In ‘a’ we have a woe to ‘the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley’, and in the parallel what is to happen to their crown, their fading flower and the head of the fat valley. In ‘b’ we have the Lord’s mighty and strong one, and in the parallel what he will do. In ‘c’ we have comparative descriptions.

28.1

A woe is called on Samaria. because of its ‘crown of pride’. It is within God’s sights for judgment, and the reason for it is clearly revealed. It is like a crowned ‘king of the festival’, slumped on his throne, and yet drunkenly proud, who in his drunken state wears, with inordinate pride, a crown which was once beautiful but was now a faded and wilted garland of dying flowers, and is unaware of his true condition.

The fat valley is probably to be seen as that outside Samaria with its fertile fields and terraced vineyards. Its ‘head’ is the proud city of Samaria, perched on its hill. It is pictured as proudly wearing the garland crown as it drunkenly celebrates, depicting the residents of Samaria, ‘the drunkards of Ephraim’, as behaving as though they were in a permanently inebriated condition. It is a sad picture, for its supposed glorious beauty, its flowered crown of which it is so ridiculously proud, is seen on closer inspection to be made up of but fading, wilting flowers. It is a crown only the foolishly drunken could be proud of, for although worn with drunken pride it is made up of the wilting blooms which are a pathetic last remnants of good days gone by, which would have been discarded by any but those well inebriated.

So the residents of Ephraim are pictured as proud, but not justly so, because in their pride they behave like inebriated sots, proud in spite of being in a dishevelled and careless condition, and glorying in folly and in a faded past. They fail to see what they really are. But they are too proud to turn to Yahweh. Compare here 9.8-12 where a similar attitude is revealed. Ephraim, as the largest tribe numerically in the northern kingdom, here represents Israel, and thus reveals Israel as a whole to be in a sad condition.

28.2-4

In contrast to these proud and drunken fools is the sovereign Lord’s ‘mighty and strong one’. Previously they had been chastised by the invasions of Syria and Philistia (9.12), now they will have to face a greater. He is in perfect condition and comes to cast Samaria down to earth with his hand, descending on them like a tempest of hail, like a destroying storm, like a tempest of mighty waters overflowing. The dreadful storm and hail pour down on them and soon produce the fearsome flash floods which overwhelm them.

And he will tread underfoot Ephraim’s proud but wilting crown, and eat up the contents of the faded garland, in the same way as someone who notices the first ripe fig, casually picks it and eats it up immediately. Her pride will have collapsed. It will be all over in moments, plucked by a stranger.

There can be little doubt that Assyria is in mind here, but Isaiah keeps it deliberately anonymous. He is concerned that all should recognise that this is the hand of the sovereign Lord, Yahweh. Yahweh could have used whoever He wanted to. It is a further reminder that Assyria is His, to do with as He will, and that it is at His behest that they are ‘the rod of His anger’ (10.5).

Flash Forward - The Coming Day of Deliverance (28.5).

In the future Yahweh will have a proper crown available for those who serve Him.

Analysis.

• a In that day will Yahweh of hosts be for a crown of glory (5a).
• b And for a diadem of beauty, to the residue of His people (5b).
• b And for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment (6a).
• a And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate (6b).

In ‘a’ Yahweh will be ‘for a crown of glory’, and in the parallel will be ‘for strength’ for those who defend His city. In ‘b’ He will be a diadem of beauty, and in the parallel a spirit of judgment.

28.5-6

Suddenly in true Isaianic fashion we have a flash forward to the coming day when God will deliver His people. However dark the horizon Isaiah wishes to stress that beyond it is always Yahweh’s deliverance for the remnant. The false crown of Samaria has brought to mind the true crown which His true people will receive, and the comparison is made accordingly. This therefore looks back to verses 1-4. However the ‘spirit of judgment’ looks forward to the following verses.

‘In that day’, that is, whenever Yahweh steps in to deliver. The same pictures are used as in verses 1-4 but this time they indicate something that is real and precious and lasting. One day Yahweh will be for a true crown of glory (not a crown of misplaced pride) and a genuine diadem of beauty (not a wilting diadem of flowers) to the residue of His people, one that they can truly wear with ‘pride’. Judgment may be coming but it will produce a residue, (but only a residue), on behalf of whom God can act. Gone will be the false pride and the wilting flowers of the past, replaced by this genuine glorious crown and beauteous diadem.

Then ‘the one who sits in judgment’ will be filled with a spirit of judgment so that his judgments are in accordance with the divine will. This is in deep contrast to the present when His people can only learn little by little. Associated as this one is with the crown and the diadem, and spoken of in the singular, Isaiah may well have in mind here the coming Prince, the son of David (7.14; 9.6; 11.1). For He is the One who is coming to rule and will be given the spirit of wisdom in judgment (11.1-5).

Furthermore, those who guard the ‘weak point’, the gate, of the strong city (26.1) will have the strength of Yahweh and be able to turn back any attack. It will no longer be a weak point. So in that day both prince and people will be strong with Yahweh’s strength. Many, however, see it as referring to taking the battle to the gates of their enemies. Either way the point is that He will give certain victory.

Back To the Present. The Condition of Judah (28.7-8).

Many view this movement back to the present as commencing a reference to Judah (see verse 14), as against Israel in verses 1-4, which would explain the reason for the intervention, which was to turn attention to the coming David and the strong city. Isaiah now points out that their leaders are too much involved in overmuch drinking to come to sensible decisions. Their riposte will be to accuse him of speaking to them as though they were children, to which he will reply that as they will not rest in Yahweh they will fall into His snare.

Analysis.

• a But these also have erred through wine, and have gone astray through strong drink (7a).
• b The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they have gone astray through strong drink (7b).
• b They err in vision, they stumble in judgment (7c).
• a For all tables are filled with vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean (8).

Note how the second item covers the same ground as the first in reverse, but with an added feature, although applying it to priest and prophet. The spirit of judgment is lacking, replaced by strong drink. The writer’s pattern is complicated. Note how in ‘a’ they have been surfeited in wine and strong drink, and in the parallel it has made them filthy their surroundings with their vomit. In ‘b’ priest and prophet have erred and gone astray and in the parallel they have erred in vision (prophets) and stumbled (failure of the teaching of the priests).

28.7-8

‘These also’ refers back to the one who sits in judgment and those who guard the gates, the people of Judah. Those who are presently in this position are not guided by the spirit of judgment, they are guided by false ‘spirit’, by wine and strong drink. Whether the people turn to priest or prophet they will discover the same. Their judgments (the responsibility of priests - Malachi 2.5-7) and their vision (the responsibility of prophets) err because they are under the influence of drink, soaked in it, swallowed up by it, and going astray. They stumble in their judgments, and spew out the contents of their stomachs. So bad is the situation that, when they are at table, the table is covered with their vomit and their filth. Thus all is unclean.

There could not be a worse picture of debility. Here they are gathered to make decisions on behalf of God’s people, but they appear hopelessly drunk. Thus they stumble in judgment, they stumble in vision, and they behave disgustingly. They vomit all over the table. All is filthy with no place clean. It is like a pigsty. The picture is of those unfit to govern. It is only later that we discover wherein they err. They look to Egypt for help against Assyria rather than to Yahweh. But at this point Isaiah is more concerned to point out that they are cut off from Yahweh in all their deliberations by their condition. God is disgusted with them.

His Opponent Mock Isaiah’s Teaching (28.9-13).

Isaiah’s opponents mock him because all that he does is proclaim a repetitive message. In their view that is to treat them like children. But his reply is that God will indeed speak to them through what they see as babbling, because He will bring against them people who speak in a strange tongue, which to them will seem like babbling. And this will happen because they have refused the rest that He has repeatedly offered them. And the result can only be disaster.

Analysis.

• a To whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make to understand the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? (9).
• b For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little (10).
• c No, but with babbling lips and with a different tongue, will he speak to this people (11).
• c To whom he has said, “This is rest, give rest to the weary, and this is a resting place”, but they would not hear (12).
• b Therefore will the word of Yahweh be to them, “Tsaw latsaw tsaw latsaw, kaw lakaw kaw lakaw, ze‘er sham ze‘er sham” (precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little) (13a).
• a That they may go and fall backwards, and be broken and snared and taken (13b).

In ‘a’ they mock him declaring that his teaching can only be for babes, and in the parallel like babes they try to ‘go’, fall over backwards, and are ensnared. In ‘b’ his message is repetitive and in the parallel the word of Yahweh is repetitive to them. In ‘c’ he speaks to the people as with babbling lips, and with a different tongue (because they have been exiled abroad in a place where there is no rest), and that because in the parallel they would not hear his message of rest in their resting place.

28.9-10

In their drunken state the leaders reply by deriding Isaiah. They see themselves as wiser and more superior in thought than he is. They think that he clearly does not understand politics. They ask, to whom then should he convey his knowledge, to whom should he give his message? Who is there who can possibly be expected to listen to what he wants to tell them? Their answer is that it can only be those who are so young that they have just been weaned from their milk, or even recently withdrawn from the breast. For what he says is like rote teaching, constant repetition, a message that never changes, elementary repetitive words unfit for grown men, with a bit here and a bit there added as words are seen to be remembered, but constantly repeated over and over again. (For all he can say is ‘trust in Yahweh, trust in Yahweh, trust in Yahweh’, but that is for children. People today say the same thing about the Gospel).

‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.’ That is he teaches in an elementary fashion and by rote. The Hebrew is ‘tsaw latsaw tsaw latsaw kaw lakaw kaw lakaw ze‘er sham ze‘er sham’, a clear example of childish rote learning or even a baby’s babbling. So they deliberately insult him saying, ‘he just goes on and on saying tsaw latsaw tsaw latsaw kaw lakaw kaw lakaw ze‘er sham ze‘er sham’. He just teaches repetitively at a child’s level or even as a babbling baby.

28.11-12

The stern reply comes back. He has offered them the option of resting in Yahweh, and of helping their weary subjects by giving them rest. Indeed he has offered them a complete resting place in Yahweh (see verse 16; 7.4; 26.3-4; 30.15). Note the deliberate repetitiveness of ‘rest’ and ‘resting place’, sarcastically confirming what they say. But they still will not listen to him, and instead accuse him of babbling. So be it, is his reply. God will in turn speak to them through babbling lips in a foreign tongue. In other words He will now speak to them in Assyrian (Akkadian)!! God’s word will come through the strange foreign words of Assyrian generals, and by action through the Assyrian invasion. And they will have to learn them in exile once they are taken to Assyria. The Assyrian ‘words’ from Yahweh will be difficult to understand and even more difficult to accept, but they will certainly speak powerfully.

28.13

So Yahweh’s word to them will appear like the meaningless repetition that they have accused him of. Thus because they will not listen they will go and fall backwards into the camouflaged trap prepared for them where their bodies will be broken and they will be ensnared and captured. The picture is of the hunter’s pit with its wooden pointed stakes waiting to receive them. There may also be in mind the unsteadiness of a babe on its feet.

“Tsaw latsaw tsaw latsaw, kaw lakaw kaw lakaw, ze‘er sham ze‘er sham.” That is, ‘line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.’ They might mock in this way, but in fact this is how spiritual growth takes place, learning verse upon verse, doctrine upon doctrine, here a little, there a little, until we grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

But in context it is a reminder to us that if we treat God’s word to us as fit only for children we can only expect devastating consequences.

Isaiah Sternly Warns About The Threatening Future If They Will Not Look to God’s Sure Foundation (28.14-22).

The leaders of Judah reply that they are not afraid of his threats because they have got it all worked out. They have an agreement with Egypt to come to their assistance, while meanwhile keeping the king of Assyria happy with deceitful words. Isaiah points out that that is to have a covenant with death and the grave (Sheol). What they should rather be doing is looking to the foundation stone that God will lay in Jerusalem (to Immanuel). If they looked ahead to His coming then they would accept their present situation and not be in such a hurry to be ‘free’. As it is their machinations will only result in disaster for them.

Analysis.

• a For this reason hear the word of Yahweh, you scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem. Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hidden ourselves” (14-15).
• b Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone giving a sure foundation, and he who trusts will not be in a hurry (16).
• c And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet, and the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death will be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand (17-18a).
• d When the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trodden down by it (18b).
• d As often as it passes through it will take you, for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night (19a).
• c And it will be nought but terror to understand the news. For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it (19b-20).
• b For Yahweh will rise up as in Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring about His act, His strange act (21).
• a Now therefore do not be scornful men, lest your bands be made strong. For a consummation, and that determined, have I heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, on the whole earth (22).

In ‘a’ Yahweh speaks to the scornful men and in the parallel they are not to be scornful men. In ‘b’ Yahweh lays a sure foundation stone in Zion, and in the parallel He rises up to do His strange work and bring about His strange act. In ‘c’ He will make justice His plumbline and sweep away their false agreements with death and the grave because they are incompatible with His will and in the parallel they will find their resting places incompatible so that the news can only bring them terror. In ‘d’ they will be trodden down by the overflowing scourge that passes through, and in the parallel when it passes through it will take them whether by night or by day.

28.14-15

‘For this reason.’ That is, because they have accused Isaiah of babbling and are therefore unable and unwilling to understand what God has to say to them and so are doomed to fall into a trap. Therefore let them hear what Yahweh has further to say.

Isaiah addresses them as ‘you scornful men’. This description is regularly found in Proverbs of those who are self-satisfied, beyond correction, arrogant and scornful of spiritual truth (Proverbs 1.22; 13.1; 14.9; 21.24; see also Psalm 1.1), as these have proved themselves to be.

They also rule Jerusalem. They sit in the place of the Davidic king, but it is quite apparent that their hearts are set in another direction than the service of Yahweh. They should be those by whom God’s Law goes out to the world (2.2-4), but instead they look to their own reputation and purposes. That is why Jerusalem will be subject to judgment, for great privilege brings great responsibility.

The words are not the ones that they would actually have spoken, but Isaiah’s ironic interpretation of them. They had probably boasted of their covenant with Egypt, but Isaiah interprets that as their making a covenant with death, and being in agreement with Sheol (the world of the grave), in other words as having received guarantees from death and Sheol that they would not touch them (see on verse 18). But if they were not fools they would have realised that death and Sheol are not to be trusted. Rather their mouths are open wide to receive them

They also boasted of the fact that ‘when the overflowing scourge passes through it will not come to us’, because they actually believed that Egypt would be able to turn the tide of Assyria. Isaiah, however was of a different mind. He knew from God that Egypt stood no chance against Assyria. ‘Overflowing scourge’ combines the idea of the scourge and the overflowing of a flood against which men have no hope. It will be a scourge of terrifying proportions.

‘For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hidden ourselves.’ This is again not what they said but Isaiah’s interpretation of it. This may refer to their deceiving of the Assyrian king, pretending one thing when doing another, or more likely it may be Isaiah’s way of indicating that their covenant, made with Egypt and its gods, was relying on something that was nothing but lies and deceit, the religious claims of Egypt. And yet the sad thing was that they would rather trust in these than in the living God, and His truth!

28.16

God’s reply is to set certainty against uncertainty. He declares that there is only one tried and tested thing to trust in. And that is the tested stone, the cornerstone of great value which gives a sure foundation and guarantees the stability of the building. This is the corner stone on which the whole building would depend. It is the everlasting rock (26.4) on which the strong city is founded.

But what is this tested stone, this sure foundation?

• 1). Probably primarily in mind is a looking forward to the rock of the coming son of David, ‘God’s anointed’, Immanuel, especially as described in 9.6, for when He comes all that is false will be swept away (verse 17), and He is mentioned again in 32.1; 33.17. This would tie in with the fact that as the coming Servant of Yahweh He would be a covenant of the people, in contrast to their false covenant. (See 42.6; 49.8; 55.3).
• 2). Alternately (or combined with 1) the thought may be of God Himself as the foundation to which they should look and in which they should believe in contrast to the false foundations they are laying.
• 3). A third possibility is that the tested stone may be Mount Zion, His mysterious dwelling-place which is in both heaven and earth, and is the way to God and to the fulfilment of the promises concerning Immanuel.
• 4). Fourthly the tried and trusted stone could be the statement with which the sentence ends, translating ‘that is to say, he who trusts will not be in a hurry’. This last would include the other three, for the whole point of the statement is that the faith must be in God and His promises, including the promise of the coming Immanuel.

Whichever it is it confirms that whoever trusts in what God has provided will not be in a hurry to seek alternative security, whether in Egypt or anywhere else. They will rest confidently in Him, because He provides a firm foundation.

Indeed like many promises of God it could have a near and far view thus having both a present and a future significance. It could be intended first to turn their thoughts on God and their need for firm trust in Him alone, and their need to be founded on Him, and then to look ahead also to its wider fulfilment in the God-sent One Whom Isaiah had promised, the coming Immanuel (God with us - 7.14; 9.6-7; 11.1-4), which is indeed all tied up in true faith in God. Certainly we may see its supreme fulfilment in Jesus Christ, for when He came from God He became the foundation stone in which men could trust and on which they could be established with confidence and certainty (see 1 Peter 2.4-6; Matthew 21.42; Romans 9.33; 1 Corinthians 3.11-12; Ephesians 2.20).

The word for stone (‘bohan’) is possibly an Egyptian loan word and signifies an especially hard stone suitable for carving. What was to be seen as being carved on it may well have been ‘he who believes will not be in a hurry’.

28.17-18

Having laid His foundation stone God now declares that He will use justice and righteousness as tools with which to measure the population of his strong city. There can be no deceit there. All must be above board and morally true. It is a city of righteousness, the faithful city (1.26). Thus each who would enter its gates must be measured to determine their worthiness to be there.

Meanwhile on this basis their refuge of lies will be swept away by hail, and the hiding place of falsehood will be overflowed by floodwater, both regular symbols of the judgment of God. This possibly refers to the defeat of Pharaoh’s army by the Assyrians. Compare how the activities of the Assyrians are described in these terms in verse 2. Furthermore the covenant with death will be disannulled, and the agreement with Sheol cancelled, for man cannot determine his own destiny. The day of his death is in the hands of God.

‘When the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trodden down by it.’ The fact that it will ‘tread them down’ reveals that the overflowing scourge is indeed the army of the king of Assyria. The symbol is no longer being figuratively applied.

28.19-20

The overflowing scourge will continually pass through, morning by morning, and by day and night. The Assyrian annals in fact report that their armies did make numerous and constant returns to the same areas, every return being accompanied by massive slaughter and pillage. The steady blows of such attacks would create a sense of terror as the next visit was anticipated. And as the news reached them of the next advance their hearts would quail within them.

‘For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.’ They had rejected God’s resting place (verse 12) and now the bed that they had made for themselves was distinctly uncomfortable. But having prepared it they had to lie on it, even though it was both unpleasant and ill fitting. They could not stretch comfortably on it because it was too short. They could not curl up on it because their covering was too narrow. They had sentenced themselves to night-long misery. How different it was from Yahweh’s foundation stone.

28.21

It was at Mount Perazim that Yahweh arose on behalf of David against the Philistines on their first invasion against him as king and broke them (1 Chronicles 14.8-12). And at Gibeon He again intervened on David’s behalf so that David achieved another important victory (1 Chronicles 14. 13-16). These deliverances were vital occasions, and they established Israel and were the foundation of David’s kingship. So Yahweh declares that here again He will arise and act, but this time it will be a strange work and a strange act that He performs. For it will not be on behalf of His people but against them. He will work and act in His anger so as to punish them, for His anger will this time be directed against His own people and not against the enemy.

Each nation expected their gods to favour them and to defeat the enemy. Judah too looked to Yahweh to do the same for them, although their alliances demonstrated that they did not really have much confidence in Him to do so. But things have got to a state where He will not do so. Because they would not trust Him He will do the opposite, so that they might learn to trust. He will bring their enemy against them. He will arrange for them to be taken into captivity, so that they might be faced with their own wrongdoing and unbelief.

28.22

So Isaiah makes a final plea for these men to themselves cease being scornful men, lest the worst come on them. The bands being made strong might refer to future threatened captivity, or to their becoming finally bound in the state in which they now are so that there is no hope of repentance. Both are in fact connected (compare 6.9-12). And this plea is in the light of the fact that a consummation is coming, one which is set and determined (compare 10.23) which will affect the whole known earth (or ‘the whole land’), as he has been informed by the One Who is the sovereign Lord, Yahweh of hosts Himself.

The word for ‘consummation’ regularly means ‘a full end’ or a ‘set purpose’. The thought therefore here is of something momentous, purposed by God. In the light of the captivity of Israel, this may well signify his awareness that Judah faces the same prospect of exile (39.6-7).

The Parable of the Farmer and his Crops (28.23-29).

The point behind this parable is that the wise farmer thinks carefully about what he is doing and does not get bogged down in one activity. He looks at things as a whole, and does each thing in its proper course, ready to change as the occasion demands. He is fully flexible. In the same way these men of Jerusalem should consider that now is the time for a change. They should cease to look to other nations and should look instead to Yahweh, as the farmer does. For now is Yahweh’s day, and God has great purposes for Israel if only they will take note of what He is saying.

We must remember that the purpose behind all Isaiah’s words is not to ‘foretell the future’. It is to speak of the future in order that it might stir to action. Every revelation should cause his hearers to think again of what God would do through them if only they would respond rightly to Him.

Analysis.

• a Give ear, and hear my voice. Listen, and hear what I say (my speech) (23).
• b Does the ploughman plough continually in order to sow? Does he continually open and break the clods of the ground? (24).
• c When he has levelled and broken up its surface (literally ‘made plain its face’), does he not cast abroad the dill, and scatter the cummin (25a).
• d And put the wheat in rows and the barley in its appointed place, and the spelt in its border? (25b).
• e For his God instructs him aright and teaches him (26).
• d For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, nor is a threshing wheel revolved over the cummin (27a).
• c But the dill are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod (27b)..
• b Bread corn is ground, for he will not be ever threshing it, and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, it does not grind it (28).
• a This also comes from Yahweh of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom (29).

In ‘a’ they are to listen to Yahweh’s voice, and in the parallel the wisdom and counsel comes from Yahweh. In ‘b’ the ploughman does not restrict himself to the initial action of ploughing, and in the preparation of the grain in the parallel he does not restrict himself to the initial threshing. In ‘c’ he does not sow the dill and cummin, and in the parallel the dill and cummin are beaten out with a rod. In ‘d’ everything is put in its appointed place, and in the parallel the dill and cummin are treated in the appointed way. And in ‘e’ all is done according to the wisdom provided by Yahweh.

28.23-24

Isaiah calls for careful attention to what he will now say. His first question is, does the farmer never do anything but plough? Does he only ever break up the ground? The answer he expects is, “Of course not.” Otherwise he would never achieve anything.

28.25-26

We must remember that each farmer had only a comparatively small patch in which he had to grow his different crops, somewhat like a large market garden. He had to decide what to plant in each section and arrange carefully so that he produced all the crops he needed using all available space, which would come to fruition at different times. Thus he takes each type of seed and carefully sows it in the place which he has determined, different types of herbs or different types of grain in different places, even planning which will be sown on the border. This is because God gives him wisdom and shows him what to do. The hint is that that too is what these men of Jerusalem should be doing. Listening to God’s voice and planning accordingly.

‘In rows’ and ‘in its appointed place’ are two Hebrew technical farming terms and any translations are simply guesswork. (Even LXX omitted them not knowing what they meant). We do not know exactly what they mean, but the idea is clear. Each crop is dealt with in the appropriate way.

28.27-29

But once he has planted it the farmer does not leave matters like that. He plans ahead. Later he will deal with each crop as it requires. He does not thresh the dill with a sharp instrument like a threshingsledge, rather he beats it with a staff. He does not revolve a threshing wheel over the cummin, he beats it with a rod. He threshes the corn (with his sharp instrument), but he does not go on threshing it forever. He then grinds it ready for use. The wheel of his cart and his horses scatter the seed, but the wheel does not grind it. (Something was probably fitted to the wheel to aid the process of threshing).

So each thing is dealt with according to requirements, and each is dealt with differently. Each instrument has its purpose and must be used correctly. And all this, as guided by God, is extremely good advice and very wise. In the same way should the men of Jerusalem consider whether they are using the right instruments for what they are about to do, whether trust in Egypt or trust in Yahweh. For that too is wise advice.

There is possibly also an indirect threat here that God will have to plough up Judah if it is not responsive to His guidance. Unlike Samaria it still had the option, and God is pointing out that as the Great Farmer He is quite ready to deal differently with Judah if the situation warrants it.

It has been objected that horses would not be used for this kind of work and that the text should be amended. But Isaiah was not an experienced agriculturalist or zoologist and was probably speaking loosely. In his world in Jerusalem horses were what he came across, and he may well have meant ‘horse-like animals’. e.g. asses. Nor can we in fact be sure that they did not use horses in this way.

Chapter 29 The Second Woe. A Woe Against The False Jerusalem.

Isaiah stresses that although they boast of their city as the city of David, Yahweh will soon cause her to be besieged by an army which He will bring against her. But then, when they cry out of the dust He will act on their behalf in power and deliver Jerusalem.

Analysis.

• a Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped. Add for yourselves year to year, let the feasts come round. Then will I distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and she will be to me as Ariel.
• b And I will encamp against you in a circle (literally ‘like a circular object’ surrounding the city), and will lay siege against you with a fort, and I will raise siegeworks against you.
• c And you will be brought down, and you will speak from the ground, and your speech will be low out of the dust,
• c And your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper (chirp), out of the dust.
• b But the multitude of your alien foes will be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passes away. Yes, it will be at an instant suddenly, from Yahweh of hosts she will be visited, with thunder and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and flame of a devouring fire,
• a And 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 as a dream, and as a vision of the night, and it will be as when a hungry man dreams ,and behold he eats, but he awakes and his inner man is empty, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold he drinks, but he awakes, and behold he is faint, and his inner man has an appetite, so will all the multitude of the nations be, who fight against Mount Zion

In ‘a’ Ariel is David’s city, which he made his headquarters (encamped there), but as time goes by Yahweh will distress Ariel and there will there be mourning and lamenting, and in the parallel those who come against Ariel and distress her will dream of victory but will find that the reality is far different, for they are fighting against Mount Zion. In ‘b’ at Yahweh’s behest they will lay siege to Ariel, but in the parallel they will experience the visitation of Yahweh Who will devastate them. In ‘c’ Judah will be brought low and speak out of the dust, and in the parallel it will be similar to the way in which mediums speak out of the dust.

29.1-2

Having declared His woe on Israel (28.1) God now declares His woe on Jerusalem under the name of Ariel. It is to be distressed with mourning and lamentation because it has become superficial in its response to Yahweh. It is to be besieged. This occurred around 701 BC at the hand of Sennacherib, and we must not in the wonder of the deliverance overlook the awfulness of the siege and what led up to it. Judah paid a heavy price for not trusting Yahweh earlier.

‘Ariel.’ The Akkadian arallu can mean either the ‘mountain of the gods’ or ‘underworld of the gods’, both places where gods were thought to dwell, and thus the dwellingplaces of the gods. Here Isaiah’s purpose might well be, by a play on the word, to draw attention to the fact that while Jerusalem prided itself on having within it Mount Zion, the mountain of God, the mysterious mountain which was seen as joining heaven and earth and was the dwellingplace of God, by their manner of living they were debasing the fact and were making it rather ‘an Ariel’, a pagan dwelling place of the gods, no longer the ‘holy city’ even though they called themselves by that title (48.2). The reference to David encamping there might be seen as backing up the idea of seeing it as a dwellingplace.

But the ‘ariel’ was also the name used for the altar hearth near the top of Ezekiel’s high altar (Ezekiel 43.15), the place where the sacrificial fires continually burned. This was probably a technical term which had lost much of its original meaning but was originally associated with the above idea of the mountain of God, the stepped altar being seen as typifying a mountain (compare the stepped ziggurats). It was also used in this sense of altar hearths on the Moabite Stone demonstrating the probable wide use of it as a technical term for this outside Israel. Perhaps there is therefore also contained in the use the idea that Jerusalem is God’s altar hearth, ready for sacrifice.

It is described here as ‘the city where David encamped’, confirming that this is indeed referring to Jerusalem. Isaiah is indicating that once in the time of David it had been true to Yahweh. It had had an honourable and noble past. Then it had been filled with genuine worship and praise, led by the king himself. It had become the earthly dwellingplace of God in His Temple. What a contrast with the present. Now things just carried on year by year, with a round of meaningless festivals. It is no longer Mount Zion but Ariel (see verses 7-8 where it reverts). Well let them continue. They are simply leading up to a time of mourning and lamentation. The use of ‘encamped’ might be seen as indicating that even David only had a right to camp there and had no right to a permanent dwelling on the holy mountain.

Thus this mountain of God/the gods is to be downgraded. ‘She will be to me as Ariel’. It is to be treated as an Ariel, as a mountain of the gods and not as containing the Mountain of God at all. God is on the point of disowning it, at least temporarily. (Ezekiel later demonstrates in chapters 40 onwards that He has by then disowned it completely).

29.3-4

There is a direct contrast between David encamping in the city in verse 1 with God encamping against it here. The tables have been turned.

Some however translate verse 1 as ‘against which David encamped’, a possible translation, and see this as indicating parallel action (Hebrew prepositions are not always as clear as we would like). David had once encamped against it when it was a pagan city, and now God was doing the same for the same reason. The basic idea is the same.

Yahweh (initially through the king of Assyria) intends to lay siege to Jerusalem, this false mountain of God, raising siegeworks against it and humbling it. It will be brought so low that its voice will, as it were, seem to come out of the ground, from the very dust. They will be utterly humbled. And they will be in such a state that their prayers will be like the whispered words of a medium, like the chirp of an enchanter who seeks to the dead. (For the idea of prayer seen as such chirping/whispering in distress see 26.16). Again there is a mixing of the contrast between the idea of God with ‘the gods’, especially underworld gods, as the people’s prayers to God seem almost similar to appeals made to these ‘gods’.

29.5-8

However the siege will be lifted because in some way the attackers will, as it were, be blown away as if they were dust, the huge army of terrible ones (‘terrible’ is a regular description of those to do with large empires, see 25.4, 5; compare 13.11; 25.3; 29.20; 49.25; Jeremiah 15.21; Ezekiel 28.7 etc.) will be wafted away like chaff. And it will happen suddenly and unexpectedly. A fulfilment of this took place when the Assyrian army withdrew to face the Egyptian army at Eltekeh, and a further fulfilment is found in 37.36, when some unknown cause (humanly speaking) wrought death in the camp of the Assyrians causing them to withdraw.

Note the movement from Ariel in verse 7 to Mount Zion in verse 8, from the pseudo ‘mountain of God/the gods’ to the real ‘mountain of God’, a sign of the movement in the hearts of many of the people from the unreal to the real, from lack of belief to real belief as a result of their deliverance. Before deliverance, Ariel, afterwards, Mount Zion.

‘‘From Yahweh of hosts she will be visited with thunder and with earthquake, and great noise, with a stormy wind and tempest and flame of a devouring fire.’ This is the picture of the God of the covenant, the God of Sinai. This is simply a majestic way of saying that the God of Sinai will come to act on behalf of His people. There too there was thunder and a great noise, there the earth shook, there too there was tempest and the flame of a devouring fire, only the stormy wind was unmentioned (Exodus 19.16-20 with 24.17) and that finds mention in the Psalmist’s description of the Exodus deliverance (Psalm 77.18), which was thus part of the tradition. It is thus a way of saying that the mighty Creator of Sinai and of the Exodus will come to act in power.

The thought is of what He is rather than of the phenomena being visible. It is God in His power Who acts, even if invisibly. There may be no outward manifestations that can be seen but this will be the spiritual effect. In the account itself it is described as being by the angel of Yahweh (37.36).

We can compare for this how David described Yahweh as coming to his aid in similar language when he was in trouble (2 Samuel 22.8-16). There too he was visualising the unseen power of God. Assyrian kings would also describe their approach in similar language. It was the way of the age.

‘And 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 as a dream, and as a vision of the night.’ The result of Yahweh coming in invisible but genuine power as visualised by the prophet will be that the many nations in the army of Assyria will be powerless against Jerusalem. They will simply have the same effect as a dream or vision of the night, frightening but rapidly disappearing in the morning. The certainty of the dream will give way to the uncertainty of the day. And certainly when the Assyrian army lay down on the awesome night that the angel smote them, they were full of confidence and certainty, and when those who were left awoke it had all vanished. The angel of Yahweh had done His work (37.36).

‘And it will be as when a hungry man dreams ,and behold he eats, but he awakes and his inner man is empty, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold he drinks, but he awakes and behold he is faint, and his inner man has an appetite. So will all the multitude of the nations be who fight against Mount Zion.’ The siege of Jerusalem will seem so threatening, but its threat will turn out to have the potency of a dream. It will be to the enemy like a man having dreams of eating and drinking and then waking to discover he is still hungry and thirsty. It will be an unreality that has no effect in real life. The enemy will go to sleep dreaming of seizing and despoiling Jerusalem, and enjoying all the good things that they will pillage, they will awaken to find that their hopes are in vain. This will be the potency of the international army of Assyria. And why? Because they are not fighting against Jerusalem, nor against Ariel, they are fighting against Mount Zion, the heavenly and earthly dwellingplace of Yahweh, and against the God Who dwells there.

The Unbelieving Response of the Majority To God (29.9-14).

There are at least two ways of looking at this passage. One is to see it as Isaiah’s words prior to God’s amazing deliverance, seeking to inculcate faith but seeing instead obstinacy, in which case verse 14 points to that event, the other is to see it as Isaiah’s words after that amazing deliverance when the careless final response of the majority of the people to it has left him baffled. The modern Christian is similarly amazed that men do not see the glory of Christ and follow Him.

Analysis.

• a Make yourselves hesitate, and wonder. Blind yourselves (literally ‘be smeared’, and to do with the eyes), and be blind (9b).
• b They are drunk, but not with wine, they stagger, but not with strong drink, for Yahweh has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and has covered your heads, the seers (10).
• c And all vision has become to you as the words of a book which is sealed, which men deliver over to one who is learned, saying, “Read this, I beg you”. And he says, “I cannot for it is sealed”. And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, “Read this I pray you”, and he says, “I am not learned” (12).
• c And the Lord said, “Forasmuch as these people draw near to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is but a commandment of men which has been taught them,
• b Therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder.
• a And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their astute men will be hid.

In ‘a’ the people are seen at work making themselves hesitate and wonder and then putting a blind on their eyes and blinding their own eyes, and in the parallel the wisdom and understanding of both their wise and astute men will cease and be hidden. In ‘b’ their state is seen to be the action of Yahweh who has poured out on them the spirit of stupor and in the parallel it is described as a marvellous work, a work and a wonder. There is nothing as wondrous as the unbelief of men in the face of God revealing His mighty works as he did at Jerusalem with Sennacherib. Or alternately the parallel may mean that He did a marvellous work and a wonder, but because of their stupor they did not appreciate it. In ‘c’ all vision has been hid from them because of their unwillingness to see, and in the parallel it is because they have withdrawn their hearts from Him.

29.9-12

The use of the imperative vividly brings out Isaiah’s own perplexity and growing awareness of the obduracy of the people. Although God had warned Him that the people would mainly continue to be blind he still found it difficult to take in. If this was before the great deliverance it expresses his growing awareness of their deliberate blindness. If this was after the event, the wonder of what happened at the deliverance of Jerusalem would have come home strongly to him, and it represents him as seeing that it had left many of them unchanged. Momentarily, in the exultation of the moment, they might have become convinced but they will soon deliberately begin to hesitate, and then wonder if it ever happened. They will smear over their own eyes by means of their doubt and unwillingness to believe, thus they will finish up blind. They will convince themselves that there was a natural explanation, talk it down and shrug off its effects. They will have seen a wonder of the world and will remain unchanged, even hardened. (Just as the Pharisees will later do with Jesus in the face of even greater wonders).

In either case Isaiah cannot understand it. He is baffled. So he speaks to them almost as in a daze. ‘Make yourselves hesitate (reflexive) and wonder.’ He is warning them that if they make themselves hesitate, they will soon begin to wonder whether God will indeed work, or whether He has so worked. Rather they should respond to Yahweh’s amazing act, or His past acts, with full belief and gladness of heart. But he senses their hesitation, and fears what the result will be. They will go on hesitating and then they will begin to wonder in the end whether it meant anything significant at all. His words are drawn out of him almost unwillingly, as he warns them what the result of their attitude will be. By smearing up their own vision they will become blind. It is always dangerous to hesitate when the call comes to ‘follow Me’.

If this refers to before the event then the words are to be seen as a rebuke at their continuing unwillingness to trust Yahweh. As he sees their determined opposition to his position of trusting in Yahweh, the One Who in the past has acted so mightily on behalf of their people as their past history reveals, he can only see it as fulfilling what God had said to him at his inauguration as a prophet (6.8-12), that they would be subject to blind unbelief. If after then it is even more incredible, and the rebuke is to be seen as even stronger.

And so in either case he decides that there can be only one explanation for their attitude, it must be because they are drunk. But as he recognises that it must be with something more permanent than wine, he concludes that they must be staggering about, seemingly incapable of understanding, not because of what they have drunk, but because Yahweh has poured out on them a spirit of deep sleep. They are in a divinely wrought coma. It is the only explanation that comes to hand. Indeed on top of their own obduracy he sees an even deeper wonder, that those who profess to be their eyes, who should have helped them to appreciate what had happened, the prophets, seem to have their own eyes closed, while those who should have been in a position to explain everything, the seers, seem to have had their heads covered over lest they see.

His perplexity is understandable. It is always difficult for one who believes to understand deep doubt. Everything seems so clear to believers. Thus they can only then conclude that if there is doubt it is Yahweh’s work. It must be because He wants it that way. And in the end they are right. Not because He wants men to be blind and directly acts, but because He has made mankind as he is, to grow in doubt if he refuses to believe. So such blindness and hesitation are not Yahweh’s direct work. They are the result of sin and rebellion, and of an unwillingness to be in submission to God. They are the result of man’s obstinate free will. And Isaiah sees that that is the case here.

‘And all vision has become to you as the words of a book which is sealed, which men deliver over to one who is learned, saying, “Read this, I beg you”. And he says, “I cannot. The book is sealed.” But he recognises that this is not the result of their extra intelligence. It is because they have closed minds. So he tells these men that they are like those who have a sealed book, which is full of knowledge, but to them it is hidden knowledge because they will not open the seal. In the same way, something has clearly sealed their minds so that they have failed to grasp the significance of what God’s activity past or present really means. And when they go to the learned (the prophet and the seer) and beg them to read it, they will demur. They cannot, they say, for the book is sealed, that is, they cannot understand it. But this would not be humility, it would be stubbornness and unwillingness, a further example of blindness. They do not want to see God’s ways, they prefer their own.

Then in their perfidy the people take the book to one who is unlearned, and ask him to read, and he refuses, saying, “I am not learned (cannot read fluently)”. No one wants to make the attempt.

God’s Response To and Verdict on Their Unbelief (29.13-14).

29.13-14) ‘And the Lord said,

When men harden their hearts against God’s revelation, given in one way or another, it often results in continuing hardening. It is as though having hardened themselves they have made it almost impossible for them to do anything else, and so they go on more and more firmly closing their eyes. This is what God saw would be the result here.

‘And the Lord said.’ This, says Isaiah, is the sovereign Lord speaking, Who now gives His verdict on their attitude. They go on and on with their religious ritual, they all continue to say what seem to be the right things, repeating it by rote, but there is no true inward response in their hearts, as is shown by the way that they are acting. And it is of their own choice. They deliberately stop their hearts being taken over by God. So their supposed piety is simply something that they do because of the pressure of those in authority over them, and not because they have responsive hearts.

So He will act in a wondrous way which will be amazing to all, and He stresses the wonder of what He will do and men’s responsive amazement. He will do a work which will result in the wise men’s wisdom perishing, and the astute men’s astuteness being hidden. He has already described it in terms of the great stupor He has brought upon them. As a result of what He will do they will appear as fools. All their clever words will be seen to have come to nothing. And later generations will wonder at it.

However, if the previous words were prior to the great deliverance then these words may well have in mind that deliverance. Then he may be saying that Yahweh will do a great work, a mighty work, a marvel, but because of their obduracy they will fail to see it and to properly appreciate it. They will close their minds against it.

Either way in the end it is simply a way of saying that man’s opposition to Him and His ways, and their refusal to trust Him, is folly, a folly which the future, as controlled by Him, will reveal. History is full of such examples. Men make great statements and are greatly admired, and then they are seen to come to nothing. So will it be with these wise teachers and astute thinkers. They and all they have taught will perish, but God’s word and God’s purposes will go on.

The Third Woe: Against Those Who Seek To Hide What They Do From God, But Yahweh Will Triumph In Spite Of It (29.15-24).

Analysis.

• a Woe to those who seek deep, to hide their counsel from Yahweh, and their works are in the dark, and they say, “Who sees us?”, and “Who knows us?” (15).
• b You turn things upside down. Will the potter be counted as clay, that the thing made should say of him who made it, “He did not make me,” or the thing framed say of him who framed it, “He has no understanding”? (16).
• c Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be counted as a forest? (17).
• d And in that day will the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness (18).
• d The meek also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel (19).
• c For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scornful one ceases, and all those who watch for iniquity are cut off, who make a man an offender in a cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the righteous in a thing of naught (20-21).
• b Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob will not now be ashamed, nor will his face now grow pale. 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 (22-23).
• a Those also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will learn instruction (24).

In ‘a’ the people seek to hide what they do from Yahweh, but in the parallel those who err will come to understanding, and those who murmur will learn instruction. In ‘b’ His people are turning things upside down, forgetting that Yahweh is the Potter who made them and framed them, and saying that He has no understanding, and in the parallel Jacob’s children are the work of His hands, and thus His people set Him apart as holy and stand in awe of Him. In ‘c’ Lebanon which is being crushed by the enemy will be turned into a fruitful field, and all will prosper, the fruitful field will be counted as a forest, and in the parallel the terrible one is to be brought to naught, and all will prosper for the scornful one will cease, and all those who watch for iniquity will be cut off, who make a man an offender in a cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the righteous in a thing of naught. In ‘d’ ‘in that day’ the deaf will hear the words of the book (which was previously a mystery - verse 11), and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness, while in the parallel the meek will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

29.15

The verbs are important. The opening participle is speaking of something continual. These men are always seeking to go deep and hide their discussions and ideas from Yahweh. It is their practise. The imperfect then refers this to their present continuing activity, they are choosing to perform their works out of sight.

The picture is of men digging themselves a hideout where they can hide what they are thinking and doing from God. They then go into their hideout and assert their independence of God. It is not literal but figurative. It refers to all who think that they can carry on their activities without God knowing, who think that they can hide their ways from God. It is the example of ultimate folly, for ‘all things are open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Hebrew 4.13).

So here Woe is declared on them. They come under God’s direct condemnation. In the background is the thought of all the plans and activities of men seeking to counter the Assyrian threat without recourse to God, especially those who have gone to Egypt for consultation and to make alliance, and have kept what they are doing secret from Isaiah. But it applies finally to the plans of men of all ages.

29.16

These people who are ignoring God should consider. They have got things the wrong way round. They are treating Him as though He is but the clay. But it is He Who is the Potter, and it is they who are the clay. It is He Who made them and fashioned their frame. They would therefore be wise to recognise that they are responsible to Him as their Creator, and to recognise that as such He has more understanding than they. But they rather reject His authority and question His wisdom. What folly!

If we were more aware that He is the Potter and we are the clay we might well find that we were more responsive to Him. Indeed it can be a comforting thought. It means that He takes final responsibility for what we become if we trust in Him (see verse 23). But some of us still tend to treat God as the clay with His ways to be fashioned by us.

If They Were Wise They Would Recognise That God Has Everything In Hand (29.17-24).

For the truth is that Yahweh, the Potter, will take the poor and the lowly and will work on them to make of them His new people. All who are unjust and work contrary to God’s law will be rooted out. In Paul’s words they will be pruned from the olive tree. And His own will then grow and develop into a godly nation. And as he has shown elsewhere this includes those who were Gentiles. They will be adopted into Israel, become sons of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3.7, 29) and be grafted into the olive tree (Romans 11.17).

29.17-19

The Potter will very decisively show His authority and His wisdom in the future. And He will do it ‘in a very little while.’ That is, a little while from God’s viewpoint. When the time comes He will act.

‘Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be counted as a forest’ Lebanon was proverbial as the essence of fruitfulness because of its tall cedars (Psalm 104.16). Perhaps the thought here is of the devastations wrought by the Assyrian invasion which God will in His time put right (37.24). Alternatively the thought may be that God will at some stage humble the mighty. That the tall cedars of Lebanon, often a symbol of man’s pride (see 2.13; Ezekiel 31.3), will as such be cut down and Lebanon be turned into garden land which will be accepted as being as good as a forest. The proud will be laid low, but the humbled will be fruitful. This suggestion of humbling would tie in with what follows.

‘And in that day will the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.’ We can compare here verses 9-12. In contrast with the present those in the future, ‘in a very little while’ when God acts to humble the mighty, will receive what is in the book of vision, for it will be read out for the deaf to hear. This demonstrates that God appointed prophets and seers will then be willing to open the book. And they will then will have their blindness removed. The idea here is primarily of the spiritually deaf and blind.

‘In that day’, which in itself is very general, looks forward to the time of the humbling of the mighty, and the blessing of the deaf and blind, and the poor and meek (compare on 11.4), the lowest members of society, and an increase in joy and rejoicing (Luke 1.14; 2.10; 10.17; John 15.11). This is specifically referred to the time of Jesus in Matthew 5.3-5 and Luke 1.52-53 and of the Spirit anointed prophet (61.1 compare Luke 4.18-21; Matthew 11.5) and the Spirit anointed king (11.4). Indeed as the Gospels make clear Jesus also opened the ears and eyes of the literally deaf and blind, and examples of such healings were used by Him as symbolic of spiritual deafness and blindness. For ‘darkness’ compare 9.1; Matthew 4.16; Luke 1.79; John 1.5; 3.19; 8.12;12.46; Acts 26.18; 1 Thessalonians 5.4). That this was fulfilled through the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles can hardly be doubted. We need look no further.

29.20-21

There will also be an increase in social justice, and the unrighteous and unjust will be removed from Israel. Three types are warned against. The terrible, the scornful and the busybodies. The first could refer to the Assyrian king but in context more probably refers to ‘the oppressor’ in a judicial sense, one in high authority who uses his authority to pervert justice. The scornful are those who are not really concerned for justice and despise the law and use it for their own ends. Those who watch for iniquity are those who make use of the law to catch out unwary people who accidentally go astray, in order to gain a reward. All are misusers of the judicial system, and all will be dealt with.

‘Him who reproves in the gate.’ The gate was where the elders would gather to dispense justice and hear complaints. Thus this is a righteous and just elder who has annoyed the ungodly by reproving their unrighteousness so that they are trying to bring him down.

What they get up to is also described. They make people guilty by manipulating the law, they trap those who reprove them and seek to establish true justice, and they find legal loopholes so as to get the righteous found guilty. Note how the second three are in reverse order compared with the first three, typical of Isaiah. The oppressor turns aside the righteous, the scornful cut off the man of truth and honour, the unrighteous busybody catches out the unwary. Jesus constantly spoke up against these things and the spreading of Christianity increased social justice, and in Paul’s language resulted in the unjust in Israel being pruned from the true Israel. And when He returns, full justice will be established for ever, and all who have thwarted it and have not repented will truly be brought to naught.

To modernise the ideas, politicians will manipulate the law which they themselves have set up, while applying it rigidly to others for their own advantage, scorners will deny moral absolutes (compare 5.20; 28.14, 22), those intent on doing evil will bend law and order to achieve their own ends. Specifically in mind are those who abuse the legal system by such things as using politics for their own gain, committing perjury, tampering with witnesses, and preventing the innocent from getting justice, and they include crooked politicians, false witnesses, amoral lawyers, and biased judges (compare Hosea 4.1-2; Amos 2.6-8; 5.10-11; Micah 2.1-2).

29.22-24 ‘Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob.

Yahweh speaks as the One who redeemed Abraham. The Old Testament elsewhere makes no specific reference to ‘the redemption’ of Abraham, but see Genesis 48.16 where the root is applied to Jacob, where it refers to God spending effort in keeping Jacob from evil. We need not doubt that He was seen as doing the same for Abraham, for having first called him and brought him out from among his unbelieving family, He had brought him into a land where he could walk with God. Indeed the saving and keeping of Abraham from evil fits this passage well. It is saying that Yahweh is the Saviour and Keeper of His chosen ones from evil by the expenditure of His power. This is what their redemption involves. The mention of Abraham takes them back to their roots, and reminds them of the first promises on which their hope for the future is based. They are chosen because of him.

The motif of Abraham is important in Isaiah. He was the one whose original faith and response to God not only resulted in him being ‘redeemed’ and seen as ‘righteous’ in God’s eyes (Genesis 15.6), but will also result in the redemption of his ‘children’. They will be saved for Abraham’s sake. Later we will learn that it was because Abraham was His friend and servant, the one whom He loved, that Israel is privileged to be called on to be His Servant, in order to carry out His will (41.8). And in 51.1-2 they are to look to Abraham, the rock from which they were hewn, something directly related to the covenant, ‘when he was but one I called him, and blessed him, and made him many’ (51.2). That is why they too will be made many, because they are one with Abraham in the covenant.

The use made here of the name Jacob is typically Hebrew. It refers both to the man and his tribe seen as one. (Just as ‘Abraham’ in Genesis referred to the man but was regularly to be seen as including his family tribe). Jacob, the descendant of Abraham, was present among them in his descendants, and there would, in the future being outlined, be nothing that they would do to bring shame to ‘him’ or pallor to ‘his’ face, i.e. to his descendants’ faces. When ‘he’ sees his children who have been transformed by the work of God’s hand in ‘his’ midst, instead of bringing shame on God they will by their lives and behaviour ‘sanctify’ (show as set apart as unique and special) God’s name, the name of the Holy One of Jacob.

In view of the fact that the title is always elsewhere ‘the Holy One of Israel’ this demonstrates that Isaiah had a special reason for using Jacob’s name in this passage rather than that of Israel, his other name. Possibly it was in order to bring out that just as Jacob became Israel, a man transformed as a result of wrestling with God, so now has the tribe of Jacob been worked on by God and been transformed, producing a new Israel. They too will have ‘wrestled’ with God. Thus they will also stand in awe of ‘the Holy One of Jacob’, sanctifying His name as ‘the God of Israel’.

‘When he sees his children, the work of My hands.’ Note the reference back to the work of the Potter. The people may forget that He is the Potter, but He still continues His work, and it will in the future become obvious.

‘Those also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will learn instruction.’ The new Israel will not yet be perfect, but they will make a recovery from the position in verse 15. Having previously erred in their inner beings, they will recover and be brought to understanding. They may sometimes murmur, as Israel murmured in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 1.27). But it will not be fatal. They will be instructed and learn from it, because God is with them for Abraham’s sake.

The picture is of people transformed by the action of the living God and growing in grace and stature, a true picture of the new Israel who will be established, and of the true church of Christ who will be grafted into Israel by adoption, and will become the true Israel. This is not to distort the passage, or ‘spiritualise’ it. We who are Christ’s are the continuation of Israel, we are the true Israel arising out of the old (Matthew 16.18; 21.43; Romans 11.17 onwards; Galatians 6.16; Ephesians 2.11-22; 1 Peter 2.9). Israel always welcomed any who would respond to the covenant, and submit to the God of Israel, whether they were the immediate foreign servants of Abraham, the mixed multitude of Moses (Exodus 12.38) or the covenant people of Shechem (Joshua 8.30-35, note the reference to resident aliens). In fact the large majority of Israelites were not literally physically descended from Jacob. They were ‘adopted’. Thus this has in mind the new Israel, which includes the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16), all those united with the new Israel in Christ.

So whenever those who err in spirit come to understanding and learn doctrine, that is, the truth as it is in Jesus, so they are seen to be the work of His hands, and they then begin to ‘sanctify His Name’, by recognising His otherness and His holiness, and standing in awe of Him, in loving worship. They will know God in truth. And it all began with Abraham, whom God graciously redeemed.

Chapter 30 The Fourth Woe. Against Those Who Trust in Egypt Rather than in Yahweh (30.1-7).

Having broken with Assyria and withheld tribute, as a result of the death of Sargon II of Assyria and the troubles that the new king Sennacherib was experiencing in cementing his kingship, Hezekiah and Judah now had to choose what they would do. Babylon’s rebellion had failed and she had been crushed by Sennacherib. She could no longer be counted on. Would they look to and depend on Egypt, who were making representations to them and to other allies, with all the compromises that that would involve, or would they look to and depend solely on Yahweh? Isaiah’s stress was on total dependence on Yahweh, but Hezekiah and his advisers favoured Egypt.

It was ironic that the people who had been delivered from Egypt’s bondage could not shake off their connections with Egypt. They had only to look at their history to realise which choice would be better for them. But they had a mistaken view of Egypt’s power and preferred the help that they could see. They overlooked the fact that in the end Egypt, if successful, might make even greater demands on them than Assyria. Such help did not come cheap.

We too must choose whether we will look back nostalgically to the past and also whether we will look at the things that are seen, or alternatively whether we will look at the things which are unseen, for the past is behind us and the things which are seen are temporal, while the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4.18).

Analysis.

• Woe to the rebellious children,” says Yahweh, “Who take counsel, but not of me, and who cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they might add sin to sin” (1).
• “Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt” (2).
• ‘Therefore will the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion (3).
• ‘For his princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors have come to Hanes. They will all be ashamed of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help or a profit, but a shame and also a reproach (4-5).

In ‘a’ the people take counsel anywhere but of Yahweh, and in the parallel their counsel is sought from Egypt. In ‘b’ they walk down to Egypt and look to the strength of Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt, and in the parallel the strength of Pharaoh will be their shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt their confusion.

30.1-2

God now declares a woe on His people. The act of seeking to Egypt for help against Assyria rather than to God is here seen as rebellion against God. For the stark choice lay before them. Would they trust in Yahweh, seek, and walk in His guidance, and make their plans accordingly, or would they seek the guidance of Pharaoh, seen by Egyptians as the living Horus, son of Osiris, and be guided by Egypt, making their plans in alliance with them?

Note that their choice of Egypt is said to be because of their predilection for sin. They were like rebellious children, looking to anyone but their Father for advice. They were adding sin to sin. For the real truth was that seeking to Yahweh was too demanding. He then expected them to obey Him and walk in His ways. And that is why they looked elsewhere. It was history repeating itself. Thus did they add to their sins, their ‘falling short’ of God’s requirements. When a man says, ‘I no longer believe’, what he usually means is ‘there are things I want to do which my belief is preventing’.

So the reason that they had lost faith in Yahweh was not because they saw Him as inadequate or unable to cope, but because they had turned their eyes from Him because of His covenant demands. They had found the covenant too burdensome. The result was that they then had to look elsewhere, and that is when they rested their new faith in Egypt. They then walked in the wisdom of the world and not in the wisdom of God. Was not Egypt a mighty nation? Must their gods not be powerful? Look at their chariots and horsemen. And did they not have a reputation for wisdom? But it would never have happened if they had not first turned away from Yahweh.

To ‘cover with a covering’ meant taking as a form of protection. But the covering they took was not that of the Mighty Yahweh, it was not as guided by His Spirit, or as within His will, but it was the covering of the shadow of Egypt. They did not trust to the strength of Yahweh but to the strength of Pharaoh. They preferred what they could see to what they could not see (compare 2 Corinthians 4.18).

‘Walk to go down into Egypt’. That is, they made the deliberate choice. They chose the direction in which they would walk. When the option was given to them they had to choose what they would do. It was not that they were not faced with the options. Isaiah’s voice was loud and clear. They simply had to choose what they would do, listen to Isaiah and to Yahweh, or listen to Pharaoh’s messengers (18.2). They chose Pharaoh.

All of us face similar choices in our daily lives and walk. Which will it be for us? God’s way or man’s way?

30.3

He stresses that they will live to regret their choice. They will find the strength of Pharaoh insufficient. It will leave them exposed. They will find the shadow of Egypt brings defeat and disaster. It will fill them with confusion. The corollary is that the only sensible path would be to trust Yahweh, Whose shadow would be sufficient, and Whose strength would guarantee deliverance.

30.4-5

The consultations will take place at Zoan in the northern Delta, the power base of Shabako, the Cushite king of Egypt, and at Hanes. Hanes is possibly a transliteration of the Egyptian Ha-nesu meaning ‘the king’s mansion’. The princes and ambassadors are probably those of Hezekiah. They have made their choice and now here they are. But it is a great mistake. In the end they will discover that Egypt cannot help them, will not profit them, and in the end will not be willing to back them sufficiently. Thus they will in the end shamed by them. For Egypt itself will fail in its promises and be a shame and a reproach to them. (Egypt always ensured that they did not commit themselves sufficiently to bring disaster on themselves. They knew that they could always retire beyond their strong borders. They were fair weather friends). Indeed the defeat of the Egyptian army by Assyria at Eltekeh will simply add to their shame and confusion.

The Burden of the Beasts of the South (30.6-7).

A prophetic burden usually indicates judgment on the subject of the burden. Here the judgment is on the beasts who carry the bribes to Egypt. For they carry them to no purpose, for Egypt is a powerless monster.

Analysis.

• a ‘The burden of the beasts of the south (the Negeb). Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and the fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels (6a).
• b To a people who will not profit (6b).
• b For Egypt helps in vain and to no purpose. (7a).
• a Therefore have I called her, “Rahab who sits still” (7b).

In ‘a’ they make a great effort to seek Egypt’s help circumventing all the fearsome creatures of the desert, and in the parallel Egypt is a monster who sits still and does nothing. In ‘b’ they go to a people who will not profit, and in the parallel discover that Egypt helps in vain and to no purpose.

30.6-7

This is a word heavy with sarcasm. Isaiah declares himself to be burdened over the asses and camels that have to carry the heavy burden of the gifts sent by Hezekiah to Egypt, foreseeing judgment on them because of the task they carry out. The judgment will really be on their owners. They are being taken through the Negeb, a place full of wild and dangerous beasts, possibly in order to avoid the easy route along the coast lest news of their journey gets out. The caravan is doing exactly the same in the opposite direction as Israel did when they came out of Egypt at the Exodus, avoiding the trade route, presumably for the sake of secrecy. This is probably intended to be seen as significant. Israel are retracing their steps towards their previous tormentors instead of trusting in Yahweh.

They bear gifts to Egypt in order to prepare the way for their discussions on the Assyrian question. But they are here warned that they will gain no benefit from it, because Egypt’s aid will be in vain (as it did indeed prove to be).

‘The land of trouble and anguish.’ That is, the wilderness where all kinds of problem can be encountered, from heat and lack of water, to fierce and dangerous wild animals and rough terrain. ‘The south’ was the description often used for the Negeb, the semi-desert land on the south of Palestine, and stretching into the desert.

‘Therefore have I called her, Rahab who sits still.’ Rahab was a mythical monster whose name was applied in black humour to Egypt (see Psalm 87.4). Here the mockery is increased by calling her ‘the great monster who sits about and does nothing’, depicting the half-hearted attempts that Egypt will make to fulfil her part in the alliance. Hezekiah’s men have braved the creatures of the desert in order to get this monster on their side, and all it does is sit still.

‘The fiery flying serpent.’ Possibly the action of the particular snake as it lunged and struck gave the impression that it was flying so that it gained this nickname.

Their Trust in Other Than Yahweh And Their Tantamount Rejection of Him Can Only Result in Disaster. Security Rests in Trusting in Yahweh (30.8-18).

Isaiah is to write his words down as a testimony to the future, because at present men will not listen. They deliberately close their eyes and refuse to hear His word, and by doing so are bringing on themselves trouble and disaster, rejecting His call to them to trust Him and have confidence in Him. And yet even now Yahweh is waiting to bless them and will yet have mercy on them, and all who do put their trust in Him can be sure that they will be blessed.

Analysis.

• a Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, for ever and ever (8).
• b For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh, who say to the seers, “See not”, and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things. Prophesy lies. Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us” (9-11).
• c For this reason thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them (12).
• d Therefore this iniquity will be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly in an instant (13).
• d And he will break it like a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there will not be found among its pieces, a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water with it out of the cistern” (14).
• c For thus says the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you will be saved. In quietness and confidence will be your strength”, and you would not’ (15).
• b But you said, “No, but we will flee on horses”. Therefore you will flee. And “we will ride on the swift ones”. Therefore those who pursue you will be swift. One thousand will flee at the rebuke of one. At the rebuke of five you will flee. Until you are left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as a banner on a hill (16-17).
• a And therefore will Yahweh wait, that He may be gracious to you, and therefore will He be raised (exalted), that He may have mercy on you. For Yahweh is a God of judgment (one who makes good judgments). Blessed are all those who wait for him (18).

In ‘a’ Isaiah is to write before them on a tablet, and inscribe in a book, what he has prophesied, so that it may be for the time to come, for ever and ever, for in the parallel Yahweh is waiting to be gracious to them, and will be raised that He might have mercy on them, for He acts wisely and blesses those who wait for Him. In ‘b’ they do not want to hear His words, nor do they want His interference, and in the parallel they assert their preferred response which is to trust in horses. In ‘c’ the Holy One of Israel speaks of their ‘despising this word, and trusting in oppression and perverseness, and relying on them’, and in parallel the Holy One of Israel calls on them rather to ‘return and rest’ and ‘be quiet and confident’ for in this they would be saved, an offer they refused. In ‘d’ their iniquity will be to them like a collapsing wall, and in the parallel like the breaking of a potter’s vessel.

30.8-11

Isaiah is told to write down his prophecies so that future generations would know what God had said to His people. For the people were in a state where they did not want to hear God’s Law and wanted seers and prophets who would say what they wanted to hear, while God wanted His own acts to be judged in the light of the truth and of what He had promised.

‘Write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book.’ The writing on the wooden writing tablet would be for display as a public record (compare 8.1). It was to be placed where all could see it, ‘before them’. It probably especially refers to verses 6-7 or verses 9-15. The inscribing in the papyrus or leather scroll was for future use and would include wider prophecies as a permanent record of what Isaiah had proclaimed. Both commands show the importance laid on prophecy being written down.

‘For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh, who say to the seers, “See not”, and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things. Prophesy lies (‘illusions’). Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.’ This is God’s verdict on Judah. They were rebellious, rejecting trust in Yahweh. They were deceitful because they pretended to be His children but did not behave like it (compare 1.2). They made subtle, lying excuses for their behaviour and made a feigned submission to Yahweh that was not genuine. For they were children who did not want to listen to authority. Above all they did not want to listen to the Instruction of Yahweh (God’s Law in Scripture). They wanted to avoid the impact of the word of God and its demands on their lives.

Thus they asked their teachers and preachers to tell them what they wanted to hear, and to avoid telling them the truth. They did not want them to receive a word from God. They preferred, and demanded, smooth preaching which would not ruffle their consciences (compare Amos 2.12; Micah 2.6) and to be told illusions that would make them happy (such as how good it was to trust in safe, reliable Egypt). They did not want to be told the truth.

They especially did not want to be faced up to the Holy One of Israel with His strong requirements and absolute morality. Those were out-of-date concepts suitable only for wilderness existence. Yahweh was old-fashioned. What they wanted was more modern preaching for a different age, that did not lay an emphasis on divine imperatives. (They would of course have put all this more delicately, but that was what they really wanted). So they were basically telling their teachers to go astray, and to leave the way and path of Yahweh because it was too demanding.

Today so many are guilty of the same thing. They want the security of being Christ’s but they do not want the transformation that goes with it. They think, as Israel did in Isaiah’s day, that they can have the one without the other. But we cannot be His without beginning the process of being like Him. For God will not allow it. ‘Whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives, -- but if you are without chastening, of which all are made partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons’ (Hebrews 12.6-8).

30.12-14 ‘For this reason thus says the Holy One of Israel,

But the Holy One of Israel cannot be so avoided and He speaks back directly to them. So they despise His word? They prefer to oppress people, bringing pressure on them to do what they want, and to behave perversely, following their own ways, their ‘new morality’? Indeed they trust and rely on these things. Well, let them consider what the consequences of this will be. Despising His word is like having a high wall which has not been properly built and has become unstable, suddenly beginning to bulge out and then collapsing violently. It will be like a potter’s vessel which has gone wrong in the making and is therefore deliberately smashed to pieces by the potter. And the pieces will be so small that they cannot be used for anything, not even for carrying out the most basic and simple tasks such as poking the fire or ladling up water. (A sherd was a fair sized piece of broken pottery). They will be useless.

Note the two aspects of the stated consequences. The wall collapses because it has been badly built, it has relied on man’s unreliable craftsmanship, it is unstable, just as their moral choices are unstable in themselves. Man’s wisdom always fails in the end because it results from not seeing the whole picture. How regularly man’s relieving of restrictions and his establishing of his ‘freedoms’ result in unseen consequences that result in suffering for all. The vessel smashes because it is smashed by the Potter, and the reason is that he is not satisfied with it. So will God act against those who despise His instruction, His Law, because He is not satisfied with how they have turned out.

The breach in the wall and its being in danger of collapse may well have in mind despoliation by an enemy as they see their walls collapse under his attack, and the smashing to pieces could signify the result of such invasion as their city is ransacked.

30.15 ‘For thus says the Holy One of Israel,

These, he stresses, are the words of the same Holy One of Israel Whom they have rejected. This is His alternative approach. This is where they could find security and strength. If they return to Him and trust Him they will be saved. Their deliverance is dependent not on Egypt or any other outside assistance, but on returning to Yahweh, a positive putting aside of sin and disobedience and a renewal of their covenant with God resulting in responsive obedience, accompanied by a trusting in Him and a resting on His reliability. But they ‘would not’. They made their choice and were not interested. They preferred lying words, despising Yahweh’s word and trusting in oppression and perverseness, living harshly and behaving intolerably.

But they would indeed remember this when they later stood within Jerusalem, looking out over the walls and seeing the vast hordes of the enemy that had approached again and had made encampment after the defeat of the Egyptian army. Then they would have only one last place to look, to Yahweh. And this time when they cried to Him He forgave them and acted for them. But only after they had learned a bitter lesson through much suffering. For even though Jerusalem was delivered from the worst, the surrounding region was not.

But we must remember that a century later in time the same thing would happen and they would cry and would not be forgiven. Then it would be too late, they would have gone too far, and the city would be taken, and the people would go into exile. We must recognise that we cannot presume on God’s mercy for ever. There are limits even to that.

‘In quietness and confidence will be your strength” The only real solution to a satisfying and inwardly secure life is quiet confidence in and trust in Yahweh, with its resulting obedience to His word. Then a man can be strong whatever comes because he knows that Yahweh is with him to act for him and with him. The implication is that had the quietness and confidence of Judah been in Yahweh by an obedient and responsive people, they would not have needed to creep secretly off to Egypt. Nor would they later have been besieged.

The question for each of us is the same, what is our Egypt? What are we leaning on rather than leaning on God?

30.16-17

This probably reflects the confident humour, or arrogant self-confidence, with which Isaiah’s pleas for trust in Yahweh had been met. ‘We are not worried, we will flee on horses. Our horses are like racehorses,’ while confident that they would not have to flee at all. So Isaiah assures them that what they have suggested is what will indeed happen. But then they will find that their enemy have super-racehorses and will overtake them.

Indeed their enemies will be so mighty that all that they will need to defeat a regiment will be one man, and five will defeat the whole army. A ‘five’ was possibly the smallest known military unit at the time, or may mean a handful.

‘Until you are left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as a banner on a hill.’ This probably refers to a last stand made by a defeated force, when they have rallied on a convenient mountain or hill and raised their banner or sent out their distress signals (compare Judges 20.47). And when finally routed all that remains are the traces of the beacon fire, or a solitary, ragged banner blowing in the wind.

30.18

In verse 15 God had stressed that they must return to Him and rest in Him quietly and confidently, but they had declined His offer in favour of their own self-sufficiency. So now we learn of the patience of God. He is prepared to wait. We should never cease to be amazed at God’s capacity to wait, even though one day it will come to an end. But it is not a waiting of inactivity. During it He brings men into situations in which their minds are forced to consider Him, as He will with Judah. And then He looks for their response.

He commences with two ‘therefores’. In verse 16 they had learned that because of their trust in their own abilities ‘therefore’ they would flee and ‘therefore’ those who pursued them would be swift. Now He stresses that ‘therefore’ also He will wait, allowing what is to happen to happen, so that they might learn their insufficiency, and then, when they finally do seek Him, He can be gracious to them, revealing His undeserved love, and ‘therefore’ He will finally act on their behalf, He will rise (or ‘be exalted’) in order to reveal to them His mercy and compassion. The latter may refer to what He is about to do in sending His angel to bring relief from the siege of Jerusalem, which will truly exalt His name.

For He is too wise to react hastily. He is a God Who makes sound judgments, and acts in grace. And He will, despite all, wait patiently and then work on behalf of His own. Thus those who wait for Him will be blessed, and others will be blessed along with them. But it was not something to presume on, for many would perish before that time came.

For God’s Final Purpose is To Bless His True People Who Will Remain After His Chastisement and Purification, And To Defeat Their Enemies Himself (30.19-33).

While the future holds adversity for them, His final purpose is to bless those who are His true people. In the case of those who will hear His voice, He will be there to guide them. And once they have learned their lesson through their sufferings then they will enjoy great prosperity.

Analysis.

• a O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. (Or, ‘the people who dwell in Zion will weep no more’). He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He will hear He will answer you (19).
• b And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left (20-21).
• c And you will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You will cast them away as an unclean thing. You will say to each one, “Leave us” (22).
• d And he will give the rain of your seed, that you sow the ground with it
• d And bread of the increase of the ground, and it will be fat and plentiful (23a).
• c In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. Similarly the oxen and the young asses which till the ground, they will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with the fork and with the fan (23b-24).
• b And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall (25).
• a What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound (26).

In ‘a’ the promise is that one day His people will weep no more because He will hear their cry and be gracious to them, and in the parallel all their benefits will be enhanced in the day when He acts to heal them. In ‘b’ although they must suffer adversity and affliction they can be sure that they will hear His voice leading and guiding them in the right way, and in the parallel there will be rivers of waters on the hills, even though there is great slaughter and the towers fall. In ‘c’ when they get rid of their idols and destroy them, in the parallel they will prosper and enjoy prosperity. In ‘d’ He will feed their sown seed with rain, and in the parallel this will result in abundance of provision.

30.19-21 ‘O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he will hear he will answer you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.’

In typical fashion Isaiah now promises hope, because it is finally God’s purpose to bless those of His people whom He preserves. His words are addressed to those in Zion, at Jerusalem. It is true that they must first face the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, that is, that adversity and affliction will for a time be their staple diet in days to come, but there will come a day when weeping is no more. The present is bleak because of their sin, but the future is bright because of God’s sovereign mercy (but only for those who survive).

For when they do call on Him in genuine repentance and seek His face, when they ‘cry’ to Him, then He will hear and answer them. Then they will know Him as their Teacher, who will not be hidden from them any more (contrast 29.11-12). Their eyes will see Him and their ears will hear Him. And when they begin to stray the voice of their Teacher will speak to them, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it”.’

The picture is of a Guide, who when the caravan he is leading takes the wrong road because he has gone ahead to scout, calls after them, ‘this is the way, walk in it’.

‘Your eyes will see your Teacher.’ Isaiah here probably means acknowledge and recognise, but it was to receive a greater fulfilment than Isaiah probably intended, when the Counsellor Himself walked and taught in Palestine and men saw Him with their own eyes, and they could say, ‘we beheld His glory’ (John 1.14).

It may, however, be that he did here have ‘the Counsellor’ in mind (9.6), and that the reference here is to the coming Immanuel, Who is later spoken of in this way (42.7; 49.2, 6; 50.4; 61.1-2).

So God promises that one day there will be a Teacher in response to their prayers (whether God or Immanuel), a Teacher Who will care for them and be available to them and lead them in the right way (compare 2.3; 28.6, 26; Psalm 25.8; 94.10, 12). A Teacher whose concern for them will be such that He is ever watchful of their spiritual welfare, bringing to them His Law and guiding them by it (2.3).

Note again the near and far view. Jerusalem would be delivered in the near future, and the deliverance would certainly have a spiritual impact, but the greater impact awaited another day when God would act in a more wonderful way to finalise His work, because their response of faith would be insufficient.

30.22

One sign of their reformation will be that they will rid themselves of their idols made of wood, and covered with precious metals. They will first denude them of their silver and gold, and then throw them away, declaring their intention to be rid of them, and that they want no more of them, demanding that they go on their way and leave them.

It is noteworthy that the final result of exile and the suffering that they subsequently endured was that Israel did finally finish with idolatry. From then on it became anathema to them. So fulfilment was both near and far. Isaiah foresaw what would happen, but he was not aware of the timetable.

30.23-24

Then instead of the bread of affliction and the water of adversity, they will enjoy rain from heaven enabling them to sow their seed with certainty, and sufficient harvest that they have plentiful soft bread. The cattle will enjoy pasturage in large fields, the oxen and the young asses will eat well-flavoured provender, which has been thoroughly sifted and fanned (contrast verses 6-7). The latter has in mind that when grain is short it is better not to remove too much of the chaff in order that the food may appear more plentiful, but now there is so much that it can be well sifted. The contrast demonstrates that the emphasis is not on the detail, but its significance. Instead of affliction will come freedom and joy; instead of adversity will come peace and blessing.

As so often the fulfilment is greater than the promise. Days did come in their future prior to the time of Jesus when Jerusalem enjoyed the physical blessings promised. Times became prosperous. But the greater fulfilment lay in Him Who was the bread (John 6.35, 51) and water of life (John 4.14; 7.37-38), which was to be enjoyed while His people were on earth and will be enjoyed even more abundantly, without the weeping (verse 19), in eternity, when the curse will be no more (Revelation 21.4, 6; 22.1-3). Then life will flourish beyond all understanding.

To an agricultural community the greatest blessings conceivable were plentiful rain, fruitful harvests, and large pasturage, and that is why their future was pictured in these terms. The curse would be lifted, the blessings of Eden would return. That is why their everlasting future is depicted in those terms. They were terms that they understood. They indicated that the curse of Eden will have been removed and that Paradise will have come. John in Revelation would later depict the same future in terms of a city made of gold and precious jewels, and of a river of life surrounded by fruitful trees. None are finally to be pressed literally.

(If you were to go among a remote Eskimo group that had no conception of a life beyond the grave or of advanced spiritual concepts, how would you present Heaven to them? Would it not be in terms of plentiful extra fat seals, bigger igloos and larger holes in the ice? So it was here, but in different terms. It is ever so. God can only speak to us through pictures, and that is equally true even in our modern age).

30.25 ‘And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.’

This verse brings out the parabolic nature of the prophetic words. All the mountains will run with streams of water! (Compare 33.21). Canaan was a land which depended on rain and not on mighty rivers, and so blessing is pictured in those terms. So on the one hand for the people of God who trust in Him the mountains and hills will run with water, a sign of fruitfulness and plenty, while on the other for God’s enemies there will be great slaughter and the destruction of their strongholds (compare 25.2; 32.19). It will thus be a time of judgment and of separation. On the one hand those deemed righteous will enjoy life-giving water, on the other those deemed unrighteous will face destruction and ‘the great slaughter’.

30.26 ‘What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.’

In the day spoken of the whole of nature will be abounding. The moon will shine like the sun (compare Revelation 21.26) and the sun will h