into Him are therefore His elect. And how do we know we are “God’s elect”? If we are baptized into Christ, “mine elect”, then for sure we are. And further, we have heard the call of the Gospel, we have been called- so, we are God’s elect, His chosen ones. Of course the objection can be raised that the whole idea of calling or election may appear unfair. Indeed, the Greek word for “elect” can carry the idea of ‘the favoured / favourite one’:&nbsp; There is no ultimate injustice here. The chosen One is the Lord Jesus, beloved for the sake of His righteousness, His spirit of life. Those who respond to the call to be “in Him” are counted likewise. And all this is the way, the method used, in order for God to be the one who counts us as right in the ultimate judgment- for “It is God that justifies”.</p>


text:
<p>Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for My people who have sought Me- This mentions Achor [where Israel were judged for not possessing the land for the right motives] as a place of special blessing in the reestablished Kingdom of God on earth- it’s as if God’s grace rejoices in inverting things, pouring out His richest blessing upon the places of our darkest failures. And we in daily life, in the interactions we have with others, are asked to reflect this same kind of grace. As Hosea’s children were to be renamed, Lo-ammi becoming Ammi, so the valley of Achor would become a door of hope (<a href='B:350 2:17'>Hos 2:17</a>), and Jezreel, scene of Israel’s rebellions, would become the place of joyful reconciliation between God and His people.</p>


text:
<p>But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny- see on <a href='B:10 49:19'>Gen 49:19</a>. The hypocrisy of this group is stunning; they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh worship, and yet disfellowshipped and persecuted the faithful remnant (see on :5). They ’forgot’ Zion in that they didn’t want to return there, and constructed a theology which allowed them to remain in Babylon and worship Yahweh through idol worship.</p><p>It is significant that the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) used the word daimonion for “idol”; thisis the word translated “demon” in the New Testament. “Idols” in <a href='B:230 96:5'>Psa 96:5</a> is translated “demons” in the Septuagint; and the Septuagint uses the same word in <a href='B:290 65:11'>Isa 65:11</a> to describe Gad, the Syrian god / idol of fortune. See on :3. GNB "who ignore Zion, my sacred hill, and worship Gad and Meni, the gods of luck and fate". It was not that they totally rejected Yahweh worship; rather they ignored Zion for the sake of the gods of the nations.</p>


text:
<p>I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer; when I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in My eyes- The tragedy was that if they had called to Yahweh, even despite all their sins, He would have heard them (see on :1). And although they didn’t do that, He took the initiative and called to them through the prophets such as Ezekiel, who ministered to the exiles; and they refused to hear. They bowed down to their idols; and thereby were self-condemned, effectively bowing down to their own executions.</p><p>And chose that in which I didn’t delight- The context is their choice of sacrificing to idols; but in <a href='B:290 1:11'>Isa 1:11</a> the same term is used of God’s lack of delight in the sacrifices offered to Him. It seems that they worshipped the idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And this is an abiding temptation for all God’s children- to worship our idols in the name of worshipping God.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed- <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s "servants", who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon (see on :5). The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them. And so they would not partake of the Messianic banquet, being left hungry and thirsty whilst the "servants" drunk and ate at it, and finally being left "ashamed" [s:w. "disappointed"] in the shame of final condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit- This is the weeping and gnashing of teeth of final condemnation. The wailing and anguish will be because they see ["behold"] the believers in the Kingdom, and themselves cast out (<a href='B:490 13:28'>Luk 13:28</a>). The sense of the eternity they have missed, which could have been theirs, will be psychologically unbearable for them. This is far worse than any ’hell fire judgment’ of popular but mistaken tradition.</p>


text:
<p>You shall leave your name for a curse to My chosen- This is the same threat in the context of the exiles as <a href='B:300 29:22'>Jer 29:22</a>.</p><p>And the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and He will call His servants by another name- GNB "I will give a new name to those who obey me" is alluded to by the Lord Jesus, when He promises to write a "new name" upon all those who have been finally faithful, at the last day when He returns (<a href='B:730 3:12'>Rev 3:12</a>). This is part of the wider theme of a new vocabulary being used at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:290 62:2'>Isa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4'>Isa 62:4</a>; <a href='B:290 62:12'>Isa 62:12</a>), looking forward to the completely "new" naming and understanding of things in the future Kingdom.</p>


text:
<p>So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in theGod of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth- "The God of truth" is as LXX, "the true God" in comparison with the idols they worshipped (:11). The picture is of all peoples in the eretz promised to Abraham swearing only by Yahweh. This could have come true at the restoration, but was precluded by Judah’s impenitence and failure to exhibit the Gospel to the Gentiles in the "earth".</p><p>Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes- This didn’t come true at the restoration, but it will ultimately at the last day (<a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>). If we can accept that God allows His power (i:e. His omnipotence) to be limited, it becomes easier to accept that there are circumstances He allows His omniscience (i:e. His knowledge) to be limited. Thus the God who by nature cannot forget and for whom time is nothing, can therefore have the capacity to not remember our sins on account of the Lord’s death (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). God clearly speaks of limiting His omniscience in <a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a>, saying that “the former troubles… are hid from my eyes”:&nbsp; God forgets our sins; and yet God knows everything that happens and is thought today, and also yesterday. And yet, He limits that total knowledge by forgetting our sins. In <a href='B:370 8:7'>Amo 8:7</a> God swore He would never forget Israel’s sin. Yet the same word is used in <a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a> of how God hid their sin from His eyes. God restrained His omniscience. He erased His own permanent memory as it were.</p>


text:
<p>For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind- The former things which would not be remembered refer primarily to Israel’s sins. They would not be remembered in that they would be forgiven. For that is a common enough usage of the term ’not be remembered’. The new system ["heavens and earth", contrasting with the sinful heavens and earth of Judah in Isaiah 1] would be therefore without sin. That is the primary feature of this new creation. <a href='B:290 65:17-19'>Isa 65:17-19</a> describes the new creation of Zion as it was possible at the restoration, when the former heavens and earth would not come into mind. The former “heavens” of Solomon’s temple did come to mind, and the old men mourned because of how far superior the former had been (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). The voice of weeping was heard in the streets of Zion, as Judah mourned for their sins of marrying the surrounding nations and breaking the Sabbath. And so these things are applied in spiritual terms to the latter day, eternal Kingdom of God on earth.</p>


text:
<p>But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy- The new creation in view is of psychological attitudes within people, "joy", because the former things of their sins are not remembered against them (see on :17). And this new creation has started now in the hearts of all who allow God’s creative Spirit to work in them (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>).</p>


text:
<p>I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people- This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (:18; s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him (<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</p><p>And there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying- See on :17. The "weeping" is that of the condemned in :14, or the weeping in repentance. They will weep but then be mercifully slain in the second death. And then the faithful will no longer hear this reminder of those who chose other gods</p>


text:
<p>There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed- This appears to describe the reestablished kingdom possible for the restored exiles. The simple idea is that lifespans would be greatly increased, although mortality would remain (see on :22). This didn’t happen then, and so the essence of it will do so at the return of the Lord Jesus to ultimately restore the Kingdom. But the letter of it may not be fulfilled; for eternal life is what will then be given, and not simply increased mortal lifespans. We note that for a sinner to live a long time would be part of the severity of his judgment; to simply exist, rejected, whilst the Kingdom is established... is going to be a fate worse than death. It confirms the point the Lord makes several times- that the punishment of the wicked is going to be in terms of their own psychological trauma, weeping and gnashing of teeth in anger at themselves. Rather than any physical torture by gleeful saints or an angry God. It is for us now to realize this and to be wise, living the Kingdom life now, without reserve.</p>


text:
<p>They shall build houses and inhabit them themselves; and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit- The idea is as in :22, that they would not build and then lose what they had worked for to others. But very few houses were built in Zion, because the people preferred to live on their farms, in their cieled houses, outside the city (<a href='B:160 7:4'>Neh 7:4</a>). They planted vineyards, but sold the fruit to others- on the Sabbath (<a href='B:160 13:15-16'>Neh 13:15-16</a>). The possible fulfilment in a reestablished Kingdom of God at the time of the restoration was thus again precluded. The essence, although maybe not the literal letter of all this, will come true in the eternal Kingdom to be established at the Lord’s return. Then, there will be ultimate satisfaction in existence; and the eternal enjoyment of the fruit of the lives we are now living. We are therefore moulding right now the nature of our eternity. It’s not that our works shall save us, but that we will live with the eternal fruits of what we do for the Lord’s cause and people in this very brief life. See on :22.</p>


text:
<p>They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, and My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands- LXX "they shall long enjoy the fruits of their labours". See on :21. This phrase is alluded to by Paul when he reflects that his labour for others spiritually will result in him seeing the fruit of his labour (Php_1:22). This will be the fruit of the righteous in the eternal Kingdom- seeing the eternal effect of their work for others. The initial fulfilment could have been in increased lifespans ["as the days of a tree", not eternal, but long] in the Kingdom of God in Israel which could have been reestablished at the restoration from Babylon (see on :20). But Israel’s impenitence precluded this. And so the essence of it will be fulfilled at the return of the Lord Jesus, although to a far greater extent- eternal life, rather than enjoying the fruit of good works for a long time ["long enjoy"], as the days of a tree, which all the same dies at some point.</p>


text:
<p>They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them- As explained on :22, the labour in view can be understood as our spiritual labour for others, which we will then perceive was not in vain. Again, Paul has this phrase in view about our work in Christ not being in vain (<a href='B:530 15:58'>1Co 15:58</a>).</p><p>If we choose the way of the flesh, it will be travail for nothing, bringing forth in vain (this is seen here as a characteristic of all worldly life). But 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>; <a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>). The Lord 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. 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>It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear- This speaks of the closer relationship with God possible under the new covenant. This could have been the exiles’ experience had they accepted that new covenant. But they refused that. And so the essence of it comes true for we who have accepted the new covenant (<a href='B:470 6:8'>Mat 6:8</a>). And this will be even moreso in the future, eternal experience of the Kingdom of God. Our focus should be more on the quality and nature of the Kingdom life, rather than the mere eternity of it.</p>


text:
<p>The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox- Perhaps the curse of Eden was to be ameliorated in the restored Kingdom. But wild animals are frequently used in the prophets as symbols of Israel’s aggressive neighbours (see on <a href='B:290 5:5'>Isa 5:5</a>), with Israel and Judah presented as lamb and ox. But in the restored Kingdom, these tensions amongst the nations within the eretz would have been no more; this is the force of "feed together". This didn’t come about, but it shall eternally do so at the Lord’s return. 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 lion would be tamed and live in Zion, the holy mountain. The vision was of Judah’s enemies being judged and repenting, and coming to live in the restored Kingdom. f Israel’s enemies 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><p>And dust shall be the serpent’s food- The allusion is to <a href='B:10 3:14'>Gen 3:14</a>, as if to say that there will be an eternal reminder of the past existence of sin and its judgment. Snakes don’t eat dust, but their location in the dust may give that impression. The idea is that the serpent will as it were remain ’down’.</p><p>They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Yahweh- The situation in view was still confined to Yahweh’s "holy mountain", Zion. The initial intention of the prophecies was that the Kingdom would be reestablished in Judah and Zion when the exiles returned from Babylon. But <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a> had spoken of the returned exiles as a stone becoming a mountain which would fill the eretz. That didn’t happen at the time, and so a far more glorious and global extension of the "mountain" of God’s Kingdom came into view, through the work of the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: what kind of house will you build to Me? And what place shall be My rest?- LXX "And of what kind is to be the place of my rest?". See on <a href='B:230 132:8'>Psa 132:8</a>. The answer was that God recognized that the idea of a reestablished Kingdom and temple wasn’t going to happen with the restored exiles, and instead He was going to focus upon dwelling in the hearts of humble individual hearts.</p><p><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.</p><p>Much of the later chapters of Isaiah speaks of the faithful remnant in Babylon. The prayers and thoughts of that faithful minority often surface- e.g. “Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace?” (<a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>; <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>). Thus they fulfilled the prophecy that Zion’s watchmen would give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But overall, the poor response of Judah seems to have led God to abandon the plan for the gloriously rebuilt Messianic temple. <a href='B:290 66:1-2'>Isa 66:1-2</a> records Him reflecting that “Where is the house that ye build unto me?” [i:e. they had not built itas He required in Ezekiel 40-48], and instead deciding to focus on dwelling in the hearts of the contrite faithful minority who trembled at His word. Ezekiel was sent to preach to the early captives, with the message that they were responsible personally for their exile- even though they insisted they were innocent and were suffering unjustly for their fathers’ sins. Ezekiel 18 and other passages labour the point that they personally, sitting their in captivity, were serious sinners. God even warned Ezekiel ahead of time that those captives were "a rebellious nation" (<a href='B:330 2:3'>Eze 2:3</a>), just as wicked as their fathers. There was active opposition to Ezekiel’s witness to the exiles- they persecuted him as with "briars and thorns", behaving as scorpions to him (<a href='B:330 2:6'>Eze 2:6</a>). His face had to be hardened against their faces (<a href='B:330 3:8'>Eze 3:8</a>). This was in the very early days of the exile. Jewish tradition has it that Ezekiel was murdered at the command of senior Jews in Babylon. See The Lives And Deaths Of The Prophets in J:H. Charlesworth, ed:, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Cambridge: C:U:P:, 1985). The same book claims that Isaiah was sawn in two by Manasseh, and Jeremiah was stoned to death by the Jews:. By the time of Isaiah 66, we see that even well after the restoration had happened, there was still major persecution of the faithful remnant and their prophets. Thus Isaiah speaks of the reapplication of the promises about building a temple- that temple would now be in the individual lives of a faithful remnant. <a href='B:450 4:7'>Zec 4:7</a> had prophesied that if Zerubbabel lived up to his potential, then a flat tableland would be prepared as a "platform" [Heb:] on which the new temple could be built. But this didn’t happen- and so this language was reapplied to the work of John the Baptist in making the rough places of men’s hearts smooth, in order for them to accept Jesus, the true temple.</p>


text:
<p>For all these things has My hand made, and so all these things came to be, says Yahweh- The contrast is between what God has made, and the man who trembles at God’s word. It’s as if God is searching for something which He Himself has not created, in the sense that He created the physical world. Perhaps the implication is that when a human being responds to the word of God, then there begins a totally free creation by the believer in his or her own life. God in one sense is the author of the new creation of human hearts- and yet the parallelism in <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> seems to imply that the difference between us and the natural creation is that we are in some sense not created by God in that same way, but rather have we allowed God’s word to mould us as, and to respond to that word, in ways which we have control over… and thus we offer ourselves to God as a creation which we have made, and in which He thereby takes extra pleasure.</p><p>But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a broken spirit, and who trembles at My word- "Poor" is the word usually translated "afflicted". Isaiah’s prophecies continually emphasize that God is fully aware of their "affliction" at the hands of the Babylonians, and would have mercy upon them in it (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a>; <a href='B:290 51:21'>Isa 51:21</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a> s:w:). Remember that these words were primarily addressed to the exiles. It was the poor who were to enthuse about the reestablishment of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a>; <a href='B:290 41:17'>Isa 41:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a> s:w:). The book of Esther makes clear that there were many wealthy Jews in Babylon / Persia. It was the simple pull of materialism which kept many of them from responding to the Gospel of quitting all that for the sake of the restored Kingdom of God. And it is the same today where "to the poor the Gospel is preached" with most response.</p><p><a href='B:290 66:1-5'>Isa 66:1-5</a> seems to anticipate that the actual rebuilding of the temple would be nullified by an incorrect attitude to the sacrifices, and more important would it be that individuals in Judah trembled at God’s word. The Jews did tremble at the word at the beginning of the rebuilding (<a href='B:150 10:9'>Ezr 10:9</a>). But it was a momentary thing; they came to see the building of the walls as more important than keeping a trembling spirit. Works eclipsed spirituality. Yet Isaiah had taught that the trembling at the word was more essentially important than building temples. But Judah paid no attention in the long term. So these verses speak of God’s change of purpose after the failure of the exiles to restore the Kingdom as intended. The idea could be that God is here asking His people to not bother trying to build the temple, and stating that He will now focus upon individual relationships with humble minded individuals, through His Messiah Son who trembled at His word.</p>


text:
<p>He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man- The man under the Old Covenant who made his offering of, e.g. an ox, at a place other than at "the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" was viewed as having shed blood and therefore was to be cut off from the congregation (<a href='B:30 17:3-4'>Lev 17:3-4</a>). The Law foresaw that there would be this tendency, to worship God away from the rest of the congregation. Those who did so were condemned in the strongest terms: their sacrifice of an animal was seen as the murder of their brother, whereas they would have seen it as an expression of their righteousness. "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man" (Isa 663) refers back to this, making it parallel with idolatry and proudly refusing to let God’s word dwell in the heart:&nbsp;Later Isaiah is criticizing the exiles in Babylon for their refusal to ’return’, both to their God and to their land. Perhaps in view is their attempt to offer sacrifices in Babylon, away from the sanctuary:&nbsp;</p><p>He who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations- What is criticized in later Israel is the tendency to worship Yahweh through offerings to Yahweh (even though they had no temple or sanctioned sanctuary), whilst at the same time as offering sacrifice to other gods. <a href='B:290 66:3'>Isa 66:3</a> speaks of this dualism in worship. An ox was sacrificed to Yahweh whilst a man child was killed in worship of the idols; a lamb was slain as a dog was struck down to an idol; an offering was brought to Yahweh as pig flesh was eaten in an idol ritual; incense was offered to Yahweh, suggesting this happened within the temple precincts, whilst idols were kissed. And the new Israel made just this same blasphemy in the way some in the Corinth ecclesia ate of the Lord’s table and also at the table of idols ["demons"]. Paul wasn’t slow to bring out the similarities when he wrote to the Corinthians. It is this kind of dualism which is so wrong; to be both Christian and non-Christian at the same time, to mix the two. But differences of interpretation between equally dedicated worshippers of Yahweh, or believers in Christ, were never made the basis of condemnation. We note that the apostate exiles in Babylon still felt the need to sacrifice to Yahweh, even though they worshipped idols; such is the strength of the culture of traditional religion. And we have that same pull within our own psychological wiring.</p>


text:
<p>I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t listen; but they did that which was evil in My eyes- God deceived prophets to speak things in His Name which were actually false (<a href='B:110 22:20-22'>1Ki 22:20-22</a>; <a href='B:330 14:9'>Eze 14:9</a>). He chose Israel’s delusions by making their idols answer them (<a href='B:290 66:3-4'>Isa 66:3-4</a>). Jeremiah feared God had deceived him (<a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a>)- showing he knew such a thing was possible. <a href='B:50 13:1-3'>Deu 13:1-3</a> warns Israel not to believe prophets whose prophecies came true although they taught false doctrines, because they may have been raised up to test their obedience. God deceived Israel by telling them about the peace which would come on Jerusalem in the future Kingdom; they didn’t consider the other prophecies which were given at the same time concerning their imminent judgment, and therefore they thought that God was pleased with them and was about to establish the Messianic Kingdom; when actually the very opposite was about to happen (<a href='B:300 4:10'>Jer 4:10</a>). This is why the Bible is confusing to those who wish to believe their word rather than God’s. God had called them back to Zion, and they had refused to respond. They preferred to worship their idols in the name of Yahweh worship; and so God confirmed them in those delusions.</p><p>And chose that in which I didn’t delight- The context is their choice of sacrificing to idols; but in <a href='B:290 1:11'>Isa 1:11</a> the same term is used of God’s lack of delight in the sacrifices offered to Him. It seems that they worshipped the idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And this is an abiding temptation for all God’s children- to worship our idols in the name of worshipping God.</p>


text:
<p>Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at His word- The double reference in <a href='B:290 66:1-5'>Isa 66:1-5</a> to trembling at Yahweh’s word is a definite prediction of the situation in <a href='B:150 9:4'>Ezr 9:4</a>; <a href='B:150 10:3'>Ezr 10:3</a>, where the same rare Hebrew word is used regarding how those of the exiles who repented for their marriage out of the Faith trembled before the word in repentance Then, at that point, the Kingdom blessings could have been brought about, as described in the rest of Isaiah 66. But again, there was no staying power in their repentance. By Nehemiah’s time, and by Malachi’s time even after his, marriage out of the Faith was still their weakness:&nbsp;</p><p>Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is those who shall be disappointed- See on :24. The religious leadership used the old argument of exclusionists- that Yahweh’s Name will be glorified through separation from those considered substandard or spiritually different within the community of believers. The faithful remnant were therefore disfellowshipped by the corrupt religious leadership of the Jews in Babylon; see on <a href='B:290 65:5'>Isa 65:5</a>. And for this they would face the shame (s:w. "disappointed") of condemnation. Such behaviour provokes the intense anger of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that renders recompense to His enemies- The enemies of the humble, excluded believers (:5) were Yahweh’s enemies. He was identified with those humble, excluded ones. The city and temple which they had refused to return to was to the source of this Divine voice of judgment against them in Babylon. The city and temple would be restored, and from there would come judgment against these awful hypocrites.</p>


text:
<p>Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son- The idea is more or less as in GNB "My holy city is like a woman who suddenly gives birth to a child without ever going into labor". The implication is that the final travail or birth pangs of God’s faithful people will be cut short in the last days (<a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a>). This "son" who suddenly appears in Zion will utter the voice of Yahweh which judges the hypocrites amongst His people (:6). Ultimately this is speaking of the revelation of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, after the travail of the faithful daughter of Zion is cut short by His grace.</p>


text:
<p>Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children- As explained on :7, a singular "son" was to be brought forth after the travail of the faithful daughter of Zion is cut short. But here we find that this son is in fact plural "children", an entire nation with their own land. The restored people of God in their restored land, the Kingdom of God on earth, would be suddenly brought forth out of the sufferings of the faithful minority in Zion. Whatever primary application this could have had to Hezekiah’s time and other sufferings of Zion, the ultimate application is to the appearance of the Lord Jesus and a new nation "in Him" after the sufferings of Zion, geographically and spiritually, shall be cut short by grace (<a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says Yahweh: shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb? says your God- This can be read as an implicit criticism of the words of Hezekiah at the time of the Assyrian invasion, who lamented that the children had come to be born but there was no strength to bring them forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>). God is saying that He will certainly bring forth the new nation of Zion out of their trauma at the hands of their invaders. He is not powerless, and therefore Hezekiah was wrong to imply this. Why the children were not brought forth at Hezekiah’s time was because of the lack of spirituality in the daughter of Zion, rather than because of God’s limited ability:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her- LXX has in view the people of Jerusalem rejoicing along with the Gentiles in a Divine feast in the last day, the marriage supper of the lamb: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and all ye that love her hold in her a general assembly". This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>); and the Gentiles who now love Zion will join in with it (:11). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (:18; s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him(<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</p>


text:
<p>That you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory- This continues the image of Zion’s sufferings bringing forth a new nation (:8,9). Just as a newborn baby is immediately nursed at the breast by the mother, so these Gentile converts would be. The implication is that the new nation of Yahweh brought forth is multiethnic.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will be nursed. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees- LXX suggests that the nations would come to Zion carrying the children of the repentant Israelites: "their children shall be borne upon the shoulders, and comforted on the knees". This is in view in other restoration prophecies; the idea was that the fall of Babylon would elicit repentance and migration to Zion, not only of the Jews but of the peoples amongst whom they lived, after the pattern of Egyptians joining in with the exodus. See on :11. But the ambiguity of the text is intentional; the Gentiles would nurse the children of Israel, and Israel would nurse the Gentiles (:11). This reflects the unity of Jew and Gentile within this new nation, which is to come forth from the sufferings of Zion in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem- The "comfort" continues the picture of a newborn baby being nursed at the breast of the mother. God Himself likens Himself to a nursing mother, an unusual and radical figure in the male-dominated culture of the time. But this "comfort" was offered to the exiles in <a href='B:290 40:1'>Isa 40:1</a>; but they then refused it. Finally it will be accepted, and even now it can be experienced through acceptance of the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, given to all who accept the new covenant.</p>


text:
<p>You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass- The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 will now flourish, because the wind of the Spirit of the new covenant is breathed into them, and they accept it. This could have happened at the restoration from Babylon, but is now reapplied to the final revival of God’s people.</p><p>And the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward His servants; He will have indignation against His enemies- To know Yahweh’s hand is to recognize His hand in the sense of His power and ability; and "His enemies" will know this also, through their experience of final condemnation (s:w. <a href='B:300 16:21'>Jer 16:21</a>; <a href='B:230 109:27'>Psa 109:27</a>). The physical restoration of Zion and the Kingdom would likewise make His hand known to His servants (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:20'>Isa 41:20</a>). If all are to "know" Yahweh finally, either through salvation by grace or through condemnation- we logically must know Him now, with all that having relationship with Him implies and demands [’knowing’ in the Hebraic sense].</p>


text:
<p>For behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and His chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render His anger with fierceness, and His rebuke with flames of fire- This would perhaps initially have been fulfilled through the cherubim returning to Jerusalem, as envisioned by Ezekiel- fire, chariots, whirlwind is all cherubim language. That didn’t happen because God’s people didn’t "return" to Him, and so this full "return" didn’t then happen. But it will come the more gloriously true in the last days, when the Lord Jesus returns in flaming fire taking vengeance (<a href='B:600 1:8'>2Th 1:8</a>). See on :18.</p>


text:
<p>For by fire and by His sword will Yahweh plead judgement on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many- 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>). It may take the form of literal fire, as He destroyed Sodom, and as also mentioned in 2 Peter 3. But His sword comes down as part of His ’pleading with all flesh’ (see on <a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</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>


text:
<p>Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, says Yahweh- I suggested on <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a> that these gardens may have been within the temple precincts. And LXX adds "and eat swine’s flesh in the porches", the temple porches. But it may refer to some idolatrous sanctuary in exile, which the exiles used as a form of Yahweh worship. It was this same group who pronounced themselves ’purified’ and abused and disfellowshipped the faithful remnant (<a href='B:290 65:5'>Isa 65:5</a> LXX "I am pure"). Isaiah ends with particular condemnation of this group; it was their hypocrisy and disfellowship of their brethren which clearly elicited God’s maximum wrath.</p>


text:
<p>For I know their works and their thoughts- Again we note the parallel between works and thoughts. The state of the heart, our thinking, is of such paramount importance to God.</p><p>The time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see My glory- "All nations" usually refers to all nations within or around the eretz promised to Abraham. They will all be gathered to judgment, and perceive God’s glory- which will be manifest in Israel, the parade example of the glory of His saving grace towards sinners (<a href='B:490 2:32'>Luk 2:32</a>). I suggested on :15 that the initial fulfilment could have been in the visible return of the cherubim to Zion, and they are repeatedly associated with the glory of the God of Israel (<a href='B:330 9:3'>Eze 9:3</a>; <a href='B:330 10:19'>Eze 10:19</a>; <a href='B:330 11:22'>Eze 11:22</a>). This would then have fulfilled the prophecy of the glory of Israel’s God entering the rebuilt Zion in <a href='B:330 43:2'>Eze 43:2</a>. But the exiles didn’t rebuild nor operate the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48 and so this was precluded. The greater fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus as the image of the glory of God, returned to Zion and enthroned there before literally all nations.</p>


text:
<p>I will set a sign among them- The "them" is repentant, accepted Israel. They will have a sign / token placed upon them, just as circumcision had been the "sign" of the old covenant (s:w. <a href='B:20 31:13'>Exo 31:13</a> etc:). "Among them" can as well be "upon them". The token of the new covenant is the Spirit, and so this may be here in view:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The idea of taking the Gospel world-wide in the great commission was alluding to <a href='B:290 66:17-20'>Isa 66:17-20</a>. Here those who are spared the ‘Gehenna’ of the last day judgment will have a sign placed on them, as upon Cain, and they will then be sent “unto the nations… and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles”. The rejection process glorifies God’s righteous Name, and this world-wide exhibition of the rejected will actually bring men “out of all nations” to God, just as Israel’s condemnation was an “instruction” unto the surrounding nations. The connection shows that in our obedience to the great commission, we go forth as condemned men who in our case, like the disciples, have known the wonder of grace. Mark’s record stresses three times in the lead up to the great commission that the disciples “believed not”; and then, he records how they were told to go and preach condemnation on those who believed not (<a href='B:480 16:11'>Mar 16:11</a>; <a href='B:480 16:13-14'>Mar 16:13-14</a>; <a href='B:480 16:16'>Mar 16:16</a>). They were humbled men who did that.</p><p>And I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the nations- These peoples could earlier have come to repentance and to Zion, but they refused. Prophecies like <a href='B:290 18:7'>Isa 18:7</a> were to have a deferred fulfilment in the last days, when repentant Jews are sent to call in to Zion these "tall" peoples; those who draw or make tall the bow (s:w. "tall" peoples, <a href='B:290 18:7'>Isa 18:7</a>). The witness was to be by those Jews and Gentiles who ’escaped’ from Babylon, by grace (s:w. Jer 5028; <a href='B:300 51:50'>Jer 51:50</a>) and repented (<a href='B:330 6:9'>Eze 6:9</a>). Their united experience of grace would be such a powerful witness.</p><p>Paul’s desire to go to Spain (<a href='B:520 15:24'>Rom 15:24</a>) indicates a commitment to taking the Gospel to the very ends of the world he then knew. He may well have been motivated in this by wishing to fulfill in spirit the Kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:290 66:18-19'>Isa 66:18-19</a>, which describes how Tarshish (which he would have understood as Spain) and other places which “have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory” will be witnessed to by those who have seen His glory and have “escaped” from God’s just condemnation by grace. Paul sees this as referring to himself. For he speaks in <a href='B:520 15:19'>Rom 15:19</a> of his ambition to take the Gospel to Spain; and in that same context, of how he will bring the Gentile brethren’s offering up to Jerusalem. This is precisely the context of Isaiah 66 - the offerings of the Gentiles are to be brought up to Jerusalem, as a result of how the Lord’s glory will be spoken of to all nations. So Paul read Isaiah 66 and did something about his Old Testament Bible study; he dedicated his life to taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he encouraged them to send their offerings to Jerusalem. He was no mere theologian, no academic missiologist. His study and exposition of Old Testament Scripture led to a life lived out in practice, to hardship, risk of life, persecution, loneliness, even rejection by his brethren. It is also significant in passing to note that <a href='B:290 66:19'>Isa 66:19</a> speaks of nations which occur in the list of nations we have in Genesis 10, in the context of the effect of Babel. It is as if Paul sees the spreading of the Gospel as an undoing of the curse of Babel and the establishment of the Kingdom conditions described in Isaiah 66. By his preaching of God’s Kingdom and the reign of Christ, he brought about a foretaste of the future Kingdom in the lives of his converts. And we can do likewise.</p>


text:
<p>They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh- I explained on :19 that the "them" are the repentant minority of Jewish exiles. It seems they are sent to bring their impenitent brethren back to Yahweh and to Zion. This is the key to successful preaching; repentant, forgiven sinners sharing the experience of grace.</p><p>As the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh- The offering they brought would have been of their converts; and Paul uses this idea in speaking of his converts as a sacrifice. <a href='B:330 40:42'>Eze 40:42</a> speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple [AV “instruments”] with the same word used for the temple vessels which were brought up out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (<a href='B:150 1:6-11'>Ezr 1:6-11</a>; <a href='B:150 8:25-33'>Ezr 8:25-33</a> cp. <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>). The restoration of the kingdom could potentially have happened at the time of Ezra.</p>


text:
<p>Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites, says Yahweh- The "them" appears to refers to the Gentile converts. A new priesthood is in view. This would have been part of the new covenant offered to both Jews and Gentiles at the restoration, had they responded. This again was the intention for the restored exiles; for the work of the Lord Jesus put an end to the priesthood.</p><p>In the restoration from Babylon context, <a href='B:290 66:21'>Isa 66:21</a> had prophesied that Yahweh would regather Judah, “And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD”. This implies, surely, that He would accept some as Levites who could not otherwise prove they were. <a href='B:450 6:11'>Zec 6:11</a>; <a href='B:450 6:13'>Zec 6:13</a> speaks of Joshua being crowned with the High Priestly mitre and ‘bearing the glory’, i:e. carrying the urim and thummim in the breastplate. But all this was conditional on Joshua’s obedience: “This shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey” (<a href='B:450 6:15'>Zec 6:15</a>). Because Joshua failed, he didn’t have urim and thummim, therefore no decision could be given about who was an acceptable priest, and therefore the‘Kingdom’ prophecy of <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a> was left unfulfilled. So much depended upon that man. And likewise, the eternal destiny of many others depends on us. Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration feature “the servant”- who was a symbol of both the people and a Messianic individual. His success was bound up with theirs. Thus <a href='B:290 65:9'>Isa 65:9</a>: “And I will bring forth a seed [singular] out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor [singular] of my mountains: and mine elect [plural] shall inherit it, and my servants [plural] shall dwell there”. His obedience would enable the peoples’ establishment as the Kingdom.</p><p>The restoration prophecy of <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a> commanded: “Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things”. The same words are found in <a href='B:150 2:63'>Ezr 2:63</a> and <a href='B:160 7:65'>Neh 7:65</a> - it wasn’t possible for the priests to eat of the holy things [signifying God’s acceptance of His people], because there was no record of their genealogy. Their names were not written in the “register” in fulfilment of <a href='B:330 13:9'>Eze 13:9</a>: “neither shall they be written in the writing [s:w. ‘register’, <a href='B:150 2:62'>Ezr 2:62</a>] of the house of Israel”. Only if a priest stood up with urim and thummim could they eat of the holy things. These were two engraven stones carried in a pouch in the breastplate which flashed out Divine decisions (see H:A. Whittaker, Samuel, Saul And David for an excellent study of this). <a href='B:450 3:9'>Zec 3:9</a> prophesies that Joshua the High Priest would have the engraven stone with seven eyes- the urim and thummim. It would thereby have been possible for a priesthood who had lost their genealogy record during the sacking of the first temple to eat the holy things, and thus fulfill <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a>.</p>


text:
<p>For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says Yahweh- <a href='B:330 44:15'>Eze 44:15</a> uses the same word: “But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me [s:w. “remain before me”] to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD”. But Ezra had to confess, using these very words of Isaiah and Ezekiel which he would have been familiar with: “O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this” (<a href='B:150 9:15'>Ezr 9:15</a>). They hadn’t lived the Kingdom life, and therefore the Kingdom prophecies could not come true in them. It makes a profitable exercise to consider all the times that Ezra and Nehemiah allude to the words of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It must have been heartbreaking for them to see the possibility of fulfilment within their grasp, and yet to know that their people didn’t see the wonder of it all.</p><p>So your seed and your name shall remain- This is more than a bald statement that they would be immortalized. Their seed and name would remain, just as Yahweh’s seed and Name would- for they would be identified with Him. But we shall each be given a name which is eternal, a unique reflection of our personality and character. Our struggles towards the person of Christ uniquely refracted through us will be eternally memorialized. Who we are now is who we shall eternally be. This points up the crucial importance of spiritual mindedness.</p>


text:
<p>It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says Yahweh- "All flesh" would not fit in the literal temple; the immediate reference is to a restored temple in the land of Judah, used by the remnants of "all flesh" in the land promised to Abraham who came to live in Judah as they came into covenant with Israel’s God. The Sabbath law has been ended in Christ. This is therefore another example of how these prophecies of the restoration were envisaged as coming true at the time the exiles returned from Babylon. But they broke the Sabbath themselves, as Nehemiah records; and they didn’t teach the GentilesGod’s ways. The essence but not the letter of all this will therefore be fulfilled in the last days, when all flesh will come before Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched- The context here is of the destruction of the apostate, hypocritical Jews who had condemned and disfellowshipped their faithful brethren (see on :5). They are the "sinners in Zion" of <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a>, here described as "the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched". This is quoted in <a href='B:480 9:44'>Mar 9:44</a> concerning Gehenna, the place of punishment for the unworthy saints. If the judgement is to be at Jerusalem, it would fit into place if the unworthy are punished literally in the physical location of Gehenna. This would make more sense of the Lord Jesus Christ’s repeated allusions to it when talking of the judgement. The repeated reference to fire being used to punish the unworthy (remember the Angels can be made a flaming fire) implies their punishment will be within a defined period of time- probably very short, seeing God has no pleasure in punishing sin- and if fire is to be used, it would be logical if it was in a confined location. A punishment in literal Gehenna fits in.</p><p>The servant was called to sustain the “dispirited” by the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a>). And yet passages like <a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a> and even Isaiah 53 speak of how the servant met even physical abuse as well as rejection in his ministry to his fellow Jews. Indeed the servant feels that his mission to them has been a failure (<a href='B:290 49:1-6'>Isa 49:1-6</a>), a complaint met by God’s promise that his mission would be in some way reapplied to the Gentiles in their captivity to sin. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled out (<a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a>) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>; <a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>). The servant was spat at by his fellow Jews- an expression of utter contempt (<a href='B:220 30:10'>Job 30:10</a>). Whilst the servant prophecies find their later fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, it seems to me that in their first context, they speak of how a prophet or prophets at the time of the exile were rejected and even beaten up by their fellow Jews. Indeed, Isaiah ends on a negative note, describing the judgments to come upon the Jews who had rejected the message of deliverance from Babylon (<a href='B:290 66:24'>Isa 66:24</a>). <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s servants, who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon. The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them.</p><p>And they will be loathsome to all mankind- AV "shall be an abhorring to all flesh"- the Hebrew text of <a href='B:340 12:2'>Dan 12:2</a> concerning the punishment of the responsible at judgement suggests some allusion to this: "Some to shame and everlasting contempt".</p>


text:
<p>The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin- Anathoth was a village near Jerusalem. It was a priestly city (<a href='B:60 21:18'>Jos 21:18</a>) on the great north road through which invaders would have approached Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 10:30'>Isa 10:30</a>). "The words of Jeremiah" contrasts with him using the first person in :4, so this introduction may have been added under Divine inspiration by an editor of the prophecy, perhaps Ezra.</p>


text:
<p>To whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign- Mentioned in <a href='B:300 25:3'>Jer 25:3</a> as the start of his 23 year ministry.</p>


text:
<p>It came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month- The implication is that God ceased to speak through Jeremiah once Judah were taken captive. His silence was part of their punishment; although we note that Ezekiel continued prophesying to the exiles after this point.</p>


text:
<p>Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying- Perhaps in a vision, which is how "the word of Yahweh came..." in <a href='B:10 15:1'>Gen 15:1</a> (s:w:).</p>


text:
<p>Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you- This is often misread as meaning that God had a relationship with Jeremiah whilst he was a foetus. But the text says He knew him before that. Paul interprets t in <a href='B:550 1:14-15'>Gal 1:14-15</a> as meaning known before creation. "Formed" translates the same word Jeremiah will later use of how God as the potter or former has formed Israel in order to do His work (<a href='B:300 18:2-6'>Jer 18:2-6</a>; <a href='B:300 18:11'>Jer 18:11</a>; <a href='B:300 19:1'>Jer 19:1</a>; <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>; <a href='B:300 33:2'>Jer 33:2</a>). So the ’forming’ is not simply a reference to literal creation, but of being formed in order to fulfil a specific purpose. This involves the formation of our unique personality even before birth; the spirit of man is "formed" within us (<a href='B:450 12:1'>Zec 12:1</a> s:w:). Our genetic history and formation was likewise in order to be and do specific things intended in God’s plan (<a href='B:560 2:10'>Eph 2:10</a>). Man is never better than when living up to these expectations.</p><p>Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations- "Sanctification" is not therefore merely forgiveness, but a calling to action. The idea of forgiveness and moral cleansing is indeed in view, but that is not to be received in a vacuum. We are sanctified so that we might be separated unto active service in response to it, with an appropriate humility. Paul clearly alludes to Jeremiah’s experience (<a href='B:550 1:15-16'>Gal 1:15-16</a>), and the NT applies these ideas to us all. Paul interprets being a prophet to the nations as preaching to them. This is how we who are not inspired as the prophets were can still continue their ministry.</p><p>At times, the prophets are paralleled with Israel- Jeremiah was a&nbsp;“prophet to the nations”, and yet this was Israel’s role (<a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a>). Both the prophets and Israel are described as “the servant of the Lord”. But God and Israel were in the process of divorce, as they knew. The prophets were both on God’s side, and Israel’s. They were torn men. Just as God Himself was. He appeared “like a man confused” (<a href='B:300 14:9'>Jer 14:9</a>). Jeremiah’s ministry was partly "to the [Gentile] nations" in that his prophecies against Babylon and Egypt etc. were intended to elicit their repentance. or we can understand that he was a prophet about the Gentile nations in that Jeremiah repeatedly predicted those nations would attack Israel.</p>


text:
<p>Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child- It is typical of God to work through those who feel the least qualified. And yet Jeremiah’s objection to his calling was wrong, given that God had prepared him genetically from the beginning to be ideally suited for the calling he was now given (:5). AV is just as legitimate: "I cannot speak". This smacks of a refusal to accept the commission for which he had been prepared from the beginning of creation. The Hebrew for "child" is generally used of pre-adolescents, and it may be that indeed Jeremiah was very young. This indicates that God is active with children and they can legitimately respond to Him.</p>


text:
<p>But Yahweh said to me, Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak- He was not to keep telling himself that "I am a child...". This exhortation to watch our self-talk and negative self-perception is absolutely needed today. This could be read as meaning that God would force Jeremiah’s obedience regardless of his youth; or it could simply be a more detailed reiteration of the command just given, urging his freewill obedience to it.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh- AV "Don’t be afraid of their faces" suggests this young man being cowed by the faces of those older than him to whom he had to witness. We know exactly this feeling, of inadequacy and awkwardness in making a witness. And we are encouraged hereby to go forward. The phrase is an exact quotation from the encouragements to go and possess the land at the time of the conquest (<a href='B:50 31:6'>Deu 31:6</a>; <a href='B:60 11:6'>Jos 11:6</a>). The unfaithful Israelites are thereby made parallel to the Canaanites; and Jeremiah like Joshua is to lead the people into possession of the kingdom of God in Israel. This was indeed the possible, potential outcome of Jeremiah’s message; if Judah had repented and accepted it, then they could have been established as God’s Kingdom and would triumph over all seemingly more powerful opposition. But that potential went tragically unrealized at the time. It was with these very same words that Jeremiah was to encourage the Jews to resist and not fear the Babylonians(<a href='B:300 42:11'>Jer 42:11</a>). As he had overcome all the faces of his opponents through obedience to God’s word, so all Judah could have followed Jeremiah’s personal example. This is indeed how the preacher must be; the word is to become flesh in us. As Jeremiah was not afraid before the faces of opponents, so Judah were to be like him before the Babylonians.</p>


text:
<p>Then Yahweh put forth His hand- The same phrase as in <a href='B:10 19:10'>Gen 19:10</a>, where Yahweh through the Angels put forth His hand to preserve Lot from the men of Sodom, who are presented in the prophets as representing the men of Jerusalem and Judah in their persecution of prophets like Jeremiah.</p><p>And touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth- The same phrase is used in the commissioning of Isaiah in <a href='B:290 6:7'>Isa 6:7</a>. The touching of the prophet’s mouth was there symbolic of God forgiving Isaiah; and here the same idea may be in view, seeing that Jeremiah has just argued back with God in (like Moses) refusing the commission given to him, when God has explained that he had been born and prepared for this work. Jeremiah’s reluctance to preach and struggle with God is going to be a theme of his ministry, coming to full term in Lamentations, where at the end of his life he openly struggles with God over the fulfilment of the very word which Jeremiah has been inspired to preach.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant- Jeremiah had complained that he was but a child, totally inadequate; and yet through the power of the word he was preaching, he had power over the nations. His prophetic word could destroy nations like Babylon and disobedient Judah, and also result in the building and planting of a new Israel if they were obedient. These words are applied to all who "overcome"; they shall likewise be given "power over the nations" (<a href='B:730 2:26'>Rev 2:26</a>). The ’plucking up’ is the word used of how Judah would be plucked up out of their land for their disobedience to the prophetic word (<a href='B:50 29:28'>Deu 29:28</a>; <a href='B:140 7:20'>2Ch 7:20</a>). And as the Gentiles plucked up / out Israel from their land, so those nations would be plucked up (<a href='B:300 12:14-15'>Jer 12:14-15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:17'>Jer 12:17</a>). Likewise the building and planting specifically refers to the restoration of Israel after their plucking up (<a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). It was God through His word who would do these things (<a href='B:300 18:7'>Jer 18:7</a>); but that possibility worked through the preacher and proclaimer of that word. Therefore here Jeremiah is presented as the one who would do these things. This is the enormous power delegated to all to this day who preach His word; we really can save people, plant them in the Kingdom by sowing the seed of the Kingdom; and those who refuse will be plucked up.</p><p>"Break down" is the word specifically used about the throwing down of the temple and great houses of Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>). Likewise "overthrow" is used in this sense, specifically about Judah and Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>). The building and planting are the words used of how God potentially would have restored and rebuilt the kingdom of God in Israel had Judah repented (s:w. <a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>). The plural "nations and kingdoms" in view are therefore epitomized in the fate of Judah; although perhaps intensive plurals are being used here, in the sense of ’the one great nation’ and ’one great kingdom’ of Judah. Or it could be that the plural refers to Israel and Judah; for at times the ten tribe kingdom are also in view in Jeremiah.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? I said, I see a branch of an almond tree- The almond is the first tree in Palestine to bud, so it means literally the watching tree, as if it were alive and eager to come to life. The idea was that God’s prophetic word of judgment against His people, as well as the potentials for restoration, were very soon to come true, and there was an eagerness and energy latent within the word of prophecy to achieve its own ends.</p>


text:
<p>Then Yahweh said to me, You have seen well; for I watch over My word to perform it- He would watch over His word to achieve the breaking down and buildingup just spoken of in :10; as is stated specifically in <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>.</p><p>The word translated ’hasten’ or "watch over" is very similar to the word for ’almond’. Almonds are associated with God’s eyes; the bowls of the lampstands were almonds (<a href='B:20 25:33-34'>Exo 25:33-34</a>). <a href='B:450 4:2'>Zec 4:2</a> talks about these almond bowls on the candlestick, and <a href='B:450 4:10'>Zec 4:10</a> interprets them as the "eyes of the LORD which run to and fro through the whole earth". <a href='B:140 16:9'>2Ch 16:9</a> talks about the Angels in the same way; "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him". Similarly in <a href='B:730 4:5'>Rev 4:5</a> the lamps in the bowls of almond are equated with the "seven spirits (or Angels) of God". <a href='B:730 5:6'>Rev 5:6</a> equates the seven eyes with the seven spirits. Thus the almond rod which Jeremiah saw represented God’s eyes or Angels who would watch over the word of God which Jeremiah was to speak to perform it. See on <a href='B:340 9:14'>Dan 9:14</a>.</p>


text:
<p>The word of Yahweh came to me the second time saying, What do you see? I said, I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north- It was about to be poured out southwards, upon Judah. <a href='B:330 11:3'>Eze 11:3</a>; <a href='B:330 24:3'>Eze 24:3</a> use the boiling cauldron as a symbol of Jerusalem. Perhaps in <a href='B:330 11:3'>Eze 11:3</a> the false prophets had purposefully wrested Jeremiah’s prophecy here to say that the cauldron represented Jerusalem rather than Babylon, and it would give them protection from Babylon. This is typical of how Divine words are wrested out of context in accordance with the desired narrative of the false teacher.</p>


text:
<p>Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land- The pouring out of the cauldron was the breaking out of evil from Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah- God’s judgment was to be uttered as it were from the judgment thrones of the invaders which would be set up at the gates of Jerusalem, the place of power and judgment.</p>


text:
<p>I will utter My judgements against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods- This is evidence that ’the judgment seat’ isn’t the weighing up of evidence which we may tend to think of it as. Pilate sat on the judgment seat not to weigh up evidence but to pronounce the verdict (<a href='B:500 19:13'>Joh 19:13</a>). Herod sat on the judgment seat in order to make "an oration" to the people, supposedly on God’s behalf (<a href='B:510 12:21'>Act 12:21</a> RVmg:). It wasn’t to weigh up any evidence- it was to make a statement. And thus it will be in the final judgment. Also, "judge" is often used in the sense of ’to condemn’- not to just consider evidence (e.g. <a href='B:470 7:2'>Mat 7:2</a>; <a href='B:520 3:7'>Rom 3:7</a>; <a href='B:600 2:17'>2Th 2:17</a>). The trial of our faith is going on now; the judgment will simply formally reveal the verdict which is now being arrived at. The Father judges now "according to every man’s work" (<a href='B:670 1:17'>1Pe 1:17</a>), as He did in OT times: "Thou renderest to every man according to his work" (<a href='B:230 62:12'>Psa 62:12</a>).</p><p>And worshipped the works of their own hands- The equivalent of idolatry today is reliance upon our own works. These then become our idols.</p>


text:
<p>You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you-Jeremiah’s temptation, as ours, may have been to only speak forth part of God’s message.</p><p>Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them- <a href='B:660 5:10'>Jas 5:10</a> puts it bluntly- the prophets are to be taken by us as our examples. Jeremiah was warned: "Be not dismayed of them, lest I dismay you" (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a> RV). This is alluded to by the Lord when He tells us that if we are ashamed of Him and His words, then He will be ashamed of us (<a href='B:490 9:26'>Luk 9:26</a>). The connection surely indicates that the Old Testament prophets and the spirit of their commissioning is intended to apply to us today in our fulfilling of the great commission. Thus the prophets become our pattern for witness; they are our “brethren the prophets” (<a href='B:730 22:9'>Rev 22:9</a>). And so an understanding of them becomes programmatic for our witness today. Our audience, the world in which we live, is in essence that in which the prophets lived.</p><p>Jeremiah remembered this command not to be dismayed and quotes it back to himself in <a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>. This is how we should act- quoting scripture to ourselves as encouragement. We note that later it is the righteous remnant who are commanded not to be dismayed (<a href='B:300 30:10'>Jer 30:10</a> s:w:); Jeremiah was to be their example and representative.</p>


text:
<p>For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land- This was true potentially, but Jeremiah still had to make the necessary freewill decisions. Jeremiah later speaks of how he came to see Israel for who they were: “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then thou didst show me their evil deeds” (<a href='B:300 11:8'>Jer 11:8</a>). Ezekiel was shown “what the house of Israel is doing in the dark” (<a href='B:330 8:12'>Eze 8:12</a>). To pass through human life with this level of sensitivity must’ve been so hard. Psychologically and nervously, the stress would’ve been awful. It seems to me that the prophets had to be somehow psychologically strengthened by God to endure living that sensitively in this crass and unfeeling world- hence God made Ezekiel and Jeremiah as a wall and “iron pillar” to Israel, hardened their faces, so that they wouldn’t be “dismayed at [the] looks” of those who watched them with anger and consternation (<a href='B:300 1:18'>Jer 1:18</a>; <a href='B:300 15:20'>Jer 15:20</a>; <a href='B:330 2:4-6'>Eze 2:4-6</a>; <a href='B:330 3:8-9'>Eze 3:8-9</a>; <a href='B:330 3:27'>Eze 3:27</a>). This psychological strengthening was not aimed at making them insensitive, but rather in strengthening them to live sensitively to sin in a sinful world without cracking up. And He will do the same for us, too.</p><p>Right in the context of God predicting the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is presented as a strong, fortified city, made strong by God against any opposition. The implication was that the faithful should identify with Jeremiah if they wished to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah uses the same term for "fortified city" in urging the faithful to run into one in the face of the Babylonian advance (<a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>). But that fortified city was himself and the community of the faithful.</p>


text:
<p>They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you- Jeremiah needed reminded of this promise in <a href='B:300 15:20'>Jer 15:20</a> where it is repeated word for word. The aggression of the people against Jeremiah was extreme. As he faced death in the cistern, he must have struggled to believe them. "I am with you" is the language of God encouraging Moses and Joshua, that inheritance of the kingdom land was possible, and :17 is likewise an allusion to this. The hint may be that Jeremiah’s ministry could have resulted in the restoration of the Kingdom, and the faithful remnant inheriting it in his time.</p>


text:
<p>The word of Yahweh came to me saying- This was aimed specifically at "Jerusalem" (:2), which could refer to the leadership and priesthood.</p>


text:
<p>Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I remember the kindness of your youth, the love at the time of your marriage; how you went after Me in the wilderness- The exodus and wilderness journey&nbsp; is described as God, a young man, being madly in love with the young woman of Israel. It was He who took the initiative in going after them; but He imputes this to them, just as the lover eagerly imagines that the object of love has the same passion for him as he does toward her. And they hardly showed chesed, covenant love ["kindness"], toward God. How could a God who loves purity, who cannot look upon iniquity, fall in love so passionately with such a reprobate crew? It cannot be that God turned a blind eye to their sin:&nbsp; And how can Israel be described as going after God in the wilderness, showing Him all their love when in their hearts, from Egypt right through the wilderness journey, "they despised my judgments... (and thus) rebelled against me" (<a href='B:330 20:8'>Eze 20:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:13'>Eze 20:13</a>; <a href='B:330 20:16'>Eze 20:16</a>; <a href='B:330 20:21'>Eze 20:21</a>)?&nbsp; This was the overpowering love which imputes love and righteousness to the beloved. So this was a reminder of how Israel were in covenant with God on the basis of having had His love imputed to them.</p><p>In a land that was not sown- These are the words used of how in the Sabbath and jubilee years, the land was not to be sown, and yet God would provide for His people (<a href='B:30 25:4'>Lev 25:4</a>; <a href='B:30 25:11'>Lev 25:11</a>). Perhaps Jeremiah was prophesying in one such year. But the allusion is surely to how the land of Israel was to become barren, a land now sown, in punishment for their sins (<a href='B:50 29:23'>Deu 29:23</a> s:w:). Even in this case, the promise is that God would lead the faithful remnant of the people through it, as He had led Israel through a similar environment.</p>


text:
<p>Israel was holiness to Yahweh- The very term inscribed upon the high priestly mitre (<a href='B:20 28:36'>Exo 28:36</a>). The high priest was not intended to ’do it all’ for Israel, as priests in secular religions are intended to. He was to be representative in essence of all God’s people. But "holy to Yahweh" can simply mean dedicated to Him:, and the context is of their marriage to Yahweh as an exclusive covenant (:2). This verse goes on to say that they were His "firstfruits", His firstborn Son, dedicated to Himself. That they dedicated their firstborn to Moloch was the more awful because of this.</p><p>The first fruits of His increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them’, says Yahweh- Israel were Yahweh’s firstborn (<a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>), and therefore He slew the firstborn of an Egypt which had destroyed them. And this would continue in the judgment of Babylon. The figure of firstborn raises the fascinating question as to whether God had had ’sons’ before in His history. The metaphor implies He had not, at least not in this intimate sense. Israel’s failure was the more tragic, therefore; although they were replaced as firstborn by His only begotten Son, His firstborn. And all those in Him likewise become the firstborn, with promise therefore of many children yet to come in future creations.</p><p>"Devour" is literally ’to eat’, and is used of how Babylon "consumed" Jerusalem with fire (<a href='B:160 2:3'>Neh 2:3</a>; <a href='B:160 2:13'>Neh 2:13</a> etc:). The people and their land were to be "consumed" by the fire which was contained in the words Jeremiah spoke (<a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But all who devoured / consumed them would be "held guilty" (<a href='B:300 2:3'>Jer 2:3</a>; <a href='B:300 10:25'>Jer 10:25</a>; <a href='B:300 30:16'>Jer 30:16</a>). And yet in depression, Jeremiah lamented that the fire had consumed (<a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a>), when it was His owns words which had been that devouring fire. His lament was therefore tantamount to a statement of regret that he had been used as the vehicle for this devouring fire. The devourers of Israel considered themselves "not guilty" because Judah had sinned against their God (<a href='B:300 50:7'>Jer 50:7</a>). But the clear statement in <a href='B:300 2:3'>Jer 2:3</a> is that "All who devour him shall be held guilty". Punishing a sinner doesn’t mean that those who do the punishing are thereby justified; we can be used by God, but that is no guarantee of righteousness or acceptability. This needs to be remembered by those who consider they can punish sinners within the church; they may well be held equally guilty for the lack of love they showed.</p>


text:
<p>Hear the word of Yahweh O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!- God’s intention was to restore the ten tribes and revive the apostate kingdom of Judah into His kingdom on earth. So this may well be addressed to the ten tribes, and presumably someone took Jeremiah’s message to them.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?- This appears addressed to the "fathers" who were still alive; for they "are" become vain, and the sense is that these fathers had and continued to find fault in Yahweh. Perhaps Jeremiah as a very young person was being asked to appeal here specifically to the younger generation; for youth need youth to appeal to them. "Gone far from me" is a word used of Israel’s exile at the hands of their invaders (<a href='B:290 6:12'>Isa 6:12</a>; <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>; <a href='B:300 27:10'>Jer 27:10</a>). But this, like all judgments, was only a reflection of how they had gone far from God in their hearts (s:w. <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>). To find something unclean in the other party and therefore to go far from them is the language of marriage breakup; which is the context of :2. It was Israel who were ending the marriage, not God; and had gone off with "vanity", other gods. It’s not hard to discern the "idols" of our age- they are the various "vanities" which so easily fill human life in this online age.</p>


text:
<p>Neither did they say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?’- The memory of their historical beginnings and salvation by grace through baptism in the Red Sea was intended to remain with them. And with us too. Their passage so far was by grace alone, for nobody could have survived the journey they had made were it not for God. And this is true of each of us. "The shadow of death" is really ’deep darkness’. The idea of being preserved from "pits" would have recurred to Jeremiah when in the cistern.</p>


text:
<p>I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination- This continues a major Biblical theme- that God’s loving material blessings of His people led them to idolatry (<a href='B:50 32:15'>Deu 32:15</a>). The prosperity Gospel must give due weight to this sad experience of God’s people historically. Israel brought the idols of Egypt with them through the wilderness, and lost no time in using them and defiling the land thereby. The popular idea that the generation who entered the land were the most faithful of Israel’s generations needs some revision.</p>


text:
<p>The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t come to know Me. The rulers also transgressed against Me, the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit- The reason for their turning to other gods was because the priests, who were supposed to teach the knowledge of Yahweh, didn’t seek to know Him; and what knowledge they did have was not the ’knowing’ of personal relationship. We can know true propositions about God, but not thereby come "to know Me". A teacher must himself be continually learning and enquiring further. But the priests assumed they knew it all; when in fact what they did know was not the same as "knowing Me" in terms of personal relationship. And so they slipped off to idolatry. Although they had been given materially all that they needed on entering the land (<a href='B:300 2:7'>Jer 2:7</a>), the attraction of the idols was "profit". The idols of Canaan were fertility cults, and they were worshipped in the hope of good harvests and material benefits (<a href='B:300 12:13'>Jer 12:13</a>). So Yahweh’s blessing of His people materially only elicited in them a craving for yet more materialism, and they turned to the idols- which in reality did not "profit", for all such blessing is only from Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Yahweh, and I will contend with your children’s children- This is the language of entering into a law suite; and the results of it were going to last many generations. Or perhaps the idea is that grandparents, their children and grandchildren were all alike guilty and must stand before Divine judgment.</p>


text:
<p>For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing- The Gentiles were fiercely loyal to their gods, whereas Israel were for ever seeking some petty advantage or "profit" from adopting new gods. The islands of Kittim were the extreme west of Israel, and "Kedar" to the extreme east. He was a son of Ishmael (<a href='B:10 25:13'>Gen 25:13</a>); a reminder that there was more integrity in the line God had chosen not to work through than in that of Isaac and Jacob.</p>


text:
<p>Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit- Israel in the wilderness had changed their glory into the similitude of an ox, the golden calf (<a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a>). And now Judah were committing the same error:&nbsp; They prided themselves on not having the golden calves of the ten tribe kingdom, but they did have the equivalent in their hearts. Gentile nations didn’t change their gods; butGod’s people did, ever seeking a little extra material benefit from some new religion; see on :8. This is one of many examples of where unbelievers are held up as a challenge to believers; and we can take that challenge for all time.</p>


text:
<p>Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says Yahweh- "Desolate" is "dry", so the heavens / skies addressed may be literal. This theme of water continues in :13. There was to be a drought as a reflection of God’s withholding the blessings He had given when they first entered the land.</p>


text:
<p>For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water- There was to be a drought and no water from Yahweh at all (:12). Sin has various component factors, because God is so sensitive to human behaviour. The sin of forsaking Him was separate to that of adopting other gods. Baal was thought to be the rain god, and Israel’s addictive desire for extra fertility and material blessing led them to accept Baal. But Baal was no better than a broken cistern; any water that came would be wasted and could not be kept by Israel. And in any case, it was God who gave rain and He was going to therefore punish them by drying up the skies (:12).</p>


text:
<p>Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?- As noted on :3, Israel were God’s firstborn son. They were not slaves born in the house, like Ishmael. But they acted as if they were not the native born members of God’s family, by seeking other gods. And so they were treated appropriately to their own self-perception and self-identification. I explained on :8,11 that Israel turned to other gods in the hope of petty material benefit. They were therefore to become a "prey", to have their material things taken from them as booty.</p>


text:
<p>The young lions have roared at him and yelled, they have desolated his land. His cities are burned up without inhabitant- This is an example of the prophetic perfect, whereby things prophesied in the future are spoken of as having already happened; so certain are they of fulfilment. Just possibly the fate of the ten tribes is in view. The Divine threat to leave Judah "without inhabitant" never quite came true. Not all the urban dwellers were slain. Indeed even after the destruction of Jerusalem, they still came to offer at the site of the altar in Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy. Perhaps He perceived that repentance would not be elicited by the judgments, and so they have been deferred until the last days. Or maybe there was some repentance or intercession which ameliorated the threatened judgments. And yet "young lions" is a double symbol, both of the Babylonians and of the rulers of Judah in Ezekiel; it was for their sakes that the Babylonian lions came.</p>


text:
<p>The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head- Egypt was always attractive for Judah to trust in. But the Egyptians ’shaved the head’ (Heb:) of Judah, taking their glory away, at great cost to them (<a href='B:120 23:35'>2Ki 23:35</a>) but provided no help against Babylon.</p>


text:
<p>Haven’t you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when He led you by the way?- If we follow the moment by moment leading of God, having the attitude that we will always say "Yes" to Him, then we will not go astray to idols. And all judgment for such sin is really brought about by the sinners themselves. If we leave the God who is leading us, then we for sure will go astray to other gods and face the appropriate judgment.</p>


text:
<p>Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?- "Shihor" may be another name for the Nile, which represented Egypt as the Euphrates did Assyria. Judah were always trying to get help from their northern or southern neighbour against the threat posed by the other, instead of trusting in Yahweh above them. The attempted alliance with Egypt is described in <a href='B:330 16:26'>Eze 16:26</a> as active prostitution with her, when Yahweh would have provided all the freedom and protection Judah wanted. Menahem king of Israel bribed Pul king of Assyria to support him, whilst Hoshea sought the aid of Egypt to enable him to throw off the Assyrians, and Josiah died fighting against the Egyptians on the behalf of Assyria. This is portrayed in Ezekiel as whoredom, the endless cycle of attraction to illicit lovers.</p>


text:
<p>Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies- The Divine hope was that Judah would be corrected by their sins and judgments experienced; "know therefore..." is an appeal for relationship, for understanding and repentance. But this didn’t come about, although it potentially could have done. The same Hebrew word for "punish" is also translated "reform / correct" (see the play on this in <a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>; <a href='B:30 26:23'>Lev 26:23</a>; <a href='B:30 26:28'>Lev 26:28</a>). The punishments were not therefore simply an expression of God’s anger, but rather intended to reform Israel.</p>


text:
<p>For of old time I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high ill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute- AV "I will not transgress" (NEV "I will not serve"). so many times God had broken the bonds of their captivity and they had promised total loyalty in response; but everywhere they still worshipped other gods. Yoke and bonds are figures of servitude. The idea was that if God had broken their bonds of servitude to the world around them, they should in response serve Him, exchanging one bondage for another, a change of masters. This was supremely seen at the exodus from the bonds of Egypt through the Red Sea baptism. And that is exactly the metaphor used by Paul in Romans 6 for our response to our freedom from this world and sin; in response, we proclaim Jesus as Lord and serve Him. But instead so many like Judah at this time served idols instead.</p><p>Judah had "broken the yoke and burst the bonds" of their covenant relationship with God (<a href='B:300 5:5'>Jer 5:5</a>), but He by grace had broken the yoke and bonds of those who enslaved them (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed- How we are spiritually planted is no guarantee that we shall continue to grow in the way we were sown. The noble vine had clearly allowed foreign vine branches to be grafted in. That is the implication. And the lesson, as Paul points out in a similar analogy in Romans, is that being physically of the seed of Abraham was no guarantee at all that the fruit was going to be acceptable. And we may likewise reflect that no matter how well believing parents may plant their children, in the end this can be no guarantee that they will grow into a noble vine just because the right seed was planted. Far more individual volition than that is required. God had well planted Israel, giving them the maximal opportunity for growth and fruitfulness (<a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>; <a href='B:230 80:9'>Psa 80:9</a>; <a href='B:350 10:1'>Hos 10:1</a>); and yet they turned to idols. The requirements for elders that their children be "not unruly" I would therefore see as relevant to their immature children and their manner of raising young families.</p><p>How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to Me?- We see here God’s shock and hurt at His people’s dashing of His best hopes. Possibly we could say that the language more indicates the Angels’ surprise at the weaknesses of their charges- "The Lord God of Hosts (Angels)... broke thy yoke, and burst thy bands (in Egypt); and thou saidst, I will not transgress (Israel’s covenant of obedience to the Angel)... I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed (done by the Angel, <a href='B:230 80:8'>Psa 80:8</a>; note the angelic context of Psalms 80): how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?". But the reality is that God Himself personally can be hurt and broken by us. He limits His omniscience as He limits His omnipotence, in order to enter into real time, actual relationship with us.</p>


text:
<p>For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Yahweh- The idea is that any attempt to make themselves appear externally better was irrelevant, because their problem was with their mentality and heart. That is what God looks at, and this is what He ’marks’. The sin of Judah was written- both on their hearts and in God’s record (<a href='B:300 17:1'>Jer 17:1</a>); their iniquity was "marked before me". Note how their sin was written both before God and on their hearts. The state of our hearts is actually God’s record of us; "the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord" through which He searches us (<a href='B:240 20:27'>Pro 20:27</a>).</p>


text:
<p>How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways- The Jews of course considered that they had not abandoned Yahweh; they were not atheists and had instead worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh, as an expansion of their devotions to Him. "The valley" is that of Hinnom where they had their high places (<a href='B:300 7:31'>Jer 7:31</a>; <a href='B:300 32:35'>Jer 32:35</a>). They were like a young camel in heat, desperately running around here and there looking for a partner. This was how God saw their running to various idols and gods. They were asked to look at themselves from outside of themselves: "See your way in the valley" is an invitation to take as it were an aerial photograph or video of themselves there. And this same invitation comes to us in every generation. see on <a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a>.</p>


text:
<p>A wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her- We all know the downward spiral into sin… how once we start, we can’t stop. But when Israel were like this, they are likened to a female camel in insatiable heat (<a href='B:300 2:23-25'>Jer 2:23-25</a>; <a href='B:300 5:7-9'>Jer 5:7-9</a>). We’d just rather not read that, or retranslate the words to make it seem somehow different. But we’re dealing with serious matters here. Sin is serious to God. Israel were seeking satisfaction from their various idols as if they were sexually addicted and hopelessly out of control. She was searching for them, and not they for her. This heightens the depth of her sin even more so</p>


text:
<p>Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them’- This passage suggests Israel were shameless. They were convinced that their behaviour was not wrong (:23). I suggest that they came to this position by assuming that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols; and that is the essence of all spiritual temptation in every age. Any appeal to them for self control was dismissed by them.</p>


text:
<p>As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets- We must contrast this with the sense of shameless devotion to idols in the previous verses. See on <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>. They had not then been found (out); but they would be, and so sure was their future shaming in condemnation that Jeremiah spoke as if it was already being experienced by them. Judgment in essence is now. If they had realized that, then they would have repented.</p>


text:
<p>Who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have brought me forth’; for they have turned their back to Me, and not their face- See on <a href='B:300 3:4'>Jer 3:4</a>. This contrasts with the earlier statement that they were God’s firstborn (:3). But through their idolatry they denied this. This turning of the back to God was literally seen by Ezekiel, when he was shown men worshipping the sun within the temple, with their backs turned upon the holy place. God’s turning away His face from them was therefore only an extension of their own attitude to Him.</p><p>But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us’- This could be read as God sadly lamenting how He knows they will always turn to Him in time of crisis. But it could also be said as it were with joy and hope, knowing that in the final time of Jacob’s trouble, God’s people will turn to Him and eternally remain with Him. &nbsp;Yet this appears to be God’s fantasy and desperate hope and imagination that His people would cry to Him and not the idols. But <a href='B:300 11:12'>Jer 11:12</a> states that His people in the "time of their trouble" (s:w:) would cry to&nbsp; their idols. It’s as if by the time of Jeremiah 11 God as it were faces the reality that they would cry to their idols and not to Him.</p>


text:
<p>But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah- The large number of gods is further evidence that like the out of control young camel of :23 and donkey in heat of :24, they were obsessed with finding other gods to trust, as if they were addicted to this endless search once they had cast off faith in Yahweh. The connection of thought with the earlier part of the verse seems to be: "When every city has its special deity, surely among so many there might be found one able to help his worshippers". The LXX adds: "And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal". This would have been an imitation of Babylon; and so to Babylon they would be sent. Their judgment was a reflection of what they themselves wanted. If we seek above all God’s Kingdom, then this will be given us.</p>


text:
<p>Why will you contend with Me? You all have transgressed against Me, says Yahweh- God understands Judah as having a legal issue with Him, when He has done nothing wrong to them, and they have done wrong to Him. Again we sense the absolute certainty of the people that they were not sinning. "I am not defiled" was their attitude (:23). Such a shameless attitude was only possible due to becoming psychologically hardened in the idea that they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh, as an expansion of their devotions to Him. And this is the real danger of believing that our idolatry, in whatever form, is in fact serving God. It can be thinking that gossip is in fact a service and defence of God’s truth; or thinking that a luxury mansion is in fact in order to serve God’s people. As with Israel at this time, this will lead to an obsession with idolatry which is insatiable.</p>


text:
<p>I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion- The lion was a symbol of Babylon / Assyria, but they had acted like a lion in killing their own prophets. The correction given by the prophets and at the hands of the previous Assyrian and Babylonian incursions had not been "received". "Correction" is the same word for ’doctrine’ or teaching. God’s word can come to us, and especially for the illiterate in Jeremiah’s time, not only through what we now call "the Bible", but through Divinely controlledexperience.</p>


text:
<p>Generation, consider the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness?- He had been like this to Egypt, but the Israelites had had light in their areas and homes. But they considered that any correction from God was treating them as if they were not His people, and were wilfully ignorant of their salvation history.</p><p>Why do My people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to You no more?’- They effectively considered they were no longer in covenant relationship with Yahweh, and acted like this. But they would never have agreed that these were their words; God counts our positions and attitudes as words.</p>


text:
<p>Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number- The implication was that they should live permanently in a state of expecting an imminent marriage ceremony. They had married God at Sinai but the hope was that God would establish an eternal Messianic kingdom with them.</p>


text:
<p>How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways- Although they didn’t dress themselves up for Yahweh (:32), they did in order to attract other lovers. This speaks of how they madly sought relationship with any Gentile nation whom they perceived could benefit them immediately. And just as prostitutes lead men into sin, so they had led even the Gentiles into sin, and encouraged other smaller states to likewise offer allegiance to multiple political partners at the same time. God is therefore portrayed as sensitive to even the sins of the Gentiles. Instead of being a light to the Gentile world, Israel instead had led them into sin.</p>


text:
<p>Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts, even though you did not catch them in the act of burglary- The idea is that God did not need to break through in order to see their sins; the blood of their own children and also of poor people in society whom they had used as sacrifices was as it were on their clothes. They had publically done these things in the valley of Hinnom. The LXX has: "In thine hands has been found the blood of innocent souls; I have not found them in holes, but on every oak".</p>


text:
<p>Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger has turned away from me’. Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned’- "Innocent" is a word often used about being free from a covenant contract. Perhaps the idea was as in :31, that they considered they had broken free from covenant relationship with God and therefore God should not be angry with them. But they, His wife, had broken the marital covenant... and they were not to consider they could walk away from it. It was their attitude that "I have not sinned" which was more hurtful to God than their actual sins. And so it is to this day. Or we could take "innocent" in the sense of ’cleansed’, as if they believed that the cleansing of the Mosaic rituals thereby meant that their sin was dealt with and they were free to continue in sin. This was exactly the attitude of some Christians at the time of <a href='B:520 6:1'>Rom 6:1</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Why do you go about so much, ever changing your way? You will be shamed by Egypt, just as you were shamed by Assyria- The attempted alliance with Egypt is described in <a href='B:330 16:26'>Eze 16:26</a> as active prostitution with her, when Yahweh would have provided all the freedom and protection Judah wanted. The final fulfilment of these prophecies as of every prophetic word will be in the final judgment of the last days. This is the scene of <a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a> - the rejected being made naked in shame. This slinking back in shame will fulfil the prophecies of <a href='B:290 1:24'>Isa 1:24</a>; <a href='B:290 1:29'>Isa 1:29</a> and <a href='B:300 2:35-36'>Jer 2:35-36</a>, which speak of the rejected being made ashamed, becoming ashamed, of their idols. They will be made ashamed by the judgment process.</p>


text:
<p>From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them- This prophecy foresaw that contrary to Jeremiah’s pleading, some in Judah would flee to Egypt, and yet also be taken captive from there. And yet the people still had freewill as to whether to flee into Egypt. This prophetic potential scenario would therefore not have come about, and this idea of Divine potential is a major theme in the prophets. We ask how did God reject Egypt in whom they trusted? The LXX has "for the Lord has rejected thine hope, and thou shalt not prosper in it". This would suggest that they thought that their trust in Egypt would be acceptable with God, despite His clearly telling them later not to go there. But He rejected that request, as it were, to accept their trust in Egypt as trust in Him. This clearly was their problem, they thought that bad behaviour could be justified as part of their worship of Yahweh. This is why repeatedly they insist that they are innocent of any wrongdoing.</p>


text:
<p>They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and become another man’s, should he return to her again?’. Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers- Jeremiah often makes a play upon the Hebrew word shub- it can meanto turn away (from God), and also to ’turn back’ or repent (e.g. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>; <a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a>; <a href='B:300 3:10'>Jer 3:10</a>; <a href='B:300 3:12'>Jer 3:12</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:300 3:19'>Jer 3:19</a>; <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>; <a href='B:300 4:1'>Jer 4:1</a>). If Israel turned in repentance, then God would return them to their land (<a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>); if they turned away from Him, He would turn them out into the Gentile world. Our lives are a twisting and turning, either to or away from God; and God is waiting to confirm us in those twists and turns. <a href='B:300 8:4-6'>Jer 8:4-6</a> comment that if one turns from the right road, then they must turn back. We all know how when we miss the way in finding an unfamiliar address, there’s a tendency to keep on going along the wrong road- because turning back is so psychologically difficult. And this is the image that God uses here- to appeal to Israel, and ourselves, not to foolishly ’backslide’, keep on turning away, from Him- just because that’s the course we’re set upon.</p><p>Yet return again to Me, says Yahweh- Within His own law, it was an abomination for a man to re-marry the woman he had divorced. Yet this notwithstanding, God abases Himself in asking worthless Israel to re-marry Him (<a href='B:50 24:4'>Deu 24:4</a> cp. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!- Again, they are asked to see themselves from outside of themselves. Likewise in <a href='B:300 2:23'>Jer 2:23</a>, "See your way in the valley" is an invitation to take as it were an aerial photograph or video of themselves there. And this same invitation comes to us in every generation.</p><p>Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness- Even in Jeremiah’s time, the Jews had the sense that they were superior to their ’Arabian’ relatives. But here they are presented as an Arabian prostitute. Their worship of idols on the high places is directly equal to their prostitution. They were eager for these relationships, because they were addicted to getting help from others and immediate benefit, rather than going Yahweh’s way. Sitting by the roadside could even mean that foreigners passing through Palestine were accosted by the Jews and asked to enter into political relationships with them.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain- This had been God’s way of telling them that their covenant blessings were being withheld; but still they refused to respond.</p><p>Yet you have a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed- The Lord hardened His face like a rock (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>; <a href='B:490 9:51'>Luk 9:51</a>); and yet the wicked similarly harden their faces like a rock to go in the way of the flesh (<a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>). We are hardened in our path, one way or the other. Jeremiah had his face hardened in response to his own hardening of face (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a>; <a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>), and the wicked in Israel likewise were hardened (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a>; <a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>). Israel’s shameless attitude is a major theme of God’s criticism of them:&nbsp; They were convinced that their behaviour was not wrong (<a href='B:300 2:23'>Jer 2:23</a>; <a href='B:300 2:25'>Jer 2:25</a>). I suggest that they came to this position by assuming that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols; and that is the essence of all piritual temptation in every age.</p>


text:
<p>Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?’- I suggest in :4,5 we have the Divine hope, a kind of interjection from Yahweh fantasizing about their repentance, putting words in their mouths, of the kind we have in Hosea. God yearned for them to realize that they were His children, He and not the idol stocks was their Father (<a href='B:300 2:27'>Jer 2:27</a>). He presents Himself as sentimental about their past together in Egypt and the wilderness, and so wishes for them to let Him guide them again as He had done in the desert. God therefore presents Himself as made weak by the depth of His love, even for a worthless woman.</p>


text:
<p>‘Will He retain His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way- As explained on :4, this is still part of God’s fantasy as to the words He so hoped His repentant people would say. He wanted them to realize that they had said and done evil; and we note He gives priority to the words they had spoken. He presents Himself as a man deeply sensitive to words; and we see this reflected in the Lord’s later teaching as to how our words shall be the basis of our salvation or condemnation at the last day. He wanted them to understand that He was angry, but that His wrath was but for a moment and would not last (<a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>).</p><p>Or we could read :5 as Israel’s response to God’s desire for their repentance in :4. The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will he be angry for ever?”. They assumed the present moment is how it shall eternally be; they lacked faith to see the wider and longer plan of God. It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded by short termist vision.</p>


text:
<p>Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute- Jeremiah recalls how God’s earnest desire and imagination of ten tribe Israel’s repentance had been disappointed in the days of Josiah king of Judah, who made great reforms, perhaps motivated by the judgment upon the ten tribe kingdom of Israel. But the essential love of idolatry was not removed. The stress on "every high mountain" matches the impression already given that Israel had been like a sexually addicted person, they wanted relationship with every possible partner. And so Judah were also being with idols.</p>


text:
<p>I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to Me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it- The ten tribe kingdom appear to have been in a hopeless state spiritually. But still God was "sure" that they would return to Him. There is a word play between the original Hebrew words for "backsliding / treacherous" and "return". Just as the Father thought that His people “surely” would reverence His Son, so He had the same attitude to Israel in Old Testament times: “I thought that after she had done all this, she would return to me, but she did not” (<a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a> NIV). This surely is God limiting His omniscience in order to enter fully into relationship with His people in real time.</p>


text:
<p>I saw, when, for the very reason of committing adultery that I had put away and given a bill of divorce to backsliding Israel, then treacherous Judah her sister didn’t fear; but likewise went and played the prostitute- The lack of "fear" in Judah repeats the theme being established; that they were shameless and refused to be convicted of their sins. They were intended to learn from Israel’s sin and punishment, but instead they went ahead and sinned yet more. See on :3. God speaks as if He was the one who put away Israel. God allowed divorce only for the hardness of man’s heart (<a href='B:470 19:7'>Mat 19:7</a>); yet God speaks as if He, with all His morality and justice, was responsible for the divorce (<a href='B:300 3:8'>Jer 3:8</a>), when in fact it was Israel who had broken the marriage contract by their unfaithfulness. But in His grace, He as it were took the blame. See on <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a>.</p>


text:
<p>It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks- The problem was "Because she took her whoredom lightly..." (ESV). She had a light-hearted and not serious view of life, refusing to look to the implications, corollaries and results of her sins. She just wanted toexperience pleasure in the immediate moment with no thought for anything further nor wider. And this is exactly the spirit of our age.</p>


text:
<p>Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but only in pretence, says Yahweh- This has reference to the reforms of Josiah, which clearly did not affect the heart of the people. For they returned to their idols immediately he died. “Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt him” (<a href='B:350 11:7'>Hos 11:7</a>) in the way which true repentance requires. They did turn back to Yahweh- but not in their heart. Israel rejoiced in the light of John’s teaching- and he taught real, on-your-knees repentance. They thought they’d repented. But the Lord describes John as mourning, and them not mourning in sympathy and response (<a href='B:490 7:32'>Luk 7:32</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah- The idea is that Israel appeared more just than Judah, for Judah had sinned worse. Judah had the example of Israel to warn them, and they failed to that and therefore became the more responsible for their sins.</p>


text:
<p>Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel’, says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful’, says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever- Again there is a play on the related Hebrew words for "return" and "backsliding". Instead of turning to idolatry, they were to turn again to their God. God assures them of His essential characteristic- that His mercy is greater than His anger with sin. No man has ever gone so far in this life that the eternal anger of God is upon him, for God doesn’t keep anger for ever. This contrasts with the&nbsp; human tendency towards unforgiveness, and being still angry over things we were angry about decades ago. This feature of God is a strong encouragement for human repentance (<a href='B:230 103:9'>Psa 103:9</a>; <a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God- Presumably Jeremiah’s message was to be taken to the ten tribes. The Divine hope was that Israel and Judah would repent together, and form a revived, united kingdom of God in Israel under a Messianic king. Their unity would be on the basis of common experience of God’s grace, their repentance and His forgiveness. It is this which is the ultimate basis of fellowship between believers.</p><p>Jeremiah uses the same phrase for "acknowledge iniquity" in saying that "we" have done so (<a href='B:300 14:20'>Jer 14:20</a>). He either considered that he was representative of the people, or he failed to accept that their acknowledging of iniquity was only on a surface level. Although on one hand Jeremiah is in step with God’s feeling and thinking, he comes over so often (especially in Lamentations) as implying that God is unjust. He has an over positive view of his people. They did not "acknowledge iniquity" as required, but he considers they had done. Or that they had done so whereas the ten tribes had not.</p><p>And have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed My voice’, says Yahweh- This ’scattering’ to the gods of many different peoples would result in them being appropriately scattered amongst those nations (s:w. <a href='B:190 3:8'>Est 3:8</a>; <a href='B:300 50:17'>Jer 50:17</a>; <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a>). Judgment was really a reflecting back to them of what they in essence had done.</p>


text:
<p>Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion- "Two of a family" suggests that even though the ten tribes had intermarried in captivity, they would still be miraculously ’taken’ from wherever they had been scattered and returned to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. All that was required was that they ’returned’ to God, and then He would return them. Although divorced (:1), God still felt as their husband. This is surely also relevant in trying to understand how God now feels towards His people from whom He is divorced.</p>


text:
<p>I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding- The system of shepherds, be it the priesthood or the royal family, was to be replaced by one singular shepherdafter the pattern of David (<a href='B:330 34:23'>Eze 34:23</a>), although we learn here that he would have assistants who were also after God’s own heart- another way of saying they too would be like David, the man after God’s own heart (<a href='B:90 13:14'>1Sa 13:14</a>). This was God’s intention for the restored Kingdom, but Israel and many of Judah didn’t return. And so this will be fulfilled in the last days, when we will be those shepherds.</p>


text:
<p>It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!’ neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more- The intended restoration of the kingdom would feature no ark of the covenant. The temple they were to build in Ezekiel 40-48 has no mention of a place for the ark, and it concludes with the comment that the city will be called "Yahweh Shammah", the Lord is there. His personal presence would be there. This great potential wasn’t fulfilled, so it has been reapplied and rescheduled to the last days, when as Revelation says, God Himself shall be with us. The ark was a contentious issue at the time, with Judah considering they had God on their side because the ark was with them and not the ten tribes. But this mere symbolism would be irrelevant before the very presence of God Himself; as will so much of our contentions with other believers.</p>


text:
<p>At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The throne of Yahweh;’ and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem- As explained on :16, this is the equivalent of Jerusalem being called "Yahweh Shammah" in Ezekiel. The nations, who had abused Israel and Judah, were to be gathered again to Jerusalem; not to judge Jerusalem, but in repentance and acceptance of Israel’s God.</p><p>Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart- Nobody in our current society would consider what you think to be a criminal act; and nobody did in early Israel, either. But time and again, the prophets passionately call down judgment for “evil thoughts” and “evil hearts” (<a href='B:300 3:17'>Jer 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 4:14'>Jer 4:14</a>; <a href='B:300 7:24'>Jer 7:24</a>; <a href='B:300 9:14'>Jer 9:14</a>; <a href='B:300 11:8'>Jer 11:8</a>; <a href='B:300 13:10'>Jer 13:10</a>; <a href='B:300 14:14'>Jer 14:14</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:12'>Jer 18:12</a>; <a href='B:300 23:17'>Jer 23:17</a>).</p>


text:
<p>In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north- Although God tacitly accepts Judah would sin, refuse Jeremiah’s message and go into captivity, yet He looked ahead to how they would return together with the ten tribes. Their unity would be on the basis of common experience of God’s grace, their repentance and His forgiveness. It is this which is the ultimate basis of fellowship between believers.</p><p>To the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers- The latter chapters of Ezekiel stress how Israel were to “inherit” the land; yet the same word is used in other restoration prophecies, about Messiah causing Israel to “inherit” the land again after their return from “the north country” (<a href='B:450 2:12'>Zec 2:12</a>; <a href='B:450 8:12'>Zec 8:12</a>; <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:18'>Jer 3:18</a>). When Judah returned from the “north country”, then Jerusalem would be the universally recognized “throne of the Lord” (<a href='B:300 3:17-18'>Jer 3:17-18</a>). The Kingdom could have come when Judah returned from Babylon. It was therefore potentially possible for the returning exiles to inherit all the land outlined in <a href='B:330 47:13-21'>Eze 47:13-21</a> and share it out between the 12 tribes. But they grabbed every man for himself, his own farmstead, his own mini-Kingdom. They had no interest in the wider vision, nor in subduing extra land; and the majority of the Jewsdidn’t even want to inherit it; they preferred the soft life of Babylon, the Kingdom of men rather than the Kingdom of God. And thus the Kingdom made possible was never actually fulfilled at that time.</p>


text:
<p>But I thought how I would set you among My children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations; and I thought you would call Me My Father, and would not turn away from following Me’- God’s being apparently mistaken because of His over enthusiasm for Israel reflects His limiting of His omniscience in order to enter into legitimate real time relationship with His people. Despite realizing this, in :22 God still offers to restore them. His enthusiasm to almost force through His intentions with His beloved stands for all time as an encouragement to His people.</p>


text:
<p>Surely as a wife faithlessly departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, house of Israel, says Yahweh- Their lack of faith was the essence of their immorality and seeking other gods. Despite the passion of His love (see on :19), God doesn’t turn a blind eye to what they had done. The breaking of faith was breaking covenant; this is the essence of sin. We are to forever remember that we are in the bonds of an eternal covenant, and only wilfully walking away from it can end our part in it.</p>


text:
<p>A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God- The high places were where they worshipped idols. The tragedy was that even in the desperation of their nadir, they still would turn to their idols rather than fully to Yahweh. He simply cannot be one of many options we try in order to get us out of crises. Or it could be that this verse is another example of God as it were interjecting with His own fantasy of how they would repent; there on the high places, before their idols, He envisaged them realizing how vain were the idols, how they had forgotten Yahweh, and then by implication calling upon Him alone. Perhaps Daniel understood this verse like this, when he prays and confesses that "we" had perverted God’s way (<a href='B:340 9:5'>Dan 9:5</a> s:w:). We notice that individual acts of sin aren’t in view; rather is the issue with a "way" of being, thinking and living.</p>


text:
<p>Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding- This is a promise to psychologically change them, if they were willing. And this operation upon their very heart or mind is the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20. Although God’s people refused that new covenant at that time, it is that which is made with us, and the psychological transformation of His Spirit is just as much available to us today.</p><p>Behold, we have come to You; for You are Yahweh our God- As suggested on :21, this seems to be God’s almost placing words in their mouths in His imagination. The hopefulness and fantasy of God for Israel often comes out in His statements that Israel definitely will repent “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is [note the present tense] the house of Israel ashamed” (<a href='B:300 2:26'>Jer 2:26</a>). This was God’s fantasy for His people. Hosea is full of this. So here too, this latter sentence is God’s fantasy about Israel, imagining them saying those words. How bitter was His disappointment therefore- and how great His delight in those of us who in our weakness do come unto Him and recognize Him meaningfully as our God. Indeed the whole of <a href='B:300 3:22-25'>Jer 3:22-25</a> is full of God fantasizing about the sort of words Israel would say upon their repentance, and how they would take responsibility for their sins rather than blame them on their fathers . This apparent certainty that Israel would repent and thus obviate the threatened judgments must have conflicted within the thinking of the Father- with His certainty that all was already too late for them. Hence passages like <a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a> speaks of the burning pain within the thought processes of God Almighty.</p>


text:
<p>Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God- God hoped Israel would come to realize that the various gods of the high places ("hills") and the whole ranges of mountains, representing the nations, could not save them. Rather was salvation (teshua) only in Yahweh. This would then make the word Yeshua, the Hebrew name for "Jesus", the salvation of Yahweh. Finally this hoped for repentance and acceptance of Yah’s salvation will come true in the latter day repentance of Israel and acceptance of Jesus as God’s Son and the source of their salvation.</p>


text:
<p>But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters- God hopes and imagines that they will recognize that Baal worship, "the shameful thing", had robbed them of the blessings which He had given them. The phrase "devoured the labours" is that used in <a href='B:50 28:33'>Deu 28:33</a> of how the invading armies would devour Israel’s labours. But as so often, this judgment was only in fact what the people had themselves chosen. For they had allowed Baal to devour their labours.</p>


text:
<p>Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God- This concludes God’s fantasy about how His people would repent, the position they would adopt (lying down in shame) and thewords they would say. Instead of prostrating themselves before the shameful thing (Baal), they would lie down in shame before God, in repentance. Fantasy or imagination is part of what it is to be made in God’s image; and we must ask ourselves what our deepest hopes really are, and whether our fantasy or imagination for those who hurt us is their repentance and reconciliation... As it was God’s for His spiteful people. Shame / confusion covered the faces of God’s people when the temple was desecrated (<a href='B:300 51:51'>Jer 51:51</a> s:w:), but this was because their faces had not been covered with shame at their sins. It’s shame for sin now, or shame at judgment day.</p>


text:
<p>If you will return, Israel, says Yahweh, if you will return to Me- The Hebrew implies as AV that ’If you will return, then return to Me’. We can confuse a desire for change, a fleeting twinge of conscience, with real repentance. “They return, but not to the most High” (<a href='B:350 7:16'>Hos 7:16</a>). They had the sense that they must turn away from the way they were in, but this wasn’t necessarily the same as turning back behind the Lord.</p><p>And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight; then you shall not be removed- If there was a real turning to God, then God would not remove Judah into captivity. Or it could be that the ten tribes are still the subject, as they largely were in the previous chapter. If they returned to God, then He would miraculously return them to their land; and they would never again be removed. This would imply that some kind of Kingdom of God situation would have been established then, under a Messianic ruler, with the Gentile nations glorifying Israel’s God (:2).</p>


text:
<p>And you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives’, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory- When Israel return to the Lord and swear in truth that “the Lord lives”, then all the other nations of the world will be blessed in the coming of the Kingdom. Their repentance is a prerequisite for the second coming. The implication is that this could have happened at Jeremiah’s time, see on :1. It didn’t, and so the fulfilment is reapplied and rescheduled to the last days.</p><p>The implication is that God’s people swore that "Yahweh lives" but without moral justice and right behaviour. To believe that God exists is therefore to act like Him, in truth, justice and righteousness. To live otherwise is to effectively deny His existence. His very existence is therefore an imperative to live and be as He is.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground- This repentance could have brought about some kind of Kingdom situation as described in :1,2. The idea of using fallow ground is that they were to realize their potential- which was that it Judah repented and so did the ten tribes, then those tribes would be regathered into a reestablished Kingdom of God in Israel. We too must "break up our fallow ground" (Heb. ’plough the unploughed’), analayze ourselves from outside ourselves, and use our time and our “all things” to the utmost of their potential (<a href='B:350 10:12'>Hos 10:12</a>). We were created "unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (<a href='B:560 2:10'>Eph 2:10</a>); we were redeemed that we might be zealous of good works (<a href='B:630 2:14'>Tit 2:14</a>)- not that we might drift through life playing with our hobbies and with the fascinations of our careers.</p><p>And don’t sow among thorns- The Lord’s parable of the sower alludes here. The thorns to Him meant the cares of life and the desire for wealth in the here and now (<a href='B:480 4:19'>Mar 4:19</a>). This was Judah’s problem; all their idolatry was choosing the fertility cults in order to get immediate material blessing.</p>


text:
<p>Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings- To self circumcise is the picture of intimate involvement with oneself. This is what they were asked to do to their own minds and hearts; see on :9. They could have avoided the wrath to come by quenching the fire of that wrath through reformation of their own hearts. We note the paramount importance of the heart; there is no specific call to quit idolatry or any specific manifestation of sin, because the essence was and is in the heart. Here at the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, the implication is that the wrath could be quenched still; but the time would come when it could not be. By the time of <a href='B:300 7:20'>Jer 7:20</a>, God was saying that His wrath could no longer be quenched (as <a href='B:120 22:17'>2Ki 22:17</a>; <a href='B:140 34:25'>2Ch 34:25</a>). And yet even after this point, God still speaks as if it could be quenched by repentance (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>). Even to the point of self-contradiction, God was so eager to have His wrath quenched. And this God is our God. His eagerness for human repentance should be reflected in our attitudes, both to others and to our own sins. Breaking relationship with people by casting them out of fellowship is not reflective of that.</p>


text:
<p>Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem; say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’- The "cities" may be an intensive plural for the one great city, Zion. For in :7 it seems that God’s wrath was at a point where the other cities would be destroyed, but if the people entered Jerusalem in repentance, then although the invaders would surround her, He would miraculously deliver her. This of course is what had happened a few generations before in the time of Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion. God was willing to use that as a prototype for their salvation now from Babylon. A restored Kingdom of God could have emerged after the destruction of the Assyrians; but Judah didn’t really repent, and Hezekiah let the baton drop. But now, out of their sin and the need to judge it, there was to be another opportunity. See on :8; <a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a>; <a href='B:300 6:23'>Jer 6:23</a>.</p><p>Right in the context of God predicting the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is presented as a strong, fortified city, made strong by God against any opposition (<a href='B:300 1:18'>Jer 1:18</a>). The implication was that the faithful should identify with Jeremiah if they wished to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah uses the same term for "fortified city" here in urging the faithful to run into one in the face of the Babylonian advance. But that fortified city was himself and the community of the faithful.</p>


text:
<p>Set up a standard towards Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction- See on :5; <a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>. There was to be destruction in the land, but there was potentially safety / salvation in Jerusalem for those who were obedient and repentant. This was a test to Judah, because they trusted in their defenced cities (<a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But the prophecy of Jeremiah 4 (and <a href='B:400 5:11'>Mic 5:11</a>) asks them to believe that these cities would fall, and there would be salvation only in Jerusalem. And yet they were disobedient, and did go into those other defenced cities (:29; <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>).</p>


text:
<p>A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant- Already God had raised up the Babylonians. They had only recently come to prominence by defeating Assyria, and were still somewhat of an unknown quantity at the time Jeremiah’s ministry began. The extent of destruction threatened here didn’t totally come; the majority of the peasants remained in the land, and they still brought food offerings to the temple even after the destruction of Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy.</p><p>The collapsing of time at the judgment would mean that the events used to punish the world could fall upon the rejected from the judgment seat. These unfortunate individuals will be threshed, as will the world be (<a href='B:470 3:12'>Mat 3:12</a>; <a href='B:730 16:16'>Rev 16:16</a>). This is foreshadowed by the way apostate Israel were treated like the surrounding Gentile world ("nations") in the time of their judgments (<a href='B:300 4:7'>Jer 4:7</a>).</p>


text:
<p>For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us- The implication is that such repentance would turn back Yahweh’s wrath; Joel uses similar language. Sackcloth and wailing suggested a death had happened; they were to believe they were condemned and the death sentence had been passed, and to lament it; and yet they could repent. I suggested on :5 that they were being encouraged to copy the example of Hezekiah turning away the Assyrians; and his urgent appeal for repentance had led to Yahweh’s fierce anger being turned back (s:w. <a href='B:140 29:10'>2Ch 29:10</a>; <a href='B:140 30:8'>2Ch 30:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>It shall happen at that day, says Yahweh, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder- We note the continued stress upon the state of their heart; see on :4. The focus is not upon how they would beslain, tortured, have their eyes put out etc:- but upon the mental, internal panic and collapse they would experience. The physical "desolation" of the land would be matched by the internal, psychological desolation of the priests (s:w. "astonished"). Jeremiah felt the same as the other priests; he was desolated / astonished (s:w:) at the desolation of Jerusalem (<a href='B:310 1:4'>Lam 1:4</a>; <a href='B:310 1:13'>Lam 1:13</a>). We can read this as meaning that he as the righteous totally identified with the wicked; or that he was too identified with the wicked priests, and felt like them when instead he should have perceived that this was exactly the astonishment of the priests which he had prophesied.</p>


text:
<p>Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem in saying, ‘You shall have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart- Again, as noted on :9, Jeremiah perceives that the judgments will be upon their hearts. The promise of peace was if the people repented; but Jeremiah considered it so obvious that they wouldn’t repent that he therefore accuses God of being unreasonable in even speaking of the possibility of peace. Here we see Jeremiah’s struggle with God; his experience of Divine inspiration didn’t make him just a mere instrument for relaying God’s word. He was personally involved in it. I noted on :5 and :8 the similarities with the siege of Jerusalem at the time of Hezekiah; and the same word was used by Rabshakeh in warning that Hezekiah and Isaiah were deceiving the people by saying there would be peace through Divine salvation (<a href='B:140 32:15'>2Ch 32:15</a>). This further indicates that Jeremiah was out of step with God in his feelings. God perhaps corrects things by saying that the people were deceiving themselves in thinking that the Babylonians would withdraw, because their false prophets had deceived them to think this (<a href='B:300 29:8'>Jer 29:8</a>; <a href='B:300 37:9'>Jer 37:9</a>).</p>


text:
<p>At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness towards the daughter of My people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse- The high places ("bare heights") were the scene of their apostasy with the idols. This wind represented the invasion; but "wind" and "spirit" are the same word in Hebrew, and the idea as in Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim was that the invasion would be moved by God’s Spirit. It came down, as it were, from the high places. At this point, God’s wrath was such that He intended simply to destroy; but elsewhere He says that the judgments were indeed "to cleanse" His people in a national sense (<a href='B:330 20:38'>Eze 20:38</a> s:w:). Again we see Him relenting; although perhaps the idea is that those destroyed were not personally cleansed, although the cleansing was to be thus achieved on a national level.</p>


text:
<p>A full wind for these things shall come from Me. Now I will also utter judgements against them- This is the language of the judge uttering the final judgment after the case has been considered. LXX "a spirit of full vengeance shall come upon me" may indeed be the idea; but God never carried out "full vengeance", in wrath He remembered mercy.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles- As noted on :11, this is the equivalent to Ezekiel’s vision of the clouds and chariots of the cherubim, God’s Spirit in action, being manifested in the chariots and dust clouds thus formed by the invaders.</p><p>Woe to us! For we are ruined- This is Jeremiah’s interjection. He sees the personal truth of the message he is relaying. Likewise Jeremiah responds to the prophecy he has to utter against the hated Philistines by begging the Father to limit these judgments, presumably on account of their repentance: “O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still” (<a href='B:300 47:6'>Jer 47:6</a>). Here likewise he almost interrupts a prophecy he is giving to Israel about judgment to come by appealing for them therefore to repent (<a href='B:300 4:13-14'>Jer 4:13-14</a>). Our handling of the prophecies of judgment to come should have a like effect upon us: they should inspire us to an inevitable witness. Each of our days cannot be just ‘the same old scene’ when we see the world in this way.</p>


text:
<p>Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?- This is Jeremiah’s personal appeal for repentance; he so believed that what he had prophesied would come true. Again the appeal is for reformation of thought patterns; see on :4. "Evil" is literally ’vain’, a word often associated with the "vanities" of the idols. But the essence of idolatry, then as now, was vain thinking, emptiness of heart. That to this day is the essence of idolatry, and the prophetic call is not let this vanity lodge within us, but to cast out those thoughts.</p>


text:
<p>For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim- These were areas within the ten tribe kingdom which had already been carried captive. The idea is that from there would come advance warning of the Babylonian advance; just as Judah ought to have taken warning from the judgment upon the ten tribes.</p>


text:
<p>Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country and lift up their voice against the cities of Judah- Why should the Gentile nations also be informed of the Babylonian advance? Presumably in the hope that they too would repent and turn to Yahweh; for this was the Divine intention. "Watchers" could simply mean ’besiegers’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:8'>Isa 1:8</a>; <a href='B:330 6:12'>Eze 6:12</a>); or it could be a reference to the Angels who watch over God’s word to perform it (<a href='B:300 1:11-13'>Jer 1:11-13</a>), and who would bring the invaders on their journey, like Ezekiel’s cherubim.</p>


text:
<p>As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against Me’, says Yahweh- "They (the enemy) are lying in wait on the fields round about". This would support the translation "besiegers" in :16. The rebellion of the people is specifically stated as being in their hearts (<a href='B:300 5:23'>Jer 5:23</a> s:w:). The state of the heart is such a repeated theme here.</p>


text:
<p>Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart- Their "way" refers to their way of thought and internal imagination, the trodden paths of mental reactions and thoughts, which led to their "doings".</p><p>Jeremiah speaks of the pain of his heart after having spoken of the pain that would reach unto the heart of Judah (<a href='B:300 4:18-19'>Jer 4:18-19</a>). The pain of their heart became the pain of his heart. And yet Jeremiah had the mind of God in this sense, as David was after God’s own heart. This is reflected by the way in which it is very difficult at times in Jeremiah to decide who is speaking- Jeremiah, or God. <a href='B:300 9:1-3'>Jer 9:1-3</a>; <a href='B:300 9:10-11'>Jer 9:10-11</a> is a good passage to work through from this perspective, asking ‘Who is speaking? Jeremiah, or God?’. Their minds were clearly so intertwined. Both of them are described, in consecutive verses, as rising up early to plead with Israel (<a href='B:300 25:3-4'>Jer 25:3-4</a>).</p>


text:
<p>My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war- See on :18. Despite being betrayed and hated by his own people, Jeremiah felt such pain for the judgment to come upon them- he was still struck with pain at the thought of their judgment. If we too have a heart that bleeds, we will come to know the mind of Jeremiah, who as he proclaimed the judgments of his last days, interrupted his sermon with this outburst. His very soul heard the message which he preached, and he interrupts his proclamation of it with this emotional outburst; this was no mindless distribution of bills or casual mention of our church. He was pained in his heart to the extent that he seems to have had some form of seizure. This is how much Jeremiah felt for those he preached to and warned, both within and without of the ecclesia. And he speaks of the pain of his heart after having spoken of the pain that would reach unto the heart of Judah (<a href='B:300 4:18-19'>Jer 4:18-19</a>). The pain of their heart became the pain of his heart.</p>


text:
<p>Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment- In this whole section, it is hard to decide whether this is Jeremiah or Yahweh speaking in the first person. Jeremiah, as every true preacher, was no mere relayer of God’s word. He was personally involved in the message, sharing the heart of God whilst also full of heartbreak for his own people- just like the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?- Again we can question whether Jeremiah was correct in feeling that he didn’t want to hear any more judgment to come upon his people. And yet despite this, the personal pronouns in the next verse clearly relate to God rather than Jeremiah. He shared the mind of God, whilst being also so terribly pained for his people- a fine insight into the Lord’s mind.</p>


text:
<p>For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skilful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge- Clearly the "me" is God, and yet the surrounding context suggests Jeremiah is speaking. Again we see how the thinking and spirit of Yahweh was meshed with that of His servant and preacher. This is how our witness should be.</p>


text:
<p>I saw the land and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light- Clearly an allusion to the language of Genesis, supporting the idea that there wehave a description of the formation of eretz Israel rather than the entire planet. The judgments were intended to bring the eretz back to what it was then; but implicit in this judgment is the expectation of new creation. See on :31.</p>


text:
<p>I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth- The vision before Jeremiah suggests that the land of Israel was to return to the state it was in when the creation process began.</p>


text:
<p>I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled- This would suggest that "no man" was to be left on the land. But this didn’t happen at this time; only the leadership were taken captive, and soon after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, local Jews still came to worship at the temple site (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority.</p>


text:
<p>I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before His fierce anger- Israel were told to "throw down", "break in pieces" and "utterly destroy" the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times during their history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves from their apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur elsewhere, except very frequently in the context of how God "broke down", "threw down" and "destroyed" Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and Assyrian invaders as a result of their not ’breaking down’ (etc:) the idols. "Throw down" in <a href='B:20 34:13'>Exo 34:13</a>; <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> is the same word in <a href='B:140 36:19'>2Ch 36:19</a>; <a href='B:300 4:26'>Jer 4:26</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>; <a href='B:300 52:14'>Jer 52:14</a>; <a href='B:330 16:39'>Eze 16:39</a>; <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a>. "Cut down" in <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> later occurs in <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>; Jeremiah 48; Jeremiah 25; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down your idols, or you will be cut down in the day of God’s judgment. Those who worshipped idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us and destroy us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>). For the man untouched by the concept of living for God’s glory, it’s a hard choice.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end- Earlier God had threatened to make a full end, the same phrase is found in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a> and <a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>. But now God promises that He will not make a full end (<a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>; <a href='B:300 5:18'>Jer 5:18</a>; <a href='B:300 4:27'>Jer 4:27</a>; <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>). God is not capricious; but His love and pity is such that He is unafraid to not do according to His wrath. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority. And this God is our God.</p>


text:
<p>For this the land will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I go back from it- See on <a href='B:350 13:14'>Hos 13:14</a>. God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>), and yet He says in <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a> that He will not. This is not self-contradiction, but rather a reflection f the depth of how God’s compassion is finally greater than His judgment of sin. The whole mental and emotional trauma made God weary of all the relenting, so deeply did He feel it (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). There has to come a moment when the pull of the flow toward the waterfall of condemnation is now too strong, and the plunge is inevitable. It is that moment which perhaps we need to fear more than anything else in human experience. It happened to Israel- their hearts too were hard, and in the end, after a period, God have them over to their hard hearts (<a href='B:230 81:11-12'>Psa 81:11-12</a>)- the implication being that even whilst He hardened their hearts, He kept them by grace from the full consequences... but in the end, the final inevitable drag towards the waterfall set in. This is why there were times when even repentance, as a change of mind, could not save Jerusalem from destruction (<a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a>; <a href='B:300 15:1-9'>Jer 15:1-9</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:330 7:1-9'>Eze 7:1-9</a>). This was the moment after the inevitable tug towards the waterfall beings, but before the actual plunge. It’s Saul cowering before the witch of Endor, lying face down in the dirt that fateful night... and this is the human condition we should most dread.</p>


text:
<p>Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, not a man dwells therein- This was avoidable; if Judah had obeyed the commandment to flee their fenced cities and go into Jerusalem. See on :6. They refused God’s peace and safety in Jerusalem, and so they fled into the rocks and thickets.</p>


text:
<p>You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life- The very nations whose help and blessing Judah had sought, and whose idols she had worshipped, were now coming to demand her life. Just as those idols had demanded the lives of her firstborn children, and she had given them. Now her life itself would be required by them.</p><p>Perhaps more than anything, the prophetic descriptions of condemnation were aimed at attacking the indifference which pervaded Israel. And so the power of sexual imagery is used to the full in the description of rejected Israel as a whore all dressed up with no place to go, so utterly unwanted and despised (<a href='B:300 4:30-31'>Jer 4:30-31</a>). This was and is the tragedy of Divine rejection of those who have so desperately sought the approval of this world, when all too late they find this world is over for good. We so minimize sin. Just a bit of injustice, a little touch of selfishness, a moment of hypocrisy… but all this is obscene treatment of our God. We read the description of the red clothing, gaudy jewellery and heavy make up of the harlot Israel in Ezekiel and Jeremiah… and this is how inappropriate is mere external religion (<a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>). And we’re all guilty of that, in some ways at some times.</p>


text:
<p>For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers- The imagery here pictures a woman who is dying in childbirth, but who will still produce a live birth. Just as the imagery of decreation has implicit within it the hope of new life, so here. Although the woman would die, the hope was that she would bring forth a new generation who would respond. The woman in travail is the woman of :30 who desperately dresses as a prostitute in order to placate her former lovers, when she realizes they have come to murder her. And she is in fact heavily pregnant, about to give birth with her murderers standing around her. This was the pathetic, awful picture of Judah’s position. This kind of shocking imagery is deployed to try to shake them out of their indifference, as it should us too.</p>


text:
<p>Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justice, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her- This reflected how God is in search of man. What joy therefore when He finds a man, and the man who is searching finds Him. This is the joy of the lost being found in the parables of Luke 15. Jeremiah’s search for believers was a reflection of God’s. God hunts for us like a lion, Job came to realize; and in this "You show yourself wonderful to me" (<a href='B:220 10:16'>Job 10:16</a>). And we are searching for God. God is not indifferent to our searching for Him. Those awestruck moments of wonder, of radical amazement, are where God finds us at the time we are searching for Him. Both sides are seeking each other; and in those moments, they meet. As a Jewish poet put it: "And going out to meet thee / I found thee coming toward me". In those moments, heaven and earth kiss each other. There is a click, a flash, between Almighty God and us- as we stand at a bus stop, turn left into Acacia Avenue, lay there on our bed meditating.</p><p>Here is another allusion to the situation during the Assyrian invasion; see on <a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>; <a href='B:300 4:8'>Jer 4:8</a>. Hezekiah obtained forgiveness and acceptance for those who kept the Passover “otherwise than it was written”- thanks to his prayer (<a href='B:140 30:18'>2Ch 30:18</a>). In Hezekiah’s time, all Israel had to repent to avert total destruction- but even though they didn’t, the prayer of Hezekiah saved the nation (<a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>). All of Jerusalem would have been forgiven if there was even one that truly executed judgment after the pattern of Phinehas (or is this a reference to Messiah?).</p><p>"Seeks truth" can also be "is not greedy". Jeremiah speaks of running to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, searching her squares, to see if he could find a single man who did justice and wasn’t greedy (<a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a>; <a href='B:300 5:5'>Jer 5:5</a>; <a href='B:300 6:6'>Jer 6:6</a>; <a href='B:300 6:13'>Jer 6:13</a>; <a href='B:300 8:10'>Jer 8:10</a>). Why get so ballistic because people are greedy and have no real sense of justice? Isn’t that part of the human deal, don’t we see it every single day? Yes we do. But the challenge of the prophets is to feel its’ awfulness and realize that for this, an awful judgment is coming from God. It is indeed hard to see the world from God’s perspective; but this is what the spirit of prophecy was and is all about.</p><p>We wonder whether there were really no other righteous in Jerusalem apart from Jeremiah. There was Josiah, but he died in disobedience to God’s wishes, fighting against Egypt for Babylon. There was Baruch, but he seems to have had a heart for materialism (<a href='B:300 45:5'>Jer 45:5</a>). Ezekiel was not in Jerusalem but already in captivity.</p>


