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


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


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<h4>In that day- This term is used about widely different events; the judgment of the ten tribes in :3, the latter day repentance of Israel in :4. This is because the prophetic potential was that they could all have happened at the same time at Isaiah’s time. But Israel didn’t repent, the Kingdom of God wasn’t reestablished in Judah. And so the various elements of these prophecies are left fulfilled at different times. Another approach is to argue that because God is beyond time, His prophecies appear to jump around in time. They only appear disjointed to us who read them with a background insistence that everything must be chronological. Thus the tenses change freely throughout Isaiah 53. And throughout Isaiah, prophecies of the Kingdom are often introduced by the rubric "in that day"; and yet the preceding context is often quite different (e:g. <a href='B:290 3:7'>Isa 3:7</a>; <a href='B:290 3:18'>Isa 3:18</a>; <a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>; <a href='B:290 5:30'>Isa 5:30</a>; <a href='B:290 7:18'>Isa 7:18</a>; <a href='B:290 7:21'>Isa 7:21</a>; <a href='B:290 10:20'>Isa 10:20</a>; <a href='B:290 10:22'>Isa 10:22</a>; <a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>; <a href='B:290 12:1'>Isa 12:1</a>; <a href='B:290 17:9'>Isa 17:9</a>; <a href='B:290 19:6'>Isa 19:6</a>; <a href='B:290 22:20'>Isa 22:20</a>; <a href='B:290 22:25'>Isa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a>; <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a>; <a href='B:290 28:5'>Isa 28:5</a>; <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>). It makes an interesting exercise to go through Isaiah 9 and decide to which time each verse applies. Some of the verses are quoted in the NT and given specific fulfillments. They refer to Isaiah’s day, the Assyrian invasion, the birth of Jesus, the beginning of His ministry at age 30, and to His future Kingdom. And yet the verses aren’t presented in this order; they move from one to the other at ease, with no linking rubric or explanation. Likewise Daniel’s prophecies seem to have a big hiatus in their fulfillment (<a href='B:340 2:34'>Dan 2:34</a>; <a href='B:340 8:23'>Dan 8:23</a>; <a href='B:340 9:24'>Dan 9:24</a>; <a href='B:340 11:39'>Dan 11:39</a>); and Zechariah is another good example. Many attempts to understand prophecy, not least the book of Revelation, have fallen into problems because of an insistent desire to see everything fulfilling in a chronological progression, whereas God’s prophecies (Isaiah is the classic example) ’jump around’ all over the place as far as chronological fulfillment is concerned. And this principle is not only seen in Bible prophecy. The historical records in the Old Testament tend to be thematically presented rather than chronologically (Joshua is a good example of this); and the Gospel records likewise. It especially needs to be recognized that in line with so much OT prophecy, neither the Olivet prophecy nor its extension in the Apocalypse can be read as strictly chronological. Thus <a href='B:490 21:8-11'>Luk 21:8-11</a> gives a catalogue of signs, and then v. 12 jumps back to the situation before them: "but before all these things::." (Isa. 21:27-28; <a href='B:480 13:10'>Mar 13:10</a> are other examples).</h4><h4>Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty to the remains of His people- It was envisaged that there would be a remnant amongst the ten tribes who would accept Yahweh’s kingship over them and would thus become His people in His reestablished Kingdom. Glory and beauty recalls the High Priest’s garments; the crown of glory would be the High Priestly mitre, LXX "the woven crown of glory". But this priest also had a diadem; the idea is of a king-priest, a Messianic figure who would arise to save the repentant remnant of the ten tribes.</h4>


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<h4>And a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgement- The idea is as GNB "He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges". This was never fulfilled in any leader of Israel and so it will come to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 11:3'>Isa 11:3</a>); although that prophecy too could have come true in a child of Isaiah or in Hezekiah. Thus the prophecy about Israel’s potential was transferred to Judah; but they too failed to fulfill it, and so it was reapplied to the Lord Jesus.</h4><h4>And strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate- The idea is that they repulse an enemy, and drive him back to his own city’s gate. This was the possibility for Ephraim (the ten tribes) if they had repented; they could have repelled the Assyrians. But they didn’t repent nor have faith as required, and so the prophecy was reapplied or transferred to how Hezekiah of Judah did this when "He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza" (<a href='B:120 18:8'>2Ki 18:8</a>):.</h4>


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<h4>They also- This appears to be saying that Judah "also" was just as bad as Ephraim.</h4><h4>Reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger with strong drink. They err in vision, they stumble in judgement- The priests were of course not allowed to drink alcohol when on duty. We get the impression here of chronic alcoholism, even amongst those who did receive genuine prophetic messages from Yahweh; hence GNB "The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them". The reference may be of course to the messages sent through Isaiah, but the criticism is specifically applied to the prophets who received the visions and the priests whose duty it was to faithfully teach and distribute that word.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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<h4>Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us- As explained on :18, the covenant in view may be the agreements with Egypt for help against Assyria and then later Babylon. These nations were angry that Judah had made covenants with Egypt when they had a covenant with them. Jeremiah and Ezekiel describe this as adultery, resulting in the wrath of the lovers. And so the covenant was really sure to lead to death. The connection with Egypt is deepened when we realize that the Hebrew for "death" is mut, and this was the name of&nbsp; an Egyptian idol. However, it could be that the covenant referred to was with Assyria, who is likened to sheol in <a href='B:290 5:14'>Isa 5:14</a>; <a href='B:350 13:14'>Hos 13:14</a>; and because they broke that covenant, the overflowing scourge of Assyria (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>) invaded them and destroyed them. It was Assyria who was going to kill them, and so their making a covenant with Assyria was effectively making a covenant with death. The reasoning of the leaders of Judah (:14) was that because they had made a treaty with Assyria, when the Assyrian invasion came, it would take away Israel (:2), but not Judah, because they had made a covenant with Assyria. This gives deeper insight into Hezekiah’s bravery in breaking the covenant with Assyria; the others in the leadership were trusting deeply in that which he was breaking. We too at times have to stand with our backs to the world in order to do what is right, no matter how many friends we lose.</h4><h4>For we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood’- They likely never said this, but God perceives their attitudes and what they were effectively ’saying’. These attitudes of "lies" were to be swept away by the hailstorm and waters of the Assyrian and later Babylonian invasions. But actually this didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time, because the waters of Assyria were not allowed to drown Zion. The Assyrians did indeed "overflow and pass over" (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>), but not all their refuges of lies (:17) were swept away. The repentance of a minority affected the outcomes of judgment even for these sinners in Zion. The ways of Yahweh are indeed complex because He so respects the freewill of every man. Their confident claim that the overflowing rivers of the Assyrians wouldn’t come near them is stated to be false in :17 LXX: "for the storm shall by no means pass by you".</h4>


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<h4>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone- This could have had various primary fulfillments. Zerubbabel and the restored exiles did "lay::. a foundation stone" in Zion (<a href='B:450 4:9'>Zec 4:9</a>), but some wept when it was laid- because clearly the rebuilt temple was not that commanded in Ezekiel 40-48 (<a href='B:150 3:10-12'>Ezr 3:10-12</a>). This was to happen when Babylon fell (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a> s:w:) and Cyrus ordered the laying (s:w:) of the foundation of Zion (<a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>). Zerubbabel failed to be the Messiah figure. And so these things were transferred to the Lord Jesus and reapplied.</h4><p>The Lord’s parable of building on the rock was surely quarried from His understanding of <a href='B:290 28:16-17'>Isa 28:16-17</a>: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone::. a precious cornerstone. The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place" . That rock represents Christ and Him crucified, according to Paul (<a href='B:530 10:4'>1Co 10:4</a>; <a href='B:530 3:11'>1Co 3:11</a> cp. 2:2). Truly doing God’s word will always lead us back to the spirit of the suffering Christ on Calvary. If it does not, our building, our apparent development within the much-vaunted Biblicism of our faith, is just a "refuge of lies". All our spiritual effort and suffering finds its ultimate summation in Christ’s crucifixion. His suffering there is the quintessence of all spiritual struggle.</p><p>A tried stone- Literally a stone of trial. Reactions to this stone would effectively be the judgment of those who encountered him. This passage is quoted about the Lord Jesus in <a href='B:670 2:4-6'>1Pe 2:4-6</a>, and Peter goes on to comment in <a href='B:670 2:8'>1Pe 2:8</a> that He is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence". He was and is the stone which tests; according to our attitude to Him, we reveal ourselves. And the Jews stumbled at Him. When Peter comments that this stone had been "rejected" by the Jews, he may have in mind not only their rejection of the Lord Jesus, but also of the previous potential fulfillments of the "foundation stone" prophecy in the time of Zerubbabel and others.</p><h4>A precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not be ashamed- There is a clear element of unreality here- the huge corner stone of the new temple was to be a "precious stone", something resembling a massive diamond:&nbsp; And this, Peter says, is a matter of our perceiving the Lord Jesus is indeed a precious stone. But this precious stone was rejected by the Jewish builders- the world’s largest diamond, as it were, as big as a huge granite cornerstone, was rejected and went unperceived.</h4>


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<h4>I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line- This could imply that the new temple would be built on the basis of justice and righteousness. This is stated several times in the commands concerning the building of the new temple in Ezekiel 40-48. But the returned exiles didn’t do this.</h4><h4>The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place- see on :15. Their confident claim in :15 that the overflowing rivers of the Assyrians wouldn’t come near them is stated to be false in :17 LXX: "for the storm shall by no means pass by you". And yet by grace, as explained on :15, the storm didn’t sweep all of the away.</h4><h4>These things were ultimately reapplied to the things of the Lord Jesus and the last days. The Lord’s parable of the builders on sand and rock was no doubt partly based on <a href='B:290 28:17'>Isa 28:17</a>, which speaks of the day of judgment being like hail which "shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters (which) shall overflow". The spiritual house of the foolish builder was a lie, effectively; an appearance of real development which deceived men. For externally, men cannot know anything about the different foundations of houses built side by side.</h4>


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<h4>Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand- See on :15. This very phrase is used of how the fleshly plans of Israel and Syria did "not stand" (<a href='B:290 8:18'>Isa 8:18</a>). Now Judah are warned not to make plans according to the flesh, because they too would not stand nor happen. They should have learnt from how the covenant of Israel and Syria had not stood. &nbsp;Circumstances repeat in our experiences, so that we might learn, and see the same Divine hand at work. And so the emphasis is upon "your covenant". As Israel had made a covenant with Syria, so Judah had made a covenant with Egypt, for help against Assyria and then later for help against Babylon. This came to nothing, as explained in <a href='B:290 33:7-9'>Isa 33:7-9</a>: “The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly::. He has broken the covenant, He has despised the cities He regards no man". But the sense of the original could be that unless they annulled those covenants, then they would be trampled down to death by the Assyrian invaders. They didn’t annul them and so they were trampled down.</h4><h4>When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it- The initial application is to the Assyrian invasion (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>). Those in Jerusalem (:14) who had made agreements with Egypt were to be destroyed by the Assyrians. But in fact they weren’t, as Jerusalem didn’t fall. So the prophecy didn’t come about because of the faith and repentance of third parties, and this lead to collateral blessings even for sinners. God’s every action is so multi dimensional and carefully weighed. However I suggested on :15 that the covenant with death might refer to a covenant with Assyria, leading the eldership of Judah (:14) to the assumption that when the Assyrian invasion came, it would affect only Ephraim and not Judah. But here we have envisaged the destruction of Judah along with Ephraim by the Assyrians, as part of the same campaign. But again, by grace that was averted. And those who had wrongly thought they would escape Assyrian judgment did actually escape it. But the final tally of faith is all kept by God and will come to full term in the judgment of the last day.</h4>


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


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


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<h4>For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon- These two locations are combined when David was given special Angelic assistance to defeat the Philistines there (<a href='B:130 14:11'>1Ch 14:11</a>; <a href='B:130 14:16'>1Ch 14:16</a>).</h4><h4>That He may do His work, His unusual work, and bring to pass His act, His extraordinary act- The"unusual"work was in that now, what God had helped Israel do to the Gentiles, would now be done by God to Israel at the hand of the Gentiles. He was to treat His people as Gentiles, for that was how they were in their hearts."Unusual"is AV"strange", and nearly always refers to Gentiles. Yahweh was to do a ’Gentile work’ upon Israel. See on <a href='B:290 29:1'>Isa 29:1</a>.</h4>


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


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<h4>Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!- This reflects Isaiah’s appreciation that outcomes could really be changed by response to the word he was preaching. We ought to be encouraged in our witness likewise.</h4>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;


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<h4>Does he who ploughs to sow plough continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?- The idea is as GNB"Farmers don’t constantly plow their fields and keep getting them ready for planting". God’s patience in preparing the fields of the eretz to receive His message would not continue forever. This parallels the point made in :27, that the harvest of Yahweh’s judgments would likewise not endure eternally. He has a purpose in His judgments, and they were to make the eretz a fertile ground for the seed of His word. And He likewise works in our lives too.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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<h4>Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped!- This is the theme of <a href='B:290 28:21'>Isa 28:21</a>; what David had done to Gentiles was to be done to Israel by Gentiles. God’s people were to be treated as Gentiles because that was who they were in their hearts. Ariel, God’s lion, was to be devoured by the Assyrians or Babylonians, who are also presented as God’s lion. See on :3:&nbsp;</h4><h4>Add year to year; let the feasts come around- The idea may be that very soon, Jerusalem was to fall. Hence GNB:"Let another year or two come and go, with its feasts and festivals". But this didn’t happen; Jerusalem’s doom was averted by the repentance and intercession of a small minority; in accordance with the principle of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. Perhaps the idea is that the distress of Ariel (:2) was to be at the time of a Jewish feast. And this seems to have been the case at the time of the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem at Passover. Or the point may simply be that the feasts and sacrifices (AV) would not save Jerusalem.</h4>


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<h4>Then I will distress Ariel- A pagan god looked after his own people against their enemies. But Yahweh of Israel sent and empowered Israel’s enemies against them, and gave them victory against His own people; He encamped against His very own people (<a href='B:290 29:2-4'>Isa 29:2-4</a>), God ’distressed’ Ariel, ’the lion of God’. The archenemy of Israel, Assyria, was revealed as a rod in the God of Israel’s hand (<a href='B:290 10:5'>Isa 10:5</a> etc:), and the King of Babylon was Yahweh’s servant who would come against Yahweh’s own people (<a href='B:300 25:9'>Jer 25:9</a>; <a href='B:300 27:6'>Jer 27:6</a> etc:). The will of Israel’s God was that the capital city, seen by the people as the symbol and nerve center of a god’s power and control, was to be destroyed by Israel’s enemies (<a href='B:300 34:1-5'>Jer 34:1-5</a>; <a href='B:300 21:3-7'>Jer 21:3-7</a>). In the surrounding culture of Israel, capital cities were portrayed as women, the wives of the gods. They are always presented as pure and wonderful. But the prophets represent cities like Jerusalem and Samaria as fallen women, whores. It was all so counter-cultural. Yahweh’s prophet even appealed for Israel to surrender when under siege (<a href='B:300 21:8-10'>Jer 21:8-10</a>). Try to enter into how radical and counter-cultural all this was. The prophets were trying to share the feelings and positions of a God so vastly different to the imaginations and understandings of His very own people. The nervous stress of this, the psychological pressure, can’t be underestimated. And we are asked to share the spirit / mind / disposition of those prophets. Not only was God on the side of Israel’s enemies; yet through all that, He somehow was with Israel; quite simply, “God is with us”, even though it is He who encamps against them too (<a href='B:290 8:9-10'>Isa 8:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 18:4'>Isa 18:4</a>). The God of Auschwitz is somehow still the God of Israel. The very torment, even torture, of understanding that was etched clearly in the prophets, and it will be in us too.</h4><h4>And there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to Me as an altar hearth- Another meaning of Ariel is ’God’s altar’. Hence GNB"God will bring disaster on the city that is called"God’s altar." There will be weeping and wailing, and the whole city will be like an altar covered with blood". This was the huge picture of potential destruction which was averted when the Assyrians were destroyed thanks to the prayer of the minority.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, Read this, please; and he says, I can’t, for it is sealed- This is all in exemplification of how God had closed their eyes to His word (:9,10). Even the words they received were like a sealed book to them. And the sin of their own blindness was because they were unable to teach that word to others. Potentially they could read it; but it was sealed now. This appears to be God confirming Isaiah’s personal attitude in <a href='B:290 8:16'>Isa 8:16</a>, where he seals the revelation just for his disciples to understand.</h4><h4>The Lord spoke in parables so that Israel would be deceived (unless they made specific search of the meaning of the parable) and therefore would not come to salvation. This fact is hard to get round for those who feel God isn’t responsible for deception. Isaiah spoke likewise (<a href='B:290 6:9-10'>Isa 6:9-10</a>; <a href='B:290 29:10-11'>Isa 29:10-11</a>). See on <a href='B:290 66:4'>Isa 66:4</a>. Thus men are confirmed psychologically in the way they wish to go.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>The Lord said, Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honour Me, but they have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment of men which has been taught- The Lord quotes these words in <a href='B:470 15:8'>Mat 15:8</a>. They honoured with their lips, but their heart was far from God; they externally kept His commandments, but they frustrated their intention by not letting them influence their essential selves (<a href='B:480 7:6-9'>Mar 7:6-9</a>). They fiercely guarded the pronunciation of His Covenant Name; but in reality, they forgot that Name (<a href='B:300 23:27'>Jer 23:27</a>). The Lord perceived that “your tradition… the commandments of men… your doctrines” resulted in the hearts of Israel being “far from [God]”. Doctrine was intended to affect the heart; and false doctrine resulted in the heart being far from God. True doctrine, on the other hand, was and is intended to bring the heart close to God. Doctrine / teaching is therefore to affect the heart; it is not just the intellectual basis for unity in a community of believers. And the Lord goes on in this very context to talk of how “every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up” (<a href='B:470 15:13'>Mat 15:13</a>). The Greek for “planted” is interpreted by James Strong as meaning “Figuratively, to instill doctrine”. The planting of the believer is through the instillation of Godly doctrine, rather than the doctrines of men. Note how the Lord speaks of doctrine as a command in <a href='B:470 15:6'>Mat 15:6</a>; <a href='B:470 15:9'>Mat 15:9</a>:"Thus have you made the&nbsp;commandment&nbsp;of God of none effect by your tradition::. in vain they doworship Me, teaching for&nbsp;doctrines&nbsp;the commandments of men". And He taught earlier that the doctrine of one God was in fact a command to action. Doctrine,&nbsp;didache, is teaching, not just theory; it is commandment towards action. For doctrine and practice are linked. In this we are helped to assess whether any idea or interpretation is indeed a ’first principle doctrine’ or not. What does it inspire in practice? Or is it merely the academic interpretation of the human brain cells?</h4><h4>Like Israel we can seek God daily, taking delight in approaching unto Him; and yet need the exhortation to urgently seek Him (<a href='B:290 55:6'>Isa 55:6</a> cp. 58:2). We can appear to seek unto Him in prayer and attendance at our meetings, and yet not seek Him in the real sense at all. Likewise men came to Jesus physically, at quite some effort to themselves, and yet He tells them that they have not truly come to Him at all (<a href='B:500 6:24'>Joh 6:24</a> cp. 35-37). We can draw near with our mouth, honour Him with our lips, “but have removed [our] heart far from me” (<a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>).</h4>


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


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


text:
<h4>You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, He didn’t make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?- See on :15. Their trust in Egypt (:15) and refusal to accept His condemnation of their trust in Egypt (<a href='B:290 20:5-6'>Isa 20:5-6</a>) was effectively accusing Him of having"no understanding". They were forgetting that He was their creator; rather they considered that God, the potter, was in fact like the clay. They considered God to exist but to have the same mentality and limitations of men; they had created God in their own image and likeness rather than the other way around. And this is a temptation for us all.</h4><h4>A living faith in God as our creator leads to an acceptance that He sees and knows all our ways, that life is lived utterly open before Him- and we should live it accordingly. Hence Isaiah uses the fact of God as creator to reason with those who argued (in their hearts at least) that they could hide their ways from the Lord, saying"Who sees us, and who knows?". Isaiah’s answer to this was that"Shall the thing framed (i:e. us) say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"and therefore doesn’t know nor understand what we do::. (<a href='B:290 29:15-16'>Isa 29:15-16</a>).</h4>


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


text:
<h4>In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness- The blind are those just spoken of in :9- the Jews who had blinded themselves and been blinded. The deaf who will now hear the words of the book contrast with those for whom the book had been sealed (:11). Those who were so hardened, even hardened by God. would experience the psychological miracle of being again sensitized to God’s word. This is the work of the Spirit on Jewish hearts promised in the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20. See on :17,24.</h4><p>The repentance of Israel must be associated with an opening of their eyes to God’s word. There is no other way men can come to repentance. <a href='B:300 30:24'>Jer 30:24</a> prophecies Jacob’s final homecoming, and then comments:"In the latter days (not now) ye shall consider (understand) it". Then Israel will consider and understand the words of their prophets."The Lord hath poured out upon (Israel) the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (quoted in <a href='B:520 11:8'>Rom 11:8</a> concerning Israel’s blindness to Christ)::. the vision of all (God’s word) is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed::. (but) in that day&nbsp; shall the (spiritually) deaf hear the words of the book"(<a href='B:290 29:10-11'>Isa 29:10-11</a>; <a href='B:290 29:17-18'>Isa 29:17-18</a>). This will be when the book is unsealed at"the time of the end"(<a href='B:340 12:4'>Dan 12:4</a>). Thus Israel’s minority repentance must occur prior to the Lord’s return. Therefore there must be an upsurge in Biblical activity amongst those who will become the faithful remnant in latter day Israel. This will be brought about by the Elijah prophet- remembering that the Elijah prophet is framed in Malachi as a teacher of God’s word, not just an imparter of it. Likewise John, in the spirit of Elijah, taught the people about the Lord’s advent.</p><p>The teaching of Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality of God’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</p><h4>Ultimately, we will only truly see in the Kingdom (<a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 42:6'>Isa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:530 13:12'>1Co 13:12</a>). Then we will know (see) face to face. We will see God face to face, i:e. understand Him. It follows therefore that in some ways we are blind, or partially sighted, now. This is indicated by the Lord’s symbolic healing of the blind man in two stages (<a href='B:480 8:23-26'>Mar 8:23-26</a>). Firstly, the man saw men as if they were walking trees. Probably he scarcely knew what a tree or man looked like. Yet he is described as receiving his sight at this stage (<a href='B:480 8:24'>Mar 8:24</a> Gk:). And then the Lord touched his eyes again, and again he is described (in the Greek) as receiving his sight (<a href='B:480 8:25'>Mar 8:25</a> - same phrase as in v:24). This time he saw all things (Gk:) clearly. This surely represents the full spiritual vision of the Kingdom. According to this type, we are at the stage of seeing men as if they are walking trees, perhaps wildly guessing about some things, lacking the most basic sense of proportion</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>Woe to the rebellious children, says Yahweh, who take counsel, but not from Me- This follows on from the condemnation of this"counsel"in <a href='B:290 29:15'>Isa 29:15</a>:"Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and Who knows us?". The counsel in view was their seeking help from Egypt against&nbsp; Assyria and later against Babylon, ’counseled’ by the false prophets. But they thought they could somehow hide this"in the dark"from Yahweh, whom they still believed in and would have assented in theory to the truth that He sees and knows all things. It’s doubtful that they said in so many words that God could not see or know. But as often in the prophets, the implication of their positions are perceived and stated as God sees them.</h4><h4>And who make an alliance, but not with My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin- Through repentance, they could have entered into a new covenant or alliance which would have resulted in the gift of the Spirit working powerfully in their hearts; as also offered in <a href='B:290 29:17-18'>Isa 29:17-18</a> (see notes there). By refusing the covenant, they instead would be confirmed in their sin, from"sin to sin".</h4>


text:
<h4>Who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked My advice- The Divine cameraman as it were zooms in on them as they set out for Egypt, noting they didn’t begin that journey with a prayer to Yahweh; see on :6. They had taken counsel / advice from the false prophets before the trip (:1):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!- ’Hezekiah’ means ’Yah strengthens’. They had ignored him and were seeking strength not in Yahweh but in Egypt; and were ignoring the frequent encouragement to take refuge beneath the shadow of Yahweh’s cherubim; see on :4. Their trust in Egypt was more than surface level weakness, it was a studied rejection of God. And the challenge comes through powerfully to us who are tempted in myriad ways to trust ’Egypt’ rather than our God.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces one piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern- See on :13. This is the language of <a href='B:300 18:6'>Jer 18:6</a>; <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>; the Divine potter was going to break Judah and not one piece of them would be any use for anything. He would do so"without sparing". But He did spare, and the remnant of the judged people were to again be used by Him. We have here an example of the sort of thing that goes on in Hosea; God threatens total and irreversible rejection of His people in His anger, but His core love for them means it doesn’t totally happen. The pole of His love and pity is in the last analysis stronger than the pole of His anger and judgment. Or we can conclude that the final judgment has been deferred until their resurrection at the last day. <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a> describes how the kingdoms of this world will be broken and scattered as the chaff before the wind. Yet this is exactly the language here and in <a href='B:300 13:24'>Jer 13:24</a> concerning Israel’s latter day destruction. They will be"dashed"(<a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a>) as the nations of the world will be (<a href='B:230 2:9'>Psa 2:9</a>). <a href='B:300 13:14'>Jer 13:14</a> says they will be destroyed by brother being dashed against brother- again, the picture of the world’s final destruction (<a href='B:450 14:13'>Zec 14:13</a>). <a href='B:730 2:27'>Rev 2:27</a> speaks of the unfaithful in the ecclesia likewise being dashed to pieces. The Lord’s coming will be a stone that grinds them to powder (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>), but perhaps in that they will destroy each other.</h4>


text:
<h4>For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, You will be saved by returning and rest; your strength will be in quietness and in confidence. You refused- Their destruction was to be because they had been given the chance to repent [’returning’ to God] but had refused it. As discussed on :14, they were therefore threatened with total and permanent rejection without a single survivor. But even that was changed by God’s pity and grace. There was to be"quietness"after the Babylonian / Assyrian invaders were destroyed (s:w. Isa 14:7); and they were to act as if what they believed in had come about. For this is faith, believing that what we hope for and trust in has already come.</h4><p>LXX"When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved; and thou shalt know where thou wast, when thou didst trust in vanities: then your strength became vain, yet ye would not hearken". As noted on :20 LXX, the repentant remnant would come to understand where they had gone wrong, they would have the ability to see themselves from outside themselves.</p><h4>The reference in the primary context may be to how Ahaz had been called upon to repent of his faithlessness, and to find"calm", s:w."quietness"(see on Isa :4); but he had"refused", madly trusting upon Egyptian horses for salvation (:16). But the appeal to repent was still there, for a later generation.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>One thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five- This is the curse for breaking the covenant. Covenant relationship with God is not merely a knowing of correct things about Him; it is trust in Him. To not trust in Him means that we break the covenant, whether or not we maintain intellectual purity of understanding in theological terms.</h4><h4>You will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill- The idea is as GNB"Nothing will be left of your army except a lonely flagpole on the top of a hill". But this is the very picture of how an ensign is to be lifted up on Zion, to which the nations shall come. The curse here is as always pregnant with promise in the longer term. The tiny remnant left in Zion were to become a banner or ensign for the world; and the idea is later developed in terms of the"ensign"or"pole"being applied to the Lord Jesus on the cross, who is to become the rallying point for the faithful remnant from all nations. But the Jewish remnant were to be brought to that point by the experience of their own faithlessness and repentance.</h4>


text:
<h4>Therefore Yahweh will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him- Having lambasted Israel for their sins and described in detail their coming judgment, God then makes a strange comment, apparently out of context with what He has just been saying. God appears to be saying that He delays His actions, that He brings judgment, that He sets Himself so far above us- just so that He can get to show yet more mercy to us. Perhaps Joseph was manifesting God in the way he worked out that slow and detailed scheme of dealing with his sinful brethren::. it has always seemed to me that he drew out the process just so that he could lead up to a climax of pouring out his maximum grace to them. Whilst the way seems long, “blessed are all they that wait for him”. God is even spoken of as concluding (Gk. ‘shutting up the eyes’) of Israel in the sin of unbelief, “that he might have mercy” upon both them and the Gentiles (<a href='B:520 11:32'>Rom 11:32</a>). Likewise God delays the second coming because He waits and hopes for repentance and spiritual growth from us. But He praises the faithful for patiently waiting for Him (<a href='B:290 30:18'>Isa 30:18</a>; <a href='B:230 37:7'>Psa 37:7</a>). Here we see the humility of God’s grace.</h4><h4>The passion and love of God leads Him time and again to apparently contradict Himself. He says that He will crush Judah so that not one of them is left, He will not spare (:14); He would cast Judah out of their land, they would go to Babylon and serve other gods there, “where I will not show you favour” (<a href='B:300 16:13'>Jer 16:13</a>). But actually Esther and her people were shown favour there [s:w. <a href='B:190 4:8'>Est 4:8</a>; <a href='B:190 8:5'>Est 8:5</a>]. God was gracious [s:w. ‘show favour’] to those in exile (<a href='B:290 30:18'>Isa 30:18</a>; <a href='B:290 30:9'>Isa 30:9</a>; <a href='B:370 5:15'>Amo 5:15</a>; <a href='B:460 1:9'>Mal 1:9</a>). But Jeremiah 16 goes on to state that God would not ever hide His eyes / face from the iniquity they had committed, i:e. the reason why they were in captivity (<a href='B:300 16:17'>Jer 16:17</a>). But actually He did do just that- He hid His eyes from the sin of Judah and the sin of the exiles (<a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a>); the hiding of His face from them was in fact not permanent but for a brief moment (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>).</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction- The language of minimum rations, in prison or during a siege (<a href='B:110 22:27'>1Ki 22:27</a>). It was the ’Plan A’ that Jerusalem would fall to the Assyrians and Judah join Israel in captivity in Assyria, but out of that exile, a remnant would repent. Due to the minority repentance, that scenario was deferred to the effects of the Babylonian captivity; although as Jeremiah and Ezekiel make clear in their appeals for repentance, that too could have been averted. The simple truth is that if they had responded to the prophetic appeals and repented, the whole captivity scenario wouldn’t have been required. I suppose that was the ideal ’Plan A’.</h4><p>Yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your teachers- This could be read as an intensive plural; their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had tried to teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was"hid from Yahweh"(<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile"for a little moment"when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that"I hid me::. and he went on proudly in the way of his heart"(<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</p><h4>LXX offers a different slant:"They that cause thee to err shall no more at all draw nigh to thee; for thine eyes shall see those that cause thee to err". As noted on :15 LXX, the repentant remnant would come to understand where they had gone wrong, they would have the ability to see themselves from outside themselves.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of His people, and heals the wound they were struck with- This is part of the same potential prophetic scenario as in <a href='B:290 13:10'>Isa 13:10</a>:"For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light, the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine", in relation to Babylon; but the opposite will be true for God’s people. Darkness for Babylon would mean light for Judah, just as there was darkness for the Egyptians and light for Israel at the time of the exodus deliverance. These words are applied in the Olivet prophecy to the situation in the last days (<a href='B:470 24:29'>Mat 24:29</a>). For this didn’t fully happen at the time.</h4><h4>LXX has"the stars of heaven, and Orion". Orion was identified with Nimrod, founder of Assyria, and this constellation was much worshipped by the Babylonians. The prophetic potential was that Assyria and Babylon would be totally eclipsed, along perhaps with the extinguishing from sight of their favourite constellation. But this literal aspect didn’t happen, just as the literal changes to the sun and moon spoken of in <a href='B:290 30:26'>Isa 30:26</a> didn’t happen at the time, with a week’s worth of sunlight given in one day, because the Kingdom of God was not reestablished at that time because Judah didn’t fully repent. The coming of Zion’s supernaturally bright light is to come therefore when Babylon falls; and this has therefore been deferred to the latter day fall of Babylon.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction- As the Assyrian invasion reached to the neck of Judah, right up to Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 8:8'>Isa 8:8</a>), so God’s response would be likewise. What they did to Jerusalem would be done to them; which is the great theme of Revelation, where the seals of judgment on Israel become the vials of judgment upon her abusers. All these things were to be done by the breath and tongue (:27) of God- through the word which Isaiah was speaking. Like Jeremiah, he was set up to speaks words which could destroy nations and resurrect them. This is the power of the prophetic word.</h4><h4>And a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples- It is God who makes the Gentile nations labour in"vanity: and a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples"(<a href='B:290 30:28'>Isa 30:28</a> RV). Clearly enough, God causes people to err by putting a bridle in the jaws to pull them in a certain direction. The latter day Assyrian will likewise have a hook in his jaws to lead him to destruction (<a href='B:330 38:4'>Eze 38:4</a>), just as the Assyrians of Isaiah’s time did (<a href='B:290 37:29'>Isa 37:29</a>).</h4>


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


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


text:
<h4>For through the voice of Yahweh - All these things were to be done by the breath and tongue (:27,28) of God- through the word which Isaiah was speaking. Like Jeremiah, he was set up to speaks words which could destroy nations and resurrect them. This is the power of the prophetic word.</h4><p>The Assyrian will be dismayed- see on <a href='B:140 32:21'>2Ch 32:21</a>. This is the dismaying or breaking of the Assyrians in Isaiah’s time of <a href='B:290 9:4'>Isa 9:4</a> (s:w:). But this is in the context of the Kingdom being established. It could have come; but it didn’t. Hezekiah failed to be the Messiah figure as did Eliakim, and the people generally were impenitent. The latter day Assyrian, therefore, is to be “broken in pieces” (<a href='B:290 30:31'>Isa 30:31</a> RV), just as the whole image of Daniel 2 is to be, by the return of Christ as the little stone. The Assyrian confederacy which came against Jerusalem is described as being the foes of Israel who will be swept away as chaff (<a href='B:290 29:5'>Isa 29:5</a> RV). This was fulfilled in Sennacherib’s destruction outside Jerusalem. And yet the language of being swept away as chaff refers without doubt to the image of Daniel 2 being swept away as chaff. The conclusion surely is that the Assyrian attack against Jerusalem, comprised as it was of a confederacy of local nations from within the land promised to Abraham, is typical of the final destruction of a similar confederacy by the Lord’s return.</p><h4>He will strike him with His rod- As Assyria had smitten Judah with the rod. The LXX brings out the parallel between the word / voice of God through Isaiah, and the rod striking Assyria:"For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, even by the stroke wherewith he shall smite them".</h4>


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


text:
<h4>For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared; He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood- The Assyrian army is personalized as"the king". But their king was not then killed. The destruction of the Assyrian army by an Angel was but a partial fulfilment of these words. The latter day leader of Assyria, the antichrist figure called Gog, will be destroyed in the same coming down of Divine judgment. And that has been long prepared- in these words of Isaiah.</h4><h4>Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it- Sulphur suggests the judgment of Sodom. There is no evidence this happened when the Assyrians were destroyed outside Jerusalem, nor was literal fire apparently used. These things will come true in the last days.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Yet He also is wise, and will bring disaster- The idea was that to trust in Egypt was the "wise" thing to do, the secular choice of wisdom. We face the same choice. Yet we are to be fools for Christ’s sake. And God’s wisdom was to "bring disaster" upon those who trusted in Egypt. But how it worked out was that the faith of the minority led to the Assyrians being destroyed, despite the majority trusting in Egypt. Were they therefore not punished or had "disaster"? They appear to have got away with it. But the judgment of the last day, to which they will be resurrected, will finally resolve all these issues.</h4><p>And will not call back His words- The destruction of the Assyrian army could be read as God indeed relenting. He speaks His word of judgment, but in the gap between the statement and the execution of it there is the possibility of repentance and intercession which can call back those words; see on <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>. God’s calling back is the same word used in the frequent appeals for Judah to "turn away" from their sin (<a href='B:290 1:16'>Isa 1:16</a>). We could conclude that they didn’t, and so God didn’t turn back His words; and they will be punished at the last day. Or, we can marvel that God did call back His words for the sake of a minority repenting and interceding, just as He did regarding the destiny of Israel because of Moses’ intercession.</p><h4>But will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity- God would "arise against" Assyria and Babylon to destroy them (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:22'>Isa 14:22</a>). But the context here is of His ’arising against’ the evildoers amongst His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 44:29'>Jer 44:29</a>). For they were a family of evildoers (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:4'>Isa 1:4</a>; <a href='B:290 9:17'>Isa 9:17</a>) just as Babylon were (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:20'>Isa 14:20</a>). His arising in judgment was therefore to be against Babylon and the sinners within Judah at the same time; they were to be "condemned with the world" as the unworthy of the new Israel will be at the last day (<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>); hence the appeal to come out of Babylon so as not to share her condemnation. But when the Assyrian army was destroyed, the sinful "house of the evildoers" in Judah wasn’t destroyed. Perhaps judgment was averted for the sake of the repentance of the minority, just as we who are sinners are counted righteous thanks to the work of the Lord Jesus, the one man. But it could be they are raised to condemnation at the last day, and that condemnation will be articulated at the same time as Babylon is destroyed. Likewise the ’workers of iniquity’ is a phrase used of the Jews at this time (<a href='B:400 2:1'>Mic 2:1</a> cp. <a href='B:350 6:8'>Hos 6:8</a>). Their "helpers" could refer to the Egyptians whose help they sought (s:w. <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:290 31:1'>Isa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:300 37:7'>Jer 37:7</a>), just as Ahaz had sought "help" (s:w:) from the Assyrians earlier (<a href='B:140 28:21'>2Ch 28:21</a>). Or we can read this as meaning that those who were "helpers" of the leading sinners in Judah would be likewise punished. And here again we see a principle of contemporary relevance; for we can so easily think we are not the "workers of iniquity", but by our support of them we become vicarious sinners. And even our silence can also be ’helping’ them. This concern is raised again in :3.</h4>


text:
<h4>Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit- As explained on :1, the contrast was with the Angel cherubim:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>When Yahweh stretches out His hand- The simple fact we are created by God means that we are responsible to God in some sense, and therefore liable to His judgment. The stretched out hand of God is used as a figure both for His judgment of man (<a href='B:290 31:3'>Isa 31:3</a>) and also for His creation of man (<a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a>; <a href='B:290 42:5'>Isa 42:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:12'>Isa 45:12</a>; <a href='B:290 51:13'>Isa 51:13</a>). The knowledge that we are created by Him makes us responsible to His judgment, and we have to look at our bodies, our lives which He has created … and act accordingly.</p><h4>Both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together- As explained on :2, vicarious ’helping’ of sinners is judged the same as the high profile sinners themselves. But we can read "he who helps" as referring to the Egyptians (:1 s:w:; <a href='B:290 20:6'>Isa 20:6</a>; <a href='B:300 37:7'>Jer 37:7</a>). The idea is that the Egyptians would be destroyed together with the Jews who trusted in them. But this didn’t happen at Isaiah’s time. The Assyrians were destroyed by God, and neither Judah nor Egypt fell together. And the Assyrians then left Egypt and Judah alone. All these things will come to full term in the last days, when the latter day Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and impenitent Judah will be destroyed together, apart from a small repentant remnant from all of them.</h4>


text:
<h4>For thus says Yahweh to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey who will not be dismayed if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, nor will he abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its mount- In the context of condemning trust in Egypt, this would mean that the expected help from Egypt would be like shepherds being "called" (by Judah ’calling’ to Egypt for help, <a href='B:350 7:11'>Hos 7:11</a>) but being unable to make enough noise to stop the lions of Assyria / Babylon devouring the prey of Judah. This could only be achieved by the direct intervention of Yahweh’s Angelic armies coming down to Zion. This descent of Yahweh to Zion didn’t happen in Isaiah’s time when the Assyrians were destroyed by an Angel. It will come finally true when the latter day lions surrounding Zion are destroyed by the return of the Lord Jesus to Zion (<a href='B:380 1:21'>Oba 1:21</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>The LXX again offers a different slant: "For thus said the Lord to me, As a lion would roar, or a lion’s whelp over prey which he has taken, and cry over it, until the mountains are filled with his voice, and the animals are awe-struck and tremble at the fierceness of his wrath: so the Lord of hosts shall descend to fight upon the mount Sion, even upon her mountains". This would mean that trust in Egypt for help against the lions of Assyria and Babylon is nothing compared to the help of Yahweh, who would act as a far greater lion, in the person of His Son as the lion of the tribe of Judah (<a href='B:730 5:5'>Rev 5:5</a>; <a href='B:10 49:9'>Gen 49:9</a>) coming down on Zion.</h4>


text:
<h4>As birds hovering, so Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem- The idea is as GNB "Just as a bird hovers over its nest to protect its young". Hovering over would suggest a Passover style deliverance, as would "He will pass over and preserve it", perhaps at the very time of that feast; see on <a href='B:290 30:29'>Isa 30:29</a>.</h4><p>Many of the descriptions of the Lord Jesus Christ in His own parables are taken from Old Testament passages describing the feelings of God towards Israel, showing the truth of this in the first century context when Israel were still God’s people. Thus the Lord’s description of Himself as a hen wishing to gather the chicks of Jerusalem (<a href='B:470 23:37'>Mat 23:37</a>) is based on <a href='B:290 31:5'>Isa 31:5</a>: "As mother-birds flying, so will the Lord defend Jerusalem" Heb:). Yet <a href='B:490 13:8'>Luk 13:8</a> could suggest that Christ’s attitude to Israel was even more patient than that of God Himself; yet because their feelings to Israel are identical, the implication is perhaps that the Son enables and thereby persuades the Father to be even more patient with us than He would naturally be!</p><h4>He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and preserve it- This is what God did at the time of the destruction of the Assyrians in Isaiah’s time, even though the majority were impenitent of their trust in Egypt. It is this act of pure love and grace which leads to the appeal for repentance in :6. It wasn’t that Yahweh would only act if the people all repented, although that indeed was His stated position. Rather He, like a parent, decided to all the same show them grace- in the hope they would be moved to repentance by the goodness and grace shown. Indeed the grace / goodness of God, the gift ahead of time, is intended to elicit repentance (<a href='B:520 2:4'>Rom 2:4</a>)</h4>


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


text:
<h4>For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold- There is a logic to wholehearted, unreserved conversion. Now, we must turn unto [s:w. ‘convert to’] God (:6), “for in that day everyone shall cast away [turn back, ‘convert’] his idols of silver and&nbsp; his idols of gold”. In the day of final judgment, the rejected will go through the conversion scenario- of throwing away the things of this world, the pomp and the power and the pride of this petty life, and turning unto the things of God. But then, in the finest and acutest tragedy of the whole human experience, it will be all too late. We must all go through the conversion process: either now, or in the rejection experience of the judgment.</h4><h4>The sin which your own hands have made for you- Idols are so often called the works of human hands. And this is the abiding nature of idolatry in our age- to worship works, human achievements.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>The ways of the scoundrel are evil- LXX "For the counsel of the wicked will devise iniquity" would connect with the immediate context of condemning the Jews for trusting in the counsel of the false prophets to seek help from Egypt, resulting in huge sin against God (see on <a href='B:290 30:1'>Isa 30:1</a>). I suggested on :5 that the work of Shebna is in view.</h4><h4>He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right- Shebna’s work (see on :5; <a href='B:290 22:15-18'>Isa 22:15-18</a>) involved lies and destroying the humble faithful who spoke against his pro-Egypt policies.</h4>


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


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<h4>Rise up, you women who are at ease!- In society of that time, women weren’t considered the significant decision makers, and were never seen as guilty or praiseworthy for any political decisions or outcomes. But the prophets, Jeremiah particularly, focus upon the guilt of the women of the times. They perceived the value of all persons, and how thewomen were as much ultimately a part of the decision making as the men because of the significant background factor played by wives in the behaviour of their husbands and sons. And so here Isaiah appeals to them over several verses. The request to hear him was effectively an appeal for their repentance- at a time when religion and politics were the sphere of men and not women. The same word for"at ease"is used about the future, restored Kingdom (:18; <a href='B:290 33:20'>Isa 33:20</a>). This was the true"ease"or quietness. But this ’quietness’ of the restored Kingdom was claimed to be experienced by the disbelieving wealthy women of Jerusalem who lived"at ease"(:9,11 s:w:). They believed their false prophets, imaging they had their Kingdom right then in their luxurious lives:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>Hear My voice, you careless daughters, give ear to My speech!-"Careless"or ’confident’ is the word used of ’trusting’ in Egypt (<a href='B:290 31:1'>Isa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:290 36:4-6'>Isa 36:4-6</a>; <a href='B:290 36:9'>Isa 36:9</a>); ’trusting’ in the idols of Egypt too (<a href='B:290 42:17'>Isa 42:17</a> s:w:). The political decisions of the men were equally those of the women in their society. That they were"careless"or confidently trusting in Egypt is three times mentioned here (:9-11):&nbsp;</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones!- See on :9. This is a twice repeated appeal.</h4><h4>Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked and put sackcloth on your waist- This was to happen to them anyway in their captivity. They were to act as if they realized they were worthy of such condemnation. Likewise if we condemn ourselves in our self-examination, we will not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). There’s something alive and passionate to the words of the prophets. They’re not just droning on. Although they largely wrote in poetry, let not this delude us from feeling the cutting edge of their passion. Their poetry wasn’t what Wordsworth thought poetry is- “emotion recollected in tranquility”. The attack on complacency and passionlessness was full frontal: “Tremble, you women who are at ease [as you stroll the supermarkets of today], shudder, you complacent ones [as you hang out with your friends, lost in small talk]; strip and make yourselves bare” (<a href='B:290 32:11'>Isa 32:11</a> RSV- the RSV seems to me to capture the passion of the prophetic words best of all the English translations).</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Thorns and briers will come up on My people’s land- This was because their potentially fruitful vineyard of :12 had not brought forth fruit and so it was to be left desolate and bring forth the curse of Genesis, thorns and briers (<a href='B:290 5:9'>Isa 5:9</a>). This and the similar prophecy of desolation inIsa 5:6 didn’t happen at the Assyrian invasion; it was reapplied to the situation after the Babylonian invasion, when the land was intended to rest (<a href='B:30 26:34'>Lev 26:34</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>) until Judah repented. But even that program didn’t work out, and so the Lord’s parable of the vineyard explained that therefore the vineyard was given to a new Israel. Briers and thorns is an allusion to the curse upon the garden of Eden- another reason for understanding Eden as eretz Israel, from whom likewise Israel were to be exiled to the east. Yet"briers and thorns"is a term used by Isaiah about the aggressive, thorny nature of Judah (<a href='B:290 9:18'>Isa 9:18</a>; <a href='B:290 10:17'>Isa 10:17</a>). Their whole land was to become like them; and so their judgment was but an extension of their own behaviour.</h4><h4>Yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city- Isaiah is complaining that the people were feasting instead of fasting in repentance (as in <a href='B:290 22:2'>Isa 22:2</a>), and he juxtaposes their present feasting with the desolation threatened. But it seems there was repentance amongst a minority and so the threatened destruction of Zion’s population at the hands of the Assyrians was averted; but it was actually only deferred to the time of the Babylonians.</h4>


text:
<h4>For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city will be deserted- The palace wasn’t forsaken in that Hezekiah and his descendants continued to reign; Jerusalem wasn’t deserted, and the hill of Zion didn’t become grazing for donkeys. This however was the Divine intention; and we can conclude that for all his bursts of external goodness, there were problems with Hezekiah, or at least with the ruling family- and they came to full term in his loss of faith in Isaiah 39.</h4><h4>The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks- The hill and watchtower may allude to the figure of the vineyard discussed on :13. The Hebrew and Greek phrases which are translated “for ever” mean strictly, “for the age”. Sometimes this refers to literal infinity, for example the age of the kingdom, but not always. Here we have an example: “The forts and towers will become lairs for ever::. until the spirit is poured upon us” (:15). This is one way of understanding the ‘eternity’ of ‘eternal fire’.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you- This could imply that God understands that abusers abuse because they were abused. And He factors this in to His final judgment of them. And we marvel at such sensitivity, and assurance of righteous judgment at the end. But Assyria was not able to claim that as an excuse; this was bloodlust:&nbsp;</h4><h4>When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed- AV"they shall deal treacherously with thee". The idea was that Assyria would be destroyed by those she had destroyed and deceived, i:e. Judah. But this didn’t happen; Sennacherib lived many years after the destruction of his army at Jerusalem, and it was an Angel and not Judah who destroyed his army. The Divinely set up potentials weren’t realized at the time of Isaiah and Hezekiah."Betrayal"is a word often used about Judah (s:w."treachery"). This was how they had treated Yahweh, and so they were treated the same way by the Assyrians. And yet from this God still intended to save them, by such great grace."Destroy"is the word for"spoil"and what initially was in view was the spoiling of the tents of the destroyed Assyrians by the people of Jerusalem (:4).</h4>


text:
<h4>Yahweh, be gracious to us- The faithful remnant centered around Isaiah realized that Judah in general had not repented, and the salvation from Assyria was to be by Divine grace alone.</h4><p>We have waited for You- In the final glory of salvation revealed to Zion, they exult that they"have waited for Him"(<a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a>), and this was exactly the position of Isaiah’s family and school of prophets (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). That righteous remnant would finally have their faith and expectation rewarded:&nbsp;</p><h4>Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble- The time of Jacob’s trouble of Jeremiah and Daniel refers to the last days; it could have come at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but Judah weren’t spiritually ready for this. So Isaiah prays that God would be the strength of His people"every morning"and not just that morning when they awoke to find the Assyrian army destroyed. We too are to daily live in the same spirit of total trust which we show in extreme situations.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<h4>The highways are desolate, the travelling man ceases- Now the road toward Assyria is deserted; nobody any longer is travelling there seeking peace deals.</h4><p>The covenant is broken; He has despised the cities- Judah had made a covenant with Assyria, paying tribute and accepting Assyrian idols in return for a promise they wouldn’t be attacked. But Assyria broke the covenant and now the cities of Judah were in ruins. All had fallen apart from Jerusalem. This was an appropriate response to the way they had"despised"theircovenant with Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>; <a href='B:290 5:24'>Isa 5:24</a>; <a href='B:290 30:12'>Isa 30:12</a>).</p><h4>He doesn’t respect man- “There is no regard for man” was the complaint of <a href='B:290 33:8'>Isa 33:8</a> - the value and meaning of the human person was disregarded. Perhaps we could say that the prophets are characterized by taking the individual seriously. We seem to have a hard enough job maintaining a sense of the value of persons ourselves, quite apart from weeping that others don’t have such values. This level of sensitivity to human sin is quite something; and yet this is the spirit of prophecy. In the ancient world it was felt that , as Cicero put it, “the gods attend to great matters; they neglect small ones” (De Natura Deorum Vol. 2, 167). The God of Israel was and is quite different; for as the prophets show, what men may regard as small issues are to Him all and vitally important. That slightly unkind communication, that less than truthful passing comment on a brother, that exaggeration… these aren’t trivialities to God. What to us are trivialities are crucial to Him; that’s the message of the prophets. The spirit of the prophets cried out in pain and anguish because of that kind of thing; and their spirit is to be ours.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Now I will arise, says Yahweh- This is the rising up of Yahweh at the last day when Babylon / Assyria would fall and all the land be judged (<a href='B:290 2:21'>Isa 2:21</a>; <a href='B:290 14:22'>Isa 14:22</a>; <a href='B:290 28:21'>Isa 28:21</a> s:w:). This is what could have happened at the time of Hezekiah; but although the Assyrian army was destroyed, Assyria continued at the time, and a Messianic Kingdom wasn’t established.</h4><h4>Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted- This is the language of the cherubim being lifted up (<a href='B:330 1:19-20'>Eze 1:19-20</a> s:w:). Clearly we have in view here the potential visible manifestation of Yahweh in His Kingdom at the time of the Assyrian invasion; and this didn’t happen. It is deferred and reapplied."Lift up"is the same word translated"forgiven"in :24. The lifting up of Yahweh in all His glory is through His forgiveness of His sinful people. This is what He exalts in; our humble repentance is His exaltation. And this will be particularly true at the last day. But Judah didn’t really repent, and so His exaltation couldn’t happen at the time of the Assyrian crisis as was potentially possible.</h4>


text:
<h4>You will conceive chaff, you will bring forth stubble- There is a theme in Isaiah of conceiving, suffering pain in labour- but bringing forth in vain (<a href='B:290 26:18'>Isa 26:18</a>; <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>; <a href='B:290 59:4'>Isa 59:4</a>):&nbsp; And so did Hezekiah, in that he and his children turned away from true faith (Isa 397). In Isaiah’s immediate context, the application would have been to the sense that the remnant had come to the birth but there was not strength to bring forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>); apart from a few individuals, there was no bringing forth of a significant repentant remnant who would be the basis for the restored Kingdom. It felt like they were still under the curse of bringing forth in pain but in vain. The pain in vain at the time of the Assyrian invasion led to Micah offering a reworked version of all this; they were to be in pain at the hands of the Babylonians, but would bring forth in Babylon in that they would there repent, and the spiritually reborn remnant would emerge and their captors therefore judged (<a href='B:400 4:10'>Mic 4:10</a>). But that possibility also didn’t work out:&nbsp; And so this idea of bringing forth but not in vain, but rather finding meaning in the resurrection of Messiah and all in Him, came to be reapplied to the birth of the Lord Jesus from the grave in resurrection; and it would characterize the establishment of the Kingdom age in Zion (<a href='B:290 65:24'>Isa 65:24</a>).</h4><h4>Your breath is a fire that will devour you- Wrongly gained wealth is the fire that will burn those who have it at the last day (<a href='B:660 5:3'>Jas 5:3</a>). James is picking up a figure from <a href='B:290 33:11'>Isa 33:11</a>, again concerning the final judgment: “Your [own] breath [i:e. words], as fire, shall devour you”. Their breath, their words, were as fire which would in the end be the basis of their condemnation. Nadab and Abihu kindled strange fire, and it was with that fire that God burnt them up, in symbol of His destruction of all the wicked at judgment day (<a href='B:30 10:2'>Lev 10:2</a>). The"sinners in Zion"(:14) would realize too late that they had destroyed themselves; hence LXX"Now shall ye see, now shall ye perceive; the strength of your breath, shall be vain; fire shall devour you".</h4>


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


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


text:
<h4>The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?- Isaiah prophesied of the fire of Divine judgment. But it was that fire which touched his lips and purged him (<a href='B:290 6:7'>Isa 6:7</a>). The message was that contact with that fire was not necessarily destructive even to man. It is possible to “dwell with devouring fire”; that is part of relationship with God:&nbsp;Perhaps what is in view is the burning fire of the Divine presence prophesied in <a href='B:290 4:5'>Isa 4:5</a>. The spiritual will be able to dwell with this, but it will consume the sinners.</h4><h4>In the Hezekiah context, the sinners in Zion did indeed tremble but were not destroyed. There is no evidence that fire literally appeared to judge them, nor that it remained as the visible symbol of Yahweh’s presence as foreseen in <a href='B:290 4:5'>Isa 4:5</a>. All this is reapplied to the future destruction of a latter day Assyrian and the"sinners in Zion". At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the responsible will be gathered to judgement at Jerusalem. The plain Biblical evidence for this is too hard to go against. With Hezekiah in Jerusalem were"the sinners in Zion", who would equate with the unworthy who are also gathered into Jerusalem. It is largely through the Angels that the judgement is ministered; and so it was in Hezekiah’s time. In the&nbsp; context of describing the punishment of these"sinners in Zion"we read:"The Lord will come with fire, and with His (Angel) chariots like a whirlwind (Angelic language), to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire". This is alluded to (quoted?) in <a href='B:600 1:7-8'>2Th 1:7-8</a> concerning the Angelic punishment of the unworthy at the judgement:"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty Angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance::. ". That those punished are renegade saints who"know not God (any longer), and that obey not the Gospel"is evident from the fact that they are punished"from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power". In common with much of Thessalonians, Paul is alluding back to Matthew 24, 25, here to the passage in <a href='B:470 25:31-34'>Mat 25:31-34</a> regarding the responsiblebeing gathered to the judgement before"the throne of His glory". Only the responsible come into the&nbsp; personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The description of the judgement in <a href='B:720 1:24'>Jud 1:24</a> chimes in too:"The presence of His glory".</h4>


text:
<h4>He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands- Literally, ’shakes his hands’ on refusing to take bribes. The same word is used in :9 of Carmel shaking off her fruits (AV). The ways of the righteous and the wicked are opposite and cannot be compromised.</h4><h4>Refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil- The righteous don’t even want to hear plans to shed blood. We get the impression that despite all the pressure from Assyria, their consciences weren’t exercised; the leadership continued plotting against others and taking bribes.</h4>


text:
<h4>he will dwell on high. His place of defence will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied, his waters will be sure- The same words are used of Yahweh dwelling on high in :5. The righteous will be identified with Him. GNB"you will be as secure as if in a strong fortress". Isaiah foresees lack of bread and water as a result of the Assyrian siege. He doesn’t see Hezekiah’s conduit as solving the water problem within Jerusalem under siege, as elsewhere he has presented this as a work of dependence upon the flesh. But the righteous are to survive this. But by grace, all Jerusalem did at that time, including"the sinners in Zion"(:14).</h4>


text:
<h4>Your eyes will see the king in His beauty, they will see the land that is distant- The idea may be that they would see to the full distant extent of the land; the entire promised land from Nile to Euphrates would now be reigned over by the new Messianic king. Hence GNB"Once again you will see a king ruling in splendor over a land that stretches in all directions". But that didn’t happen in Hezekiah’s time; he was content to live in Jerusalem with a few years of peace. He refused the wider vision and potential that was possible.</h4><h4>Our eyes too shall “behold the land that is [currently] very far off” just as Moses had been given the vision of the promised land far off. See on <a href='B:500 3:3'>Joh 3:3</a>; <a href='B:500 3:5'>Joh 3:5</a>. You and me personally will be in God’s Kingdom, with our arms around each other in the rubble of Jerusalem. We will personally be there. We will see Abraham there (<a href='B:490 13:28'>Luk 13:28</a>); as Job says, with our own eyes we will behold our Lord, and not through anyone else’s eyes (<a href='B:220 19:27'>Job 19:27</a>). Our eyes shall behold the King in the beauty which we personally perceive in Him.</h4>


text:
<h4>Your heart will meditate on the terror- The idea is that the righteous remnant would look back on the trauma of the Assyrian siege and perceive God’s hand.</h4><h4>Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?- Assyrian inscriptions and bas reliefs show men counting and weighing the spoil and carefully counting the towers of cities under attack. Those men would be out of work or destroyed themselves. Or we could go with GNB"Your old fears of foreign tax collectors and spies will be only a memory".</h4>


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


text:
<h4>Look toward Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed; her stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of her cords be broken- It must have seemed impossible to believe that the eyes of Isaiah’s generation would ever see this, as Zion was surrounded and besieged and the rest of Judah in ruins. But the Assyrians were destroyed in a moment and they did see this. The implication was that again the people of Judah would look to Jerusalem as the place where they could keep the feasts.</h4><p>The same word for"at ease"or"quiet"is used about the future, restored Kingdom (also <a href='B:290 32:18'>Isa 32:18</a>) as about the"ease"or quietness of the disbelieving wealthy women of Jerusalem who lived"at ease"(<a href='B:290 32:9'>Isa 32:9</a>; <a href='B:290 32:11'>Isa 32:11</a> s:w:). They believed their false prophets, imaging they had their Kingdom ’ease’ right then in their luxurious lives. But this was not the true"ease"or quietness. Luxurious living is but a fake Kingdom of God. And the stakes and tent ropes ("cords") of Zion were removed. Again, the potential didn’t come about; see on :19.</p>


text:
<h4>But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty- Here as in Isa 4:5-6 there is the implication that Yahweh Himself would be"with us", perhaps literally coming to dwell in Zion so that the name of the city would be called"Yahweh is there"(Eze 48:35). Or perhaps the earlier prophecy of Isa 7:14; Isa 8:8 is in view, where the Messiah who would appear at the time of salvation from Assyria would be called"God with us". These possibilities were all precluded and therefore transferred to events of the last days concerning the Lord Jesus.</h4><h4>A place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there- The reference is to military vessels propelled by oarsmen as well as sails. Although there is no protective river around Jerusalem as there was around Nineveh and Babylon, yet Yahweh would be the equivalent of that defensive river; and no aggressive military boats of any enemy would be able to cross it.</h4>


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


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


text:
<h4>The inhabitant won’t say, I am sick because the people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity- In the immediate context, the sick inhabitant of Jerusalem was Hezekiah who was cured. The implication would therefore be that he was sick because he had sinned- and his sin was clearly in ripping off the gold of the temple to try to buy off the Assyrians rather than trusting in Yahweh. But the application may also be to Gentiles:"And the people dwelling among them"(LXX),"No one who lives in our land"(GNB); these proselytes, the repentant remnant of the attackers, would be forgiven and healed of all sickness.</h4><h4>"Forgiven"is the same word translated"lift up"in :10. The lifting up of Yahweh in all His glory is through His forgiveness of His sinful people. This is what He exalts in; our humble repentance is His exaltation. And this will be particularly true at the last day. But Judahdidn’t really repent, and so His exaltation couldn’t happen at the time of the Assyrian crisis as was potentially possible.</h4>


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


text:
<h4>For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them- We have a return here to the scene in the ’little apocalypse’ in Isaiah 24. The destruction of the earth / land along with many of God’s people leads to the repentance of a remnant of both Jews, Israelites and Gentiles who form a new multiethnic people of God under a Messiah figure in a reestablished Kingdom of God on earth. That is the scene in Isaiah 34 too, although the Gentiles are personified as Idumea / Edom, the nation against whom all the prophets record God’s particular wrath. God’s being"enraged"was because He had sent"all nations"to punish Judah but they had fallen into bloodlust and pride (<a href='B:450 1:15'>Zec 1:15</a> s:w:). The ’utter destruction’ of the"all nations"supposes that this prophecy speaks of a final destruction; this could have happened in Isaiah’s time, but has been deferred to the last days. But the same word for"utter destruction"is translated ’consecrate’ or ’devote [unto Yahweh]’. It is used in <a href='B:400 4:13'>Mic 4:13</a>, which states that a repentant Judah will be the means by which this happens:"Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain [s:w. "utterly destroy"] to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth". This never really happened in previous judgments upon the"all nations"around Jerusalem. Always something positive is envisaged as coming out of Divine judgment.</h4><h4>He has given them over for slaughter- God states His intentions, and in the gap between statement and fulfilment there is the opportunity for repentance in order to change the stated outcome (<a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>). The implication is therefore that this scenario need not happen if the nations repented. We too live in that gap.</h4>


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


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<h4>All of the army of the sky will be dissolved, the sky will be rolled up like a scroll- Here we have a clear parallel between the armies and controlling powers of the earth, and the stars of the heavens."Heavens"are indeed used in the Bible symbolically, referring to the leading or controlling powers in a situation. The armies of the sky refer to how the armies of soldiers on earth had their heavenly representation before the throne of God in the heavenly courtroom. The Angels there represented situations upon earth."Dissolved"is s:w."consume away"; on earth, this will amount to the scene in <a href='B:450 14:12'>Zec 14:12</a>, where the same word is thrice used:"This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth". Rolling up like a scroll could speak of how the entire prophetic word is to come to its climactic fulfilment.</h4><h4>And all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree- &nbsp;The fading leaf has been used of the judgment of God’s people for their lack of spiritual fruit (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:30'>Isa 1:30</a>; <a href='B:290 24:4'>Isa 24:4</a>; <a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>; <a href='B:290 28:4'>Isa 28:4</a>; <a href='B:290 40:7'>Isa 40:7</a>; <a href='B:290 64:6'>Isa 64:6</a>; <a href='B:300 8:13'>Jer 8:13</a>). That catena of passages impressively applies this to Israel and Judah. The idea is that the armies of the nations will be judged at the same time as the"sinners in Zion", as in <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a>. Their judgment will be in that they partake in the judgments of the world which they loved, having failed to come out of Babylon they share in her judgments. And this will be true of the unfaithful within spiritual Israel (<a href='B:530 11:32'>1Co 11:32</a>):&nbsp;</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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<h4>Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches- "Jackals" is LXX "monsters", as "satyrs" in :11. These mythical beings were what they believed were the ultimate signs of condemnation. Their wrong concepts are used without correction, as is the language of demons in the New Testament, in order to speak to them in their own terms. But realizing this, we are not to look for literal fulfillments of these words.</h4><h4>But note <a href='B:290 35:7'>Isa 35:7</a>, which speaks of this ’eternal’ desolation being revived: "The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they used to lay". These "jackals" are those here envisaged living for ’ever’, for generation after generation, in the judged cities of Edom. But it seems those areas will be revived. Areas so heavily condemned and judged will in due course be brought under God’s glory. The water source in <a href='B:290 35:7'>Isa 35:7</a> is the stream envisaged as flowing from Zion in Ezekiel and Revelation. This could have happened literally had Judah built the temple system as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48. Hence LXX "a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes". See on :15.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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<h4>The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose- I noted that the preceding pictures of desolation concerning Edom have within them the hint that even the most heavily judged and condemned areas will be revived in God’s Kingdom (see on <a href='B:290 34:13'>Isa 34:13</a>; <a href='B:290 34:15'>Isa 34:15</a>; <a href='B:290 34:17'>Isa 34:17</a>). In this case, this prophecy would flow on seamlessly from that.</h4><h4>Isaiah 35 is an evident prophecy of the future Kingdom of God on earth. But it is replete with connections with the prophecies of Judah’s restoration from Babylon in Isaiah 40-55 : Water in the wilderness = <a href='B:290 41:18-19'>Isa 41:18-19</a>; <a href='B:290 43:19-20'>Isa 43:19-20</a>; <a href='B:290 44:3'>Isa 44:3</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>; God’s glory revealed (<a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:5'>Isa 40:5</a>; <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; Time of judgment and recompense (<a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:10'>Isa 40:10</a>; Strength to the faint-hearted (<a href='B:290 35:3-4'>Isa 35:3-4</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; <a href='B:290 40:29-31'>Isa 40:29-31</a>; A highway for the return to Zion (<a href='B:290 35:8'>Isa 35:8</a>) = <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>. The conclusion from this is surely that the way home from Babylon to Judah was to be seen as the entrance into the Kingdom age. Which is why I suggest that a Messianic Kingdom could’ve come at the restoration. Isaiah’s predictions about the return from exile in Babylon (<a href='B:290 49:6'>Isa 49:6</a>), the freedom of the land from foreign dominance (<a href='B:290 53:8'>Isa 53:8</a>; <a href='B:290 53:11'>Isa 53:11</a>), the repopulation of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 54:1'>Isa 54:1</a>), rebuilding the temple (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>) etc. all came true at the return of the exiles; but those same prophecies speak of the resurrection of the dead (<a href='B:290 42:11'>Isa 42:11</a>; <a href='B:290 45:8'>Isa 45:8</a>; Isa 498), Messiah teaching the Law to Israel, all the world coming to accept Israel’s God and coming to worship in the new temple etc. The prophecies of the restoration of the exiles from Babylon are inextricably connected with these things. And yet they didn’t happen; and even those aspects which did, only came true to a very limited extent- solely because of Israel’s indolence, and the fact the majority of the Jews remained in Babylon.</h4>


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


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


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<h4>Tell those who have a fearful heart, Be strong, don’t be afraid- "Fearful" is the word for "rash" and as noted on that word on <a href='B:290 32:4'>Isa 32:4</a> these are those who were impatient with God’s apparent lack of response (<a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a> s:w:). One of the greatest joys of the Kingdom will be the power of God’s Spirit to transform the hearts of those who appear totally unspiritual and short termist in their judgments. See on :3. They now do not need to fear condemnation; they have been transformed by the gift of the new heart and new eyes which is part of the new covenant.</h4><p>We’re familiar with the references to God hardening the heart of Pharaoh (<a href='B:20 14:8'>Exo 14:8</a> etc:). However, the same Hebrew words occur in a positive context- for God also hardens or strengthens the hearts of the righteous (<a href='B:230 27:14'>Psa 27:14</a>; <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:290 35:4'>Isa 35:4</a> speaks of how the righteous shouldn’t have a fearful / weak or [Heb:] ‘fluid’ heart, but rather a hardened one. Clearly enough, God solidifies human attitudes, one way or the other. This is a sobering thought- for He is prepared to confirm a person in their weak thinking. But on the other hand, even the weakest basic intention towards righteousness is solidified by Him too.</p><h4>Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you- This is the final "day of vengeance" (<a href='B:290 59:17'>Isa 59:17</a>; <a href='B:290 61:2'>Isa 61:2</a>; <a href='B:290 63:4'>Isa 63:4</a>; <a href='B:400 5:15'>Mic 5:15</a>), both on the "sinners in Zion" of <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a> (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:25'>Lev 26:25</a>), and upon the abusers of Israel (<a href='B:50 32:41'>Deu 32:41</a>; <a href='B:50 32:43'>Deu 32:43</a>). The final coming of God will be in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus, at the last day. "Retribution" is s:w. "benefit in <a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>; in the immediate context, Hezekiah did not render back according to the benefit or retribution given in healing him, and so the possibility of the Kingdom then didn’t transpire and is deferred to the last day.</h4>


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<h4>Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped- As noted on :3,4,6, we have here language relevant to the spiritual healing of God’s people, although that will be physically articulated in the healing of the physically impaired. The blind and deaf in Isaiah are the spiritually blind and deaf whose eyes will be opened so that they may"hear the words of the book"(<a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 42:16'>Isa 42:16</a>; <a href='B:290 42:18'>Isa 42:18</a>; <a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>).</h4><h4>The teaching of the Lord Jesus included frequent quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament. When we go back and read around the contexts of the passages He quoted, it becomes apparent that He very often omits to quote the negative, judgmental, or conditional aspects of the blessings which He quotes. Consider the way He quotes <a href='B:290 29:18'>Isa 29:18</a>; <a href='B:290 35:5-6'>Isa 35:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> in <a href='B:470 11:4-5'>Mat 11:4-5</a>. These are all talking about Messianic blessings. But they are embedded amidst warnings of judgment and the conditionality ofGod’s grace. Likewise Luke records how Jesus read from <a href='B:290 61:1-2'>Isa 61:1-2</a>, but He stopped at the very point where Isaiah’s message turns from promise to threat. None of this takes away from the terrible reality that future failure is a real possibility, even tomorrow. We can throw it all away. We may do. We have the possibility. And some do. There is an eternity ahead which we may miss. And each one who enters the Kingdom will, humanly speaking, have come pretty close to losing it at various points in his or her mortal life.</h4>


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<h4>Then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert- As explained on :3-5, the deaf and lame are spiritually deaf, and they shall be spiritually cured; and that will be reflected in the healing of the physical environment. The waters and streams may be literal, but they essentially refer to the water of healing coming from Messiah, as mentioned in <a href='B:730 22:2'>Rev 22:2</a>; <a href='B:500 7:38'>Joh 7:38</a>. The lame men primarily in view are those of <a href='B:290 33:23'>Isa 33:23</a> who went out to gather the prey of the Assyrians. But they refer also to the latter day lame of <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>, who like Jacob bear the marks of their spiritual weakness and are repentant, throwing themselves upon Yahweh’s grace. The Lord’s healing of the lame who then jumped indicates that this Kingdom language started to have a foretaste in His work (<a href='B:470 21:14'>Mat 21:14</a>; <a href='B:510 3:2-10'>Act 3:2-10</a>). As noted on <a href='B:290 33:23'>Isa 33:23</a>, Judah were not then the lame repentant Jacob as they were intended to have been. And so these possible fulfillments are delayed until the last days:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><h4>The Babylonian Account of Creation claims (Tablet 4, line 137) that Marduk cleft Teammate, the ocean goddess, with his sword. The Biblical idea of Yahweh cleaving the waters clearly picks up this idea (<a href='B:420 3:9'>Hab 3:9</a>; <a href='B:230 74:15'>Psa 74:15</a>; <a href='B:230 78:13'>Psa 78:13</a>; <a href='B:230 78:15'>Psa 78:15</a>; <a href='B:20 14:16'>Exo 14:16</a>; <a href='B:20 14:21'>Exo 14:21</a>; <a href='B:70 15:19'>Jdg 15:19</a>; <a href='B:290 35:6'>Isa 35:6</a>; <a href='B:290 48:21'>Isa 48:21</a>; <a href='B:290 63:12'>Isa 63:12</a>; <a href='B:160 9:11'>Neh 9:11</a>). But these passages largely refer to the miracle God did at the Red Sea, bringing about the creation of His people out of the cleft waters of the Sea. Again, pagan creation is reinterpreted with reference to a historical, actual event in the experience of God’s people.</h4>


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


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


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


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


text:
<p>&nbsp; Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them- Hezekiah reigned 29 years (<a href='B:120 18:2'>2Ki 18:2</a>), and the sickness after which he was given 15 years therefore happened in the 14th year or his reign- the very same time that Assyria invaded (<a href='B:290 38:1'>Isa 38:1</a>). Trials so often come together, in such an intense and extreme way that the situation can only be of God rather than mere bad luck or coincidence.</p>


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


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


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


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<h4>I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words- GNB"Do you think that words can take the place of military skill and might?". This is the essence of our temptations today- to think that the ideas of God’s word are merely abstract and philosophical, and have no cash value in reality. But God’s word is active and powerful, once spoken, it is done. The"counsel"in view is primarily the prophecies of Isaiah (s:w. <a href='B:290 5:19'>Isa 5:19</a>; <a href='B:290 28:29'>Isa 28:29</a>), and in the last day application, the"counsel and strength"of the Messiah of Israel (<a href='B:290 11:2'>Isa 11:2</a> s:w:). But Rabshakeh may have been mocking the"counsel"of the false prophets (see :6), which had been to trust in Egypt rather than Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:290 19:3'>Isa 19:3</a>; <a href='B:290 19:11'>Isa 19:11</a>; <a href='B:290 29:15'>Isa 29:15</a>; <a href='B:290 30:1'>Isa 30:1</a>; <a href='B:300 19:7'>Jer 19:7</a>). The"counsel"or prophetic word of Yahweh, however, was what could save Israel; it was that which would bring them back from captivity and reestablish Yahweh’s Kingdom in the land (s:w. <a href='B:290 44:26'>Isa 44:26</a>; <a href='B:290 46:10'>Isa 46:10</a>). Although most in Judah still refused to trust in Yahweh’s"strength for the war"(s:w. <a href='B:290 30:15'>Isa 30:15</a>), yet by grace and in respect to the faith of the remnant, He still saved them from Assyria at this time.</h4><h4>Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?- That Hezekiah was trusting in someone or something else apart from his own strength was so obvious; and there may have been a genuine element of curiosity in the question, as well as it being a rhetorical question. Hezekiah’s rebellion against Assyria was because of his trust in Yahweh; Zedekiah rebelled later against Babylon and yet Jerusalem fell (s:w. <a href='B:300 52:3'>Jer 52:3</a>). Zedekiah attempted to copy the external behaviour of Hezekiah but without trust in Yahweh, and so it didn’t work out. And so there abides a lesson for all of us who are tempted to imitate the external faith and action of others without having the same internal faith and trust.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt-"Bruised reed"in <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a> is better"broken reed", and this is the very phrase used about how the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, would not break a"bruised / broken reed"(<a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a>). Egypt were a broken reed, recently broken in battle and now useless to save Israel. They were too weak to uphold the weight of Judah if they were to lean upon it for strength. God turns the figure around- He as it were is in need of man, He wishes to trust upon us; and although we are broken reeds, we will not be crushed nor will He be disappointed. He so wishes to work with us.</h4><p>Which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him-"Lean"here is the same word for"steadfast"in <a href='B:290 26:3'>Isa 26:3</a>"You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in You". The LXX understands this to be a description of the"righteous nation"of <a href='B:290 26:2'>Isa 26:2</a>. They are saved from their traumas by the state of their mind. And Yahweh will respond to this through the work of His Spirit on the human spirit, to keep their mind in perfect peace. This is the peace which comes from knowing sin is forgiven."Mind"here is literally ’imagination’. We must ask what are our fantasies, our hopes, according to which we live, think and feel day by day. If they are above all for the Kingdom, then we will be ’kept’ in this. In Isaiah’s immediate context this was in contrast to leaning upon Egypt for salvation (s:w. <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a>"lean"). The great salvation of the restored Kingdom could have come apart at that time, but it was precluded by a lack of real faith and focus on the Kingdom in the majority of Israel.</p><h4>Judah did as it were trust in Egypt, and so were left with pierced hands. But that was exactly what the Lord Jesus experienced on the cross. Here we have one of many examples of where although He did not personally sin, He on the cross experienced the sufferings for sin which were due to God’s people:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<p>But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God’, isn’t that He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar?’- Rabshakeh argues as if the high places and altars to the idols were actually used for Yahweh worship. And that was true. Judah justified their idol worship by claiming it was a form of Yahweh worship; and that is an abiding temptation for God’s people of all ages. Rabshakeh mocked at the idea of a religion which had only one altar and high place; although that was indeed appropriate to the worship of the one true God who had given one specific way of approach to Him.</p>


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<h4>Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them- Although many in Judah had fled into Jerusalem, the siege conditions and battle losses meant that there were not even 2000 fighting men within the city. But the Assyrians were destroyed by just one Angel, a member of the Angel cherubim, the heavenly horses and riders who stood for Israel. They were left with no human horses nor army, so that they might trust in Yahweh of Hosts of Angelic armies and the cherubim chariot. And this is why we too at times are stripped of all human strength.</h4><h4>"Make a pledge"is literally to be sweet or pleasing, and it appears to be sarcastic. But it is the word used by Hezekiah when he asks Yahweh to"undertake"or be sweet to him in the oppression of his sickness, which came at the same time as the siege of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 38:14'>Isa 38:14</a>):See on <a href='B:290 36:1'>Isa 36:1</a>.</h4>


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


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


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


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


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


text:
<p>Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you- This was part of his narrative, that the gods of the nations were"not able to deliver"them from the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:15'>2Ch 32:15</a>). He encouraged them to see the one true God as just another god, another source of secular strength as good as anything else. Yahweh the one true God is not, however, just another religious system. There is something awesomely and radically different. Rabshakeh’s words recognize that Hezekiah alone was seeking to lead the people to totally trust in Yahweh. His influence was considered hugely significant. As we noted on <a href='B:290 1:1'>Isa 1:1</a>, the reforms of Hezekiah were largely ineffective in encouraging the general populace towards spirituality. In accordance with that, Rabshakeh perceived Hezekiah as effectively seeking alone to persuade the people to trust Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria’- Rabshakeh appears to know the very words of Hezekiah within Jerusalem, supporting the suggestion made on :10 that he was a renegade Jew. Hezekiah’s faith that the city wouldn’t fall was presumably based upon Isaiah’s prophetic words; and yet Isaiah also speaks as if the city would fall, unless there was repentance in Judah. Perhaps Hezekiah really believed that the repentance of a minority would be counted by God as enough, and that their prayers would ensure the salvation of Zion. And this huge faith in Divine grace was rewarded.</p>


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<h4>Don’t listen to Hezekiah- As noted on :14, it seems Hezekiah was singlehandedly seeking to persuade the people to totally trust in Yahweh.</h4><p>For thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me- LXX"If ye wish to be blessed, come out to me". Receiving peace or ’blessing’ (LXX) was what comes from Yahweh; Judah were being offered covenant relationship with a false pretender to Yahweh. All this is the stuff of the latter day antiChrist; for an anti-Christ is strictly not someone against Christ but rather posing as the Christ, a fake, imitation Christ.</p><h4>And each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern- Rabshakeh promised the Jews an Assyrian Kingdom where everyone sat under their own vine and fig tree- consciously parodying Micah’s contemporary prophecies of God’s future Kingdom (<a href='B:290 36:16'>Isa 36:16</a> cp. <a href='B:400 4:4'>Mic 4:4</a>). The Assyrian Kingdom was set up as a parody of Solomon’s, which was the Kingdom of God (<a href='B:110 4:25'>1Ki 4:25</a>; <a href='B:140 9:8'>2Ch 9:8</a>). A glance through the descriptions of the beasts- the Kingdoms of this world- reveals that they are all set up in terms of the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. Rabshakeh was aware of Isaiah’s prophecies as he quotes from them here; see on :10. And in essence the world today offers a fake, imitation Kingdom of God.</h4>


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<p>Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards- As noted on :16, Assyria was presented as an imitation kingdom of God. The 2 Kings record adds:"a land of oil olive and of honey". The language all alludes to God’s descriptions of the promised land, which were familiar to Rabshakeh (see on :10). The allusions are to <a href='B:40 14:7'>Num 14:7</a>; <a href='B:50 8:7-9'>Deu 8:7-9</a>; <a href='B:50 11:11-12'>Deu 11:11-12</a>:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Yahweh will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?-"Persuade"is ’seduce’, as if the Assyrians had the one true religion and Hezekiah was seducing Judah away from it. The Assyrian inscriptions describe and portray their wars as religious wars between their god Asshur and the gods of the nations they conquered. It was perhaps this very aspect to the Assyrian boasts which as it were provoked Yahweh to action. His unique victory against Asshur when all other gods and religious systems had failed was intended to help the Gentile nations see the utter supremacy of Yahweh- and to turn to Him:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p>Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?- Rabshakeh, knowing the prophecies of Isaiah (see on :10), may be alluding to the common prophetic theme that Judah were in fact no better than Israel, and would face the same judgment. And he knew that Samaria, the ten tribes, had trusted in the gods of the surrounding nations. Hamath and Arpad were in Syria, and so probably Sepharvaim was likewise. Isaiah 8 and <a href='B:290 10:9-11'>Isa 10:9-11</a> had condemned Israel for their trust in Syria against Assyria, and clearly their covenant with Syria had involved taking on the worship of their gods.</p>


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<p>Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?- The point of course was made: Who or what indeed were any of those gods compared to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<p>But they remained silent and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, Don’t answer him- The"they"appears to refer to ’the people on the wall’ (<a href='B:120 18:36'>2Ki 18:36</a>). Again we get the impression as on :14 that Hezekiah was in direct contact with the common people- despite being terminally ill at the time (see on <a href='B:290 36:1'>Isa 36:1</a>). It was unexpected that Rabshakeh should address the common people (:11,12), so perhaps the king urged them immediately to silence, whilst Rabshakeh was speaking.</p>


text:
<p>Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh- This sign of sorrow was to be turned into joy. But for now, there was sorrow. Their deep grief however suggests they didn’t believe Hezekiah’s assurances of Divine salvation; see on :3,11.</p>


text:
<p>It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house- Instead of devising human schemes of salvation, he does as we should, turning to God’s house, His presence, and His people. He could have prayed anywhere, but he felt that God’s presence was there in particular:Judah’s leadership had torn their clothes but not dressed in sackcloth (<a href='B:290 36:22'>Isa 36:22</a>). Sackcloth was a sign of repentance, as witnessed by the response of Nineveh. Nineveh had repented the generation before; and it seems Hezekiah is now seeking to imitate their repentance. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria; if their repentance had been permanent, they would not have invaded Judah. Hezekiah was seeking to imitate Nineveh but make it permanent, although after the crisis passed, it seems his repentance likewise didn’t hold. God knew all this from the start, and yet still so respected the repentance of Hezekiah and Nineveh in their extremity that He still changed His threatened judgment of them. Hezekiah was aware that he had sinned by trying to buy off the Assyrians with the gold of the temple, representing faith sacrificed to human expedient; and Judah had definitely trusted in Egypt for help rather than God. His words of :3 are a recognition that the invasion was a Divine rebuke and rejection of him. But a man may be rejected by God in this life, having a foretaste of condemnation ahead of time; but still change the verdict. Hence Peter went out from the Lord’s presence and wept and gnashed his teeth, the very language of the rejected; but changed the verdict. This is the intensity of our situation, as Paul in Romans emphasizes; we stand condemned, and yet in this life we can change the verdict, by God’s grace.</p>


text:
<p>He sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz- See on <a href='B:290 36:3'>Isa 36:3</a>. Humanly speaking, sending your right hand men to a prophet was not the way out of the situation. But he realized as should we, that the only ultimate recourse is to God’s word. The covering of the leadership with sackcloth as noted on :1 was a sign of repentance, again imitating how the leadership of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and achieved a change of the Divinely promised judgment.</p>


text:
<h4>They said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection- As noted on :1, Hezekiah understood he had sinned, hence his sackcloth and desperate repentance. Isaiah has repeatedly condemned Judah for trusting in Egypt for help from the Assyrians (<a href='B:290 20:5-6'>Isa 20:5-6</a>; <a href='B:290 30:1-4'>Isa 30:1-4</a>; <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a>; <a href='B:290 36:9'>Isa 36:9</a>). Those passages all say that if Judah did this, they would be rejected by God, as they were rejecting His help. And Hezekiah realizes that now those prophecies were going to come true. But the depth of his repentance meant that they didn’t; just as the destruction of Nineveh in 40 days didn’t happen, all because of human repentance. See on :1,4; <a href='B:290 22:5'>Isa 22:5</a>, which prophecy Hezekiah appears to allude to here.</h4><p>For the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth- The birth of a remnant is spoken of in Isaiah in spiritual terms;"the children"here are"the remnant"of :4. The sense may be that Hezekiah sensed there had been some spiritual reformation, which he himself had done so much to bring about through his banishing of idolatry in Judah, but the final strength for the birth was lacking; they had indeed trusted in Egypt and in gold rather than in God, despite all the purging of idolatry. This was the tragedy which Hezekiah felt, as we do; that there was some genuine spirituality, but not enough. That may be the idea in <a href='B:350 13:13'>Hos 13:13</a> where the imagery is used again.</p><h4><a href='B:290 66:9'>Isa 66:9</a> 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:"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". 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.</h4>


text:
<h4>It may be Yahweh your God- This continues the connection with Nineveh’s repentance (see on :1,3); in this case, to <a href='B:390 3:9'>Jon 3:9</a>"Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we might not perish?". However"your God"is a recognition by Hezekiah that Isaiah stood closer to God than he did.</h4><p>Will hear the words of Rabshakeh-"Hear"is used at times to mean ’hear and respond to’, as God in that sense ’hears’ all things and there is no need to ask Him to hear anything</p><p>Whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God- This is not just Hezekiah trying to get God to see the situation from the viewpoint of His own glory; rather was there a real and actual spiritual dimension to the invasion. The idea of ’defying’ Israel’s God is stressed so much (<a href='B:290 37:4'>Isa 37:4</a>; <a href='B:290 37:17'>Isa 37:17</a>; <a href='B:290 37:23-24'>Isa 37:23-24</a>); although Isaiah concludes by using this word about what Judah had effectively done to their own God (<a href='B:290 65:7'>Isa 65:7</a>). Sennacherib really did despise Yahweh and wanted to impose his gods upon Judah, and this will be the dominant feature of the latter day Assyrian invasion of the land. Radical Islam would appear the obvious latter day equivalent.</p><p>And will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard-"Rebuke"here is a legal word, used of legal reasoning against an accuser in court (as in <a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>; <a href='B:290 11:3-4'>Isa 11:3-4</a>; <a href='B:290 29:21'>Isa 29:21</a>; <a href='B:400 6:2'>Mic 6:2</a>). Hezekiah had a strong sense of the court of Heaven; and so the answer is expressed in terms of an Angel ’coming out’ from that court room and articulating the agreed judgment (:36). This is a huge comfort; that all situations on earth are reflected in Heaven, and judged there.</p><h4>Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left’- The remnant would refer not only to the fact that Jerusalem alone remained, but to the righteous remnant within the city who were now repentant. The desire to get others to pray for issues is found throughout the Bible. But we should not draw the implication that God is as it were hard of hearing and only responds if enough of us offer enough prayers. But on the other hand, the combined prayerful requests of many of God’s children are not unnoticed by God.</h4>


text:
<p>So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah- The servants of king Hezekiah are contrasted with those of the king of Assyria (:6). The situation is set up as a conflict between two kings, and in the last days the scenario will be the same- King Jesus in Jerusalem facing off against the latter day Antichrist,"the king of the north", the rosh of Ezekiel 38, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2, the little horn speaking great things of Daniel 7.</p>


text:
<p>Isaiah said to them, Tell your master, ‘Thus says Yahweh, Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me- We too can fear words, forgetting that the only ultimate reality in all things is God."Servants"here translates a word which is almost colloquial, the idea being"lackeys". Just as the risen Lord referred to the disciples as"guys, fellas"(see on <a href='B:500 21:5'>Joh 21:5</a>), so His Father is able to relate to people on their language level too.</p>


text:
<h4>Behold, I will put a spirit in him- Sennacherib retreated because God “put a spirit in him”. The AV has: “I will send a blast / spirit upon him”. Was it not that the Angel who later destroyed his army came upon him and put a spirit / disposition of mind within him that made him want to retreat? We see how God can directly affect the human spirit / mind. He can give a holy spirit, or an evil spirit. The Old Testament sets us up to understand that God can work directly on the human spirit, and then the New Testament says that He can give us a holy spirit, working again directly on the human mind and perception.</h4><p>And he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land’- The"news"could have been of the destruction of Rabshakeh’s army; or of the approach of Tirhakah, or some other threat to his empire. The situation points ahead to how the latter day"king of the north"will likewise hear"news"(s:w. <a href='B:340 11:44'>Dan 11:44</a>"tidings"). The Lord ’caused’ Sennacherib to fall by the sword in that He put a spirit of jealousy in his sons, resulting in the murder of :38.</p>


text:
<h4>So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish- Sennacherib was aiming for Egypt andwas attacking the fortresses on the route there; and Libnah was just south of Lachish, which he had destroyed. This is the scene we have in Daniel 11, where the"king of the north"attacks"the king of the south", Egypt, ransacking Palestine along the way, but then had to return to his own land after hearing the"tidings"of Dan 11:44. The historical invasions of Israel and Judah therefore follow a pattern; and this will be repeated in the final latter day invasion which all the previous invasions point forward to. The image of Daniel 2 stands complete in the last days, and all the beasts of Daniel 7 are incorporated into the mega beast of the last days. This is to say that the final destructive entity oppressing Israel in the last days will combine features of all her historical oppressors, including the Assyrians. We note too the difference between Rabshakeh and Sennacherib, and wonder how far this points forward to the"false prophet"of Revelation who appears to be an agent of the beast.</h4>


text:
<p>He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to fight against you. When he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying- Tirhakah was the dominant king in Egypt at the time. We wonder if the much criticized efforts of Judah to get"Egypt"to help them were actually directed towards Tirhakah. But we wonder why therefore God still used this person to play a part in His plan to destroy Sennacherib. Or it could be that Tirhakah was the one who had destroyed the Egyptians upon whom Judah had hoped [rather than upon their God], and so it was appropriate that he and not Egypt played a part in the Divine plan to destroy"the king of the north".</p>


text:
<p>Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria- The king recognizes that Hezekiah does indeed trust in God, and that Yahweh was indeed his God. This may have comforted him, as we noted on :4 that Hezekiah speaks of God as Isaiah’s God rather than his God.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?- This is the classic challenge to faith; no other god achieved anything, therefore, the one true God can’t either. But the point is that the gods of this world didn’t achieve anything precisely because they are not God. The ’utter destruction’ of conquered lands by Assyria is historically well attested. But the word has the sense of ’sanctified’ in a religious sense; like the latter day"king of the north", the invader thought that they were serving their God by destroying people, and the barbarity of the destruction was a sign of how far they had devoted people and lands to their God. Jihadist Islam exactly fits this scenario.</p>


text:
<p>Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?- These were the very cities to which the Assyrians had deported the ten tribe Kingdom of Israel (<a href='B:120 17:6'>2Ki 17:6</a>; <a href='B:120 18:11'>2Ki 18:11</a>). The implication is that Judah would be taken there likewise.</p>


text:
<p>Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’- The kings of these cities are paralleled with their gods (:12). The parallel <a href='B:290 36:19'>Isa 36:19</a> asks"Where are the gods"of these same cities. Truly we become like that which we worship; football fans become like their idols, in spirit. And if we worship the one true God of Israel, Yahweh, then we will become like Him.</p>


text:
<p>Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh-&nbsp;"Spread"translates the same Hebrew word used about spreading abroad the hands in prayer (<a href='B:20 9:29'>Exo 9:29</a>; <a href='B:20 9:33'>Exo 9:33</a> etc:). It was as if the letter was the prayer. Our situation is read by God as our prayer. There are times especially in serious illness when we are too weak or mentally unclear to be able to verbalize prayer; or where the situation is so complex that we do not know what to pray for in terms of our desired outcome. And some are simply better at verbalizing than others. But the essence is our faith that God sees the situation and will respond. It was in this sense that Hezekiah spread the letter before Yahweh, as we might place an unpleasant hospital diagnosis on the kitchen table and attempt to pray, but what we are doing is bringing the situation before God and asking for His wise and powerful response.</p>


text:
<p>Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying- As noted on :14, the situation itself was the prayer; but Hezekiah, like us, does his best to articulate things in words.</p>


text:
<h4>Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim- Hezekiah has just"spread"the letter before Yahweh (:14), using the same word for how the cherubim ’stretched forth their wings’ (<a href='B:20 25:20'>Exo 25:20</a>; <a href='B:110 8:7'>1Ki 8:7</a> etc:). He knows that God is in Heaven with the cherubim as it were around Him, and also in the Most Holy place of the temple where Hezekiah was. And he imagined that letter as being with God, spread out as the cherubic wings were spread out. Those wings were spread out over the mercy seat, the cover over the ark, which was sprinkled with the blood of atonement each year. This is a profound insight into prayer. Our situations are not unnoticed. They are placed as it were upon the blood of the Lord Jesus, in the very presence of God, with the cherubim overshadowing them, peering down into them. And we can understand the cherubim in this context as representing God’s Angelic might. And appropriately enough, an Angel was sent to bring about the great deliverance sought. There over our kitchen table with the troubling letter placed upon it, as with Hezekiah, there are the cherubim and the presence of Almighty God Himself.</h4><h4>You are the God, even You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth- Reflection upon God’s power in creation should inspire our faith too; the God who could do that has made all men and their kingdoms, and is unlimited in what He can do for us. To let ’science’ diminish our faith in God as creator is to remove such inspiration from us. Hezekiah states that God alone is the God of all kings or kingdoms of the earth; and yet we have just learnt that those kings were identified with their idols and were no more. Perhaps Hezekiah was using the present tense as God does, speaking of the reality of the final Messianic Kingdom as being so sure of ultimately coming about.</h4>


text:
<p>Turn Your ear Yahweh and hear; open Your eyes Yahweh and behold; hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God- This is not to say that God is deaf and blind usually. Seeing and hearing are being used with the sense ’See, hear and respond’. God sees and hears but doesn’t respond immediately, usually; He waits until judgment day. Hezekiah is asking for an immediate response in the here and now, for the essence of judgment day to come now, just as we noted on :16 that he was in expectation of the Messianic Kingdom being established.</p>


text:
<p>Truly Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land-"Destroyed"is again the word for sanctifying and devoting in a religious sense. The king of Assyria, like his latter day equivalent, was deeply religious, and saw the cruel destruction of other lands and peoples as part of his service to God, and a sign that his god was triumphant over their gods and belief systems. This exactly fits the spirit of jihadist Islam, which I suggest is the latter day equivalent.</p>


text:
<h4>And have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them- Here we have an example of the Bible using language from the viewpoint of men on earth. They thought their gods were indeed"gods", but they were"no gods". Likewise the language of demons is used in the New Testament, but this doesn’t mean demons exist or have power in reality.</h4><h4>Passages like <a href='B:290 37:19'>Isa 37:19</a> almost define God by reason of His being uncreate. Whatever is created, is not God. And it follows that if we think that we have truly created anything, or that we are anything that God didn’t create, then we are in fact playing God. Understanding God as creator, in its true, deep and thought-through sense, leads to an understanding of grace. That all we have, are, were, shall ever be, is purely His gift. Likewise, to take for ourselves what is God’s is to play God. Materialism and selfishness are in this sense playing God</h4>


text:
<h4>Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are Yahweh, even You only- The day when all earth’s kingdoms shall know Yahweh is the Kingdom age, as Isaiah points out elsewhere with the same Hebrew phrase (<a href='B:290 12:5'>Isa 12:5</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 61:9'>Isa 61:9</a>). Hezekiah envisaged salvation from the"king of the north"as leading directly to the establishment of the Kingdom; and that is the scenario in <a href='B:340 11:40'>Dan 11:40</a> to <a href='B:340 12:3'>Dan 12:3</a>. Perhaps it was potentially possible; butJudah’s general lack of repentance and Hezekiah’s apostacy meant it was deferred in fulfilment. The desire for salvation was therefore not simply for the sake of personal safety, but for the wider glory of God in the earth.</h4><h4>There will come a day when all the world realizes that God is one (<a href='B:290 37:20'>Isa 37:20</a> Heb:)- in that they will realize that He alone is God and all else is pure vanity. Because God alone is holy, only He will be worshipped then (<a href='B:730 15:4'>Rev 15:4</a>)."The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day"(<a href='B:290 2:11'>Isa 2:11</a>; <a href='B:290 2:17'>Isa 2:17</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria- Answers to prayer don’t often come through bolts of revelation; in this case it was through another believer, Isaiah. And we note the power of one man’s prayer- because of this prayer, God’s word of :22 was uttered. See in <a href='B:480 2:5'>Mar 2:5</a>.</p>


text:
<p>This is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you- The remnant within the closed city of Jerusalem, likened to a protected virgin who had not been ’opened’, had hardly despised and ridiculed the Assyrians. They were terrified of them. But their faith was counted to them for more than it was; according to Psalms 2, it was God within Zion who despised and ridiculed the armies outside the walls. But His characteristics were counted to them. This is exactly the reasoning of Paul in Romans about imputed righteousness.</p>


text:
<p>Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel- Sennacherib was fully aware that he had done all these things against Yahweh; the motivation for his rage against Jerusalem was his particular hatred of Yahweh. And so it shall be in the latter day invasion, which will also be strongly motivated by religion. This verse is simply restating the truth about Sennacherib. It is addressed to him, so presumably Isaiah’s duty was to get the message to him. We wonder why God would, as it were, bother. But there are many points of contact with Pharaoh. God even tried to bring him to repentance, and perhaps this address to Sennacherib was to likewise give even him a chance. This is great encouragement to us, to never consider anyone not even worth trying with.</p>


text:
<h4>By your servants have you defied the Lord and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon- The intensive plurals here refer to the great mountain, of Zion. Sennacherib spoke in the present tense because he was certain he would achieve it. His intention was to desecrate the innermost parts of the cedar-of-Lebanon decorated temple.</h4><h4>I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field- This could continue the allusion to the cedar-of-Lebanon covered temple. Or the whole verse may be simply as GNB:"You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests". However, an obsession with destroying the temple would fit the theme of Sennacherib’s rage against Yahweh and particular desire to destroy the temple and gain the temple mount. This would match the similar motivations of the latter day Assyrian.</h4>


text:
<p>I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt- Rabshakeh tried to cut off water from Jerusalem (hence Hezekiah’s tunnel of <a href='B:120 20:20'>2Ki 20:20</a>). Sennacherib considered victory against Egypt as just as certain; although he was clearly fazed by Tirhakah’s approach.</p>


text:
<p>Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps- This is the Divine response. Understanding predestination helps us see the frailty of all human strength and device; and Paul introduces it into his argument in Romans to likewise demonstrate that salvation is of grace and not by works."Destroy"is literally to rush upon, and the word is used of how the rushing of the nations against God’s people would be turned back (see on <a href='B:290 17:13'>Isa 17:13</a>)</p>


text:
<p>Therefore their inhabitants had little power; they were dismayed and confounded, they were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown- Similar language is used in <a href='B:290 40:6'>Isa 40:6</a> of how"all flesh"is like this. The reference is to the"all flesh"of the nations around Israel whom the Assyrians had conquered, who trusted in their own human strength.</p>


text:
<p>But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against Me- This reflects David’s awareness that God knows our every physical movement, standing or sitting. God knew Sennacherib’s going out from his homeland and how he would return there. Sennacherib’s rage was against Yahweh; he intended to utterly subvert the true faith; see on :29.</p>


text:
<h4>Because of your raging against Me- There was a specifically religious, spiritual aspect to the invasion; the idea was that the claims of this Yahweh were to be shown false. The motivation of the latter day Assyrian will be the same. <a href='B:340 11:40'>Dan 11:40</a> [see note there] envisages the"king of the north"likewise raging against the God of the fortress of Zion.</h4><h4>And because your arrogance has come up into My ears, therefore will I put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came- This is the language of the latter day invasion by Gog (<a href='B:330 38:4'>Eze 38:4</a>), which has this Assyrian invasion as its prototype. The Gog confederacy, of 10 nations headed by a rosh, a charismatic leader, will likewise be unsuccessful.</h4>


text:
<h4>This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit- They were besieged in Jerusalem. This sign was a medium term sign, not the short term indication of salvation they perhaps wanted. The sign was that there was the potential for the house of Judah to bear fruit"upward", to God (:31); the fruit of repentance. But there are hints later in Isaiah that this sign was not believed; they did not respect the Jubilee year, they did sow instead of trusting that the land around Jerusalem would miraculously bring forth its own fruit. And this reflects how they did not bring forth the fruit of the Spirit"upward"to God but rather of their own strength (:31). See on :32. The language here seems to suggest that the events of the Assyrian invasion and deliverance happened around a year of Jubilee, which later in Isaiah is alluded to as a type of the time of the Lord’s return and the Messianic Kingdom. It could have come then; but Isaiah 58 and other hints in later Isaiah are that the Jubilee year was not respected, they did plant instead of trusting in the Lord’s provision, and so the Kingdom was precluded from coming then. The idea of planting vineyards and eating their fruit is used in Isaiah 65 of the Messianic Kingdom; it is kingdom language.</h4><h4>The verse has been translated: ’Ye did eat (the first year) such as groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same, but in this third year sow ye’. This would mean that they were now in the third year of the Assyrian invasion. Perhaps there was a three and a half year domination of Judah by the Assyrians, just as there shall be in the last days.</h4>


text:
<h4>The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward- See on :30,32. Apart from Jerusalem, Judah had been overrun by the Assyrians, so this remnant who escaped could refer to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; or it could be that"the remnant"refers to the spiritually faithful minority.</h4><h4><a href='B:290 4:2'>Isa 4:2</a> had spoken of how this"remnant"(s:w:) would be the basis of a revived kingdom of God in Judah, based around a Messianic"Branch","in that day"- the day of <a href='B:290 4:1'>Isa 4:1</a>, when Jerusalem would be overcome and left in ruins with hardly any men left. These"survivors"are those saved from the ruins of a desolated Jerusalem, those who"escaped"the Assyrian invasion (s:w. <a href='B:290 10:20'>Isa 10:20</a>); the same word is used in <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>; <a href='B:380 1:17'>Oba 1:17</a>, the"remnant"of <a href='B:330 14:22'>Eze 14:22</a> (s:w:). The destruction of Jerusalem was intended to elicit repentance and to lead seamlessly into a revived Zion and reestablished Kingdom of God in Israel, when again all things would be"glorious"(s:w. <a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a>; <a href='B:290 35:2'>Isa 35:2</a>). But this didn’t happen. Jerusalem was saved by grace, and yet Hezekiah failed to act as"Yahweh’s branch", and Judah were impenitent, unmoved by their salvation by grace</h4>


text:
<p>For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this’- This is the language of Obadiah about the final establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom. As noted on :30, this could have happened then, if Judah had kept the year of Jubilee as intended and brought forth spiritual fruit"upward"to God.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it- This is in contrast to Sennacherib’s first approach to Jerusalem, when according to his own inscriptions he did cast up a mound: ’Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms, and by the might of my power, I took 46 of his fenced cities, and of smaller towns scattered about I took a countless number. And I carried off as spoil 200,150 people. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in. Then upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs of Jerusalem, with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver’. The fact not an arrow would be fired must be compared with how <a href='B:290 22:6'>Isa 22:6</a> had predicted the presence of the archers of Elam around Jerusalem at the invasion, who would overthrow her. It was deferred until this same nation came with the Babylonians against Jerusalem at a later date (<a href='B:300 49:35'>Jer 49:35</a>). Likewise <a href='B:290 22:7'>Isa 22:7</a> foresaw the Assyrians ’coming before’ the city; but this too was averted by the repentance and intercession of a minority. It is all a great lesson in the power of the repentance and intercession of a minority.</p>


text:
<p>By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city’, says Yahweh- This unsuccessful invasion is like that of Ezekiel 38 and Psalms 2; the nations surround Jerusalem but fail to capture it because of the Lord’s presence there. Jerusalem will indeed fall in the last days and be desecrated, but the Lord will return and save Israel, establish Himself in Zion- and then there will be this unsuccessful invasion which He crushes.</p>


text:
<p>‘For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake’- The implication could be ’not for the sake of your righteousness, but by grace alone; for My sake, and because I respect the covenant of grace I gave David’.</p>


text:
<h4>The angel of Yahweh went out- He went out from the throne room of heaven, where the case had been as it were considered; see on :4. Isaiah 37 is shot through with allusions to the Angel cherubim destroying the Assyrian host. The Angel went out- perhaps referring to Him physically going forth out of the temple where He dwelt to slay the Assyrians outside the walls of Jerusalem. This phrase ’went out’ is nearly always used about literal physical movement, which we have seen is what&nbsp; Angels literally do. Thus in the Ezekiel visions of the cherubim, they and the lightnings"went forth", physically and literally, in performing God’s work."Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence (Angelic language); let Thine eyes (Angels) behold the things that are equal", seeing they are involved with the ’coming forth’, according to the parallelism of this verse. Similarly Job’s satan Angel"went forth"from the presence of the Lord (<a href='B:220 1:12'>Job 1:12</a>). And so it happened that there were Angels on earth, as it were. <a href='B:450 2:3'>Zec 2:3</a> also has an Angel going forth to answer the prayers concerning&nbsp; restoring the fortunes of Jerusalem (see <a href='B:450 5:5'>Zec 5:5</a> too). <a href='B:230 81:5'>Psa 81:5</a> describesthe Angel going out through the land of Egypt in order to"remove (Israel’s) shoulder from the burden". Psalms 81 is ’Angelic’, following Psalms 80, which is another such Psalm. <a href='B:650 1:14'>Heb 1:14</a> also offers support: the Angels are"sent forth"to minister to us- by answering prayers offered in the spirit of Hezekiah’s prayer here?</h4><h4>And struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies- The bodies were spoiled by the Jerusalem Jews (<a href='B:290 33:4'>Isa 33:4</a>). The agent of destruction appears to have been fire and hail (<a href='B:290 29:6'>Isa 29:6</a>; <a href='B:290 30:30'>Isa 30:30</a>), both of which may be used in the last days too.</h4>


text:
<p>So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there- This was due to the"tidings"he received (:7), presumably of the destruction of his army outside the walls of Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<p>It happened that as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place- As noted on :7, this was caused by God putting a spirit / attitude of mind in these sons to do this. His Spirit, as today, confirmed the human spirit.</p>


text:
<h4>In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him- Hezekiah reigned 29 years (<a href='B:120 18:2'>2Ki 18:2</a>), and the sickness after which he was given 15 years therefore happened in the 14th year or his reign- the very same time that Assyria invaded (<a href='B:290 36:1'>Isa 36:1</a>). Trials so often come together, in such an intense and extreme way that the situation can only be of God rather than mere bad luck or coincidence. The full title of Isaiah is given perhaps because the theme is that Hezekiah was to live because of the prophetic word.</h4><h4>Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live’-&nbsp; we should not assume too quickly that Hezekiah had no family at this stage; for he is commanded here to put in order his household ("house"is so often ’family’ rather than the bricks of a house). Indeed the very same phrase is used of how Abraham would"command his household"to keep God’s laws (<a href='B:10 18:19'>Gen 18:19</a>). Perhaps that was the idea. He was to urgently teach his household more of God’s ways as he was to soon die.</h4>


text:
<p>Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh- The divans, which were also beds, were arranged next to the walls. We are left with the impression of a man utterly alone with God, turning his face away from Isaiah when he had delivered the message, facing the wall- and praying to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h4>And said, Remember now, Yahweh, I beg You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Your sight- Hezekiah claimed to have lived with a good conscience but was at the same time aware of his sins (<a href='B:290 38:3'>Isa 38:3</a> cp. 17); and his cutting off the gold of the temple to try to buy peace was surely a failure. Yet the conscience can be cleansed of sin, through the depth of the power of God’s forgiveness. This is not the same as forgetfulness, self-righteousness or minimization of personal failings. Paul must surely have had twinges of guilt over his behaviour at times (not least over the bust up with Brethren Barnabas and Mark, <a href='B:510 15:39'>Act 15:39</a> cp. <a href='B:620 4:11'>2Ti 4:11</a>); and yet he insists that he always had a good conscience. Paul likewise claims that the Jewish forefathers served God with a pure conscience (<a href='B:620 1:3'>2Ti 1:3</a> NIV). Yet the Jewish fathers, dear Jacob particularly, must have had plenty of twinges of guilt over their years.</h4><p>Walking in truth is the term used to characterize the seed of David (<a href='B:110 2:4'>1Ki 2:4</a>; <a href='B:110 3:6'>1Ki 3:6</a>), as David personally walked in truth (<a href='B:230 26:3'>Psa 26:3</a>; <a href='B:230 86:11'>Psa 86:11</a>), and may not of itself mean that Hezekiah is saying he has not sinned; it’s as if Hezekiah assumed that because he was the seed of David, he therefore ought not to die. As will be explained on :5, the adding of days to his life was a way of saying that he was being accepted as the seed of David; and yet he failed to use those years to save his people. It could be argued that by refusing to die when asked to, Hezekiah was disallowing his being the fulfilment of the Messianic suffering servant who was to die for his people.</p><h4>Hezekiah wept bitterly- &nbsp;Perhaps in prayer, asking God to change the outcome. For as with Nineveh, in the gap between Divine statement and its fulfilment, we can repent and change the word which otherwise would have come true (<a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying- It seems from <a href='B:120 20:4'>2Ki 20:4</a> that once he reached the middle court of the palace, he was told by God to"turn again"and give Hezekiah assurance of healing. The whole incident shows the speed with which God responds to prayers, and His sensitivity to human prayer and repentance.</p>


text:
<h4>Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life- Kings adds more detail, denoted here in italics:"Behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the King of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake"(<a href='B:120 20:5-6'>2Ki 20:5-6</a> AV). The defence of Zion at this time was predicated upon God’s grace; judgment was intended to come unless they repented, and most of them hadn’t. And so God stresses He will save Zion by grace, for His own sake and not that of His peoples’ prayer or repentance. The cure was not instant, it took three days; for the same reason as there will be the process of judgment between our resurrection and entrance to the Kingdom. The period between God’s pronouncement of blessing and the realization of it is for our benefit, that we might grow in appreciation. The healing enabled Hezekiah to enter the temple; from God’s perspective, the most significant aspect of his illness was that its uncleanness precluded him from entering the temple. We notice the parallel between Hezekiah’s prayer and his tears;&nbsp; God reads situations as prayers. Prayer is understood by Him far wider than simply words as lexical items. Otherwise those more able to verbalize would pray ’better’; and acceptable prayer is not related to our ability to verbalize.</h4><h4>The years ’added’ to the king’s life are expressed in the words of <a href='B:230 61:6'>Psa 61:6</a>, where David felt that God would"prolong [s:w. "add to"] the king’s life [s. w. "days"]. The clear allusion to David’s words was perhaps to show that God considered Hezekiah to be the Davidic king who could have been the Messianic Son of David. But Hezekiah despised that and wasted those years in self-satisfaction. There is also a theme in Solomon’s teaching that his son would have ’days added’ (the same Hebrew phrase) to his life, because of his obedience to wisdom (<a href='B:240 3:2'>Pro 3:2</a>; <a href='B:240 9:11'>Pro 9:11</a>; <a href='B:240 10:27'>Pro 10:27</a>). Again, the idea is that the adding of days to Hezekiah’s life was confirming him as the seed of David.</h4>


text:
<p>I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city- Yahweh had earlier stated that He would not "deliver" (s:w:) Jerusalem from the Assyrian lion (<a href='B:290 5:29'>Isa 5:29</a>). But as in Hosea, God speaks in wrath but then His grace is such that He doesn’t carry out what He threatens. He has emotion and speaks and acts in that fire of passion. That was normal in the Middle East; it is the western obsession with nicespeak and measured responses which make outburst behaviour and language appear inappropriate. Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, and he spoke of the ’deliverance’ &nbsp;(s:w:) of the city from the Assyrians as being due to the appearance of a Messianic figure (<a href='B:400 5:6'>Mic 5:6</a>):&nbsp; Here in Is 38:6, the deliverance of Hezekiah personally from inevitable death is tied up with the deliverance of Jerusalem from inevitable judgment. He surely could have been one of the possible fulfillments of the Messianic figure, which makes his failure to rise up to it all the more tragic.</p>


text:
<p>This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that He has spoken- It seems that unlike his father Ahaz, Hezekiah had asked for this sign (:22). It is apparent that the experiences of believers are often suggestive of those of other believers. Insofar as we appreciate this, we will find strength to go the right way. Consider how Hezekiah was intended to see the similarities between himself and the earlier king Ahaz his father, and learn the lessons. They were both threatened by invasion and tempted to turn to human help (<a href='B:290 7:2'>Isa 7:2</a>; <a href='B:290 37:1'>Isa 37:1</a>); Visited by Isaiah and told to not fear (<a href='B:290 7:4-9'>Isa 7:4-9</a>; <a href='B:290 37:6-7'>Isa 37:6-7</a>). Ahaz was unfaithful by “the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the fuller’s field” (<a href='B:290 7:3'>Isa 7:3</a>); and in just the same place Hezekiah’s faith was tested and he learnt the lessons of Ahaz’ failure (<a href='B:290 36:2'>Isa 36:2</a>). Both were given a sign by God and promised deliverance (<a href='B:290 7:14'>Isa 7:14</a>; <a href='B:290 37:30'>Isa 37:30</a>). Ahaz refused to ask for a sign when offered one (<a href='B:290 7:11'>Isa 7:11</a>); whereas Hezekiah learnt, and asked for a sign (<a href='B:290 38:7'>Isa 38:7</a>; <a href='B:290 38:22'>Isa 38:22</a>). Thus his asking for a sign was not a sign of faithlessness but rather his seeking to not be like Ahaz. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it” was spoken to both Ahaz (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a>) and Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 37:32'>Isa 37:32</a>).</p>


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<h4>Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. ’ So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down- "The stairway built by King Ahaz", Hezekiah’s father, was part of his idolatrous sun worship which Hezekiah ought to have destroyed. It was a kind of small ziggurat. It was the Babylonians who had begun telling the time in this way; there is no mention of "hours" of the day in the Hebrew Bible until the time of Daniel. Here we have another hint at the incomplete spirituality and reformation of Hezekiah. The "songs of degrees" were written or rewritten to apply to this experience of the sun returning ten degrees or steps. There are 15 of them, matching the 15 extra years of life given to Hezekiah.</h4><h4>"Gone down" is the word used by Hezekiah in speaking of how he feels he had "gone down" into the grave (:18). It is as if Hezekiah has died, the sun gone down those degrees, and then resurrected, brought up the same amount. He could have been a Messianic figure in a reestablished kingdom of God in Judah. The "return backward" of the sun is a phrase often used of the return of the exiles from Babylon to be part of that reestablished Kingdom. Hezekiah’s revival / resurrection was to be seen as that of his people. How the miracle happened is not the essential question; but it could have been caused by the glory of Yahweh bursting forth so that the shadow was chased back.</h4>


text:
<p>The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness- LXX "The prayer of Hezekiah". "Recovered" here translates a common word for ’to make to live’. If recovery or healing was in view, another word would have been used- that used in <a href='B:290 39:1'>Isa 39:1</a>. Hezekiah uses the word in :16 "cause me to live". The idea is that he had effectively died. Whether he literally did or not is not the ultimate issue; his sickness is framed as a living death, from which he resurrected. The same word is used in :1; Hezekiah would "not live" or "not recover". But he does, such is God’s openness to change His plans in response to human prayer. The recovery was clearly a Divine ’Plan B’ and not necessarily what God had ideally wanted. Perhaps He wanted Hezekiah to die and be resurrected. Or perhaps indeed Hezekiah did not recover; he died, but was resurrected, and in that sense he recovered. The word is definitely used about resurrection in <a href='B:290 26:19'>Isa 26:19</a> and elsewhere.</p>


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<p>I said, In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years- Hezekiah understood sheol as the place where there is no "living" (:11); the grave. "The middle" is literally ’the meridian’, an allusion to the sundial which he perhaps viewed from his bed of sickness, and which was the appropriate sign to give him seeing as he watched the sun climb and decline on the steps. If it indeed was an idolatrous import from Assyria as suggested earlier, he would have had time to reflect on the incomplete nature of his purges and perhaps his own repentance. Hezekiah’s reasoning seems based around the supposition that this life is all he had to enjoy, and at 39 he felt he was in the midst of it. The perspective of eternity doesn’t seem to figure. The language of ’deprivation’ likewise seems to presume that he has a right to life, whereas sinners deserve only death. Like Job, Hezekiah is made self-centered by the reality of pain, depression and illness; and yet is saved at the same time. Those things are understood by God and seen through as surface level issues.</p>


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<p>I said, I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world- This may be a lament that he would not live to see Yahweh destroying the Assyrians and establishing His Kingdom; hence LXX "I shall no more at all see the salvation of God in the land of the living: I shall no more at all see the salvation of Israel on the earth". Several of Isaiah’s prophecies had suggested the literal coming of Yahweh to Zion in the restored kingdom (<a href='B:290 4:5-6'>Isa 4:5-6</a>).</p>


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<h4>My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent- LXX "I have parted with the remainder of my life: it has gone forth and departed from me, as one that having pitched a tent takes it down again: my breath was with me as a weaver’s web, when she that weaves draws nigh to cut off the thread". AV "Mine age is departed"; the Hebrew for "age" is strictly ’a revolution’, again reflecting how he had been watching the revolution of time on the sundial from his bed of sickness. The reference to a tent being taken down connects with the descriptions of the permanence of the restored Zion, as a tabernacle which would not again be taken down (<a href='B:290 33:20'>Isa 33:20</a>). He believed that he would not see this; he felt his destiny was that of the "tabernacle" in Zion. We could argue that he thereby failed to perceive the role of bodily resurrection, so that he would ultimately see this. Or that he doubted that <a href='B:290 33:20'>Isa 33:20</a> was to come true. On the other hand, it could be that his identification of himself with the fortunes of Zion was positive, and was resolved by the message that he would be healed at the same time as the tabernacle would be permanently established through the destruction of the Assyrians. But he failed to live according to this faith in the final 15 years of his life.</h4><p>I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom- The same word for ’weaving’ is used in Isaiah of those who weaved unspiritual plans to try to avoid the Assyrian judgment (<a href='B:290 19:9'>Isa 19:9</a>; <a href='B:290 59:5'>Isa 59:5</a>). Perhaps he reflected upon his agreements with the Assyrians and cutting off the gold from the temple to pay for them. And he felt he was to be judged for that.</p><h4>&nbsp;From day even to night You will make an end of me- He was at the gates of the grave (:10), feeling that he would die by the end of that night, in the morning (:13). "Make an end" is more strictly ’recompense’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:290 65:6'>Isa 65:6</a>; <a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a>). Perhaps he felt he was being judged for sin and was to receive the recompense for iniquity, in death. And yet he protests he has not sinned. We could read this as self-righteousness; or see him as the representative of God’s sinful people, the just suffering for the unjust in the spirit of the Lord Jesus, the ultimate "sufferingservant2/</h4>


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<p>I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From now until tonight You will make an end of me- See on :12. Assyria was the lion, and yet Yahweh was behind that lion. He feels his destiny is tied up with that of Judah. He suffered as their representative. Therefore he is assured that his healing is tied up with the salvation of Zion from Assyria. LXX gives the sense:"I was given up as to a lion until the morning: so has he broken all my bones: for I was so given up from day even to night". The Assyrians were the lion, and Hezekiah feels that his death is as it were giving Assyria the victory. He fails to see the glory and purpose of God in wider terms, seeing his own living as indispensible to the purpose of God. See on :15.</p>


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<h4>I am chattering like a swallow or a crane, moaning like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward- He admits that his faith in the God above is weakening as he faces death."Chatter"is the word used in <a href='B:290 29:4'>Isa 29:4</a> of how Judah are to be brought down in condemnation and chatter out of the dust; he feels condemned although he is not, bearing Judah’s sins and condemnation, exactly as the Lord Jesus did. But there is no mention of faith in resurrection, as there is with Job when he feels the same, and also is presented as the suffering servant. Perhaps he alludes to <a href='B:230 84:3'>Psa 84:3</a>, where the Psalmist is also excluded from the temple, and is jealous of the swallows who can fly in there despite their uncleanness.</h4><h4>Lord, I am oppressed- This is the word used in <a href='B:290 30:12'>Isa 30:12</a>; <a href='B:290 59:13'>Isa 59:13</a> of Judah’s trust in Egypt and clever political alliances. Hezekiah is bearing Judah’s sins, but he is also aware of his own sin in cutting off the gold of the temple and allowing those sinful alliances to go ahead in his name.</h4><h4>Be my salvation-"Be my salvation"or AV"undertake for me"is the word used by Rabshakeh when he sarcastically asks Hezekiah to surrender to the Assyrians (see on <a href='B:290 36:8'>Isa 36:8</a>). His sickness came at the same time as the siege of Jerusalem; see on <a href='B:290 36:1'>Isa 36:1</a>.</h4>


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<h4>What will I say?- As the seed of David, he feels like David did when the great promises of the Messianic seed were given to him.</h4><p>He has both spoken to me, and Himself has done it- The word of Isaiah promising healing was God’s word, and had been done. It is the language of new creation, common in later Isaiah; God spoke and it was done. But Hezekiah was to later waste that wonderful potential.</p><h4>I will walk carefully all my years because of that anguished experience of my soul- Hezekiah saw Jacob’s watershed experience that night of wrestling as analogous to his own experience during his sickness:"I reckoned till morning, that as a lion he would break all my bones (cp. Esau’s approach)::. I shall go softly (cp. "I will lead on softly", <a href='B:10 33:14'>Gen 33:14</a>)::. for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back"(<a href='B:290 38:13'>Isa 38:13</a>; <a href='B:290 38:15'>Isa 38:15</a>). Tragically, Hezekiah didn’t keep Jacob as his hero. He succumbed to the very materialism which Jacob permanently rejected that night.</h4>


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<h4>Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: You restore me, and cause me to live- The revival he felt was not simply of physical healing, but in spiritual restoration:&nbsp; This again suggests he was not in fact a stellar example of spirituality beforehand. But he didn’t render again according to the grace given, and he didn’t keep this natural undertaking to live spiritually"by these things", as a result of the healing and national deliverance given. LXX"Yea, O Lord, for it was told thee concerning this; and thou hast revived my breath; and I am comforted, and live"; GNB" Lord, I will live for you, for you alone; Heal me and let me live".</h4><h4>When we are seriously ill or in great calamity, we focus upon very simple ideas. God truly loves me and cares for me. My Lord Jesus will come again. He will raise me. Judgment lies ahead, but He wants me in His Kingdom. He died for me. He has a plan for me. He loves me and wishes only my eternal good. Hezekiah was driven to this when he was terminally ill. Afterwards he felt as a little child, and concluded: “by these things men live::.". Yet we are all terminally ill, if only we would know it. Paul quotes from the experience of Hezekiah at this time and says that this should be the keynote of our witness (<a href='B:540 4:13'>2Co 4:13</a> cp. <a href='B:230 116:10'>Psa 116:10</a>). He was “delivered from death” and therefore promised to walk before the Lord “in the lands of the living”, believing in salvation and therefore speaking to those lands of it (RV). We all face the day when we shall be as water spilt on the ground, that cannot be gathered up; when the delicate, beautiful chandelier of human life will come crashing to the ground, when the rope holding the bucket snaps, and it falls into the well. In all these Biblical images of death, we face the tragic irreversibility of it all. Our bodies are already riddled with the cancer of inevitable decay. Today, while it is still today, we must focus ourselves upon the vital and essential realities of our faith, and away from all the peripheral issues upon which our flesh would far rather dwell.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but You have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for You have cast all my sins behind Your back- This again suggests that Hezekiah’s previous life had not been of totally stellar obedience. Hezekiah didn’t have"peace"before his suffering, so we must go with other translations. LXX"For thou hast chosen my soul, that it should not perish: and thou hast cast all my sins behind me"; GNB"My bitterness will turn into peace. You save my life from all danger; You forgive all my sins".</p>


text:
<p>For Sheol can’t praise You. Death can’t celebrate You. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for Your truth- That death is truly unconsciousness, even for the righteous, is demonstrated by the repeated pleas of God’s servants to allow their lives to be lengthened, because they knew that after death they would be unable to praise and glorify God, seeing that death was a state of unconsciousness. Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 38:17-19'>Isa 38:17-19</a>) and David (<a href='B:230 6:4-5'>Psa 6:4-5</a>; <a href='B:230 30:9'>Psa 30:9</a>; <a href='B:230 39:13'>Psa 39:13</a>; <a href='B:230 115:17'>Psa 115:17</a>) are good examples of this. Death is repeatedly referred to as a sleep or rest, both for the righteous and the wicked (<a href='B:220 3:11'>Job 3:11</a>; <a href='B:220 3:13'>Job 3:13</a>; <a href='B:220 3:17'>Job 3:17</a>; <a href='B:340 12:13'>Dan 12:13</a>). And yet Hezekiah reasons as if he has no hope of future resurrection; in the grave he could have hoped for God’s truth, the fulfilment of the promises to David which were clearly in his mind at this time. It was the lack of this future perspective which led him to his final failure, of considering that"peace and truth"in his last years was a good enough reward (see on <a href='B:290 39:8'>Isa 39:8</a>).</p>


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<p>The living, the living, he shall praise You, as I do this day. The father shall make known Your truth to the children- LXX"for from this day shall I beget children, who shall declare thy righteousness". This is not to say that at 39 he had no children, for he was commanded to arrange the affairs of his household / family (:1). And yet he vows to teach the"truth"of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenant to his children in future. <a href='B:290 39:7'>Isa 39:7</a> suggests he would now have [more?] children. His children were a remarkable failure. He apparently didn’t do this. His having children after his recovery and figurative resurrection would look forward to the Lord’s spiritual achievement. But again he is focused upon the life that now is, and assumes he will have children who will take forward God’s truth- rather than any mention or implication of a faith in resurrection and a future Kingdom. David had such a faith and understanding, as did Job; Hezekiah clearly didn’t.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh will save me- This is the idea of the Hebrew word for"Jesus", ’Yehoshua’.</h4><h4>Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Yahweh- The"songs of degrees"were written or rewritten to apply to this experience of the sun returning ten degrees or steps. There are 15 of them, matching the 15 extra years of life given to Hezekiah."Our life"may refer to his children (:19). But as discussed on <a href='B:290 39:8'>Isa 39:8</a>, he still sees service to God as limited to his lifetime.</h4>


text:
<p>Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shallrecover- There was no need for this, because his salvation was by a miracle. But it was perhaps given in reflection of his weak faith and needing something visible; hence :22 begins"Hezekiah also had"asked for a sign, as if the cake of figs was likewise associated with his needing visible assurances. We note it was done on Isaiah’s initiative, who perhaps perceived Hezekiah’s need for something visible.</p>


text:
<p>Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of Yahweh?- Or as LXX"This is a sign to Ezekias, that I shall go up to the house of God". The request for this sign could be read as a lack of faith; or an attempt to learn the lesson of his father Ahaz, who was condemned for not asking for a sign. See on :7.</p>


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<h4>At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered- Gentiles bringing presents to Zion is the language of the reestablished kingdom (<a href='B:230 68:29'>Psa 68:29</a>). It could have come about then, when the surrounding nations brought presents to Hezekiah; but human pride and impenitence precluded it. See on <a href='B:290 18:7'>Isa 18:7</a>. And Hezekiah and his descendants adopted the ways of those nations rather than ruling over them and helping them toward Israel’s God. <a href='B:140 32:31'>2Ch 32:31</a> describes these people as"the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon", but an unusual word is used there for"ambassadors"; it is the word usually translated"scorner"or"mocker". The idea is clearly that these men had an agenda and were not sincere. And Hezekiah was willfully duped by them, falling for their agenda and being blinded by their gifts, rather than seeking to share the ways of Yahweh with them. Hezekiah ought to have learnt not to trust in them, seeing that trust in the"princes and ambassadors"of Egypt had been proven so false just in recent history (<a href='B:290 30:4'>Isa 30:4</a>). God likewise brings situations into our lives whereby situations repeat- to test our faith and understanding.</h4><h4>The"letters"and ’ambassadors’&nbsp;recall the ’letter’ from the ambassadors of Assyria in <a href='B:290 37:14'>Isa 37:14</a>. He didn’t respond spiritually to this ’trial by prosperity’. Hence:"However concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart"(<a href='B:140 32:31'>2Ch 32:31</a>)."The wonder"could refer to the miracle on the sundial, or to the miraculous revival of the land physically in line with Isaiah’s prophecies:&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


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<h4>Hezekiah was pleased with them-"Pleased"is s:w."joy","to rejoice". It is used of how Hezekiah previously had rejoiced in spiritual things (<a href='B:140 29:36'>2Ch 29:36</a>; <a href='B:140 30:25'>2Ch 30:25</a>). Now he rejoices in material things, and being respected by Gentiles rather than God. His"joy"or ’pleasure’ ought to have been solely in Yahweh’s salvation (<a href='B:290 25:9'>Isa 25:9</a> s:w:). Hezekiah rejoiced"with them"; the Hebrew text is emphatic about this joy"with them". But the whole land had been charged not to rejoice at the fall of Assyria because it would revive in another form (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:29'>Isa 14:29</a>). Hezekiah is presented as totally ignorant of all this.</h4><h4>And showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah didn’t show them- LXX"the houses of his treasures". This sounds as if his kingdom had become like that of Egypt and Solomon, where treasure cities were associated with gross materialism and refusal of the things of God’s Kingdom. The Babylonians had revolted against Assyria, and they wanted help from Judah to form a political alliance against Assyria. But Hezekiah was taken in by the presents and attention paid to him, responding in pride rather than telling them he had nearly died because of his alliances; he ought to have told Babylon to accept Yahweh as their God, and thus be saved from Assyria as Judah had been. Presumably he agreed to the alliance; hence the judgment given, that his people would go into captivity in Babylon. He had recently been so lacking in gold that he had stripped the temple’s gold and given it to the Assyrians (<a href='B:120 18:16'>2Ki 18:16</a>). This sudden abundance of wealth may well have come from nations such as Babylon, who were eager to have Judah onside with them as a now significant and respected ally against Assyria. The wealth of the Gentiles flowed in to the liberated Zion, but only as a very weak foreshadowing of the things of the Kingdom. Human"armour"ought not to have been gloried in; for the entire message of Zion’s deliverance was that it was achieved by God’s power and grace and not at all by human strength. But the same Hebrew word is used repeatedly of the temple vessels which Hezekiah had earlier sanctified for usage (<a href='B:140 29:19'>2Ch 29:19</a>; <a href='B:140 29:26-27'>2Ch 29:26-27</a>; <a href='B:140 30:21'>2Ch 30:21</a>). But now he had removed them out of temple service in Yahweh’s house into his own house. His focus was upon his kingdom ["dominion"], rather than the things of Yahweh’s Kingdom. It was these very vessels which were to be carried to Babylon (s:w. <a href='B:140 36:7'>2Ch 36:7</a>).</h4>


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<p>Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah and asked him, What did these men say? Where did they come from to you? Hezekiah said, They have come from a country far from me, even from Babylon- Surely these were rhetorical questions aimed at rebuking Hezekiah. His reply was made in pride (<a href='B:140 32:25'>2Ch 32:25</a>). The prophetic intention had been that the Gentiles would come from far countries to Israel’s God with offerings to Yahweh, but Hezekiah sees it in terms of them coming to him with presents and respect for him. He uses the very phrase of <a href='B:50 28:49'>Deu 28:49</a>, of how a nation"from a far country"was to come and destroy Israel.</p>


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<p>Then he asked, What have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them- As in :3, these are rhetorical questions; and rather like those given to Adam in Eden, they were intended to elicit repentance. LXX"yea, also the possessions in my treasuries". Note the emphasis on"my::. my:. I". The focus on his possessions and treasuries suggests the Lord quarried the parable of the rich fool from Hezekiah, who thought he had wealth to enjoy for the remainder of his days; see on :6."My house::. your house"stands in contrast to the temple / house of Yahweh which ought to have been Hezekiah’s focus. All that was in his house was to be taken to Babylon (:6). The intention was that the Gentiles"from a far country"(s:w. <a href='B:290 5:26'>Isa 5:26</a>) would come to Zion and"see"or"be shown"(s:w:) God’s glory (<a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 52:15'>Isa 52:15</a>; <a href='B:290 60:5'>Isa 60:5</a>; <a href='B:290 61:9'>Isa 61:9</a>; <a href='B:290 62:2'>Isa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:290 66:18'>Isa 66:18</a> s:w:). But instead Hezekiah showed them his own glory. He precluded the fulfilment of these prophecies in terms of his kingdom being the reestablished kingdom of Yahweh.</p>


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<p>Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh of Armies-"Hear"may be an appeal to repent and stop the prophesied outcome from happening in accordance with <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>.</p>


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<p>‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left’, says Yahweh- This would have seemed impossible; for Babylon was one of many apparently irrelevant small powers whom both Sargon and Sennacherib had overrun, destroyed her towns, and enforced direct Assyrian rule. That in 160 years’ time Babylon would be the dominant power and would take Judah captive::. appeared laughable. But God had just demonstrated that He could destroy the Assyrian army in a moment; and indeed it happened (<a href='B:120 24:13'>2Ki 24:13</a>). ’Storing up’ is surely alluded to by the Lord in the parable of the rich fool; he stored up riches only to lose them in a moment of Divine judgment, and was not rich toward God. See on :4.</p>


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<p>‘They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon’s palace’- 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>). Hezekiah’s immediate sons"who will issue from you, whom you shall father"weren’t permanently taken to Babylon. Manasseh was taken there but repented and returned to Judah (<a href='B:140 33:11-13'>2Ch 33:11-13</a>); but it was in <a href='B:340 1:3'>Dan 1:3</a> that"the king’s seed"were all deported there permanently. Again we have an example of a prophecy being delayed and suspended in fulfilment. This could have been because of the prayer and repentance of a minority, not least Manasseh; the spirituality of Josiah; or God’s constant pity towards His people.</p>


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<p>Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Yahweh’s word which you have spoken is good. He said moreover, For there will be peace and truth in my days- Sadly despite the warning from the example of Shebna (see on <a href='B:290 22:15'>Isa 22:15</a>) and the specific command not to just live for today and resign ourselves to an eternal death (<a href='B:290 22:13'>Isa 22:13</a>), Hezekiah at the end of his life gave in to just this same mentality. The sense is as GNB"King Hezekiah understood this to mean that there would be peace and security during his lifetime, so he replied, "The message you have given me from the LORD is good". "Peace and truth" is the language of the restored kingdom of God (<a href='B:300 33:6'>Jer 33:6</a>); and it is the same term used by Hezekiah when he failed to grasp the potential of the Kingdom being reestablished in his times; he was content with peace and truth in his times alone (see on <a href='B:290 38:18'>Isa 38:18</a>; <a href='B:290 38:20'>Isa 38:20</a>). Likewise the Jews of Esther’s time were content with "peace and truth" in their times, rather than seeing that what had happened was to lead them towards the eternal peace and truth with God of His Kingdom and not their own (see on <a href='B:190 8:13-16'>Est 8:13-16</a>; <a href='B:190 9:30'>Est 9:30</a>). And this is the abiding temptation for all believers; to be satisfied with some degree of "peace and truth" emotionally and intellectually in their lives now, but resign the far greater realities of the Kingdom to come when "peace and truth" shall be in eternal reality.</p>


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<h4>Comfort you, comfort My people, says your God- The historical interlude has demonstrated that the prophecies in Isaiah 1-36 of judgment at the hands of Assyria were ameliorated and deferred by the intense repentance and intercession of Isaiah’s school of prophets. But the interlude concludes with the bad news that the reformation was not thorough, and that Judah would go into captivity in Babylon; and therefore the earlier prophecies of judgment by Assyria would be reapplied to judgment by Babylon. But out of that there was to come a wonderful restoration of God’s Kingdom in Israel, explained in the so called ’second Isaiah’ (Isaiah 40-55). But sadly, the Jews who returned failed to allow that amazing potential to come true; the burden of the so called ’third Isaiah’ (Isaiah 56-66). This message of restoration and yet lack of human response to it is what the rest of Isaiah is about.</h4><p>For "Comfort", see on <a href='B:450 1:13'>Zec 1:13</a>. This comfort is that spoken of in <a href='B:330 14:22-23'>Eze 14:22-23</a>, where we read that the exiles would be comforted when they recognized the evil of Judah’s ways and recognized that the judgment upon her had been just. But Isaiah 40 appears to be a message of unconditional comfort to the exiles- without specifically demanding their repentance. But even then, they still failed to accept it and respond; they preferred to stay in Babylon. <a href='B:290 40:1-2'>Isa 40:1-2</a> speaks a message of comfort to the exiles: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”. But [in full allusion to this prophecy], the exiles were like Rachael who refused to be comforted over her loss (<a href='B:300 31:15'>Jer 31:15</a>); they claimed they found “none to comfort” (<a href='B:310 1:2'>Lam 1:2</a>; <a href='B:310 1:16-17'>Lam 1:16-17</a>; <a href='B:310 1:21'>Lam 1:21</a>). But they were willfully refusing the comfort of God’s repeated word of hope and restoration. They didn’t grasp the plain teaching of the prophetic word because they didn’t want to- it demanded too much of them, and a giving up of the comfortable Babylon life. Hence <a href='B:290 43:19'>Isa 43:19</a> laments: “I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth [in the decree to return to Zion?], do you not perceive it?”. And do we "not perceive it?" time and again in our own lives, as to the potentials God is opening up?</p><h4>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>).</h4>


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<h4>Speak comfortably to Jerusalem- "I shall speak to her heart" (<a href='B:350 2:16'>Hos 2:16</a>; s:w. "speak comfortably") is an idiom elsewhere used about seeking to win the heart of a woman by persuasive words (<a href='B:10 34:3'>Gen 34:3</a>; <a href='B:80 2:13'>Rth 2:13</a>; <a href='B:70 19:3'>Jdg 19:3</a>); Hosea dreamt of winning Gomer back to him by his words. This has a direct equivalent in the restoration context- for the same term is used in <a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>, where God through the prophets seeks to speak to the heart of Zion and persuade her to return from Babylon to Him in Jerusalem and enjoy the married life of His Kingdom. And yet like Gomer, they either didn’t want to hear, or responded on a merely surface level.</h4><h4>And call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins- see on <a href='B:220 7:1'>Job 7:1</a>.</h4><p>The grace of God to the exiles is a foretaste of His grace to us. Time and again God speaks of the exiles in such positive language. For all that they had illingly adopted the gods of the captors, God still fondly describes them as ’Zion who dwells in Babylon’ (<a href='B:450 6:10-11'>Zec 6:10-11</a>). They were the Kingdom in embryo, waiting to just be transplanted from Babylon to Judah, just as we are the temple of God prepared symbolically in Heaven and waiting to be revealed on earth. Putting that grace another way, God proclaimed that despite all their idolatry and weakness in Babylon, Judah had ’paid off’ their guilt for former sins by their service there (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>). We can only marvel at God’s grace, and the tragedy was that it was wasted and unperceived by them. May we do somewhat better.</p><p>Some prophecies were delayed / rescheduled in their fulfilment. Others have their intended fulfilment changed into another form. <a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a> speaks of how Jerusalem’s “punishment is accepted” (RVmg:), referring to how <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a> had said that the land would lie desolate until her punishment was fulfilled. This passage could have come true when Judah returned from captivity. But it didn’t. It is applied to the preaching of John the Baptist in the 1st century; but again, Judah would not hear. And so once again the land lay desolate again, until now the time has arrived for the final Elijah prophet. God is seeking to fulfill His word, but He will not force the hand and hearts of men and women. Therefore prophecies are delayed in their fulfilment, as mankind is given yet more opportunities. The briefest attention to context will show that Isaiah 40 follows straight on from the account of Zion’s salvation from the Assyrian in Hezekiah’s time. The command to cry unto Jerusalem that her warfare is finished (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>) is clearly following on from the historical account of Jerusalem’s salvation from Sennacherib’s invasion which we have just read in Isaiah 37-39. The voice in the wilderness [potentially Isaiah?] preached that all flesh was grass, referring back to how the nations around Jerusalem had been “as the grass of the field” during Sennacherib’s invasion (<a href='B:290 37:27'>Isa 37:27</a> cp. 40:6). The voice crying in the wilderness to prepare Messiah’s way therefore was intended to occur after the defeat of Sennacherib. But Hezekiah messed up, and his people turned to materialism and idols. And thus the prophecy was rescheduled to fulfillment in John the Baptist; but again, Israel would not hearken. If Israel would have received it, John would have been the Elijah prophet; but overall they didn’t, and so the whole prophecy is again rescheduled to be fulfilled in the Elijah prophet of our last days. Micah 5 speaks of Messiah being born and being smitten upon the cheek at the same time as Jerusalem is besieged and Judah has been invaded by the Assyrians. Whatever minor fulfilment this may have had in Hezekiah, it was pathetically incomplete- he wasn’t born in Bethlehem, and he wasn’t smitten upon the cheek with a rod. I read all this as meaning that Messiah could have been born and then suffered in such circumstances- but it didn’t happen. The prophecy was fulfilled in essence, although in a different context and in a different way, in the Lord Jesus. Likewise <a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> speaks as if the birth of Messiah would be at a time of deliverance from Israel’s invaders; yet <a href='B:290 9:13'>Isa 9:13</a> RV implies this would only happen if they were obedient: “Yet the people hath not turned / repented”:&nbsp;</p><p>God would punish Israel at the hand of the Babylonians according to their sins, proportionate to them (Ezekiel 7 : <a href='B:330 7:4'>Eze 7:4</a>, <a href='B:330 7:9'>Eze 7:9</a>; <a href='B:330 5:11'>Eze 5:11</a>; Ezek. 8:19; <a href='B:330 9:10'>Eze 9:10</a>). Yet when Israel were punished by the Babylonians, Ezra (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>) realized that they had not been punished proportionate to their sins. But here Isaiah says that their judgment had been double what it ought to have been; and yet Ezra says it was less than the promised proportionate recompense for their sins. Here we have the utter, inconsistent grace of God; almost taking guilt for punishing them (cp. how God likewise takes the blame in <a href='B:290 54:6-8'>Isa 54:6-8</a>, as if He had forsaken Israel as a sweet innocent young wife). The way God restored double to Job at the end has echoes of how a thief had to restore double (<a href='B:20 22:2-4'>Exo 22:2-4</a>)- as if God in His love for Job wished to show Himself as having been somehow ‘guilty’ for taking away from Job what He had?</p><h4>God had outlined a plan- He will recompense their sin double, and this would lead them back to Him (<a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a>). But this was to be an unrepeatable, once-for-all program that would “cause them to know mine hand… and they shall now that my name is The Lord” (<a href='B:300 16:21'>Jer 16:21</a>). This double recompensing of Judah’s sin happened in the exile in Babylon (<a href='B:290 40:2'>Isa 40:2</a>), and therefore the joyful news was proclaimed to Zion in Isaiah 40 that now the Messianic Kingdom could begin. But there wasn’t much interest nor response to the call to return to Judah in order to share in it. The exile didn’t cause God’s people to repent nor to know His Name. It wasn’t the once-for-all program which He intended.</h4>


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<h4>The voice of one who calls out, Prepare you the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God- Isaiah begins his section on the restoration with a bold prophecy that the restoration of Zion was to be associated with a way being prepared for Israel’s God to come to them (<a href='B:290 40:1-3'>Isa 40:1-3</a>). These words are repeated in <a href='B:460 3:1-3'>Mal 3:1-3</a>, where the messenger&nbsp; was to prepare the way of Yahweh’s coming. It seems that in some sense they could have come true in the first return of the exiles along the wilderness way back to Zion, under Ezra. But over 100 years later, in Malachi’s time, the prophecy was still capable of fulfilment, if the priesthood would be purged. But finally it was all deferred in fulfilment until the coming of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus.</h4><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>The message of <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a> is that before the final coming of the Lord, there will be a proclamation of this by His people: “Prepare ye [plural] the way of the Lord”. As the King’s servants went ahead of him to make the path he had to travel smooth and plain [remember there were no motorways then!], so we go ahead of the returning Lord of all the earth, to prepare the way / road for Him. And yet within Isaiah, there is ample evidence that God prepares His own way: “I will do a new thing…I will even make a way in the wilderness” (<a href='B:290 43:19'>Isa 43:19</a>). Perhaps the element of unreality here, the ‘new thing’, is that the King Himself prepares His own way or road. Or again: “I will make all my mountains a way” (<a href='B:290 49:11'>Isa 49:11</a>). The connection with <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a> is that in the work of preparing the Lord’s way, in the last great preaching appeal of all time in the lead up to the second coming, the Lord Himself will work with us to make that way plain and clear. In all the challenges of the latter day fulfilment of the great commission, the Lord Himself will work with us.</p><h4>The whole restoration program appears to be predicated upon preachers calling out to Zion to return, both to their God and to their land. This will also be true in the last day fulfilment. The Isaiah 40 passage is therefore a command for our latter day witness to all the world, Israel especially, to prepare their way for the Lord’s coming. We are to “cry” unto Zion that “her iniquity is pardoned”, but we are also to ‘cry’ for her to repent, to be “made straight”, for the rough places to be‘made plain’; to “cry aloud…lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression (<a href='B:290 40:2-4'>Isa 40:2-4</a>; <a href='B:290 58:1'>Isa 58:1</a>). It’s exactly because we have in prospect been forgiven that we are called to repent. The forgiveness has already been granted; iniquity has been pardoned. We are to ‘cry’ out this fact; and also to ‘cry out’ for repentance. But we have to respond to that. It’s similar to how Saul/Paul was called ‘brother’ even before his conversion and baptism. The world’s redemption was achieved through the cross; but we have to appeal to the world to accept it. And in our own lives we must live out what we are preaching to others; exactly because we have already been forgiven, we need to repent of what we’ve been forgiven of, to as it were claim that forgiveness as our very own. And the same Hebrew word translated ‘cry’ occurs in the same context in <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 45:3-4'>Isa 45:3-4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:12'>Isa 48:12</a>; <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>, where we read that it is God Himself who calls every one of Israel back to Him, just as He calls every star by its own personal name. And so in our personal calling of men and women, in our crying out to them in these last days to be prepared for the Lord’s coming, we are workers together with God. He is crying out to them, through our feeble, shy, embarrassed, uncertain words of witness. Likewise it is God Himself who makes the crooked places straight in <a href='B:290 42:16'>Isa 42:16</a>; <a href='B:290 45:2'>Isa 45:2</a> - whereas in <a href='B:290 40:3'>Isa 40:3</a>, it is we the preachers who are to do this.</h4>


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<h4>Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain- The whole purpose of the Gospel is to bring down the mountains of human pride and lift up the valleys of those who lack any self-respect (<a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>), thereby making an equality of attitude amongst God’s people. The vision of the Kingdom in <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a> was used as an appeal for humility amongst Israel (<a href='B:290 2:10-12'>Isa 2:10-12</a>). See on <a href='B:290 2:11'>Isa 2:11</a>. If we don’t humble ourselves now, then God will do this to us through the process of condemnation at the judgment. In this lies the insistent logic of humility. The theme of ‘bringing down’ pride is a major one in the first half of Isaiah (<a href='B:290 2:17'>Isa 2:17</a>; <a href='B:290 13:11'>Isa 13:11</a>; <a href='B:290 25:5'>Isa 25:5</a>; <a href='B:290 25:12'>Isa 25:12</a>; <a href='B:290 29:4'>Isa 29:4</a>; <a href='B:290 32:19'>Isa 32:19</a>). These passages pave the way for the announcement that in man’s response to the Gospel of Christ, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain” (<a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a>). By the hills of human pride being brought down, and the giving of confidence to those so low in the valleys of hopelessness and lack of self respect, there is a levelling of all those who respond to Christ. But more than this in this lifting up of the hopeless and bringing down of the proud, there is a foretaste of what will happen in the future day of judgment. In essence, “we make the answer now” by whether or not we bring down our pride, or whether we summon the faith in God’s grace and imputed righteousness to believe that we, who are nothing, are lifted up in His sight. “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low” (<a href='B:660 1:9-10'>Jas 1:9-10</a>).</h4><h4>"Prepare ye the way… make straight in the desert a highway::. the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain" is similar to <a href='B:290 45:1-2'>Isa 45:1-2</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a> "Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus::. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight::. I will make straight all his ways::. he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives". The preparation for the restoration in Isaiah 45 becomes a type of the preparation of the way to Christ.</h4>&nbsp;<p>The primary reference of the Isaiah 40 passage is to the Jews. But even more specifically, it is to be cried out “to Jerusalem”. I submit that the most specific fulfilment of the prophecy will be in our latter day preaching resulting in a remnant of Jews repenting in Jerusalem, so that the Lord’s return will be to a faithful Jewish remnant in literal Jerusalem. The ‘making straight’ is to be done in “the desert” (:3)- a description elsewhere of Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 51:3'>Isa 51:3</a>). “Every [Heb. ‘the whole, complete’] mountain and hill” (:4) which is to respond to the Gospel may refer to people on the temple mount, upon which the Lord shall “come down, to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof” (<a href='B:290 31:4'>Isa 31:4</a>; <a href='B:290 10:32'>Isa 10:32</a>). The Hebrew words used here for ‘mount’ and ‘hill’ are identical in the passages. The Lord will return to Zion to find a repentant remnant there, converted by our preaching. <a href='B:460 3:1'>Mal 3:1</a>, a clearly related passage, says that when the way has been prepared, then “the Lord… shall suddenly [Heb. ‘immediately’] come to his temple”. It seems that He comes as soon as, almost to the moment, that the way is prepared. Is it going too far to imagine that when the last Jews are baptized in Jerusalem, perhaps literally on the Temple Mount, then the Lord will immediately return there, “to his temple”? Then the Lord shall “come down to fight for mount Zion and for the hill thereof”.</p><p>“Made low” in <a href='B:290 40:4'>Isa 40:4</a> is surely in the spirit of <a href='B:290 2:11'>Isa 2:11</a>, which predicts that in the day of judgment, “the lofty looks of man shall be humbled [s:w. ‘made low’], and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down”. The experience of condemnation in the coming day of the Lord will mean that “the proud and lofty” will be “brought low” (<a href='B:290 2:12'>Isa 2:12</a>; <a href='B:290 2:17'>Isa 2:17</a>; <a href='B:290 5:15'>Isa 5:15</a>). In fact, Isaiah is full of references to the proud being ‘made low’ by judgment- the same Hebrew word is common: <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>; <a href='B:290 13:11'>Isa 13:11</a>; <a href='B:290 25:11'>Isa 25:11</a>; <a href='B:290 26:5'>Isa 26:5</a>. Perhaps Paul had this in mind when he said that our preaching is a bringing down of every high thing that is exalted against God (<a href='B:540 10:5'>2Co 10:5</a>). Our message is basically that we must be humbled one way or the other- either by our repentance and acceptance of the Gospel today, or through the experience of condemnation at the day of judgment. We’re calling people to humility. And we must ask whether the content and style of our preaching really does that. But when John the Baptist quoted and preached this passage, he interpreted it beyond a call to humility. He said that in order to prepare the way of the Lord, to make a level passage for Him, the man with two coats should give to him who had none, and likewise share his food (<a href='B:490 3:11'>Luk 3:11</a>). So the ‘equality’ and levelling was to be one of practical care for others. We have to ask, how often we have shared our food, clothing or money with those who don’t have… for this is all part of preparing for the Lord’s coming. It could even be that when there is more of what Paul calls “an equality” amongst the community of believers, that then the way of the Lord will have been prepared. And He will then return.</p><h4>Isaiah 40 is a prophecy which didn’t come true as it might have done at the restoration, and so it now essentially concerns the time of the Lord’s second coming. Verses 4 and 6 contain several references to <a href='B:290 2:10-12'>Isa 2:10-12</a>, which concerns this time; v. 5 = <a href='B:730 1:7'>Rev 1:7</a>; <a href='B:670 4:13'>1Pe 4:13</a>; v:10 = <a href='B:730 22:12'>Rev 22:12</a>. Before the Kingdom comes, there must be a witness to Israel of the blessed time that is coming, comforting her (v:2) that her time of punishment for sin has now ended (this can only really have a latter day application): "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength:::say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! behold, the Lord God will come::." . This is the language of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings:::that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth" . We know these words of <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> apply to our preaching, according to Paul’s use of them in Romans 10; and yet they specifically refer to the latter day witness to Israel, according to Isaiah 40. Therefore it is us who should be making this witness in the last days. Not only Isaiah 40 but also <a href='B:290 57:14'>Isa 57:14</a> teach that a level way must be made amongst the Jewish people, i:e. the stumbling blocks and ‘valleys’ must be removed from their path.</h4>


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<p>The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it- John the Baptist perceived how eager God is to forgive, and how our acceptance of that forgiveness is His glory and His salvation. John says, quoting <a href='B:290 40:5'>Isa 40:5</a>, that if men repent and ready themselves for the Lord’s coming, then “all flesh shall see the salvation of God”. But he is changing the quotation- Isaiah said that all flesh shall see the glory of God. But saving men and women is the thing God glories in. <a href='B:290 40:5'>Isa 40:5</a> had called out to a Zion about to be restored that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”. In other words, the temple ought to have been a re-establishment of Solomon’s, with God’s attendant acceptance of it also. However, this didn’t happen. Ezekiel saw a vision of the glory of Yahweh filling the temple (<a href='B:330 43:5'>Eze 43:5</a>), as if to show that this, in line with Haggai’s words, was what could have happened at the restoration. However, it’s fulfilment must now await the future.</p>


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<h4>The voice of one saying, Cry! Another one said,What shall I cry? All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field- This is like a radio play for voices. The Divine command to cry out is met by the question from the preachers as to what should be the burden of the message. Initially, it was of the mortality of humanity and that all human glory would fade. This follows on from the way Hezekiah was duped by human glory and thus disallowed the Kingdom purpose of God in his time. We shouldn’t see the mortality of man and the true meaning of the Hebrew word nephesh as a negative thing that we unfortunately have to tell people who believe their loved ones are alive in Heaven. "The voice" tells Isaiah to cry. "And I said, What shall I cry?" (<a href='B:290 40:6'>Isa 40:6</a> LXX; RVmg:). What was to be the message of Isaiah’s Gospel? The voice addresses Isaiah as "O thou that tellest good tidings", and tells him the good news he is to preach. It is that "All flesh is grass… the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever". The reality of man’s mortality is the backdrop against which we can see the eternity of God and the offer made to us through His abiding word that we really can escape from our condition. Christian preaching about "man is mortal" need not be bad news. The message can be turned into good news! For it was this message of mortality which prepared the way for men to accept Christ (<a href='B:290 40:3-5'>Isa 40:3-5</a>); the mountains of human pride are made low by this message so that we can accept salvation in Christ. <a href='B:670 1:24'>1Pe 1:24</a> RVmg. quotes these verses and concludes that we are being offered salvation through "the word of the God who liveth for ever" - the Gospel that is prefaced by the message of human mortality. God’s eternity and man’s mortality are placed side by side- and thus the way is prepared for the wonder of the fact that through "the word" of Jesus, of the Gospel, we the mortal are invited to share in that immortality.</h4><h4>"The flower of the field" is one of a number of connections with Psalms 103, here to <a href='B:230 103:15'>Psa 103:15</a>. That Psalm of David was clearly rewritten with reference to what could have been the experience of Hezekiah. God took pity upon him, a fading, mortal man; and he was intended thereby to grasp fully God’s eternal plan with His people. But he didn’t. It is for us, along with latter day Israel, to do so.</h4>


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<p>The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it; surely the people are like grass- see on <a href='B:470 6:26'>Mat 6:26</a>. The blowing of breath alludes to Hezekiah’s experience in <a href='B:290 38:16'>Isa 38:16</a> (see note there). His mortality ought to have lead him to devotion to the things of God’s eternal kingdom; but it didn’t. The withering grass is spoken of in <a href='B:230 129:5-6'>Psa 129:5-6</a>, one of the songs of degrees written or rewritten by Hezekiah. There, it describes the Assyrian attackers who were blown upon Yahweh’s breath / spirit / Angel. But "the people" of Judah were no better in that they too were mortal. Unless they repented, they would likewise perish. They too were to be as withered / dried up bones and foliage (s:w. <a href='B:330 17:10'>Eze 17:10</a>; <a href='B:330 17:24'>Eze 17:24</a>; <a href='B:330 37:11'>Eze 37:11</a> and often).</p>


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<p>The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever- See on :7. The phrase for ’fading flower’ is only elsewhere used about the people of Israel fading under judgment (<a href='B:290 28:1'>Isa 28:1</a>). Only the long term prophetic purpose of God with Israel would be eternal, and it was that word of Kingdom promise uttered through Isaiah that the people were asked to identify with.</p>


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<h4>You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength- lift it up, don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!- "The high mountain" (AV) is Zion. "Go up" is the same word about Judah ‘going up’ from Babylon to Israel. But the majority of Judah remained in Babylon. And the majority of those who did return, only did so in order for purely personal benefit- of having their own house and land. They ‘wentup’ to the land, but not to Zion. With reference to <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>, <a href='B:440 1:7-9'>Hag 1:7-9</a> exhorted them: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much [i:e. they expected the promised Kingdom blessings], and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house”. Their focus was on their own lands and farms rather than the glory of Zion (as <a href='B:160 13:10-11'>Neh 13:10-11</a>). They stood related to the things of God’s kingdom, but never ventured beyond their own personal self-interest. They would not accept that God manifestation rather than human salvation and pleasure was the essential purpose of their God.</h4><h4>The returnees were to lift up their voice with joy at Zion’s restoration. But at the very humble dedication of the temple, the younger people lifted up their voice with joy (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a> same words), but the older men wept, as the temple was not even as great as Solomon’s, and certainly not that commanded in Ezekiel and Isaiah. "Behold your God" will finally come to literal truth in the last days, when God shall dwell in Zion (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>), and in the person of His Son, He will "come" to Zion. But the same words for lifting up the voice are used of the need to show Jacob their sins (<a href='B:290 58:1'>Isa 58:1</a>). The call is joyful, advertising the Lord’s coming, but it is also a call to repentance; as it is today.</h4>


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<p>Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one and His arm will rule for him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before him- When Nehemiah speaks of them having been redeemed by Yahweh’s “strong hand” (<a href='B:160 1:10'>Neh 1:10</a>). he is using the language of <a href='B:290 40:10'>Isa 40:10</a>, regarding how Yahweh would come and save Israel from Babylon and restore them to the land “with strong hand”. Nehemiah saw the prophecy could have been fulfilled then. The way Zerubbabel (<a href='B:150 2:2'>Ezr 2:2</a>; <a href='B:160 7:5-7'>Neh 7:5-7</a>), Ezra (<a href='B:150 7:8'>Ezr 7:8</a>; <a href='B:150 8:32'>Ezr 8:32</a>) and Nehemiah (<a href='B:160 2:11'>Neh 2:11</a>; <a href='B:160 13:7'>Neh 13:7</a>) are described as ‘coming to Jerusalem’ may hint that they could have fulfilled this coming of Yahweh to Zion; they could have been Messianic figures (<a href='B:160 2:11'>Neh 2:11</a>; <a href='B:160 13:7'>Neh 13:7</a>). But the whole prophecy is delayed and deferred until the coming of the Lord Jesus to Zion. 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.</p>


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<p>He will feed His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead those who have their young- The primary possible fulfillment was in Cyrus as Yahweh’s shepherd (<a href='B:290 44:28'>Isa 44:28</a>); but he failed in this role and Judah failed to be obedient sheep. So the prophecy is reapplied to the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>), the good shepherd, operating on behalf of Yahweh Himself, who was to shepherd the scattered flock of Israel when they are gathered into the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:10'>Jer 31:10</a>; <a href='B:330 34:12'>Eze 34:12</a>). It is God who gathers His people (<a href='B:290 11:12'>Isa 11:12</a>; <a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:300 31:10'>Jer 31:10</a>; <a href='B:330 34:12'>Eze 34:12</a>), whereas the Gentiles gather themselves to Him (<a href='B:290 49:18'>Isa 49:18</a>). His grace therefore appears the greater to His people, somehow forcing through His purpose with obstinate sheep. It was the responsibility of the priests and religious leaders to "gently lead" the exiles back to their God and their land, but they failed in this (<a href='B:290 51:18'>Isa 51:18</a> s:w:); and so because their was none to guide / gently lead (s:w:), God Himself had to intervene and do this through His Son (<a href='B:290 40:11'>Isa 40:11</a>; <a href='B:290 49:10'>Isa 49:10</a>).</p>


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<p>Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the sky with His span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?- The evident and immense power of Yahweh in the natural creation is often cited in Isaiah as a guarantee that His plans for a spiritual ’new creation’ were just as capable of fulfilment. He was not to be seen as lacking in any possibility. The language of calculation, measuring, marking off and weighing is all that of building. He would rebuild Zion and rebuild His Kingdom. He would build according to plans, and those plans had now been released through Isaiah and the prophets. The same word for "measured" is used multiple times in Ezekiel 40-42, where Israel are commanded to measure the new temple system and build according to that measure. God had "measured" Jerusalem (s:w. <a href='B:450 2:2'>Zec 2:2</a>) and Zion; but the returned exiles refused to build according to those dimensions. So God Himself would do so, although in a different way than building a literal temple in Zion. See on <a href='B:290 44:13'>Isa 44:13</a>.</p>


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<h4>Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught Him as His counsellor?- "Directed" is the same word translated "marked off" in :12. Yahweh’s Spirit was available without measure, without being marked off or defined by anyone. This idea is surely behind the statement in <a href='B:500 3:34'>Joh 3:34</a> that the Lord Jesus had the Spirit "without measure", without limit, not just a portion marked off for Him. There was huge, unlimited Spiritual potential to enable the restoration of God’s people, both physically and psychologically. But they didn’t make use of it, and so it was all reapplied to the Lord Jesus.</h4><p>LXX "Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?" is twice quoted about how those with the spirit of the Lord Jesus do in fact know "the mind of the Lord" (<a href='B:520 11:34'>Rom 11:34</a>; <a href='B:530 2:16'>1Co 2:16</a>). This is the answer to the rhetorical question. The answer is not ’Nobody’, but rather ’Not idolaters, but those who worship Yahweh in spirit and truth’. As the Spirit could have been given "without measure" to the exiles, so it was given to the Lord Jesus, and shall be given to all in Him.</p><h4>We can note here that the Hebrew (Masoretic) text and the Septuagint (LXX) differ significantly here, as they often do; and yet both variants are quoted or alluded to in the inspired New Testament.</h4>


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<h4>Who did He take counsel with, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?- The fact God is uncreate is cited as an example of how God’s grace toward His people was purely and totally of His own initiative. Our initiatives are never totally our "own" because they are subconscious responses to previous experience and stimuli. But God’s initiative in saving His people is quite literally, purely, solely, His very own initiative.</h4><h4>There are a number of passages which associate Job with Israel in general terms. It has been suggested that the book of Job was re-written and compiled by Hezekiah’s men who at the same time produced the Psalter (all under inspiration, of course). The copious connections between the suffering servant prophecies of Isaiah and the book of Job (take a glance down the A:V. margins of Job) are therefore more easily understandable- the account of Job’s sufferings and vindication amidst opposition was framed in language that pointed forward to the similar suffering (through the same disease?) and vindication of Hezekiah. The suffering servant of Isaiah refers to both Israel and the Lord Jesus, exactly as the parable of Job also does. The connections between Isaiah 40 and the book of Job are especially marked. <a href='B:290 40:14'>Isa 40:14</a> = <a href='B:220 21:22'>Job 21:22</a>; <a href='B:290 40:17'>Isa 40:17</a> = <a href='B:220 6:18'>Job 6:18</a>; <a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a> = <a href='B:220 9:8'>Job 9:8</a>; <a href='B:290 40:23'>Isa 40:23</a> = <a href='B:220 12:21'>Job 12:21</a>; <a href='B:290 40:24'>Isa 40:24</a> = <a href='B:220 14:8'>Job 14:8</a>; <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a> = <a href='B:220 25:3'>Job 25:3</a>;&nbsp; <a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> = <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a> = <a href='B:220 29:20'>Job 29:20</a>.</h4>


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<p>Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, He lifts up the islands like a very little thing- This is not to say that God doesn’t care for people; rather is it saying that in the balance alluded to in :12, it is Israel who weigh heavily in God’s balances far more than other people. It is another way of expressing His supreme passion for His people. "The islands" may simply mean the dry land, the land upon which the nations are located (<a href='B:290 42:15'>Isa 42:15</a> understands "islands" as simply ’dry land’).</p>


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<p>Lebanon’s forest is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering- The context is of God protesting His especial and unique love for His people; and He may be implying that no amount of animal sacrifice would buy that love or deserve it.</p>


text:
<p>All the nations are like nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing, and vanity- As explained on :15, this is not to say that God doesn’t care for people; rather is it saying that in the balance alluded to in :12,15, it is Israel who weigh heavily in God’s balances far more than other people. It is another way of expressing His supreme passion for His people. All the might of Assyria or Babylon would not tip the scale against Israel.</p>


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<h4>To whom then will you liken God?- The context implies: ’In loving His people so very much?’. But the Jews had in fact made God in the likeness of their idols, justifying idolatry as a worshipping of Yahweh. Hence LXX "To whom have ye compared the Lord?". Those who worship idols forsake that great love of Yahweh, and thereby forsake their own mercy (<a href='B:390 2:8'>Jon 2:8</a>).</h4><h4>Or what likeness will you compare to Him?- “Likeness” is used in the LXX in the frequent warnings not to make an image or likeness of any god, let alone Yahweh (<a href='B:20 20:4'>Exo 20:4</a>; <a href='B:50 4:16-25'>Deu 4:16-25</a>; <a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a>; <a href='B:290 40:18-19'>Isa 40:18-19</a>). The reason for this prohibition becomes clearer in the New Testament; the ultimate likeness of God is in His Son, and we are to create the likeness of His Son not as a mere physical icon, but within the very structure of our human personality and character. This sets the scene for God’s following condemnation of idolatry (<a href='B:510 17:29'>Act 17:29</a>), which initially was the reason why Judah preferred to remain in Babylon.</h4>


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<p>A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it- Similar language is used in <a href='B:290 30:22'>Isa 30:22</a> of the idols which Judah were to throw away when they repented; and this is now an appeal for them to do so and leave Babylon.</p>


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<p>He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skilful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved- The idea is that it will not totter, unlike the idol of1Sa 5:3-4.</p>


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<p>Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard, yet? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?- We sense here the frustration of God in Isaiah. The call to repent and return to the land had been made by all the prophets, but still Judah had not heard it. They had heard, but not ’heard’ in the sense that God wants us to hear His word.</p>


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<h4>It is He who sits above the circle of the earth- This may simply refer to the horizon, where earth and heaven meet, and is not to be pushed as evidence that the Bible taught a curved earth at a time when generally there was belief in a flat earth. The idea would perhaps rather be that Yahweh is enthroned at the limit of human vision and understanding; a principle ever true, no matter how advanced is human science.</h4><h4>And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in- As explained on :15, the idea is not that the inhabitants of the planet are irrelevant to God. Their smallness is mentioned in contrast to Yahweh’s purpose with His people, His tabernacle, which was to be eternally established in Zion. Israel in their faithlessness had considered themselves to be tiny grasshoppers compared to Gentile power (<a href='B:40 13:33'>Num 13:33</a>). Now, Yahweh puts it the other way around. It is the Gentiles who are as grasshoppers compared to the ’weight’ and significance of Israel before Him (:15).</h4>


text:
<p>Who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth meaningless- Both Gentile princes, such as those who accompanied the Assyrian army to Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time, along with the rulers of the land (who are often condemned as corrupt and unspiritual) would be brought to nothing at the reestablishment of God’s Kingdom. The theme of vanity or "meaninglessness" is common in later Isaiah. In contrast to the things of the Kingdom, all else is to be seen as vain and without ultimate meaning. This was hard to accept for the Jews in exile who were now becoming prosperous in the lands of their captivity, as the book of Esther witnesses.</p>


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<p>They are planted scarcely, they are sown scarcely, their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble- This is all in contrast to the Messianic root out of the stock of David, who would be eternal (s:w. <a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>). Eternity and permanent meaning was and is only to be found by association with Him:&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>To whom then will you liken Me? Who is My equal? says the Holy One- This is another appeal for the exiles to repent of their idolatry. So much of later Isaiah is taken up with mockery and criticism of the Babylonian gods and the Marduk cult. The book of Esther, with Mordecai as the joint hero, named as he was after Marduk, demonstrates how caught up were the Jews with the Babylonian gods. Ezekiel repeatedly reveals the idolatry of the captives. Isaiah was therefore an appeal for the Jews to quit the Marduk cult and believe in the radical prophecies about the overthrow of Babylon. The situation is analogous to how the New Testament is full of references to the Roman imperial cult of empire worship. So much of the Bible is like Isaiah and the New Testament- a radical, counter-cultural call to see our present world for what it is, and to perceive that the ways of God simply can’t be mixed in, watered down or compromised with the way of this world. Alexander Heidel analyzed the recovered Babylonian poem to Marduk Enuma Elish, discovering phrase after phrase in it which recurs in Isaiah- with reference to Yahweh exclusively (Alexander Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963). The similarities are exact, and impressive. Without doubt, Isaiah was developing a major theme in his later writings- that the true Israel of God must not have any part in the Marduk cult, and must understand all the claims made for Marduk as being untrue, and solely appropriate to Yahweh God of Israel. Consider some of the claims made for Marduk (exact references given in Heidel):</h4><p>- “Marduk is King alone” (cp. “Your [Israel’s] God reigns as King!”, <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>)</p><p>- “None among the gods can equal him”</p><p>- Marduk killed Tiamat in the waters and cut him in pieces [applied to Yahweh in <a href='B:290 51:9-10'>Isa 51:9-10</a>]</p><p>-Creator of the stars (cp. <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a>; <a href='B:290 45:12'>Isa 45:12</a>).</p><p>- Marduk is without comparison (cp. <a href='B:290 40:18'>Isa 40:18</a>; <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a> etc:)</p><p>- Marduk was, and no other (cp. <a href='B:290 45:5-6'>Isa 45:5-6</a> etc:)</p><h4>There are also mocking allusions to Marduk, showing Yahweh’s supremacy over him. Marduk was formed- but Yahweh had no god before Him and will have none after Him (<a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>). Marduk had a counsellor, Ea, called in the inscriptions “the all-wise one”. But Yahweh has all wisdom and has no such counsellor (<a href='B:290 40:13-14'>Isa 40:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>). All this reference to the Marduk cult was in my opinion not merely a pointless mockery and poking of fun at the Persian culture. It was a very real appeal to the Jewish exiles to quit it, to come out and be separate; remember again and again that Mordecai [and perhaps Esther too] had adopted names reflective of the Marduk cult.</h4>


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<h4>Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might, and because He is strong in power, not one is lacking- This language alludes to the Babylonian god Marduk; the point being that Yahweh and not the god of Babylon is supreme. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>. The Jews only totally quit idolatry some time later; they liked to think, as we also tend to, that we can serve the gods of our world in the name of Yahweh worship. But Yahweh is presented as supreme, and Marduk as nothing. God knew His exiled people; just as He knew every star, so He knew every exile; "nothing has escaped thee" (LXX). They were not forgotten, and neither are we. His purpose shall work out, even if it is delayed by the refusal of the majority of His people to accept and progress it.</h4><h4><a href='B:150 2:62'>Ezr 2:62</a> records Judah being ‘reckoned by genealogies’, using the same Hebrew word which is the hallmark of the Chronicles genealogies (<a href='B:130 4:33'>1Ch 4:33</a>; <a href='B:130 5:1'>1Ch 5:1</a>; <a href='B:130 5:7'>1Ch 5:7</a>; <a href='B:130 5:17'>1Ch 5:17</a>; <a href='B:130 7:5'>1Ch 7:5</a>; <a href='B:130 7:7'>1Ch 7:7</a>; <a href='B:130 7:9'>1Ch 7:9</a>; <a href='B:130 7:40'>1Ch 7:40</a>; <a href='B:130 9:1'>1Ch 9:1</a>; <a href='B:130 9:22'>1Ch 9:22</a>). And in this context, <a href='B:290 40:26'>Isa 40:26</a> compares God’s ‘bringing out’ of Judah from Babylon with His ‘bringing out’ the stars by their individual names, all wonderfully known to Him. <a href='B:230 87:6'>Psa 87:6</a> had prophesied something similar about the restoration of Zion’s fortunes: “The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there”. The Kingdom of God was to be the restoration of Israel’s Kingdom- but they had to actually get on and restore it rather than wait for it to come.</h4>


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<h4>Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?- 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>). See on plainIsa 49:24. Ezekiel had to argue with the exiles in Ezekiel 18, insisting that God’s ways were just and it was their ways which were unjust. They were not suffering wrongly, there was no injustice in their exile. The link between <a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> and <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a> is most significant. These are the words of Job in 3:23: "Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?". Thus Job represents Israel; and because "Israel" in Isaiah also refers to our Lord, we can make the equation Job=Israel=Jesus. The distancing between himself and God which Christ felt on the cross (<a href='B:470 27:46'>Mat 27:46</a>) is thus foreshadowed by Job feeling the same- and like Christ, it was a trial from God, not a specific punishment for sin, and related to His identification with a sinful Israel who were separated from God by their sins:&nbsp;See on <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a>.</h4><h4>Reasoning back from the addresses to the captives in later Isaiah, it appears they thought that Yahweh was a God who just operated in the land of Israel. The captives felt they couldn’t sing the songs of Yahweh in a Gentile land (Psalms 137). They thought that now they were outside His land and far from His temple, they were forgotten by Him (<a href='B:290 49:14-15'>Isa 49:14-15</a>), their cause ignored by Him (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a>) and they were “cast off” from relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>). Hence Isaiah emphasizes that Yahweh is the creator and the God of the whole planet, and His presence is literally planet-wide. Likewise there is much stress in those addresses on the fact that Yahweh’s word of prophecy will come true. Remember that there had been many false prophets of Yahweh just prior to the captivity who predicted victory against Babylon and prosperity (<a href='B:310 2:9'>Lam 2:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:14'>Lam 2:14</a>; <a href='B:300 44:15-19'>Jer 44:15-19</a>). And the 70 years prophecy of Jeremiah appeared to not be coming true, or at best was delayed or re-scheduled in fulfilment [even Daniel felt this, according to his desperate plea for fulfilment in Daniel 9]. And so there was a crisis of confidence in the concept of prophecy, and Yahweh’s word and prophets generally. Isaiah addressed this by stressing the nature and power of that word, and urging faith in its fulfilment and relevance.</h4>


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<p>Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary, His understanding is unsearchable- Because of their many years in exile, the Jews were effectively considering Yahweh to be weary, and to have made a mistake in His planning. But His power and understanding were not to be questioned. The apparent delays were due to their weakness and weariness (:30), lack of understanding and impenitence- rather than to God’s. They were in exile at the ends of the earth / land promised to Abraham; but God had created those ends of the land and was not oblivious to His people there.</p>


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<p>He gives power to the weak, He increases the strength of him who has no might- Very relevant to the great physical effort that had to be made by the handful who first set about the rebuilding. But the idea was that the weak exiles, especially in their spiritual weakness, could be empowered if they accepted the gift of God’s Spirit implicit in the new covenant.</p>


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<p>Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall- This can be read as a criticism. As explained on :28, the exiles considered Yahweh to be weary and limited in power, but Isaiah’s point is that it is Judah who are like that. The apparent inactivity and delay in the progression of His purpose was due to their weariness and not His. These youths, the generation born in exile who ought to have been returning to the land, are contrasted negatively against those who did wait faithfully for Yahweh’s action (:31).</p>


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<h4>But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run, and not be weary, they will walk, and not faint- See on :30. Those who waited in faith for Yahweh’s action whilst in exile would be empowered both physically and spiritually to ’return’ to God and their land. As God doesn’t faint or weary, so somehow those who identify their lives with His will also keep on keeping on- even now (<a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a> cp. 29). Just as eagles renew the feathers of their wings, so David felt that his youth was renewed like the eagle’s in his repeated experience of God’s grace (<a href='B:230 103:5'>Psa 103:5</a>), that his soul was restored (<a href='B:230 23:5'>Psa 23:5</a>), and that a right spirit could be renewed by God within him (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>).</h4><h4>Those who truly waited upon Yahweh would renew their strength; they would “mount up as eagles” (<a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a>), the s:w. used throughout Ezra and Nehemiah for the ‘going up’ to Jerusalem from Babylon to rebuild the temple (<a href='B:150 1:3'>Ezr 1:3</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>; <a href='B:150 1:11'>Ezr 1:11</a>; <a href='B:150 2:1'>Ezr 2:1</a>; <a href='B:150 2:59'>Ezr 2:59</a>; <a href='B:150 7:6-7'>Ezr 7:6-7</a>; <a href='B:150 7:28'>Ezr 7:28</a>; <a href='B:150 8:1'>Ezr 8:1</a>; <a href='B:160 7:5-6'>Neh 7:5-6</a>; <a href='B:160 7:61'>Neh 7:61</a>; <a href='B:160 12:1'>Neh 12:1</a>). The idea of mounting up with wings as eagles also connects with Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim, mounting up from the captives by the rivers of Babylon, and returning to the land. But the reality was as in <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a>: “And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. Examination of the context shows that they had just had plenty of strength; they lost physical stamina because of their spiritual weakness. This is in contrast to how for the idolater, “his strength fails” (<a href='B:290 44:12'>Isa 44:12</a>). But the same word is used also in <a href='B:150 10:13'>Ezr 10:13</a>: “But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand [lit. ‘not strong enough to be’] without”. Both Ezra and Nehemiah encouraged the people not to make such excuses but to get on with achieving what was truly possible.</h4>


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<p>Keep silent before Me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgement- The "islands" may refer simply to the dry land inhabited by Gentiles within the eretz promised to Abraham (<a href='B:290 42:15'>Isa 42:15</a>). They are invited to accept the God of Israel, to come to Zion and realize they have no legal case against God, to accept their judgment and throw themselves upon Him. Hence LXX "Hold a feast to me, ye islands".</p>


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<h4>Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to His foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow- The servant songs or poems of Isaiah clearly have reference to a Messiah figure who was to appear at the time of the restoration from Babylon. The early songs have potential reference to Cyrus- he is named as such. Expositors such as Harry Whittaker and J:W. Thirtle have sought to prove the naming of Cyrus as an interpolation, claiming that Isaiah has sole primary reference to the days of Hezekiah. This seems to me to be desperate. The naming of Cyrus, and the specific references to his military campaigns in the prophecies, simply can’t be gotten around. To brush all this off as uninspired interpolation and fiddling with the text of holy Scripture just won’t do. The references to Cyrus aren’t merely the mention of his name. <a href='B:290 41:1-5'>Isa 41:1-5</a> alludes unquestionably to the dramatic conquest of Sardis by Cyrus in 547 BC. The‘servant’ is described as swooping down first from the east and then from the north, trampling local rulers beneath him (<a href='B:290 41:2-5'>Isa 41:2-5</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:1'>Isa 45:1</a>; <a href='B:290 46:11'>Isa 46:11</a>). This ‘servant’ was to end the Babylonian empire (<a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 48:14-15'>Isa 48:14-15</a>), enable the captive Jews in Babylon to return to their land (<a href='B:290 42:6-7'>Isa 42:6-7</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5-7'>Isa 43:5-7</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), restore Jerusalem and the ruined cities of Judah (<a href='B:290 44:26-28'>Isa 44:26-28</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>). There can be no serious doubt that it was Cyrus who fulfilled these things. The servant is a “bird of prey from the east” (<a href='B:290 46:11'>Isa 46:11</a>)- according to Xenophon, the eagle was the emblem of Cyrus. The servant “victorious at every step” with lightning speed (<a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>) surely refers to how Cyrus conquered the Medes, the former Assyrian empire, and the Lydians before taking Babylon in 539 BC. We should have no problem with a pagan king being described as God’s “servant”, for that very term is used of Nebuchadnezzar in <a href='B:300 25:9'>Jer 25:9</a>.</h4><h4>When Cyrus failed to "know" or have relationship with Yahweh, other possible fulfillments came into view. Another possible fulfilment was in Zerubbabel or Joshua. Isaiah 41 describes the Messianic saviour as coming to the land from Babylon, from the north and from the east. Babylon was east of Judah, and yet the approach road came down from the north. This was the way Zerubbabel and Joshua would have come; but the prophecies suffered a massive deferment to the coming of the Lord Jesus in a more figurative sense from the north and east. Zechariah 4 contained a vision of Joshua and Zerubbabel, likened to two olive trees which emptied their oil into the seven branched candlestick, representing the ecclesia of Judah. They represented the kingly and priestly offices. The whole ‘lightstand’ depended upon these two anointed ones, these providers of oil, and the fact they both in various ways failed to deliver true faith and spirituality meant that the victory over the world which the vision also prophesied could not come about; the final fulfilment had to come through the Lord Jesus, who was the ultimate Priest (cp. Joshua-Jesus) and Prince of Judah (cp. Zerubbabel).</h4>


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<p>He pursues them, and passes by safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet- The sense is as GNB "He follows in pursuit and marches safely on, so fast that he hardly touches the ground!".</p>


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<h4>Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?- The idea of calling things which don’t exist into existence (<a href='B:520 4:17'>Rom 4:17</a>) has suggestions of creation (<a href='B:290 41:4'>Isa 41:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:13'>Isa 48:13</a>). The new, spiritual creation is indeed a creation ex nihilo, an act of grace. Incomprehensible to the modern mind, the natural creation involved the creation of matter from out of God, and not out of any visible, concrete matter which already existed. The physical creation therefore looked forward to the grace of the new creation- creating people spiritually out of nothing, counting righteousness to them which they didn’t have, treating them as persons whom they were not.</h4><h4>I Yahweh, the first and with the last, I am He- First and last are terms used by the Lord Jesus of those who shall be in His Kingdom (<a href='B:470 20:16'>Mat 20:16</a>). "The last" would then refer to the last generation of God’s people. Yahweh would save the exiles along with the "first" of His people such as Abraham; for at the time of the restoration of that last generation, there would be a resurrection of all God’s true people, to form a new people would eternally inherit the reestablished Kingdom.</h4>


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<p>The islands have seen and fear. The ends of the earth tremble; they approach, and come- They have been called to judgment in Zion (:1), and all they can do is try to make idols (:6,7). But these verses can also be understood quite differently. For "idols"aren’t specifically named in the Hebrew text. The idea equally could be that here we have the Divine hope that the exiles would return from the ends of the earth / land, in the territories of Assyria, Babylon and Persia, and work together in building Zion. These different interpretations are because these were the various potential possibilities or scenarios which could have come about.</p>


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<p>Everyone helps his neighbour, they say to their brothers, Be strong!- This could be read as a condemnation of entire Gentile society, stressing how they together encouraged each other in making idols (:7). Or as noted on :5, it could also be the Divine vision for the returned exiles working together in rebuilding the things of His Kingdom in Zion. "Be strong!" is the word used multiple times in the records of the restoration of Zion (<a href='B:150 1:6'>Ezr 1:6</a>; <a href='B:150 6:22'>Ezr 6:22</a>; <a href='B:150 7:28'>Ezr 7:28</a>; <a href='B:150 9:12'>Ezr 9:12</a>; <a href='B:150 10:4'>Ezr 10:4</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 3:4'>Neh 3:4</a> and often, rendered "repair").</p>


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<h4>So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it with nails- This refers to the different types of people working together to build Jerusalem; the goldsmiths are mentioned specifically in <a href='B:160 3:8'>Neh 3:8</a>; <a href='B:160 3:32'>Neh 3:32</a>; "carpenter" is s:w. <a href='B:150 3:7'>Ezr 3:7</a>. Yet as explained on :5, the whole passage here also has reference to those who made idols (s:w. <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>). Instead of fulfilling the possibilities in rebuilding the temple, they instead used their skills building idols and encouraging one another in that.</h4><h4>That it might not totter- Used about the idols made in <a href='B:290 40:20'>Isa 40:20</a>; but also of the reestablished Zion which would not move / totter (<a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a> s:w:). See on :5.</h4>


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<h4>But you, Israel My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend- The servant here is clearly the people of Israel. It is significant that Paul takes a passage from one of Isaiah’s servant songs and applies it to us. The servant who suffered and witnessed to the world was evidently the Lord Jesus. And yet Isaiah is also explicit that the servant is the whole seed of Abraham, “Jacob”, the slowly-developing people of God (<a href='B:290 41:8'>Isa 41:8</a>; <a href='B:290 44:1'>Isa 44:1</a>), who now refer to all those in Christ:&nbsp; 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.</h4><h4>Isaiah’s restoration prophecies are shot through with references to Abraham, directly or indirectly. Israel / Judah are called by Isaiah to be Yahweh’s chosen (<a href='B:290 41:8'>Isa 41:8</a>), fetched from the end of the land (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>), to act like the seed of Abraham (<a href='B:290 41:8'>Isa 41:8</a>)::. just like Abraham. But Abraham left Babylonia and journeyed to the promised land- and Judah likewise are bidden make that journey (<a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>). By refusing to do so, they were showing themselves tonot be the seed of Abraham- they were rejecting themselves from the covenant people. I’ve shown at length elsewhere that Abraham initially resisted the call to leave Ur, he struggled with the challenge, it took him years actually to truly leave Babylonia behind and head out in faith to the promised land. So the relevance to the Jews in exile was pertinent. It’s the same with Isaiah’s allusions to Israel’s leaving Egypt. The Jews in Babylon were intended to live out the type by leaving Babylon and making the wilderness journey to the land- and God helped them in it. For example, <a href='B:150 6:4'>Ezr 6:4</a> records how God moved the local authorities to pronounce that the residents around the returning exiles should give them silver, gold and goods. This was an exact re-living of how Israel left Egypt with Egypt’s gold and silver (<a href='B:20 12:35'>Exo 12:35</a>). Yet most of the Jews didn’t want to return, they didn’t want to live out the type.</h4>


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<h4>You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth and called from its corners and said to you- The exiles were located in the very borders and corners of the land promised to Abraham, but from there they would be regathered. If they were willing to participate in the Divine plan, which sadly most of them weren’t. They preferred to remain in exile from Him.</h4><p>‘You are My servant, I have chosen you- Because the exiles refused to be Yahweh’s servant, the words were reapplied to the Lord Jesus. And so this is quoted in <a href='B:650 2:10'>Heb 2:10</a>; <a href='B:650 2:14'>Heb 2:14</a> about God taking hold of Jesus, His servant. <a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a> continues concerning Jesus, therefore, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee (the Angels’ words to Joshua); be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen&nbsp; thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (an Angel). The right hand Angel of God&nbsp; strengthened, upheld and helped Jesus spiritually as it could have done the exiles and their potential Messianic leaders like Zerubbabel. His dismay which the verse implies He had was therefore at His feeling of being spiritually inadequate to fulfill His great calling- exactly like Joshua. But as with Joshua, the Angel strengthened Him.</p><p>Reasoning back from the addresses to the captives in later Isaiah, it appears they thought that Yahweh was a God who just operated in the land of Israel. The captives felt they couldn’t sing the songs of Yahweh in a Gentile land (Psalms 137). They thought that now they were outside His land and far from His temple, they were forgotten by Him (<a href='B:290 49:14-15'>Isa 49:14-15</a>), their cause ignored by Him (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a>) and they were “cast off” from relationship with Him (<a href='B:290 41:9'>Isa 41:9</a>). Hence Isaiah emphasizes that Yahweh is the creator and the God of the whole planet, and His presence is literally planet-wide. Likewise there is much stress in those addresses on the fact that Yahweh’s word of prophecy will come true. Remember that there had been many false prophets of Yahweh just prior to the captivity who predicted victory against Babylon and prosperity (<a href='B:310 2:9'>Lam 2:9</a>; <a href='B:310 2:14'>Lam 2:14</a>; <a href='B:300 44:15-19'>Jer 44:15-19</a>). And the 70 years prophecy of Jeremiah appeared to not be coming true, or at best was delayed or re-scheduled in fulfilment [even Daniel felt this, according to his desperate plea for fulfilment in Daniel 9]. And so there was a crisis of confidence in the concept of prophecy, and Yahweh’s word and prophets generally. Isaiah addressed this by stressing the nature and power of that word, and urging faith in its fulfilment and relevance.</p><h4>And not cast you away’- The exiles needed assurance of this. But it could be that as with many today in the new Israel, their conclusion that God had cast them away was an excuse for remaining in a society where they were prosperous. ’Cast away’ here is the same word as ’despise’. Judah had ’despised’ God’s laws (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>), casting them away (<a href='B:290 5:24'>Isa 5:24</a>) and yet God had ’cast them away’ (<a href='B:30 26:44'>Lev 26:44</a> s:w:). He did not treat them as they treated Him. And yet God did cast them away temporarily (s:w. <a href='B:290 54:6'>Isa 54:6</a>; <a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>; <a href='B:350 4:6'>Hos 4:6</a>); but His message was that now they were not cast away.</h4>


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<h4>Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you- Time and again, Isaiah’s restoration prophecies told Judah that they should not fear, as Yahweh would mightily be with them in their work (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>; <a href='B:290 41:13-14'>Isa 41:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a>; <a href='B:290 43:5'>Isa 43:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>; <a href='B:290 44:8'>Isa 44:8</a>; <a href='B:290 44:11'>Isa 44:11</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>; <a href='B:290 54:14'>Isa 54:14</a>; <a href='B:290 59:19'>Isa 59:19</a>). But Judah feared the surrounding nations- Ezra and Nehemiah are full of this theme (<a href='B:150 3:3'>Ezr 3:3</a>), and in exile they feared condemnation. Nehemiah refused to be put in fear by the Samaritan opposition because of his faith in Isaiah’s promises (<a href='B:160 6:14'>Neh 6:14</a>). And Isaiah further spoke to Judah’s heart in <a href='B:290 51:12-13'>Isa 51:12-13</a>: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations [s:w. re. the foundation of the temple being laid] of the earth [‘heaven and earth’ often refers to the temple]; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?”. The fact they did fear meant that they had forgotten Yahweh who was so eager to re-establish their Kingdom.</h4><p>Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God- The command not to be dismayed may be a command to not look to idols but to Yahweh as their God (s:w. :23; <a href='B:290 17:8'>Isa 17:8</a>).</p><p>I will strengthen you- Yahweh would strengthen His servant people, in contrast to the idols, which had to be strengthened by their makers (s:w. <a href='B:290 44:14'>Isa 44:14</a>). This phrase is used several times about Joshua being strengthened to enter the land and possess it; which was relevant to the exiles being encouraged to possess the same land (<a href='B:50 31:6-7'>Deu 31:6-7</a>; <a href='B:50 31:23'>Deu 31:23</a>).</p><p>Yes, I will help you- Ezra was ashamed to ask for help against Judah’s enemies (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a>), the implication being that he wanted that human help but was ashamed to ask for it from the King. He had initially believed those words of Isaiah, but found it hard to maintain that level of faith. But they should have had faith in the restoration prophecy’s promise: “Fear not ::. I will help you” (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a>)</p><h4>Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness- The servant, be it Israel the nation or an individual Messianic figure, would be upheld by Yahweh in order to achieve the restoration; and in the case of the likes of Cyrus and Zerubbabel, would have had righteousness imputed to them had they wished to go along with God’s program.</h4>


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<p>Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish- &nbsp;The Samaritans could have provided a fulfilment of all this, just as the prideful Assyrians were before. And yet Sanballat, Tobiah, the Ammonites and Ashdodites were “wroth” [s:w. ‘incensed’] against Judah (<a href='B:160 4:1'>Neh 4:1</a>; <a href='B:160 4:7'>Neh 4:7</a>). But they didn’t come to nothing, nor to shame, in that those very groups were the ones who married into Jewry, to the extent that Tobiah even shifted the tithes out of one of the chambers of the temple and set up his office there. But it was to be the makers of idols who were "confounded" (s:w. <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>) and only the true Israel would not be "confounded" (<a href='B:290 45:17'>Isa 45:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:4'>Isa 54:4</a>). The sinners in Israel had refused to be confounded or ashamed of their sins (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:) and so they would be shamed in condemnation. Repentance involves an imagination of ourselves coming to judgment day and being condemned, and feeling shame for that; that is how we shall not be ashamed. And it is the servant alone who shall not be ashamed / confounded because of His righteousness (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>). Our identity with Him removes that shame. If we condemn ourselves, we shall not be condemned (<a href='B:530 11:31'>1Co 11:31</a>). The enemies of Israel would perish alongside the apostate within Israel, in the same judgment.</p>


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<p>You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing- LXX "thou shalt not find the men who shall insolently rage against thee". Just as the Assyrians had raged against Yahweh and then be slain in a moment, so would all Judah’s enemies. "Contend" is the word used for how Assyria and Babylon ’laid waste’ Judah (<a href='B:290 37:26'>Isa 37:26</a>; <a href='B:300 4:7'>Jer 4:7</a>). "War against" is s:w. "the controversy of Zion" (<a href='B:290 34:8'>Isa 34:8</a>). World geopolitics has moved to a state where in our day as never before, Jerusalem / Zion is a key issue which will bring about the war against Israel and Jewish people. But this is going to be resolved finally and in a moment, at the return of the Lord Jesus. The idea is really of bringing a case or legal "cause" in court- s:w. :21. And Yahweh Himself will plead that cause or "war" with latter day Babylon when it falls (s:w. <a href='B:300 50:34'>Jer 50:34</a>). The Gentile opposition will be as nothing in that they will weigh as nothing on the scales of final judgment concerning Zion (s:w. <a href='B:290 40:17'>Isa 40:17</a>). The idea is not at all that people do not matter to God.</p>


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<p>For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you’- This Fatherly image of help offered to a nervous child was to encourage the weak minded exiles to return to Zion and accept Yahweh’s helping hand, just as His hand had ’helped’ Hezekiah against the Assyrians (s:w. <a href='B:140 32:8'>2Ch 32:8</a>). At the restoration, Ezra believed this "help" would enable the restoration to the extent that they didn’t need any human soldiers to help them (<a href='B:150 8:22'>Ezr 8:22</a> s:w:).</p>


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<h4>Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel- The sense of "you worm Jacob" may be as LXX "Israel few in number". But the idea can alsobe of absolute smallness and weakness (<a href='B:290 14:11'>Isa 14:11</a>; <a href='B:220 25:6'>Job 25:6</a>). The Lord as the suffering servant on the cross felt like a worm in that He totally bore Israel’s feelings and sufferings (<a href='B:230 22:6'>Psa 22:6</a>).</h4><h4>I will help you, says Yahweh, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel- see on <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>. 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</h4>


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<p>Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff- This and :16 is full of reference to Daniel 2. It was as if the prophecy of Daniel 2 could have been fulfilled by Judah and their ‘Messiah’ as the stone- right then. As explained on <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a>, the stone from the mountain of Babylon returning to the eretz could have had application to the returned exiles. LXX "I have made thee as new saw-shaped threshing wheels of a wagon" alludes to the cherubim; faithful Judah would become identified with Yahweh’s Angel chariot and would become the vehicle for His operations against the Gentiles. This threshing will come ultimately true in the last days (s:w. <a href='B:400 4:13'>Mic 4:13</a>).</p>


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<p>You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel- See on :15. This joy is presented as the joy of harvest; and the harvest will have been the judging of the nations of the eretz who refuse to accept Yahweh. The winnowing figure implies however that the wind would indeed take away the chaff, but the wheat would fall to the ground and be saved. Always in these figures of judgment there is an ultimately positive outcome somehow in view. Israel’s joy of harvest would therefore be in that some wheat has come out of the judgment process; some will repent amongst their enemies, and they will have learnt the lesson of Jonah, and this shall be their great joy.</p>


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<p>The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, their tongue fails for thirst. I Yahweh, will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them- As the book of Esther makes clear, the exiles were prosperous in their various societies. Their spiritual thirst would be met. And as food and water were provided for Israel in their wilderness journey, so everything physically necessary would be provided for their return.</p>


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<p>I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water- Like Hosea with Gomer (see on <a href='B:290 1:26'>Isa 1:26</a>), Yahweh wanted to repeat the wilderness romance with which He had started His relationship with them. He wanted to again provide water in the desert (<a href='B:290 41:18'>Isa 41:18</a>); He wanted their return from Babylon across the desert to be like their exodus from Egypt and passage through the desert to the land. Hosea talks of starting a relationship again with his wife, a re-marriage; Ezekiel 37 expresses this same reality in another figure in speaking of how Israel would be resurrected, and this new person would return to Zion. <a href='B:290 41:19'>Isa 41:19</a> speaks of how God would even line their route from Babylon to Zion with trees. In the wilderness, the place where God told Moses that Israel were not His people, there God intended to again tell them that they were His people (<a href='B:350 2:1'>Hos 2:1</a>); God’s judgment against His people involved taking them into the wilderness and slaying them with thirst (<a href='B:350 2:5'>Hos 2:5</a>); and yet there, through that judgment, they would again become His people. God’s plan therefore was to bring Judah out of Babylon / Persia, and reveal Himself to them as their God on their wilderness journey home, and then return together with joy to Zion.</p>


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<p>I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set fir trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert- See on :18. God would even line their route from Babylon to Zion with trees. The myrtle was a native of Persia, the land of their exile. But it was as it were to be transplanted to Judah; it is the language of return from exile.</p>


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<p>that they may see, know, consider, and understand together, that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it- They would perceive that their return to the land was part of a new creation. But they didn’t at the time of the restoration, they returned seeking their own personal benefit from it, and were met by droughts, pests, opposition from the locals- and prophetic condemnation. And so the new creation became reapplied to the work of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>) and the latter day reestablishment of the Kingdom at the Lord’s return.</p>


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<p>Produce your cause, says Yahweh. Bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob- GNB ""You gods of the nations, present your case. Bring the best arguments you have!". The following section concludes in :29 with a round condemnation of idols. The gods of the nations are arrayed in court against Yahweh. This continual polemic against idolatry is surely a tacit reflection upon the fact that idolatry continued to be a problem for the exiles in the initial generations, as the messages of Ezekiel make clear enough. It was only later that the exiles quit idolatry. The truth is that many Jews and Israelites assimilated into the areas of their captivity and accepted the gods and culture of their surrounding society.</p>


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<h4>Let them announce and declare to us what shall happen. Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come- Statements like these in Isaiah are often interpreted as meaning that God’s prophecies of the future are the ultimate proof that He is God. But I have noted throughout Isaiah and all the prophets that God’s prophecies are largely conditional; in the spirit of <a href='B:300 18:8-10'>Jer 18:8-10</a>, they are statements of outcomes which will happen if there is no repentance. Human repentance and intercession can change the stated outcomes; either completely precluding them, or resulting in their reapplication, amelioration, rescheduling or reinterpretation. So Bible prophecy would not be automatically fulfilled as stated, and therefore it would not be that compelling an argument. It would also require evidence that the original manuscripts existed from the required date, and the originals don’t exist. In the course of my missionary work, I have been involved in literally thousands of people from atheistic or Islamist backgrounds coming to faith in the Bible and the Lord Jesus. Not one of these was persuaded by"Bible prophecy". The path from unbelief to belief is, I suggest and observe, along different tracks to that. And there is in any case no Euclidean evidence for God’s existence, as faith is not based upon"seen"evidence (<a href='B:650 11:1'>Heb 11:1</a>). There may be confirmations for faith, but faith is ultimately a step taken without these things as a safety net or motivator. It is"the word of God", the message of His love in His Son, which is in our age of itself the basis for faith.</h4><h4>The first half of the verse about future things matches the second half about past things-"Explain to the court the events of the past, and tell us what they mean"(GNB). The emphasis and flavour of the words used is not upon prediction ut rather explanation, of attaching meaning to event. God alone can provide such explanation of both past and future events according to the far reaching narrative found in the prophets. The idol religions explained just a few isolated incidents. This is what is unique about the one true God- that He alone attaches meaning to event, both in personal and collective life, and indeed to all human history. Whether we correctly perceive it is another question, but He alone does this and holds the masterplan.</h4>


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<p>Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together- LXX"declare ye to us the things that are coming on at the last time". See on :22. It could be inferred from this that what is unique about the one true God, Yahweh of Israel, is that He is responsible for both good and evil, as stated in <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>. As today, false and mistaken religious systems suggest a good God or gods, and an evil one or demons. The idea of"good and evil"being created by God&nbsp; goes back to the simple statement in <a href='B:10 2:9'>Gen 2:9</a> that it was God who created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The synthesis of all experience, positive and negative, as coming from one God::. is what makes Him so unique amongst all religions and belief systems. The popular belief in Satan as a cosmic being separate from God, and of God as only interested in giving us prosperity::. is sadly missing out fundamentally in understanding the unique nature of Yahweh.</p>


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<p>Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination- The idols and their supporters have been charged in :23 and asked to"declare"their answer. But there is silence; see on :26. And so this is the judgment pronounced, and the conclusion that any who chooses them is like them,"an abomination". Their silence is connected with their judgment- they are nothing. Nothingness and vanity is a major theme in later Isaiah. As explained on <a href='B:290 40:17'>Isa 40:17</a>, the idea is not that any persons are irrelevant to God; but that their weight is insignificant in the scale of judgment. They have no argument, and so nothing to add to the scale."Of nothing"is the phrase translated"without man"in describing the utter desolation to come upon idolatrous Judah (<a href='B:290 6:11'>Isa 6:11</a>; <a href='B:300 4:7'>Jer 4:7</a>).</p>


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<p>I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun, one who calls on My name; and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay- As explained on :2, Cyrus came from both the north and the east. But evidently the intended, possible fulfilment just didn’t happen; for although he was indeed used by God, he did not"call on My name". He, along with the revived, repentant community of exiles, could have come upon the feet of iron and clay of the Daniel 2 vision and destroyed it. For that image had a fulfilment as the Babylonian empire, headed up by Nebuchadnezzar. But the fulfilment has been deferred until the return of the Lord Jesus. He will come from Heaven, the figurative “north”, rather than literal Persia / Babylon; the essence will be gloriously fulfilled, but not every literality. And so it may well be with the prophecies of the temple and worship system which was to be restored:&nbsp;"I have raised up::. he has come"is an example of the prophetic perfect; Cyrus was still 150 years in the future, and the Lord Jesus yet further in the future.</p>


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<p>Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And before, that we may say, ‘He is right?’. Surely, there is no one who declares like this. Surely, there is no one who shows, surely, there is no one who hears your words- LXX"there is no one that speaks beforehand, nor anyone that hears your words". As explained on :22, the idea is not simply that God foretold Cyrus (:25) in advance and was thereby justified as God because His prophecies came true. Rather is the force of"declared"that He had explained and given meaning to events of history, rather than simply meaning ’He has predicted this’. It is that metanarrative built into history by Yahweh which is"right"or ’righteous’."Nor anyone that hears your words"may be a reference to the silence of the idols and their supporters in court as suggested on :24. Hence GNB"None of you said a word about it; no one heard you say a thing!".</p>


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<p>I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem- LXX"I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem". This is the scene of <a href='B:290 40:9'>Isa 40:9</a>; <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a>, where Zion is comforted with the message that now she can return and the Kingdom of God will be reestablished. The initial possibilities of fulfilment failed, and so it is the Lord Jesus and perhaps the latter day Elijah ministry announcing Him which is in view. But His message would only be"good news"for the humble and penitent (<a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a> s:w:)."I am the first to say to Zion"may be a reference, in the context, to how God had conceived this plan"at the first". Hence GNB"I, the LORD, was the first to tell Zion the news; I sent a messenger to Jerusalem to say, ’Your people are coming! They are coming home!’"</p>


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<h4>When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counsellor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word- There are many mocking allusions to Marduk, showing Yahweh’s supremacy over him. Marduk was formed- but Yahweh had no god before Him and will have none after Him (<a href='B:290 43:10'>Isa 43:10</a>). Marduk had a counsellor, Ea, called in the inscriptions “the all-wise one”. But Yahweh has all wisdom and has no such counsellor (<a href='B:290 40:13-14'>Isa 40:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>). All this reference to the Marduk cult was in my opinion not merely a pointless mockery and poking of fun at the Persian culture. It was a very real appeal to the Jewish exiles to quit it, to come out and be separate; remember again and again that Mordecai [and perhaps Esther too] had adopted names reflective of the Marduk cult. See on <a href='B:290 40:25'>Isa 40:25</a>.</h4><p>In the context of this section, the gods / idols are being asked to answer up, and they are silent; see on :23,26. The"no man"who can answer anything may simply mean ’there was none’, i:e. none of the gods who are being questioned in court. Hence GNB"When I looked among the gods, none of them had a thing to say; not one could answer the questions I asked".</p><h4>And yet another take is possible. 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.</h4>


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<p>Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion- LXX"For these are your makers, as ye think, and they that cause you to err in vain". The idols and their supporters have been charged in :23 and asked to"declare"their answer. But there is silence; see on :26. And so this is the final judgment pronounced. Their silence is connected with their judgment- they are nothing. As explained on <a href='B:290 40:17'>Isa 40:17</a>, the idea is not that any persons are irrelevant to God; but that their weight is insignificant in the scale of judgment. They have no argument, and so nothing to add to the scale."Confusion"is tohu, the word used in <a href='B:10 1:2'>Gen 1:2</a> of how the earth / land was"without form", and then the Spirit / wind (s:w:) moved upon it. Here we have again the presence of"wind"(s:w:). Now the idols have been declared vain and non-existent, a new creation can begin. There is always this positive hint in the Divine judgments pronounced.</p>


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<h4>Behold, My servant, whom I uphold- The servant, be it Israel the nation or an individual Messianic figure, would be upheld by Yahweh in order to achieve the restoration; and in the case of the likes of Cyrus and Zerubbabel, would have had righteousness imputed to them had they wished to go along with God’s program (<a href='B:290 41:10'>Isa 41:10</a> s:w:).</h4><p>My chosen, in whom My soul delights- 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, “mine 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, “mine 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, “mineelect”, 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><p>I have put My Spirit on him- The Isaiah 42 passage concerning Jesus as preaching to the Gentiles is quoted in the Gospels from the LXX. But this reads: “Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel, is my chosen, my soul has accepted him::. he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice::. but::. He shall shine out, and not be discouraged” (<a href='B:290 42:1-4'>Isa 42:1-4</a> LXX). The passages primarily exhorts Israel at the time of their living in Babylon to live up to their role as a missionary nation; they didn’t need to cry or lift up the voice in preaching, because their own example and being would be the witness. They would “shine out” as the light of the Gentile world in which they had to live. But they failed in this; and yet the prophecy came true in the Lord Jesus, the true servant of Yahweh. But the prophecy still has to be fulfilled in us, the servants of the Lord, as those in Christ, as we live through our Babylon years. See on :5.</p><h4>He will bring justice to the nations- This bringing forth of justice, or declaration of the sentence (s:w. <a href='B:230 17:2'>Psa 17:2</a>), will be"unto truth"(:3). The result of the judgment will be"truth". Mercy and truth are associated with the Abrahamic covenant. The idea may be that through their condemnation and judgment, they will learn Yahweh’s ways and accept covenant relationship with Him. That was the prophetic vision for a remnant of all the nations in the eretz; they were to join a repentant Israel and Judah in returning to the land to form a multiethnic people of God in the restored Kingdom. But they didn’t repent and so this has been deferred to the last days.</h4>


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<p>He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street- When Paul wrote that “the servant of the Lord must not strive” in his preaching ministry (<a href='B:620 2:24'>2Ti 2:24</a>), he was alluding back to how the servant song described the Lord Jesus in His preaching as not striving or lifting up His voice in proud argument (<a href='B:290 42:2'>Isa 42:2</a> cp. <a href='B:470 12:19'>Mat 12:19</a>). We are the servant in that we are"in Christ". All that is true of Him is to be true of us."Shout"is always used in Isaiah of shouting or crying in distress, condemnation or disappointment in human strength (<a href='B:290 19:20'>Isa 19:20</a>; <a href='B:290 33:7'>Isa 33:7</a>; <a href='B:290 46:7'>Isa 46:7</a>; <a href='B:290 65:14'>Isa 65:14</a>). The idea may be that He will not cry like this, but rather be heard by Yahweh and bring blessing to others. Yet the verse is quoted in <a href='B:470 12:19'>Mat 12:19</a> about the teaching style of the Lord Jesus. The Lord didn’t shout out in the streets who He was. He wished His followers to follow His example in&nbsp;showing&nbsp;the message to the world just as He did- in who He was (<a href='B:470 12:18'>Mat 12:18</a>). Christ’s instruction to His recent converts not to spread the Gospel in an unseemly way, because it was written about&nbsp;Him personally&nbsp;that&nbsp;“he shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any man hear&nbsp;His&nbsp;voice in the streets". In other words, the true preacher of Christ is solidly identified with Him by the very act of preaching. Truly "we are ambassadors for Christ" (<a href='B:540 5:20'>2Co 5:20</a>) in our witnessing. His voice is our voice.</p>


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<h4>He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice- "Bruised reed" in <a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a> is better "broken reed", and this is the very phrase used here about how the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, would not break a "bruised / broken reed" (<a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a>). Egypt were a broken reed, recently broken in battle and now useless to save Israel. They were too weak to uphold the weight of Judah if they were to lean upon it for strength. God turns the figure around- He as it were is in need of man, He wishes to trust upon us; and although we are broken reeds, we will not be crushed nor will He be disappointed. He so wishes to work with us.</h4><p>The events of the crucifixion were so packed with fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and shadows that the Lord’s discernment of them must have given Him a wonderful boost of strength, in knowing who He was and where He was destined. For example, when they put a broken reed in his hand as a mock sceptre, His mind would have flown to the Messianic <a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a>: “A bruised reed shall he not break:::he shall bring forth judgment”, as they mocked him for his apparent inability to do.</p><p>The Hebrew words used in <a href='B:290 42:3'>Isa 42:3</a> suggest this is a reference to the candlestick; the words respectively mean a shaft / stem, and a wick. Little strength, little light (if the reference is to the reed which took oil to the lamps of the candlestick), little heat- but all the same, the Lord Jesus seeks to fan it into life rather than walk away in disappointment; and by doing so, sets a challenging example to many of us, whose most frequent complaint is the weak state of the brotherhood’s members. If the reference is to a damaged and smoky candlestick, this becomes the more poignant- for the candlestick was a clear symbol of Israel and then of the ecclesias (<a href='B:730 1:12-13'>Rev 1:12-13</a>; <a href='B:730 1:20'>Rev 1:20</a>; <a href='B:730 2:1'>Rev 2:1</a>).</p><h4>When judgment is finally cast out by mercy at the last day, then the dysfunctional candlestick will be quenched or destroyed in condemnation. Note how the metaphor of quenching a fire is used here for condemnation; but in another metaphor, condemnation is spoken of as the very opposite- unquenchable fire. This is sure proof that we are not to read ’unquenchable fire’ as literal.</h4>


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<h4>He will not fail nor be discouraged until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law- LXX "He shall shine out". The Lord’s patience with the useless candlestick of Israel and the weakness of the ecclesia (see on :3) will be "until" His final victory over judgment. That happened in one sense on the cross, but in another sense it will only happen when death is swallowed up in victory at the day of judgment. Until then, both He and us are to patiently bear with the damaged and dysfunctional ecclesial candlestick. But in that day, those elements of the candlestick which refuse to give light to the house will be "broken", the Greek in <a href='B:470 12:20'>Mat 12:20</a> meaning ’broken in pieces’- the language of condemnation (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>).</h4><h4>Ezra, Nehemiah, Joshua, Zerubbabel::. all overlooked the encouragement of <a href='B:290 42:4'>Isa 42:4</a> concerning the servant-Messiah: “He shall not fail nor be discouraged”. Of course, the Lord Jesus Himself, along with these earlier potential Messiahs, could have failed and been discouraged. This was a conditional prophecy, if ever there was one. But the Lord Jesus made it real and live in His own experience; the others assumed, as we so often do, that these kind of scriptures are meant for someone other than us. Just as so many in the world assume that the good news of the Kingdom applies to us who preach it, and it must be very nice for us:::but refuse to let the personal reality of it sink in for them.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says God Yahweh, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, He who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it- The simple fact we are created by God means that we are responsible to God in some sense, and therefore liable to His judgment. The stretched out hand of God is used as a figure both for His judgment of man (<a href='B:290 31:3'>Isa 31:3</a>) and also for His creation of man (<a href='B:290 40:22'>Isa 40:22</a>; <a href='B:290 42:5'>Isa 42:5</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 45:12'>Isa 45:12</a>; <a href='B:290 51:13'>Isa 51:13</a>). The knowledge that we are created by Him makes us responsible to His judgment, and we have to look at our bodies, our lives which He has created… and act accordingly.</h4><p>He who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it- This is the same phrase regarding how God’s Spirit is given or "put" (s:w:) in the Messianic Saviour figure of :1. The idea is that all the people in this new system will also have the Spirit put within them; and the ame phrase is used of the Spirit being potentially "put" or "given" in the restored exiles (<a href='B:330 37:6'>Eze 37:6</a>; <a href='B:330 37:14'>Eze 37:14</a>). They were to all have the Spirit of the servant saviour. This has now come to fulfilment in the spirit of Christ being the sustaining force in the new creation, and will be more literally manifest in the reestablishment of the Kingdom at the last day.</p><h4>But the reference is also to the simple fact that God created the heavens, earth and man upon it. And this means we should use our lives to come into covenant relationship with our creator (:6). God "wrought us" as He did in order to enable us to have this longing. According to the Bible, the spirit of man is God’s. He gave us that life force, and at death "the spirit returns to God who gave it" (<a href='B:250 12:7'>Ecc 12:7</a>). If we seriously believe this, then we will see death as an opportunity to give back to God what He gave us, namely our very life force. If in our lives we followed this principle, realizing nothing we ’have’ is really ours but His, and therefore we were open handed with our possessions and knowledge of Him, freely giving it out as it were to Him, then giving back our life force to Him will be but a natural progression from this way of living. And thus we will see immortality not as something we personally crave for our own benefit, but rather a further opportunity to reflect back to Him, to His glory. Thus understanding Bible truth about death affects how we face death and eternity, and therefore radically influences our lives now.</h4>


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<p>I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations- The hands of God’s servants were held or [s:w:] strengthened at the return from exile (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:6'>Ezr 1:6</a>; <a href='B:150 6:22'>Ezr 6:22</a>; <a href='B:150 7:28'>Ezr 7:28</a>; <a href='B:160 2:18'>Neh 2:18</a>; <a href='B:160 6:9'>Neh 6:9</a>). They could then have fulfilled the Kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:290 35:3'>Isa 35:3</a> that the weak hands would be strengthened (s:w. "hold"). This taking by the hand would supremely have been through entering the new covenant; to give the hand was to enter covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:32'>Jer 31:32</a>). But these potentials were refused by the exiles. And so they became fulfilled in the Lord Jesus personally, who became the essence of the covenant and the light of the world.</p>


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<h4>to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison- 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 the Lord Jesus 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. Significantly, Isaiah 40-53 speak of the one servant, whereas Isaiah 54-66 speak of the plural “servants” who fulfill in principle the work of the singular servant.</h4><h4>Those who are thankfully redeemed in Christ, now lovingly reconciled to Him, are described as blind, starving prisoners, bound in the darkness, awaiting execution (<a href='B:230 107:14'>Psa 107:14</a>; <a href='B:290 42:7'>Isa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:9'>Isa 49:9</a>; <a href='B:290 61:1'>Isa 61:1</a>; <a href='B:450 9:11'>Zec 9:11</a>). Our prayers should be like those of a man on death row in a dark dungeon, waiting to die, but groaning for salvation (<a href='B:230 102:17'>Psa 102:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:20'>Psa 102:20</a>):&nbsp; This is the extent of our desperation. We are “the poor” (Gk. ‘the crouchers’), cringing in utter spiritual destitution (<a href='B:470 5:3'>Mat 5:3</a>).</h4>


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<p>I am Yahweh; that is My name. I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to engraved images- The implication is that the Jews had tried to praise Yahweh through praising their images. They never rejected Him, and yet they accepted idol worship. They achieved this in their conscience, as we can be tempted to do, by reasoning that idol worship was done in the name of Yahweh worship. But praise of Yahweh is because of His unique characteristics or Name, which no other idol has. Therefore as His Name is, so is His praise world-wide (<a href='B:230 48:10'>Psa 48:10</a>); beyond the barriers of distance and language, those who know the Name are united in praise. <a href='B:290 42:8'>Isa 42:8</a> speaks as if God’s Name is itself His praise, so strong and inevitable is the link between knowing His Name and praising it. Therefore "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name" (<a href='B:230 29:2'>Psa 29:2</a>) suggests that the Name of Yahweh demands praise from us. To simply declare the Name is of itself to praise (<a href='B:650 2:12'>Heb 2:12</a>). This explains why at least 15 times in the Psalms and often elsewhere, praise is to be given to God’s Name (<a href='B:230 7:17'>Psa 7:17</a>; <a href='B:230 9:2'>Psa 9:2</a>; <a href='B:230 44:8'>Psa 44:8</a>; <a href='B:230 54:6'>Psa 54:6</a>; <a href='B:230 61:8'>Psa 61:8</a>; <a href='B:230 69:30'>Psa 69:30</a>; <a href='B:230 74:21'>Psa 74:21</a>; <a href='B:230 99:3'>Psa 99:3</a>; <a href='B:230 113:1'>Psa 113:1</a>; <a href='B:230 135:1'>Psa 135:1</a>; <a href='B:230 138:2'>Psa 138:2</a>; <a href='B:230 142:7'>Psa 142:7</a>; <a href='B:230 145:2'>Psa 145:2</a>; <a href='B:230 148:5'>Psa 148:5</a>; <a href='B:230 148:13'>Psa 148:13</a>; <a href='B:230 149:3'>Psa 149:3</a>).</p>


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<p>Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up- As explained on <a href='B:290 41:22'>Isa 41:22</a>, the emphasis and flavour of the words used is not upon prediction but rather explanation, of attaching meaning to event. God alone can provide such explanation of both past and future events according to the far reaching narrative found in the prophets. The idol religions explained just a few isolated incidents. This is what is unique about the one true God- that He alone attaches meaning to event, both in personal and collective life, and indeed to all human history. Whether we correctly perceive it is another question, but He alone does this and holds the masterplan.</p>


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<h4>Sing to Yahweh a new song- We sing the “new song” now, because we sing / meditate of the “new things” which will be in the Kingdom. In that day, we will “sing a new song” (<a href='B:730 5:9'>Rev 5:9</a>; <a href='B:730 14:3'>Rev 14:3</a>). And yet this is undoubtedly picking up on the way in which we can now sing the ‘new song’, every morning (<a href='B:230 33:3'>Psa 33:3</a>; <a href='B:230 40:3'>Psa 40:3</a>; <a href='B:230 96:1'>Psa 96:1</a>; <a href='B:230 98:1'>Psa 98:1</a>; <a href='B:230 144:9'>Psa 144:9</a>; <a href='B:230 149:1'>Psa 149:1</a>). Likewise, all things will be made new at the Lord’s coming (<a href='B:730 21:5'>Rev 21:5</a>), and yet those in whom the new creation is worked out already have all things made new in their spiritual experience (<a href='B:540 5:17-18'>2Co 5:17-18</a>). The life that He had and now lives is the essence of the Kingdom life. Who He was and is, this is the definition of the Kingdom life. It’s why one of His titles is “the kingdom of God” (<a href='B:490 17:21'>Luk 17:21</a>). And it’s why it can be said that we‘have’ eternal life now, in that we can live the essence of the life we will eternally live, right now.</h4><h4>And His praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants- The frequent mention of the ends of the earth / land is understandable, because the exiles were located, both those of Israel and Judah. They along with the repentant remnant of the Gentiles were intended to unite together as a new multiethnic people of God in a restored Kingdom:&nbsp;</h4>


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<h4>Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits- <a href='B:290 21:13-16'>Isa 21:13-16</a> mentions these areas as those who will have remnants who survive and are envisaged as repenting and turning to Yahweh. Even remote Bedouin villages will accept Israel’s God.</h4><h4>Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains!- "The inhabitants of the rock"; the reference is probably to Petra, which like "Sela" means "rock". Even Edom, the sworn enemy of Israel and Yahweh, would ultimately have a remnant who turn to Yahweh; although this and :12 may be an invitation for them to do so, a call for their repentance.</h4>


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<h4>Let them give glory to Yahweh- Connecting with <a href='B:290 42:8'>Isa 42:8</a>, the "them" is those who have now quit idolatry.</h4><h4>And declare His praise in the islands- The same phrase only in <a href='B:230 51:15'>Psa 51:15</a> about David’s praise of Yahweh after his repentance; and it again is repentance which is in view here.</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh will go out like a mighty man, He will stir up- Yet 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 "mighty man". 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.</h4><h4>Zeal like a man of war, He will raise a war cry. Yes, He will shout aloud, He will triumph over His enemies- The Hebrew word translated "zeal" in the context of God’s zeal for us (<a href='B:290 9:8'>Isa 9:8</a>) really means the jealousy which flares up in a man for a woman (the same word is in <a href='B:40 5:14-15'>Num 5:14-15</a>; <a href='B:240 6:34'>Pro 6:34</a>; <a href='B:260 8:6'>Son 8:6</a> etc:). That jealousy burning like fire (<a href='B:230 79:5'>Psa 79:5</a>) is His passion for us His people. He is a jealous God in His zeal for us; and therefore any other relationships with the things of this world cannot be contemplated by us. That zeal of God will be poured out upon us at the second coming, resulting in a consummation with Him as the wife of His covenant (<a href='B:290 42:13-14'>Isa 42:13-14</a>; <a href='B:290 64:1'>Isa 64:1</a>). This is a figure which would be unseemly for a man to devise. But this is His passion for us, which the humility of God drives Him to use; and surely it will one day be revealed. To use this very figure of a man in love and consummating his relationship in marriage is so apparently inappropriate that it reflects the humility of God in even considering the use of it. We are God’s heritage, His reward / wages (Heb:), His recompense for all His labour for us (<a href='B:230 127:3'>Psa 127:3</a> Heb:).</h4>


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<h4>I have been silent a long time, I have been quiet and restrained Myself; now I will cry out like a travailing woman, I will both gasp and pant- Insofar as we realize that God is not passive, but has feelings toward us far more deep and passionate than we can ever know, so far we will realize that life with Him is a daily, passionate experience. It cannot be ‘the same old scene’. Consider the passion of God: “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant” (Isaiah 42). “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? My heart is changed within me; All my compassion is aroused” (Hosea). The prophets are full of such passionate intensity. The prophets are not just predictions of the future. They reveal the passion of God’s feelings for His people. At the very time when He condemns them for their adultery against Him, their ingratitude, their worthlessness, He cries out His belief in the blessedness He will one day grace them with.</h4><h4>God’s long term ’holding His peace’ at Israel’s sins resulted in a build up of internal forces within God: "For a long time have I held my peace::. restrained myself, now will I cry out like a woman in travail, I will gasp and pant" (<a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>; <a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). God crying out, gasping, panting::. leads straight on, in the context, to the suffering servant. This is the same idea as God’s heart growing warm and being kindled in internal struggle about His people in <a href='B:350 11:8-9'>Hos 11:8-9</a>. And all this went on supremely at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. We note His eagerness to compare Himself to a woman in labour, who stereotypically was veiled from male observation and identity with.</h4>


text:
<p>I will destroy mountains and hills and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands and will dry up the pools- This looks forward to the literal changes in the eretz promised to Abraham spoken of in Isaiah’s ’little apocalypse’ in Isaiah 24. Politically this will mean the collapse of all mountains or nations within that territory. God’s mountain of the Daniel 2 vision is to be over all. We note that "islands", a common word in Isaiah, here simply means the dry land where non-Israelite people live within the eretz.</p>


text:
<h4>I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know, I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them- This is the message of Isaiah 40; that a&nbsp; way would be made for the exiles to return. This is the scene of <a href='B:300 31:8'>Jer 31:8</a>, where the blind and limping Jacob and his family are brought back to the land from exile in the east. The literal way or path was also to be a spiritual path which they had not then yet known; for the blindness here is essentially spiritual (:18). It was all by grace; they would be returned despite their unbelief and impenitence. Their crooked ways would be made straight in that God would as it were make their ways straight.</h4><h4>But this huge spiritual potential was unused by the few exiles who did return. And so these things are reapplied to the way of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus warned that the blind cannot lead the blind- and explained what He meant by adding that "The disciple is not above his master: but every one when he is perfected shall be as his master" (<a href='B:490 6:39-40'>Luk 6:39-40</a>). We are all learners of the one Master, and not leaders. Only if we are perfect can we be leaders of the blind- for it is Jesus personally who was prophesied as leading the blind (<a href='B:290 42:16'>Isa 42:16</a>). Hence we read in <a href='B:470 23:10'>Mat 23:10</a>: "Nor should you be called ’Leader,’ because your one and only leader is the Messiah".</h4>


text:
<p>Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed- "Turned back" is the phrase used in <a href='B:230 129:5'>Psa 129:5</a> of the Assyrians who hated Zion being turned back to their own land. But it also applies to thosewithin Judah who were idolaters. Their judgment will be at the same time as that of their national enemies. For they worshipped the same idols as their enemies. But the term essentially means ’to backslide’ in moral apostasy (<a href='B:290 50:5'>Isa 50:5</a> s:w:). How they lived in their lives will be how they are at judgment day. They will not suddenly appear as different people. "Utterly disappointed" is better ’greatly shamed’, the shame of condemnation, of realizing that all human political help has come to nothing (s:w. <a href='B:290 30:5'>Isa 30:5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:26'>Jer 2:26</a>); that the way and trust of a lifetime has come to nothing:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see- LXX "Look up, ye blind, to see"; if there was a desire to see, shown by looking up; then they would see. These are the spiritually blind of :16, the exiles who by grace were to experience the psychological transformation of the Spirit which is part of accepting the new covenant. But they must have the desire to see and hear; and the exiles didn’t even have that (see on <a href='B:290 48:8'>Isa 48:8</a>). And so this becomes true of a new, repentant Israel in our days and the last day:&nbsp;</p>


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<h4>Who is blind, but My servant? Or who is as deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?- see on <a href='B:290 44:2'>Isa 44:2</a>. The spiritual transformation of the blind and deaf was to be on account of their identification with the servant of Yahweh who was representative of them in their blindness. This may have had potential fulfilment in Isaiah, but Judah refused this. 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.</h4><h4>The servant-Messiah is described as being blind and deaf (<a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>)- just as those who returned from Babylon were called blind, yet having eyes; deaf, yet having ears (<a href='B:290 43:8'>Isa 43:8</a>). They had the potential to see and hear; and the servant-Messiah likewise was at that time deaf and blind, but had the potential to see and hear with the vision and words of Messiah. It is hard to understand these words otherwise. So we conclude that another reason why the restoration didn’t turn into the promised Messianic Kingdom was simply due to poor leadership. Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah returned from Babylon and were intended to be leaders who would crown Joshua / Jesus as the Messiah-Priest-Branch who would rebuild Jerusalem. But nothing is heard of them further. Perhaps it is to them that <a href='B:450 11:8'>Zec 11:8</a> refers: “Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them…then said I [on God’s behalf], I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die”. They had gone into captivity because of poor shepherds, and now at their return they again lacked men willing to be their Saviours; and God is saying that He would not do the shepherding job which He had delegated to others. It could be that Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah all died in one month as a result of Zechariah’s prophecy at the time of <a href='B:150 5:1'>Ezr 5:1</a>. Or it could be that the three potential shepherds who failed were Zerubbabel, Joshua and Nehemiah.</h4><p>And so the blind and deaf servant came to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. Because the Lord on the cross truly felt a sinner, He felt forsaken by God. This is to me the explanation of one of Scripture’s most enigmatic verses: “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? Or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?"(<a href='B:290 42:18-19'>Isa 42:18-19</a>). The Lord Jesus, as the servant, was to share the blindness and deafness of an obdurate Israel. He identified with us even in our sinfulness; and yet He was the blind who was perfect; and this is the very thing that empowers the spiritually blind to see.</p><p>Jeremiah mourned Israel’s lack of spiritual sensitivity and failure to live up to their potential- they had eyes, but didn’t see (<a href='B:300 5:23'>Jer 5:23</a>), they wereGod’s servant, but a blind one; His messenger, but unable to hear any message (<a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>). So the prophets weren’t satisfied just because a minority responded to their message of God’s love. They were heartbroken because the majority rejected it. I suspect we tend to think that 1 response in 1000 is good, 1 in 10,000 isn’t bad. But what about the other 999, or 9,999, who receive our tracts, hit our websites, hear our witness- and don’t respond? Is our witness in the spirit of the prophets? Are we happy that the tiny minority respond, and don’t spare a thought for the tragedy of the majority who don’t? Not only their tragedy, but the tragedy for God?</p><h4>&nbsp;There is a real paradox here: a blind servant, or slave. What master would keep a blind servant? Only a master who truly loved him, and kept him on as his servant by pure grace. Yet this useless blind servant was God’s servant and messenger- even though the blind were not acceptable as servants or sacrifices of God under the Law (<a href='B:30 21:18'>Lev 21:18</a>; <a href='B:30 21:22'>Lev 21:22</a>)! God uses His spiritually blind servant people to proclaim His message to the world. The disciples, still blind to the call of the Gentiles, were sent out to preach to the whole world! And we too, blind as we are, are turning men from blindness to light. Paul points out the humility which we should therefore have in our preaching: there are none that truly understand, that really see; we are all blind. And yet we are"a guide of the blind, a light to them that sit in darkness"(<a href='B:520 2:19'>Rom 2:19</a>). Therefore we ought to help the blind with an appropriate sense of our own blindness. The first century Jewish Christians failed utterly in this. And sadly much of our earlier Christian preaching was not accompanied by an awareness of our own limited spiritual horizons and vision:&nbsp;</h4>


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<p>You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen- LXX"Ye have often seen, and have not taken heed; your ears have been opened, and ye have not heard". If they desired to see and hear, then the gift of the Spirit would have opened their eyes and ears (see on :18). But they didn’t show any desire to be spiritually perceptive. And so the opening of eyes didn’t happen. The gift of the Spirit works likewise today. The Corinthians were given the Spirit, but were not"spiritual"(<a href='B:530 3:1'>1Co 3:1</a>) because they refused its operation. And this can be true of all who have been baptized and potentially received the gift of the Spirit.</p>


