Isaiah 28:1—33:24
Our study of Isaiah's prophecies now brings us to what has been called “The Book of Woes.”1 Just as cc. 7—12 reflected the relation of the nation to Assyria in the time of Ahaz, so now do cc. 28—33 reflect the relation of the nation to Assyria as it stood in the time of Hezekiah. The policy of looking toward Egypt is traced a step at a time. In his denunciations of this policy Isaiah begins with Israel and its capital city of Samaria, but he concentrates upon Judah and Jerusalem, and finally concludes with a woe against the Assyrian destroyer.
Hezekiah was a pious king but he seems to have been weak enough to yield to the influence of his nobles, the corrupt priests, and the false prophets who infested his court. Thus we find him permitting, if not sanctioning, the nefarious league with Egypt which Isaiah assails as being contrary to the will of God.
A. WOE TO THE POLITICIANS, 28:1-29
This prophecy must have been given before the downfall of the Northern Kingdom, which came in January, 721B.C. Samaria, flourishing in all her pride and evil passions, is ripe for judgment. We may date this speech before the actual siege of Samaria, which lasted about three years. This would place it about the time Hezekiah began his reign.
1. When Drunkenness Prevails (28:1-13)
A prophecy of woe befits a dissolute people. No nation has ever built an enduring society by means of drunken dissipation. A nation enslaved by wine is unfit to govern itself.
a. The crown of shame (28:1-4). Isaiah here sounds a warning to Samaria's dissolute nobility. Samaria's hill surrounded by its wall was shaped like a crown (1) and gave this impression to one observing it from a distance. Also banqueting revellers were often crowned with a chaplet wreath of greenery and flowers, especially if they were nobles. Isaiah now sees such glorious beauty as only a fading flower. With her nobles thus overcome with wine, Isaiah sees that the city itself will soon be overcome by the Assyrian invader. There are many fat (fertile and flourishing) valleys as one journeys from Jerusalem to the hill of Samaria.
God's instrument of judgment upon Ephraim will be a mighty and strong one (2), the “storm troopers” of destruction and violence which shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The trampled crown (3), once the symbol of Ephraim's glory, shall then become the symbol of his shame. The first to be devoured as the Assyrian moves southward will be this Northern Kingdom—swallowed down like the first ripe fig (hasty fruit, 4) of the summer.2
b. The “crown of glory” (28:5-6). Isaiah draws a sharp contrast. The diadem of beauty for God's righteous minority is the Lord of hosts. He is their adorning Crown (5). The spirit of judgment (justice) and valor is God himself (6), guiding those who must sit on the judgment seat and render important decisions. He will give strength to them who must turn back the tide of battle at their very gates. The Lord is an inspiring Spirit, while wine is an intoxicating and degrading one (Eph. 5:18).
c. The destiny of debauchery (28:7-13). Turning his attention to the south and focusing it upon the leaders of his own nation, Isaiah describes a revolting scene of drunken debauchery. The actors are: (a) polluted politicians (vv. 7-8). A group of staggering priests and some stupefied prophets (7a), erring in vision and stumbling in decision (7b), complete the company. Surrounding their conference tables, they are so overcome with wine that all tables are full of their filthy vomit (8). In the very moments when they should have been under the influence of the Spirit of God, they are under the influence of the spirit of alcohol.
(b) Mockers of admonition (9-10). The revellers mock the prophet, and he replies to their derision. Isaiah styles them as a group of scoffers (9) who react to his rebukes with the haughty response: “Whom does he think he's teaching? Infants barely weaned? Why this stammering precept upon precept; this line upon line, with here a little, and there a little ?” (10) With this series of monosyllables3 they make light of the prophet's precepts, rating him as an intolerable moralist. As for themselves, they are full-grown and free, and do not need him to teach them knowledge.
(c) God's judgments in a foreign tongue (11-13). To those who would reject his ethical monosyllables Isaiah predicts a time when they will come under God's chastisements by means of the Assyrian monosyllables.4 Commands given in a barbarous and babbling speech will then interpret for them God's will. Having rejected their true Refuge (12), they shall now listen to God's judgment (13). Thus will their heathen conquerors utter the Lord's precepts to a people who would not listen to the prophet's preachments. Fallen, broken … snared, and taken—such will be the outcome of their debacle of drunkenness.
2. When Rulers Scoff (28:14-22)
“No one can bargain successfully with death,” Isaiah insists, “so stop your mockery and face up to reality!”
a. Falsehood is no foundation (28:14-15). Hezekiah's chief princes are now addressed as scornful men, that rule this people (14). Isaiah is sure that death (15) and hell (sheol, place of the dead) make no agreements. Men cannot save themselves from either by bargaining. Lies constitute no hiding place, and deceit is no repose, though these men were trusting in them.
b. Faith alone is salvation (28:16-17). Just as certainly as a covenant with death is a delusion, so it is certain that the only true element of permanency in Zion is the sure foundation stone of faith (16). The literal Hebrew reads, “Behold, I am He that hath laid the foundation stone of Zion.” Hence the precious and sure foundation is the divine and indestructible purpose of God. He whose house is built on rock fears not the fiercest storm. For on the stone is this inscription: “The believer is not anxious” (16b).
Judgment (justice) is God's measuring line, and righteousness is His plumb line (17; cf. Peter's application in I Pet. 2:6). God's elect cornerstone measures up to any architectural standard of perfection. On any other foundation disaster overwhelms either the refuge of lies or the hiding place of deceit.
From 28:14-18, Phineas F. Bresee preached a temperance message entitled “Holiness and Civic Righteousness.” (1) The liquor interests have made a covenant with death, and with hell, 15; (2) The nation has not yet seen the full overflowing scourge that will follow an unrestricted liquor traffic, 15; (3) Our duty is to recognize the awful curse with which we have to deal, but preach Jesus Christ—the precious corner stone, the sure foundation, 16 (Sermons on Isaiah).
c. Calamity cancels compacts with doom (28:18-19). The underworld cannot thwart divine retribution. The overwhelming scourge (18) will be a daily terror (19). “As often as the Assyrian invasion sweeps through Palestine, it shall thin the population by death and captivity.”5 An alliance with Egypt, artfully planned and secretly instituted, regardless of its seeming diplomatic value, would not prove a safeguard against this constant death. For concealed within this friendly alliance with Egypt was a repudiation of the obligations entered into previously with Assyria. It was not a covenant with death and hell but a courtship with them. Isaiah declares, “It will be sheer terror to understand the message” (19c, RSV).
d. Human cleverness is inadequate (28:20). He who “makes his bed” without God finds neither rest nor comfort. Isaiah quotes a familiar proverb. He is sure that Hezekiah's counselors will find their bed too short and the covering too narrow.
e. The “strange work” of the Lord (28:21-22). These scoffers cause God to join ranks with foreigners to fight against His own people (21). They aggravate their own bondage and insure their own destruction (22). They will fare like the Philistines when David destroyed their army like a flood at Baal- perazim (II Sam. 5:20; I Chron. 14:11), and when at another time he chased the Philistines before him from Gibeon to Gezer (I Chron. 14:13-17). Any attempt to free themselves from the Assyrian bond by a breach of faith in courting the help of Egypt will mean even more stringent bondage. Let them not disregard the warning, for doom is inevitable. God's prophet has heard from heaven.
3. A Parable of Plowing and Threshing (28:23-29)
The Almighty suits His method to His purpose, and His chastenings to the person. The prophet now offers comfort while at the same time he answers the question: “So what?”
In v. 23, Isaiah, like a faithful teacher, calls for the full attention of his hearers. In 24-25 he reminds the reader that plowing is for sowing. It has its proper time and purpose. The method suits each seed. “When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cummin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and spelt as the border?” (25, RSV) God-given common sense ordains it so (26).
In 27-29 we see that threshing instruments must be suitable and well-timed. That which is suitable to one kind of seed is ruinous to another. Even the harsher methods are used within the limits of reason. The fact that the thresher knows how to use the flail, the hoof, the stoneboat, and the wagon wheel in his threshing of the various types of grain also argues for that wonderful … counsel, and excellent wisdom of the Lord of hosts(29).
Judah is God's farm (cf. I Cor. 3:9). Jehovah neither plows, harrows, nor threshes perpetually. Nor does He punish all with equal severity. Whatever He does is for a purpose, for the divine judgments are not arbitrary but disciplinary. This is the solemn teaching and gracious message of comfort couched here in the form of a parable.
B. WOE TO THE PROUD FORMALISTS, 29:1-14
From the politicians and nobles Isaiah now turns to the populace of his own city, addressing his second woe to the proud formalists with their empty human commandments learned by rote. He sets forth his theme in the first two verses, announcing to “the city of God” (' ir-el),6 Jerusalem, that notwithstanding the fact that she is Ariel (' Ari-El), “the lion of God,” in the coming distress she shall be reduced to Ariel (' Ariel), “the altar-hearth of God.”7 Hence the city known symbolically as God's lion shall now become the place of the Lord's consuming fires (God's furnace).
1. Formal Sacrifices Call for Devouring Fires (29:1-8)
a. Rote sacrifices shall become real and retributive burnings (29:1-4). C. von Orelli offers the following translation of these verses:
1. Alas, Ariel, Ariel, fortress where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts go round. 2. Then I will afflict Ariel, so that there shall be mourning and sighing, and it shall become to me a true Ariel. 3. And I encamp about thee in a circle, and plant stations closely round thee, and set up siege-works against thee. 4. And thou shalt speak deep below the ground, and thy speech shall sound muffled out of the dust; and thy voice shall be like that of a ghost out of the earth, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.8
Add ye year to year (1) or, “Let the feasts move through their yearly rounds, O Judah, the lion of God, and Jerusalem, city of God, where David erected an altar” (II Sam. 24:25; cf. BBC, Vol. I, comments on Lev. 16:1-34; 23:26-32). God himself proposes a sacrifice that will turn the city of God into the altar-hearth of God (2), where the dying moans of slain victims are heard.9
The Lord will besiege Jerusalem (3), heaping a mound against her walls and placing the battering rams. Isaiah declares that “judgment must begin at the house of God” (I Pet. 4:17). Begin at Jerusalem with the gospel (Luke 24:47); begin also at Jerusalem with judgment. Isaiah's lesson seems to say: “If ye lack the fires of true spiritual ardor, ye shall suffer the fires of God's judgments.”
The result will be abject humiliation, “From low in the dust your words shall come” (4).10 Commentators here, including Clarke, see a reference to some form of spiritism or soothsaying. But Isaiah is probably thinking of the voice of the dying victim as it bleeds slowly to death alongside the brazen altar. Its mournful voice becomes weaker and sharper as it finally falls with crumpled legs to utter its dying moan from the dust. Isaiah seems to think of God as the slaying priest and of His people as the first sacrificial victim, followed by their besieging enemies. Jerusalem shall not only be the focal point of an endless yearly round of animal sacrifices but the altar of God upon which nations shall be burned in sacrifice.
b. The destruction of Jerusalem's joes (29:5-8). The fires of the Eternal One will suddenly consume the sacrifice (5-6). The distress of Jerusalem will be severe but it will not last long. The multitude of thy strangers (foes, 5) will be ground to powder-like dust, and blown away like whirling chaff. It shall be at an instant suddenly, like a clap of thunder, an earthquake, a whirlwind, or a tempest (6).
Ariel's (Jerusalem's) enemies shall vanish like a dream (7-8). The sudden disappearance of Sennacherib's army is to be like the fading of a nightmare when the dreamer awakes from his tortured sleep. One night sufficed for the desolation of 185,000 troops (37:35-38; II Kings 19:32-37). God has plenty of time, but He also has abundant power. His deliverances are often sudden though silent.11 Her munition (7) would be her stronghold or defenses.
2. Sensual Feasts Culminate in Spiritual Ignorance (29:9-12)
Isaiah's prediction of the manner in which God's deliverance would come did not seem to be either credible or pleasing to his hearers. Hence his challenge to them: “Tarry ye and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind” (9, ASV). Isaiah's Hebrew verbs denote amazement at what is said and an unwillingness to receive it. Blind stupor is the outcome of a long hypocrisy. God's punishment for such offenses is often judicial blindness (10; cf. Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). Hence Isaiah continues: “Your prophets should have been your eyes, but they behold no vision. Your seers should have been your heads, but they lack clear and valid insight” (paraphrase).
The prophet sees them as a crowd of spiritual illiterates, with an incapacity on the part of their ruling class to understand God's revelations. Read this (11) … I cannot; for it is sealed … Read this (12). “But I can't even read.” Mentally drunk (9), they see and comprehend nothing of true import.
3. Rote Religion Ruins True Understanding (29:13-14)
Empty formality becomes only a mouthing of words with no heart and no soul in its worship. Mere lip homage evidences an estranged heart. God speaks to us in facts, not empty forms. God seems to say, Their worship of Me is but a human maxim without any meaning. “Their fear of me is [but] a commandment of men learned by rote” (13, RSV).
Divine judgments upon human substitutes for piety are what constitute the Lord's marvellous work (14; cf. 28:21; Deut. 28: 58-59). When spiritual or political counselors lead the people astray, wisdom has indeed perished.
C. WOE TO THE PERVERSE AND INSUBORDINATE, 29:15-24
1. Secret Plans (29:15-16)
Taking counsel in secret, the leaders supposed the Lord could not see them (15). In this they forgot the sovereignty of God. “Oh, your perversity,” shouts Isaiah, “supposing the creature to be of more significance than the Creator!” Should a man say to his Maker, He made me not (16), or criticize the One who formed him as being devoid of understanding ? This was exactly what Isaiah called it, a turning of things upside down. Perverse indeed is that person who sets men above his Maker. “The image of the potter does not suggest to Isaiah the thought of an arbitrary sovereignty, but of a love which in the long run will fulfill itself.”12
2. Divine Restoration Brings True Illumination (29:17-24).
If you wish to reform the politics of any nation you must first regenerate its people.
a. God's reversals are redemptive (29:17-21). Lebanon (the name means “white mountain”), now a forest, shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall become a “forest of fruit trees” (17; Berk., fn.). The deaf now hear … the blind now see (18). The open book and the open vision are joined with enlightened receptivity. The meek … and the poor … rejoice (19) in a holy God. The ruthless, the scorner, the unscrupulous materialists, and those who seek to pervert justice and equity shall be removed from God's commonwealth (20-21). Those who watch for iniquity (20) are men “intent on doing evil” (Berk.).
b. God's redeemed have no cause for shame (29:22-24). God, who redeemed Abraham (22) from idolatry and gave him promises for a holy posterity, will grant understanding to the erring, and instruction to the questioning (24). He will also discipline them that murmured, making them a godly and reverent people. When they see the divine workmanship in human personalities, they will hallow the divine name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob (23), standing in awe of the God of Israel.
From 29:13-23, Dr. P. F. Bresee preached on “The Verities of Salvation.” He pointed out (1) Reality rather than ritual is the essence of religion, 13; (2) God does a marvellous work in the spirits of His people in order to make himself real to them, 14; (3) God shows His power in human history, 17; (4) God shows His power in the transformed lives of other persons, 23 (Sermons on Isaiah).
D. WOE TO THE PRO-EGYPTIAN PARTY, 30:1-33
Isaiah uses cc. 30—31 for a denunciation of Judah's pro-Egyptian policy. He traces Judah's bad politics to their source in bad religion.
1. Woe to Those Who Set Egypt Ahead of God (30:1-17)
Judah's leaders are like rebellious children (1) who would rather listen to the advice of the neighbors than to follow a parent's counsel.
a. They weave an alliance without God's blessing (30:1-5). The sin of self-will is manifest in this carrying out of a design that does not originate within the divine purpose. The net result is the heaping of sin upon sin—the sin of concealment upon the previous sin of trusting in secular alliance. Cover with a covering (1) means to weave a treaty or make an alliance. A shadow is no shelter (2), even though that shadow be cast by the whole kingdom of Egypt. Pharaoh's protection is a poor exchange for divine aid. To trust in the shadow of Egypt (3) was to put Egypt in the place of God.
Notwithstanding the courtesy of Pharaoh's reception, Judah's trust in his support will only result in disillusionment and disgrace (4-5). Zoan (4) is undoubtedly Tanis, which is now a heap of ruins just south of the present San el Hagar in the northeast corner of the Nile delta. Hanes has been identified with Heracleopolis Magna (the present Ihnasya el Madina) by von Orelli, Delitzsch, and Whitehouse (see map 3). Isaiah sees Judah's messengers making their way into the heart of Egypt via these two cities.
b. The useless caravan (30:6-7). Isaiah thinks of this mission to Egypt as a foolhardy enterprise. Hence his oracle on the beasts of the south (the Negeb; 6). That desert southland is the lair of lioness and young lion, the viper and the swift-darting desert adder. He insists that tribute sent through a land of trouble cannot net a profit in return. Yet no danger deters them and no sacrifice seems too great in the carrying out of their unworthy plan. Their asses and camels are laden with the treasures with which they hope to purchase the Egyptian alliance. Verse 7b is better translated, “Therefore I have called her ‘Rahab [fn., sea-dragon] who sits still’” (Berk.; cf. also ASV, RSV). “Dragon do-nothing” is the name Isaiah gives to Egypt. The “Rahab” symbol for Egypt seems to specify the Nile “river-horse” (hippopotamus amphibius). This huge, sluggish beast constitutes a fitting symbol in Isaiah's mind for the empire on the Nile which brags and boasts, but does not stir from its place to help another.13
c. A record for all times (30:8-11). Isaiah now resorts to documentary evidence (8) to prove to posterity that “instruction rejected” was the attitude of a rebellious people (9). Their response was “pleasant platitudes preferred” (10). Write it in a table (8) would be “on a tablet” (Berk.). They said even worse: “Take your God and go!” Isaiah's continually confronting them with the Holy One of Israel (11) seems only to have aroused their antagonism. They stood face-to-face with an infinite holiness which they would not hear, and therefore could not bear.
d. The collapse of human bulwarks (30:12-14). Isaiah's wherefore, because, and therefore are significant expressions of the law of relationships, (a) Confidence in cunning crookedness (12) expressed by their trust in “fraud” (margin) and perverseness seemed to Isaiah to be sheer political folly. To stay thereon is to rely upon, (b) To depend upon it would be like putting confidence in a broken, bulging wall all ready to fall, (c) The crash of the weakened wall (13) comes like a sudden calamity. It brings with it ruin beyond remedy (14), for it breaks into many pieces, like a piece of shattered pottery. “Among the fragments there shall not be found a piece with which to carry a coal of fire from the hearth or to dip water from a cistern” (Berk.).
e. The alternatives (30:15-17). The alternatives are either reliance on the eternal God or flight in panic from the Assyrian. Isaiah declares that only returning (repentance)14 and faith spell salvation (15). C. von Orelli translates this verse: “By repenting and remaining quiet you shall be saved, in stillness and in confidence your strength shall lie.”15 Moffatt says:
Your safety lies in ceasing to make leagues,
your strength is quiet faith.
Plumptre observes: “In this case it was the turning from the trust in man, with all its restless excitement, to a trust in God, full of calmness and peace.”16 Hence Isaiah would urge the immediate recall of the Judean embassy now on its way to Egypt. He counsels rather a dignified neutrality as the best policy.
Horses in full retreat (16) is the prophet's next picture. Isaiah quotes his opposers as saying, “No! we want some horses waiting if we have to flee.” His rejoinder is, “You'll flee, all right!” They reply, “If so, we want something that has speed.” Isaiah retorts: “Your pursuers ride swiftly too.” One shall chase a thousand of you (17), and only one of you shall escape. To rebuke would be to threaten. Left like a beacon upon the top of a mountain, a lone pole (or pine) atop the hill, there Judah will stand as a true image of isolation, a tiny remnant in a wide land devastated by war.
2. God Waits to Show Favor (30:18-26)
Verse 18 pictures God's solicitude and His righteousness. Isaiah sees Him withdrawn to His throne on high until such time as He can interpose effectively. A God of judgment is a God of justice.
Verses 19-22 are filled with encouragement and promise. (a) A people shall continue in Zion and weeping shall be removed (19). (b) Even though hunger prevails, God's presence will be real: “Your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher” (20, RSV). (c) His voice will direct their way (21). (d) They, in turn, will throw away idols and images (22).
Nature will regain its beauty and productivity. (a) Sufficient rain will guarantee an ample yield in both the pasture and the field (23). (b) Work animals shall eat a savory silage (24) of “mixed provender with salt.”17 To ear the ground probably means to plow, (c) Rivulets shall course through the highlands (25), while the forts of the foe are falling, (d) Moonlight will be as sunlight, and sunlight will seem to increase sevenfold (26).
3. The Music of the World's Judgment (30:27-33)
At every stroke of divine judgment upon evil God's people will raise their song of triumph.
a. The Lord's judgment (30:27-28). “The Lord comes to judge the nations with the mighty manifestation of His incensed majesty.”18 Isaiah sees Him with lips of fury, tongue of flame (27), and breath like a torrent that reaches to the neck (28). The prophet also sees God as a sieve of vanity (destruction) and a lasso19 of doom. Thus under the constraints of a Higher Power, Judah's enemies rush blindly on to destruction.
b. The music of deliverance (30:29-30). The song of a festive night (29a) probably has reference to that holy solemnity known as the Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering. Of all the Jewish festivals it was the most abounding in joy. It had a night of solemn ritual, the Temple court being lighted with great candelabra. It came to be known as “the feast” (I Kings 8:2, 65; 12:32; II Chron. 7:8-9; Ezek. 45:25).
The flute of ascent to the rock (29b) was the daylight ritual which followed. The pilgrims in procession from the country came bringing their firstfruits and playing on their flutes as they ascended through the eastern gate to the rock dome of Mount Moriah (cf. I Sam. 10:5). Amidst it all is heard the majestic voice of the Eternal (30a), as his arm descends in fury (30b), scattering His foes with fire and tempest.
c. The baton of destiny (30:31-33). God's voice annihilates the Assyrians (31) and leads the music of the attack (32). The sound of drums and the notes of stringed instruments (tabrets and harps) symbolize the joy of those redeemed by God's action. Tophet … ordained of old (33) means literally “place of burning.” It was also the name given to the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem and southwest of Mount Zion, where refuse was dumped and the fires kept burning. There wicked King Ahaz offered his son as a burnt offering to Moioch (II Kings 16:3). Since the Hebrew term for king is melek, Isaiah makes a play on it, indicating that the Assyrian melek will be sacrificed to the heathen god Moloch. Although the Assyrian king himself did not die in Jerusalem, undoubtedly many of his soldiers who died on that fateful night of Jerusalem's deliverance were cremated there in this Valley of Hinnom.20
Moffatt's rendering of 31-33 is clear and vivid:
At the Eternal's voice of thunder,
the Assyrians are appalled;
he fights them to the death and clubs them down,
to peals of music;
the pyre to burn them is prepared,
both deep and wide,
piled high with logs set blazing by the breath
of the Eternal like a fiery tide.
E. WOE TO THOSE WHO TRUST IN THE FLESH, 31:1-9
The princes of Judah sought to strengthen their defenses against the Assyrian menace with horses from Egypt, for Judah lacked a good cavalry. Isaiah's words have a ring of sarcasm in them as he condemns their trusting in an “arm of flesh” rather than the Holy One of Israel (1).
1. The Futility of the Flesh (31:1-3)
Horses and chariots (1), regardless of their number, cannot equal the Holy One of Israel. To stay on horses was to depend on them.
Judah's princes were not the only wise ones in the universe. There was wisdom beyond that of Hezekiah's counselors. He who sits on the throne of this universe is no fool. God in His wisdom was bringing disaster, and He never has to “eat” his words. He was taking the offensive against evildoers (Judah) and against the help of them (Egypt). He would meet them with their own weapons, and outsmart their human cleverness. The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit (3). It is God who routs the allies of evil. When He stretches out his hand, “the protector totters and the protected one falls, and both perish together.”21 He that is holpen means helped.
2. The Lord Descends to Do Battle (31:4-5)
God is like that lion “against whom the whole body of shepherds is called out without his being alarmed at their noise and crouching at their turmoil.”22 Mere human noise does not stampede Him. He takes His stance on mount Zion. And whether He fights for, on, or against23 it, one had better not arouse His hostility.
As birds flying (5) is meant to suggest the parent eagle hovering over the nest when its little ones are in peril, and swooping down with fury upon any who would molest them. Not only protection but deliverance is indicated. Passing over is the root of pesah, from which the word “passover” is derived.
3. The. Lord Has a Sword for Assyria (31:6-9)
The prophet cries, “Reverse your revolt, O Israel! Turn ye (6) to the Lord.” Repentance must always be toward God (Acts 3:19; 20:21) if it is to be effective. Thus Isaiah calls upon Judah's leaders to renounce that deep apostasy of which they have been guilty. He continues, Cast away your idols (7) as a proof of your decision!
Even the famous Damascus steel blade has been known to break. Not so the sword (8) of the Lord. Isaiah prophesies that “the Assyrian shall fall by the sword of no man; no human's sword shall devour him” (8, Berk.). He shall flee from this sword and there will be forced labor for their young men.24 The picture of 9 is of Assyrian soldiers and officers utterly put to rout. “Their very god flies in panic, their princes scatter in sheer terror” (Moffatt). Or, as Von Orelli has it, “His princes retire panic stricken from the banner.”25 Jerusalem has indeed become God's furnace; His fire both illuminates and consumes.
Thus the Assyrian was to be put to rout, not by the sword of any human hero but by the divine intervention. It was more like a holocaust than a battle, and the power of Assyria was broken forever. Flesh cannot avail in conflict with Spirit.
F. THREE HOMILIES FOR JERUSALEM, 32:1-20
Some commentators treat this chapter as an appendix to the foregoing woe. Isaiah gives a picture of the ideal commonwealth (1-8), rebukes and admonishes the complacent ladies of Jerusalem (9-14), and delineates the blessing resulting from God's outpoured Spirit (15-20).
1. The True and the False Nobility (32:1-8)
The noble versus the knave is Isaiah's contrast here.
a. True nobility of character (32:1-2). Here Isaiah looks forward to a time when the aristocracy of birth and wealth will be replaced by an aristocracy of character. Both Moffatt and The Berkeley Version capitalize king indicating that these blessings are to follow the reign of Messiah. Isaiah is sure that true kingliness is an achievement of character, and true discernment a quality of wisdom. He would therefore reprove the knavish nobility of Jerusalem as he holds up before them a portrait of the ideal of character in either king or commoner. In government the king is righteous, and the princes are just. In character (2) a man26 is an hiding place (a refuge), a covert (shield), a stream of fresh water (satisfaction), and a great shade (comfort) to the people of his nation. Instead of being an oppressor of the common man, he is a protection against calamity and a source of beneficent activity.
b. True discernment of character (32:3-8). Isaiah sees that a day will come when the moral perceptions of the people will be so spiritually quickened that discernment of character will be without confusion.
In intelligent understanding (3-4) the prophet will see clearly (3a—here is insight); the people will hear willingly (3b—here is response). The formerly rash person will now have good judgment (4a—here is prudence), and the stammerers will now speak advisedly (4b—here is communication). That their speech will not be precipitate, or unthinking, is the idea in the Hebrew, rather than the ability to articulate distinctly. Sound judgment and fluent speech are the combined qualities of the true orator.
In character there will be no mistaken identity and a man will be recognized for just what he is.27 The character of the fool (6) is manifest in his speech, his mentality, his practice, his doctrine, and his politics. Isaiah anticipated the teaching of Jesus, “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16). The character of the knave (the churl, 7) cannot be mistaken since he plans wickedness and perverts equity—he is both crafty and fraudulent. Finally, the character of the true noble is readily noted (8). His plans are noble, he stands for what is right, and he manifests a true magnanimity. “When men's eyes are opened they will no longer confound the essential distinctions of moral character. Things will then be called by their right names.”28
2. A Warning to Complacent Women (32:9-14)
Here we have a threatening oration to the complacent women of Jerusalem.29 What aroused the prophet's ire was their careless unconcern in the face of the oncoming peril and his oft repeated warnings.
“Listen, you ladies of leisure!” is Isaiah's exhortation. Pay attention, O careless daughters (9). These represent that aspect of the public mind characteristic of the luxurious and ease-loving. “In little more than a year” (10, Berk.) your trouble begins, for the vintage and harvest shall fail.
In times like these, mourning should be the order of the days. Shudder, you careless creatures, and don the robes of sorrow, is the prophetic call. “Strip bare for a girdle of burlap” (11). It is not uncommon for Arab women to strip half naked as a sign of grief when announcing a death, following which their fellow tribesmen join in cries of lamentation. Isaiah calls upon the women of Jerusalem to do so because of the coming desolation of their wealthy estates. Verse 12 is interpreted, “Beat your breasts in mourning” (Berk.) at the coming food shortage.
Only desolation and emptiness await their places of festivity. The gardens of the stately villas will soon be briers and thorns (13). Even the king's palace and city shall be deserted, and the hill30 and towers become a place for wild asses (14).
3. The Effects of the Outpoured Spirit (32:15-20)
The prophet Isaiah is not only a witness to the Messiah, but also to the Holy Spirit. This outpouring is to usher in a newness of life and power by which the will of God shall be made to prevail in human society. Isaiah looks for the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Joel 2:28-32) to sweep away the frivolities of a profli- gate and luxuriant life, instituting in its place something more noble and spiritual. This is to be reflected even in nature until “the downs grow like an orchard and the orchard like a forest” (15, Moffatt).
When God's Spirit is supreme, judgment (justice) shall reach from the wilderness to the fruitful field (16), i.e., righteousness will filter down to the very grass-roots of human society. Here is a picture of a smiling land and a God-fearing, contented people. In 17 we see that holiness begets peace and assurance. Soul rest and the witness of the Spirit are the treasures of the sanctified. “Righteousness cultivated by peace, produces tranquility of mind and permanent security.”31 These quiet resting places (18) are in contrast to the false and carnal security denounced in 9 and 11. Hail … on the forest (19) refers to God's judgments. The security of His people continues when God brings calamity on their foes. The city probably means Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians.
The people of God shall sow in happiness by unfailing streams where abundant pastures are free. To sow beside all waters (20) may be translated “who sow your seed in every well-watered place.” Reference to the ox and the ass does not justify the supposition that they are yoked together contrary to the ancient commandment. The ox is the animal for plowing and the ass is the animal for transportation. Isaiah sees a time when one may let his ox or his ass range free without fear of its being stolen by an invading army.
G. WOE TO THE ASSYRIAN DESTROYER, 33:1-24
This discourse presupposes a considerable advance in historical events from c. 31. Its date is suggested by v. 7. The Jewish nobles had been sent to Lachish with tribute for the Assyrian conqueror in hopes that, because of this gift, he would not besiege Jerusalem. They received an answer which filled them with dismay. Sennacherib accepted the treasures but refused to spare the city except on the basis of its unconditional surrender. He thus showed himself faithless (8) and treacherous (1), disregarding conditions of peace which he himself had fixed (II Kings 18:14). Hence this discourse falls between II Kings 18:16 and 17. The embassy referred to in 7 was not the one sent first (II Kings 18:14) to make an offer of submission, but the later one that brought tribute to Sennacherib in virtue of this agreement.
The chapter shows how this sudden turn of events was revealed to the prophet beforehand with divine certainty. It also vindicates the preaching of Isaiah as he contended that in God alone is deliverance and that a quiet and devout neutrality was the best political policy for little Judah.
1. The Destroyer and the Divine Deliverer (33:1-9)
a. Woe to the treacherous one (33:1). Woe to thee that spoilest … and dealest treacherously … when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled. Thus Isaiah is saying, Not yet have you reaped as you have sown; but when you've finished, then your treachery shall return upon your own head.
b. Judah''s pleading and Palestine's plight (33:2-9). Isaiah here sympathizes with Jerusalem and joins with the people in intercession. The prophet vocalizes Judah's prayer: O Lord, be gracious, strengthen us, save us (2). When God stirs, nations are scattered (3) and their abandoned spoil shall be gathered up (4). Hence he who came to spoil shall find himself spoiled. All the plunder the Assyrian has collected in his march southward will make good booty for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Moffatt clarifies 4 thus: “We [shall] loot them like locusts, and swarm like grasshoppers over their spoil.” The exalted Eternal One is Zion's storehouse of righteousness (5), stability, wisdom, and salvation; reverence is his treasure, (6).
Judah's ambassadors of peace (7) cry out angrily in sorrow and disappointment because of the shameless breaking of the covenant by the Assyrian (8). None dares venture onto the highways. The Assyrian despises the cities and has no regard for mortal man, trampling down just rights, and refusing any friendly agreement. Lebanon, Bashan, Carmel, and Sharon (see map 1), all famous for fertility and beauty, have suffered the withering blight of the Assyrian invasion (9). Hezekiah had complied with Sennacherib's conditions of subjection and yet there was no suspension of hostilities.
2. God Will Act (33:10-14a)
Now will I be exalted … saith the Lord (10). Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Note the emphatic repetition of now. Isaiah makes bold to declare that the judgment long threatened against the Assyrian is now immediately pending. His violence becomes kindling for the Lord's fires. The hot, panting rage of the Assyrian shall kindle his own funeral pyre (11-12). In lime kilns as in fires of thorns the flame is intense and consumes quickly.
Let the fate of Assyria come as a warning to ye that are far off (13; other nations) and to ye that are near (Israel herself). For the sinners in Zion (14a) there is also the furnace of fire heated with the wrath of the Eternal. The signal deliverance of Jerusalem has demonstrated to them, and all the world, the omnipotence of the Holy One of Israel.
3. What Kind of Character Stands the Test? (33:14b -16)
Isaiah asks, Who among us can sojourn as a protected guest amidst the fires of God's holiness? The divine wrath against sin is inexhaustible (cf. Ps. 24:3-4). The prophet is certain that there is but one thing that can survive the universal flame; that is a holy character.
“The Life of the Truly Righteous” may be seen in verses 15-16. (1) He walks justly, he speaks honestly, he despises extortion, he refuses bribes, he will not listen to blood (violence) or look upon evil, 15. (2) The security of the righteous is spelled out by the prophet as safe dwelling, sure defence (“the fortress of rocks”), and guaranteed sustenance (bread and water are certain), 16.
4. Zion and the Eternal One (33:17-24)
a. The changed outlook (33:17-19). Once more the inhabitant of Jerusalem may see the king in his beauty (17), and the land in its breadth. The people had been sore at heart (18) because of the sight of their king in sackcloth, mourning the loss of city after city, and unable to look across the Judean hills without the sight of Assyrian soldiers. The Rabshakeh with his loud voice hurled insults; the scribe to whom the money was handed counted it slowly in the sight of all; military strategists counted the towers of Jerusalem's walled defenses. But the people may now relax. The terror is gone. “Your heart will meditate on the terrors” (18, Berk.), which are now past. Now recollection of it leaves only thankful awareness of the divine mercy. The old, familiar tongue replaces a deeper speech (19)—the barbarous and unintelligible Assyrian language.
b. The theocratic city (33:20-24). Now the rejoicing inhabitant of Jerusalem may speak of: (a) the city of our solemnities, i.e., our worship, and our immovable tabernacle (20). (b) Our God is a River of grace (21) where no enemy galley can come. (c) The Lord is our Ruler, Deliverer, and king (22). (d) Old “Zion” (Judah's then current “ship of state”), whose tackle and sails hung limply, will see better days (23a). Spoils will be shared in abundance by all, including the lame. All will rejoice that none are sin-sick, for all are now forgiven (24; cf. Mic. 7:18). George L. Robinson writes: “Isaiah never pronounced a woe without adding a corresponding promise.”32
In the promise to Jerusalem, 17-22, Dr. Bresee saw “The Defense of the Sanctified.” (1) God's righteousness surrounds every life that is fully surrendered to Him; (2) The glorious Lord gives His people pleasant places and ample protection, 21; (3) The Lord … will save us, and His saving work is an uttermost salvation, 22 (Sermons on Isaiah).