Isaiah

INTRODUCTION

The prophecy of Isaiah is the third longest, complete literary entity in the Bible, being exceeded in length only by Jeremiah and Psalms. Psalms is in a special category as a collection of separate literary units.

1. Background

a. Sources of information

The book of Isaiah itself is the major source of information. Additional and supporting material is contained in 2Ki 15–21 and in 2Ch 26–33. Other contemporary or near-contemporary prophets were Amos and Hosea, both of whom prophesied to the northern kingdom, and Micah, who, like Isaiah, was a vehicle of God’s word to Judah. Assyrian clay tablets are a leading source of material outside the OT.

b. The life of Isaiah

The opening heading of the book (1:1) places the ministry of Isaiah in the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah, as he is called in 2 Kings), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Likely his ministry continued into the reign of Manasseh. Nothing is known about Isaiah’s father, Amoz. Jewish tradition declared him to be of royal stock. While this cannot be substantiated, Isaiah may have been an aristocrat, for he seemed to have easy access to kings (7:3; 37:21–22; et al.). His wife is called “the prophetess” (8:3), which may simply mean she was a prophet’s wife. She was, however, the mother of his two known children, both of whom had names with symbolic meanings (7:3; 8:3, 18). Isaiah seems to have prophesied largely—if not exclusively—in Jerusalem and its environs. Isaiah 8:16–17 suggests that the rejection of his warning to Ahaz led to a temporary withdrawal from public ministry and concentration on his disciples. His last datable oracles were in 701 B.C. The noncanonical Ascension of Isaiah states that he was martyred (cf. Heb 11:37) in the reign of Manasseh (who came to the throne in 687 B.C.).

c. The international scene

Israel and Judah—under Jeroboam II and Uzziah respectively—enjoyed a period of prosperity during Isaiah’s childhood, with little interference from foreign powers. Egypt was weak, while Assyria was occupied with problems elsewhere. The aggressive empire-builder Tiglath-pileser III (known in Babylon as Pul) came to the Assyrian throne in 745 B.C., and the situation quickly changed. Egypt reckoned the small kingdoms in Palestine and Syria to be within her sphere of influence, but Assyria began to carve out a western extension to its empire in that region. Damascus (732 B.C.) and much of Galilee fell to Tiglath-pileser; then Shalmaneser V (727–722 B.C.) and Sargon II (722–705 B.C.) attacked Samaria, the latter taking it in 722 or 721 B.C. In the last decade or so of the century, Egypt began to revive somewhat, and Assyria encountered trouble from Babylon. Because of this, Judah and other neighboring states rebelled against Assyria. Sennacherib (705–681) invaded Judah in 701 and subdued it; but God saved Jerusalem, which was to fall over a century later to a resurgent Babylon.

d. The reigns of Uzziah and Jotham

There are some problems in dating the reigns of the kings of Judah from Uzziah to Hezekiah. Uzziah’s death has been variously placed between 747 and 735, the most likely date being around 740. Jotham seems to have been regent for some years before this; and, apparently, several years before his own death (731), he handed over the reins of effective government to his son, Ahaz. Apart from the inaugural vision recorded in ch. 6, nothing in the book can be dated with certainty from the reigns of either Uzziah or Jotham. Uzziah had been a godly man until the pride of his latter days (2Ch 26:16–21), but neither he nor Jotham removed the idolatrous high places.

e. The Syro-Ephraimite war

The threat from Tiglath-pileser brought Syria and Israel into coalition around 734 B.C., and they tried to force Judah to join them. Ahaz was on the throne at the time. Isaiah challenged him to trust in the Lord (ch. 7); instead, Ahaz called on Assyria to come to his aid. Damascus, the capital of Syria, was taken by the Assyrians in 732 and much of Galilee was subjugated (2Ki 15:25–29). Pekah, king of Israel, was murdered by Hoshea, who replaced him and reigned as a virtual Assyrian puppet. Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, had inflicted some harm on Judah before the Assyrians brought relief to Ahaz (2Ki 16:5–9), but more serious still were the religious consequences of the latter’s appeal to Assyria (2Ki 16:10–20).

f. The fall of Samaria

The death of Tiglath-pileser in 727 B.C. raised false hopes of freedom for the little kingdoms on the Mediterranean seaboard. When Ahaz died about a year later, Isaiah uttered a prophecy warning Philistia of the consequences of revolt, and, by implication, counseled Judah against joining her (14:28–32). It was some time later that Hoshea withheld tribute from Shalmaneser V, who for three years besieged Samaria, which was later taken by his successor, Sargon. According to the Assyrians, over twenty-seven thousand Israelites were deported at this time, being settled in the northern parts of the Assyrian empire. For about a decade the area was fairly quiet, Sargon being occupied with wars elsewhere; but then Egypt began to encourage the Philistines and others to form a new coalition against Assyria. This coalition was crushed by Sargon in 711 in a battle on the Egyptian border. Judah under Hezekiah stayed out of this, heeding Isaiah’s warning (20:1–6).

g. Hezekiah and Sennacherib

Sargon died around 705 B.C. and was replaced by Sennacherib. Immediately there was trouble in different parts of the Assyrian Empire, encouraged by the Ethiopian monarchs who were imparting new vigor to Egypt, and also by Merodach-Baladan of Babylon. This time, despite Isaiah’s warnings (chs. 30–31), Hezekiah became involved and prepared Jerusalem for a siege (22:8–11). The Assyrian army invaded Judah, taking forty-six walled cities and devastating much of the countryside. It besieged Jerusalem, but Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah to trust in the Lord; and the city was delivered (37:36).

h. Babylon

Merodach-Baladan, a Chaldean prince, took power in Babylon in 721 B.C., declaring it independent of Assyria. Sargon entered Babylon in 711 or 710 without a fight. After Sargon’s death, however, Merodach-Baladan became a leader of movements of rebellion against Sennacherib and sought to involve Hezekiah (39:1–2). Sennacherib defeated and deposed Merodach-Baladan; but Babylon revived again during the seventh century, becoming the dominant Mesopotamian power toward the end of that century. This led ultimately to the subjection of Judah to Babylon and to the fall of Jerusalem in 587. The ensuing Exile fulfilled God’s warning to Hezekiah delivered through Isaiah (ch. 39) and forms the background to the following prophecies. However, at least part of chs. 56–66 seems to assume the passage of still more time, with the Exile a thing of the past and the people back in Judah again. Cyrus the Persian, the human instrument of the return, is referred to in chs. 44–45.

2. Authorship, Unity, and Date

a. The history of criticism

The book of Isaiah has come down to us as a unity, and the name Isaiah son of Amoz is the only one linked with it in any of the Hebrew manuscripts or ancient versions. Until late in the eighteenth century, only one extant writer questioned whether Isaiah wrote the whole book. This writer maintained that chs. 40–66 were the work of a prophet who lived late in the Babylonian captivity. In the late eighteenth century, soon after Pentateuchal criticism began to get into its stride, the new critical school took an interest in Isaiah, and chs. 40–66 were attributed to a prophet of the Exile, who soon was known as “Deutero-Isaiah.” This view came to be held widely in scholarly circles. Subsequently, chs. 56–66 were attributed to yet another writer, “Trito-Isaiah,” and some critics have divided the book still further, virtually fragmenting it.

b. The case for its unity

It is clear that the Jews accepted Isaiah’s authorship of the later chapters of the book well before the coming of Christ. Ecclesiasticus, written early in the second century B.C., in 48:24 clearly refers to Isa 61:3. The pre-Christian Isaiah scroll from Qumran known as 1QIsa^a has the complete text of the book. More important, however, is the testimony of the NT, which quotes Isaiah—and from different parts (e.g., Jn 12:37–41)—by name more often than all the other writing prophets combined.

The case for the unity of the book is strong. While it would be too much to say that its rejection is invariably due to a rejection of supernatural prophetic prediction (e.g., the naming of Cyrus in 44:28 and 45:1), there is no doubt that this lies behind a great deal of the opposition to it. It seems likely that Isaiah lived on into the reign of Manasseh, that during this reign he was unable to function openly as a prophet, but that he committed to writing the revelations he received about the future of his people. No doubt the people in Babylonia, chastened by the hand of their God—and with a new awareness of his sovereignty—would watch events with a deep sense of anticipation, and these prophecies would themselves be instrumental in the hands of God in helping to create that atmosphere of faith and obedience that led to the return.

Only a realization that the whole book records the prophecies of Isaiah the son of Amoz can place the authority of its teaching as an important part of the OT preparation for Christ on the securest basis.

3. Theology

Isaiah’s temple vision (ch. 6) of the thrice-holy God deeply influenced his whole prophetic career and his theology. Isaiah learned some things about God’s holiness, transcendent separateness, and incomparable majesty and character. Isaiah’s distinctive title for God is “the Holy One of Israel,” used twenty-five times in all.

Isaiah learned that God is King, enthroned above all, eternal and deathless, unlike Uzziah and other earthly monarchs. He is also the Lord Almighty, so that the authority of the supreme King is wedded to an omnipotence that enables him to carry out his every purpose. As such, he could use Assyria and Babylon as instruments of his punitive purpose and yet include them also in the great judgments on all the nations (chs. 13–23). In fact, the entire world would come under his judgment (ch. 24). Isaiah is also given a wonderful disclosure of a great King for God’s people, who himself bears the name “Mighty God” (9:6).

Isaiah saw that “the whole earth is full of his glory” (6:3); accordingly, he speaks of God as Creator both of the universe (40:26; 42:5; 48:12–13) and of his people, Israel (43:1, 15). He has a vision of the whole earth full of the knowledge of the Lord (11:9) and even of new heavens and a new earth (65:17; 66:22).

Because this great God is holy, Isaiah’s encounter with him gives the prophet a smarting sense of sin. He is to be the mouthpiece of God, but Isaiah’s lips are unclean. The people too have unclean lips; for, though worshiping their God with ritual (1:10–17), fasting (58:1–5), and words (29:13), they were in fact rebellious (1:2–6; 30:1–5; et al.). The prophet’s scathing denunciations of idolatry (chs. 40–48) reflect not only his own conviction that there is only one God but also his holy intolerance of the sin of idolatry. Two sins that are singled out for special condemnation are pride and unbelief (e.g., in 2:6–22; 7:1–9). Isaiah also condemned injustice (1:16–17; 58:6–12; et al.).

But Isaiah also brings hope. His very name (meaning “The LORD Is Salvation”) suggests that we should expect a positive note. The assurance of forgiveness for the penitent is constantly reiterated (1:18–19; 12:1; 30:18–19; 33:24; et al.); and, just as the ultimate sacrificial basis of forgiveness is suggested in 6:6–7, so it is shown to be grounded in the sacrificial sufferings of God’s great Servant (52:13–53:12). But God’s purpose is concerned not only with the individual but also with the nation, and the doctrine of the remnant is the guarantee of God’s truth. In Isaiah’s teaching about the remnant lies the seed of all that he declares about the future glory of Zion (see next section).

4. Eschatology

The message of Isaiah is strongly eschatological. The prophet frequently deals with the future destiny of Israel and the Gentiles. This book, like other OT prophetic Scriptures, has been understood in more than one way as far as its eschatology is concerned. Clearly, a high doctrine of Scripture requires us to take the teaching of its every part seriously; it also requires that we consider the way the NT writers understood it.

The interpretation of the nature of Isaiah’s prophecy ranges from very literal (i.e., every prophecy that can be taken literally should be so taken) to primarily spiritual (i.e., that the promises made to Israel are to be fulfilled in the church). Both of these extreme positions have difficulties in the light of the NT. A good case can be made for the fulfillment of many of the “Israel” prophecies in the church (e.g., Ac 13:46–48; 26:19–23 interpret Isa 42:6–7; 49:6–7 spiritually). But there is an important group of NT passages that can hardly be understood in any other way than in relation to literal Israel and geographical Jerusalem (e.g., Mt 19:28; Lk 21:24; Ro 11:26–27; cf. Isa 27:9; 59:20–21).

There may be passages that present us with continuing problems of interpretation and where it is not plain whether we should understand them literally or spiritually. Perhaps this is what we should expect. We are never promised complete understanding of biblical prophecies before their fulfillment. Their main purpose is to keep us expectant, obedient, and trustful and to provide, in their fulfillment, evidence of the faithfulness of God to his Word. In the fulfilled events themselves, God will be seen to be true.

5. Messianism and the Servant Songs

Each part of the OT presents its own witness to the Christ who was to come. There is no OT book—with the possible exception of the Psalter—that is so full and varied in its testimony, and certainly none is so beautifully integrated. Many themes enter this prophetic literature that are messianic in the broad sense; that is, they witness to the Christ presented in the pages of the NT. The themes of the Branch (cf. 4:2; 11:1; et al.), the Stone (cf. 8:14; 28:16–17; et al.), and Light (9:2; 42:6; et al.) are important concepts in Isaiah. These all move beyond their normal subpersonal uses to provide analogies of the coming One and his work. In the use of the terms Child (e.g., 9:6) and King (e.g., 9:6–7), however, we begin at the personal level (see 7:13–17).

The so-called Servant Songs, though clearly forming an identifiable series, have not been arbitrarily introduced to their context; for the servant theme is an important one in Isaiah from ch. 41 onward, with Israel often so-named (41:8–9; 43:10; 44:1–2, 21). Cyrus too, though not called God’s servant, functions for him (44:28–45:7), with the prediction of God’s prophetic servants (44:26) and the good of his servant Israel (45:4) as the background and the purpose of his work.

The Christian, guided by the use made of the Servant Songs in the NT (e.g., Mt 8:17; 12:17–21; Jn 12:38; et al.) can immediately say that they are fulfilled in Jesus. There is not a word of the songs that cannot be applied to him, even when the servant is called “Israel” (49:3); for, as Matthew clearly saw, Jesus was the perfect expression of what God intended Israel to be (cf. Mt 2:15 with Hos 11:1–2).

The prophet not only introduces a series of themes that prove eventually to be messianic, but he relates them in a kind of theological counterpoint. For instance, in chs. 8–9 we have the sanctuary (8:14; cf. Jn 2:19), the stone (8:14), the light (9:2), and the child King (9:7). The kingly theme is interwoven with that of the servant (e.g., 42:4; 52:13; 53:12), while both the king and the servant are endowed with the Spirit of God (11:1–3; 42:1; 61:1). This all gives the impression that some great person is in view, in whom all this material will find its ultimate focus.

EXPOSITION

I. Oracles Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1–12:6)

A. God’s Charge Against His People (1:1–31)

This chapter fitly opens the book. It vigorously sums up the teaching, not only of the prophet Isaiah, but of the whole prophetic movement.

1 The prophet’s name means “The LORD Is Salvation.” Nothing is known about Isaiah’s father, and the Jewish tradition of Isaiah’s royal birth is groundless. But he certainly had an extensive experience of kings! His knowledge of their imperfections fitted him to be a major channel of God’s disclosure of the perfect king. “Vision” (GK 2606) suggests to us a mode of revelation, but it could be a technical term for an oracle of God, however received.

2–3 These two verses appear to introduce a trial scene. Here nature serves the purposes of prophecy. The heavens and earth witness God’s complaint against his people, and the ox and the donkey dumbly rebuke Israel’s ingratitude. Unreasoning beasts exhibit more sense and appreciation than unthinking Israel (cf. Jer 8:7). The words “children” and “they” are both emphatic in the Hebrew, underlining the unthinkable character of such filial rebellion.

4 The prophet’s language suggests that guilt is an awful burden; that if paternity is truly revealed in character, then something has gone sadly wrong; and that the people have added insult to ingratitude.

5–6 The sinful people are addressed directly here. Their continuance in sin, like all rebellion against God, is utterly irrational. The whole surface of the body politic (i.e., the nation personified) testifies to the divine punishment, but the heart remains unchanged.

7–9 As Isaiah uttered these words, he may well have recalled the divine disclosure of things to come that had been given him at the time of his call (6:11–13). God’s word had proved true. City and country were both suffering, for their inhabitants were powerless against the invaders. Isaiah likens the situation in the land to the roughly made shelters of the farmer’s watchmen, standing desolate against the skyline once harvest was over. It was the restraining hand of the Lord Almighty that alone saved Jerusalem from sharing the fate of its environs, and the prophet stresses this by placing the names of the two destroyed cities in a position of emphasis.

10–15 Sodom and Gomorrah—shocking and deeply insulting names to Isaiah’s hearers—suggest not only devastation but Gentile sin at its worst; yet the words “LORD” and “our God” have overtones of a covenant relationship unknown to the cities of the plain. The prophet presses home his point. Rulers and people have a Sodomlike offensiveness to God, and their ostentatious religious observances only aggravate the situation.

These verses highlight many features of Israel’s system of worship. Verse 11 implies an abundance of sacrifices well beyond the divine requirements (cf. Mic 6:6–8). God was nauseated by such a surfeit, and the words “to me” and “more than enough” suggest the same kind of blasphemous, pagan idea of a god who needs to be fed with sacrifices that Ps 50 rejects with biting irony.

The temple courts felt the heavy tread of the worshiping throng, probably swollen at such times of national crisis; but “trampling” also suggests desecration. This puts the question “Who has asked this of you?” in its true perspective. God rejected “offerings” rendered “meaningless” by hypocrisy (cf. Jer 7:21–23; Hos 6:6; et al.). The people have been shown as burdened with guilt (v.4); but here God is shown as burdened with their sacrifices.

16–17 God’s true way is announced and the moral note sounded. People are accountable, but the grace and power of fulfillment are God’s alone. The prophet’s words imply that the reclaimed sinner needs a course of instruction in the ways of God. This teaching process begins in the call for social justice and defense of the fatherless. Isaiah’s rapid-fire style in these two verses underscores the authority and urgency of God’s commands to his people.

18–20 Many see the words of v.18 as an offer of total forgiveness, for which vv.19–20 supply the divine conditions. Others understand the language to be ironic and render the second part of the verse, “If your sins are as scarlet, shall they be white as snow? If they are red like crimson, shall they be as wool?” The language permits either possibility. Verses 19–20 summarize the Deuteronomic theology of divine blessing (cf. Dt 28), which underlies much prophetic teaching. They contain a striking play on words. In effect God was saying, “Eat. . . or be eaten!”

21–23 The rhythm of Isaiah’s poetry changes suddenly as he introduces the characteristic “limp” of a Hebrew lament, opening with the exclamation “how!” (cf. 14:4; 2Sa 1:19; Ps 137:4; et al.). Even though there is no explicit threat of judgment till v.24, the sensitive listener would hear the drumbeats of doom in the very sound of the poetic measure. Words like “justice” and “rulers” show that Isaiah was thinking primarily of the people’s leaders; so the past he had in mind was perhaps the time of David, when Jerusalem first came under Israelite control. Silver and choice wine are probably metaphors for the rulers (cf. Jer 6:28, 30; Eze 22:18), who had become utterly decadent.

24–26 First was the ominous rhythm of the dirge (v.21), then came the vivid description of moral corruption (v.23), and here we have a terrifying catena of majestic divine titles. The first of them—“Lord” (GK 123), meaning “master”—is used of God by Isaiah more than by any other OT writer. In its absolute form, as here, it always introduces a note of judgment (cf. 3:1; 10:16, 33; et al.). The second—“the LORD Almighty” (GK 3378 & 7372)—often linked with it, indicates supreme power, while the third—“the Mighty One [GK 51] of Israel”—is a somewhat uncommon term suggestive of bulllike strength (Ge 49:24; Isa 49:26; 60:16). Still there was no respite. To complete the verbal buildup, God’s message is prefixed by the agitated exclamation “Ah” (cf. v.4).

The burden God bears as the result of the meaningless offerings of his “foes” demands relief in judgment. His hand, so often stretched out against Israel’s enemies, has turned against his own people (cf. Zec 13:7). His threat of vengeance has taken an unexpected turn, however, for it issues in cleansing rather than destruction. Although so sinful, they were still his people, and his judgments were directed to the removal of their impurities.

27–31 The theme of restoration continues for another verse (anticipating the great vision of ch. 2), until the threatening tone returns (v.28). Is Zion’s redemption here physical or moral? Redemption terminology is normally used in the OT with a physical connotation and is often so applied to Jerusalem/Zion (e.g., 35:9–10; 51:10–11; 52:9; 59:20).

Sacred trees played an important part in the Canaanite fertility cult (cf. Dt 12:23; 2Ki 16:4; Hos 4:13), for deciduous trees like the oak or terebinth may well have symbolized the death and rebirth of the god. The “gardens” may be groves of these trees, or, alternatively, places of sacred springs or wells.

Verses 29–30 teach the lesson that a people under judgment may be instructed from the very symbols of their apostasy as to the folly of such departure from the true God, while v.31 imparts the even more important lesson that destruction may come on us from the very thing our sin has brought into being.

B. The Exaltation of God’s House and the Extension of His Dominion (2:1–5)

1 This heading virtually repeats that with which the book opens, apart from the reference there to the kings. Isaiah literally saw “the word” (cf. KJV, RSV, et al.), which suggests that the revelation contained both visionary and verbal elements.

2–4 This glorious vision is found, with small variations, in Mic 4:1–3. Joel 3:10 contains language clearly parallel with Isa 2:4 and Mic 4:3. Apart from its use in Mic 4:4, the statement “for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” is found only in Isaiah (1:20; 40:5; 58:14).

“In the last days” relates the vision to the period when God’s purposes will find fulfillment. The NT, making explicit that the Messiah comes twice, applies the phrase both to the period of his first advent (e.g., Ac 2:17; Heb 1:2) and to his second (e.g., Jas 5:3; 1Pe 1:5). The context of the oracle in Micah suggests that the first stage of its fulfillment took place in the return from Babylonia (Mic 4:1–10), when ruined Jerusalem (Mic 3:12) would be rebuilt and her temple raised again.

The whole of ch. 2 makes extensive use of the language of elevation and abasement to convey dignity and pride on the one hand and lowliness and humiliation on the other. There is clearly a figurative element here, picturing nations as streams (cf. Jer 51:44)—flowing upwards! The promised elevation of Mount Zion underlines its spiritual preeminence as the source of divine teaching for the nations. The word “established” reminds us of Ps 2:6 (“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill”). Both the hill and the King are secure because they are in the center of God’s purpose for his people.

In Isaiah’s day “the house of the God of Jacob” was at Jerusalem, not at the original Bethel (“house of God” [Ge 28:16–22]), for Bethel was the site of an apostate shrine (1Ki 12:28–29). The phrase “God of Jacob” underlines the special relationship of the true God with historical Israel, while “Zion”/“Jerusalem” represents divinely ordained worship and divinely authorized government. So this passage weds together normal OT particularism with the vision of universal worship and peace.

The issues that set nations against one another do not disappear automatically but are settled by the supreme Judge, whose decisions are accepted. Thus there is no uneasy calm but peace based on righteousness (cf. 11:1–9; Ps 72). In the abolition of every cause of conflict, war itself disappears; and peace, with its economic consequences, takes its place.

5 Isaiah views the future obedience of the nations to the true God as a challenge to the house of Jacob to walk in his ways. The nations are not yet coming to Jerusalem to be taught by the Lord, but Israel already has his word. How unthinkable then that she should continue to walk in darkness!

C. The Day of the Lord (2:6–22)

6–9 The sore trials the people are to pass through will provide evidence that God has abandoned them to their enemies (not absolutely, or forever, as 4:2–6 will show), and this itself is the start of the great day of judgment on them. The causes of this judgment remind us of the divinely given constitution for the kingdom laid down in Dt 17:14–20, set in a context (Dt 16:18–18:22) of much reference not only to the leadership of the people but also to the need for separation from the abominable practices of the nations. The kings of Judah have been native-born, but this did not prevent the people from being contaminated by foreign religious and semi-religious practices.

To “clasp hands” may refer to a gesture symbolizing the striking of a bargain. The people were seeking economic and military self-sufficiency, so that they need not depend on their God; yet at the same time they were groveling to man-made objects of worship.

10–11 The people had been abasing themselves, though in the presence of dumb idols and not the true and only God. Their action was appropriate, but their object of worship was wrong. The proud are eager to avoid the gaze of God, for his majestic presence drives every rival underground in the frantic and, of course, utterly unavailing search for cover. This picture of the people—enjoying the affluence of the land but turning aside to idols till the Lord establishes his sole right to worship by an act of judgment—is a reminder of Dt 6:10–15.

12–18 When God acts in judgment, it is often to upset human values so that everything can be seen from the divine perspective. Jerusalem’s hill is to be exalted above other greater mountains (v.2), but all that is reckoned great by people will be brought low.

Much of the imagery of this passage can be viewed as Phoenician. It was in the hinterland of Tyre and Sidon that the cedars grew; it was there too that the highest mountains were found, and the grand designs of stonemasons and shipwrights were to be seen in its ports. “Every trading ship” was based in Phoenicia. This land was notorious for its religious influence on both Israel and Judah, for Jezebel’s family became part of the dynastic stock of both kingdoms for a while (cf. 2Ki 8:16–18). It was from this quarter that religious syncretism had come during the previous century, and its features could still stand for alien religion. The main point, of course, is that God’s act of judgment would humble every manifestation of human pride.

19–21 The terrifying revelation of the glory, power, and judgment of the one true God will give human beings—but too late—a proper sense of values. The silver and gold used to make idols are at last recognized as worthless in the light of his glory.

22 After the idols have been cut down to size by the revelation of the true God in his judicial majesty, the spotlight of the divine contempt focuses on human beings, whose dignity as creatures made in God’s image had been cast away by their groveling before idols made by their own hands, and whose pride would be abased before God’s disclosure (vv.11, 17–21). The reference to “breath” not only suggests frailty but also may be intended to allude to Ge 2:7. So, implies the prophet, you are worshiping gods you have made instead of the God who made you!

D. God’s Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (3:1–4:1)

1–7 The divine titles in v.1, with their stress on power (see comment on 1:24), anticipate a strong threat of judgment. The reference to famine is brief but ominous (cf. v.7); the prophet concentrates on the removal of responsible and trusted leaders. The people were showing too great a tendency to put their trust in human beings (2:22). The prophet warns them that the objects of their trust are to be removed. Those traditionally respected—“the old,” “the honorable”—will be violently replaced by the manifestly inadequate and by the base oppressor. The situation would in fact reach such a pitch that the mere possession of some outward semblance of wealth or rank would attract the attention of those desperately seeking for someone to bring a measure of order to a situation of chaos. The phrase “this heap of ruins” anticipates the later picture of a destitute and defeated city (v.26).

8–12 The prophet reminds his readers of the spiritual and moral causes of this anarchy. Judah and its capital city are to reach the brink of total collapse, with disaster to follow, because of insolent and blatant rebellion against the Lord. “His glorious presence” is another reminder of 2:10. By his use of the phrase “my people,” Isaiah is reminding them of their covenant relationship. Walking in the counsel of the wicked is especially influential and dangerous when done by national leadership (v.12).

13–15 The law-court scene here is reminiscent of ch. 1, while the reference to the vineyard anticipates ch. 5. Many passages show the responsibility of leadership among God’s people and the exacting nature of his judgment of the shepherds of his people (e.g., Jer 25; Eze 34; Zec 10–11; Jn 10; Jas 3:1). Not only may leaders take people aside from the right path; but positions of privilege and responsibility may be used to foster self-interest rather than social good. This forms God’s major accusation in this dramatic judgment scene. The great titles that close this section are a fearsome reminder that God not only has the right to judge his people but also the power to carry out his judgment.

3:16–4:1 If there is still some moral fiber in the women of a deteriorating society, the situation is not without hope; for they have the most formative influence on the younger generation. The arrogant pride seen in the rulers of Judah was, however, just as evident in its women. Those depicted here are clearly the wealthy, whose rich stores of finery had probably been bought by the plunder taken by their husbands from the poor (cf. v.14).

In v.9, the prophet linked the look on the face with a Sodomlike parade of sin, suggesting that all was not right in the sexual life of the community. This language moves swiftly from the ostentatious posturing of these women as they parade in the streets of Jerusalem to far from seemly attempts to attract male attention. The judgment formula “in that day” provides a further link with ch. 2 and introduces a catalog of their adornments and other luxurious paraphernalia. This stands in stark contrast to the repeated phrase “the poor” in vv.14–15.

The judgment would come through enemies who would take the Israelites captive, giving them the rough garb of prisoners of war. The removal of locks of hair suggests that the city would be taken by the Babylonians, who did this to those taken in war. “Branding” is also consistent with an enslavement due to capture.

By a swift and yet appropriate movement of thought, Isaiah turned from the daughters of Zion (v.16) to the city herself (vv.25–26), referred to in 1:8 as “the Daughter of Zion.” The city and her gates are graphically personified. Isaiah boldly transports us from his confident predictions to their fulfillment.

Just as swiftly we return to the women of Jerusalem (4:1), perhaps those widowed through the violent overthrow of the city. The judgment on the city drastically altered the normal male-female proportions in the population. These concerned women are prepared to forego the normal perquisites of marriage to secure its status—or, at least, to gain the protection of a name. The interesting links with 3:7 suggest that the same judgment is in view, or at least one with the same kind of effects on the economy of the country. God’s judgments do not always follow the same pattern—though they always proceed from the same principles, for his nature is unchanging.

E. Zion’s Glorious Future (4:2–6)

2 The great contrast between this section and the preceding one is accentuated by the fact that both v.1 and v.2 commence with the phrase “in that day.” This section itself (4:2–6) contains a note of judgment in v.4; but clearly the Day of the Lord, though basically judgmental, introduces also the salvation that is the sequel and consequence of God’s cleansing act.

This verse contains a major question concerning the phrases “the Branch of the LORD” and “the fruit of the land.” An ancient and pre-Christian interpretation applies both phrases to the Messiah. The Targum renders “the Branch” as “the Messiah.” Most conservative commentators have taken at least the first of the two phrases to be messianic. “Branch” (GK 7542) occurs in four verses (Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zec 3:8; 6:12) as a technical messianic designation. It is more difficult, however, to take “the fruit of the land” in a messianic sense, for nothing like it is so used elsewhere in the OT.

The Bible’s use of technical language reveals a tendency for words and phrases to begin quite lowly but, through their use in various contexts, to gather more connotations as time goes by. “Branch” is a good example (cf. also “servant” in chs. 42–53). In this way the depth of God’s purpose is progressively revealed. The concept of the “branch” begins in Isaiah at the botanical level, which is in view here. The famine and devastation wreaked on the land by their enemies showed the Israelites their dire need of literal fruitfulness. The God of new life therefore promised that the future would be marked by such God-given fruitfulness.

The people’s need of life, however, was far greater, embracing the nation’s very existence—which was being threatened by its foes. There was need of reassurance that the God of new life would make the remnant of his people fruitful, too. But their deepest need was for the Messiah; thus, he appears as the ultimate “Branch of the LORD” in ch. 11. The reader familiar with this development will see v.2 in terms both of its meaning in this context and of the deeper significance that this language was destined to have in the rest of Isaiah.

3 This verse finds its explanation in v.4, for the holiness of Jerusalem is due to the Lord’s action described there. The recording of the names of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may seem at first to be simply a record that they are still alive after the judgments have taken place (cf. 1:9), but the eschatological context suggests that eternal life is in view.

4 Both the women of Jerusalem (3:16–23) and her people generally (1:16–20) needed cleansing, and the Lord promises to do this. What does ruah (GK 8120) really convey here? The NIV renders it “spirit,” while the marginal note has “the Spirit.” The word is also rendered “breath” or “wind” in the OT and is the regular word used for the Spirit of God. It is used in a context of judgment also in 30:28 (cf. 40:7), where the NIV does not take it as a reference to the divine Spirit. On the other hand, ruah is linked with judgment—though in a much milder context—in connection with the Messiah’s ministry in ch. 11. Perhaps we should understand it as “a blast of judgment and a blast of fire” and see it as another example of a term destined for enrichment as the book proceeds.

5–6 In 2:1–4 Mount Zion is elevated above the surrounding hills; here it is protected by divine symbols reminiscent of the journey out of Egypt (Ex 13:21; 14:19–20). The protective symbols would not move, as they did during the Exodus; for the future Mount Zion is journey’s end. The word “create” (GK 1343), used in Ge 1, occurs later in Isaiah to denote realities brought into being by the Creator in his new and final purpose (cf. 41:20; 45:8; 48:7; 65:17–18). The glory thus seen over all Jerusalem will itself be protected by a canopy, normally used for weddings and royal occasions. The bridal implications of 5:1 suggest that this was in view here. It will protect the city from the natural elements (cf. 32:2).

The picture in these verses is glorious and certainly has not been completely fulfilled as yet. The returning exiles did not experience such idyllic conditions, though this disappointment is traced by Haggai not so much to the purpose of God as to their own sin (Hag 1:5–9).

F. The Parable of the Vineyard (5:1–7)

1–2 Role-play was used from time to time by the OT prophets (cf. Zec 11:4–17). Here Isaiah assumes the guise of a folk singer. Possibly he was really singing—at least at first—a love song and was identifying with the friend of the bridegroom (the “best man”; cf. Jn 3:29–30). If so, of course, the bride and groom are depicted figuratively in terms of a vineyard and its owner. The use of “vineyard” for a bride is often found in the Song of Solomon (2:15; 4:16–5:1; 6:1–2; 8:12). Not until the last clause of v.2 can we see that this was to be a sad, not a glad, story.

3–4 What a dramatic change! The scene shifts to a courtroom (cf. 1:2–17; 3:13–15), and this time the human hearers are to act as assessors as the owner of the vineyard speaks. This suggests that the “vineyard” has moral responsibility. The discerning listeners have the first intimation that this parable is not for their comfort.

5–6 The abandonment of such an unprofitable venture was only to be expected; for who would waste further energy, time, and money? But there was more than this. Definite action—the removal of its hedges and wall—would be taken against it. The hidden meaning comes closer to complete unveiling when the last statement of v.6 is uttered. What human owner can control the weather? This is God!

7 The hearers fell into a trap skillfully laid for them. The figurative form is cast off, and God’s people stand exposed as the guilty objects of his disappointment and judgment. They have condemned themselves, for the tacit agreement of the hearers to the criticism of the vineyard can be assumed.

In this restored winepress at Avdat in southern Judea, the grapes were trampled by foot and juice flowed through the hole at the end.

G. Condemnation of Judah’s Sins (5:8–30)

The eighth-century prophets were united in their condemnation of the social sins of the affluent society of their day (cf. Am 5:18; 6:1). Moreover, just as in Am 1–2 the threat of divine judgment came nearer and nearer home—so that it pointed eventually at Israel herself—so the “woe” (GK 2098) oracles here came to rest eventually on the prophet himself (6:5).

8–10 In an affluent society all do not always profit from increased wealth (cf. Mic 2:1). The horror of the prophets in response to the sin of covetousness in its application to land (cf. 1Ki 21:17–24) was almost certainly due to their recognition of the principle that the land really belonged to God and that he had made the various tribes and families stewards of it in perpetuity.

The rich have coveted and appropriated both house and land, and the judgment of God would descend on each. Whatever the measures intended, the main point is clear: there will be a minimal return for a large outlay (cf. Hag 1:5–6).

11–17 Most societies consider early morning drinking a mark of moral degeneracy, for anyone who thinks first of drink when he or she awakes is in its grip. Wealth dubiously gathered may well be dissolutely spent. The day that starts with drink ends in musical banquets when wine is drunk well into the night. As in the previous “woe,” the penalty is appropriate to the offense, for exile removes them from the land on which they had set their affections, and feasting and drinking come to an abrupt end. “Lack of understanding” (v.13) relates to the outlook described in v.12b.

“The grave” (sheol; GK 8619) is the place of the dead. The midnight revelers, their mouths open for more food and drink, will suddenly find that they have become the food of that hungriest of all monsters—death. Solidarity in punishment means that both “men of rank” and “masses” will suffer the consequences of the sins of the wealthy.

Verse 16 sums up the connection between holiness and righteousness. God’s separateness is not simply ontological but moral; his holiness is not a simple synonym for his majesty but the basis in his eternal character of his righteous judgments on sinners. The moral nature of divine holiness finds one of its most awesome expressions in ch. 6.

Verse 17 continues the theme, for it shows the affluent agricultural society of the day (cf. vv.9–10) reverting to a more thoroughly pastoral one, with the animals taking over the ruins. This suggests that the various woes of this section are directed against the same people.

18–19 Isaiah was fond of the picture of the burden-bearer (cf. 53:6; 57:10). Here he pictures sinful Judah, not now “loaded with guilt” (1:4), as if it was on their backs, but drawing it as a heavy load behind them. The pictures are different, but their import the same. Acceptance of deceit, the big lie (cf. v.20), sets their feet on sin’s wearying treadmill (cf. Ro 6:23).

Verse 19 sums up the people’s sin and exhibits its true nature as cynical rejection of the living God and all his ways. They imply that nothing is happening (cf. 41:21–24). But the “woe” this section begins with is the prophet’s witness to his faith that God will act in judgment on sin—in his own time. The phrase “the Holy One of Israel” here was probably uttered by them with a curl of the lip, in contemptuous reference to a distinctive note of Isaiah’s prophetic message (cf. 30:11–12).

20 This “woe” has a link with the previous one (v.18), for “deceit” is there expounded as skepticism about the ways of God. Unhappily, it is an easy journey from such skepticism to the total reversal of values that this verse demonstrates, for God is the source of all values; and if we are wrong about him, we can soon be wrong about everything.

21 This verse too may have a link with the previous “woe,” for the reversal of values expressed there may form the basis for the new “wisdom” of the godless, which is antagonistic to the divine wisdom (cf. 1Co 1:17–2:16; 3:18–23).

22–23 Verse 21 condemned the outlook of those who thought themselves wise while v.22 exposes the folly of that “wisdom.” These men assessed themselves as heroes and champions. But these were not sober judgments, for their drink was talking through them. The situation was even more scandalous when we learn that they occupied positions of great responsibility, needing a clear head and an unweakened moral sense. In the place of justice, they acted corruptly (cf. 1:23; 10:1–2).

24–25 The series of “woes” is over. The last was pronounced against evil judges; now the supreme Judge begins to declare sentence. The fire of God will burn them; the hand of God will smite them. In 40:6–8 the prophet likens human life to grass and flowers, doomed to wither and die. Here he uses them as figures of judgment because they are so vulnerable to fire. To those familiar with grassland fires, the illustration suggests comprehensiveness and swiftness as well as the inexorable character of the judgment. The cause spelled out in detail in the preceding woes is summarily expressed as rejection of God’s word. The word “law” (torah; GK 9368) is technical enough to suggest a reference to the Mosaic Law—the basis of Israel’s God-given moral standard—and at the same time general enough to include Isaiah’s own authoritative teaching.

Verse 25 seems to refer to a specific judgment not to be regarded as an isolated event but as a manifestation of that divine anger that continued to burn against the people. The mention of mountains shaking and dead bodies lying in the streets is appropriate if Isaiah has in mind the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah (Am 1:1; Zec 14:5).

26–30 What a gift of vivid description was given to this great prophet! The picture makes such an immediate appeal to the imagination that it requires little exposition. The great judgment, anticipated by the earthquake, is to come through a great army from afar, swift, single-minded, effective, ferocious, and altogether terrifying. A “banner” is raised by God as a rallying point for his punitive army. He will whistle to them like a beekeeper. The phrase “the ends of the earth” is hyperbole, since the Assyrians were in view. Regarding the references to the sea and land, the former occurs in a simile while the latter is literal. The prophet moves from the figure of the roaring lion to that of the roaring sea; and then, perhaps, calling to mind the literal sea—which might have been a means of escape from the foe if it had been less turbulent—he declares that there is no hope landward either. The cloud of Assyrian judgment has blotted out any light that may have indicated an escape route.

H. The Vision and Call of the Holy One (6:1–13)

1 The date of Uzziah’s death has been much disputed. Isaiah 14:28–32 is an oracle from the year of the death of King Ahaz, and it is clearly appropriate to the political situation of that time. We are not surprised, therefore, to find something similar here; and we can well imagine the spiritual value to the prophet himself of a vision of the almighty King when an earthly reign of over fifty years had come—or was coming—to its end. The vision of the Lord’s transcendence never left Isaiah: the exaltation of Israel’s great God is a frequent theme in his oracles (cf. 2:10–22; 37:16; 40:12–26; 57:15).

2 This is the only biblical passage where heavenly beings are called “seraphs” (GK 8597). They are part of the great variety of heavenly beings created by God (along with others such as angels, archangels, principalities, powers, and cherubim). The seraphs are bright creatures, for the word means “burning ones”; yet they hide their faces from the greater brightness and the glory of the Lord. Covering the feet suggests humility.

3 There is no indication of the number of seraphs seen by Isaiah. Possibly he was present at an act of worship in the temple, perhaps at the New Year, and the antiphonal singing of the Levitical choir was echoed by the heavenly seraphs of his vision. The apostle Paul evidently believed that angels are present at Christian worship (cf. 1Co 11:2–16, which likewise deals with veiling and unveiling in the presence of God).

The threefold ascription of holiness to God (cf. Rev 4:8) has been interpreted in reference to the Trinity since the early Church Fathers. It is best for us simply to say that—in the fuller light of the NT—we can see the appropriateness of this threefold expression. The theme of divine holiness is of towering importance in Isaiah. This man of God could never forget the disclosure of transcendent purity he encountered when he was called to prophetic service (cf. Eze 1).

The language of fullness occurs three times in these verses (vv.1, 3, 4), twice in reference to the temple and once to the whole earth. So this passage, insisting as it does on the awesome transcendence of the sovereign God, also emphatically teaches his immanence. His transcendence is not remoteness or aloofness but is known through his presence in his created world and temple. Divine transcendence and immanence are always held in balance in the Bible’s view of God (cf. 12:6).

The word “glory” (GK 3883) is used of God in his manifestation to his creatures. The essence of deity is inscrutable, but something of his glory can be seen if God is pleased to disclose it (Ex 33:17–23; Eze 1:28). In Jn 12:41, after quoting Isa 6:10, John said that Isaiah “saw [Jesus’] glory and spoke about him.” This amazing statement is in fact altogether consistent with the high Christology of the NT writers, for Jesus is God incarnate, and the same God is revealed in both OT and NT. This might in fact suggest that John understood the threefold use of “holy” in trinitarian terms.

4 God’s power is sometimes manifested in a physical tremor (cf. Ex 19:18; Ac 4:31) and his presence in a cloud of smoke (cf. Isa 4:5; Ex 33:9). So the God who normally hides himself from the senses occasionally made himself known in a form accessible to them, and he ultimately did so in the consummate unveiling of himself in his Son (1Jn 1:1–4).

5 The word translated “woe” (GK 208) here is different from that used several times in ch. 5. They are, in fact, synonyms, each possessing various nuances ranging from the threat to the sigh. This verse teaches us that to be an effective channel for God’s penetrating word, the power of that word must be felt in the person’s own conscience. It is true that the lips of the prophet were destined to proclaim God’s truth; but if he was in the temple at worship, the primary reference may be to the defiled lips of the worshiper (cf. 1:15; 29:13). The people of the OT always felt a deep apprehension at the prospect of seeing God. This must have been underlined still more for Isaiah as he saw even the unfallen seraphs covering their faces in the presence of the Most High.

6–7 To serve God, Isaiah needed to be a clean instrument. The God of burning holiness himself (cf. 33:13–16) provides this cleansing from the sacrificial altar (cf. Nu 31:22–23; Mal 3:2). Significantly, one of the seraphs (see comment on v.2) is the instrument of purification administered to the prophet. Isaiah may well have learned from this experience that sinful human beings can join in the worship of the “burning ones” only when purified by the fire of God (cf. 4:4).

8 Isaiah is not coerced into service; rather, his will makes its ready response as a grateful reaction to God’s forgiving grace. No doubt Isaiah’s very response was itself the product of divine grace, but this is not where the stress falls here. Instead, we see him faced with the challenge to personal commitment.

The plural “us” is often taken to be either a reference to the Trinity (cf. v.3; Ge 1:26; 11:7) or to a council of heavenly beings. Many passages picture God surrounded by the heavenly hosts; but none suggests that God called on them for advice or even identified them with him in some way in his utterance. In a context that speaks both of waters and mountains (nature) and of nations (history), the Lord refutes the notion that he consulted others (40:13–14). The plural, therefore, suggests either the divine majesty or that fullness of his being that was to find its ultimate theological expression in the doctrine of the Trinity.

9–10 Isaiah was apprised of the people’s hardness of heart by the Lord Almighty, who not only knew what would occur but had planned it; for he is King (vv.1, 5). The words of God to Isaiah are quoted in each of the Gospels (Mt 13:14–15; Mk 4:10–12; Lk 8:10; Jn 12:39–41) and twice by Paul (Ac 28:26–27; Ro 11:8). Each quotation is given as a comment on the rejection of God’s word in Christ. The synoptic references all occur in connection with the parable of the sower, which, like here, anticipates widespread failure to make proper response to God’s word, but which also, as here (v.13), shows cause for hope. The holy seed of the vision finds its NT counterpart in the good soil of the parable.

11–12 The tone of Isaiah’s question is one of lament. The prophets did not find God’s message of judgment easy to utter (cf. Jer 1:6 8, 17; Eze 2:3–8; et al.). They belonged to the nation they addressed and must often have wept for its sins and its certain judgment (Jer 9:1; 14:17). The opening chapters of the book (as well as later passages), recording material from the events of the prophet’s day (1:7–9) and from oracles of future judgment (e.g., 3:25–26; 5:8–9, 13, 17), illustrate these verses.

13 The devastation, great as it was to be, would not be total; but even its survivors would have to submit to further judgment. The illustration from nature introduces an element of hope. God has so ordered nature that almost total destruction does not always extinguish life. He has a continuing purpose of life for the remnant of his people (see comment on 4:2). The word “seed” (GK 2446) suggests a link with the promise given to Abraham that his seed (“offspring”; GK 2446) would continue and be blessed by God (Ge 17:1–8; cf. Isa 51:2). That God should use the word “holy” (GK 7731) of the remnant of his people when it has been used already in v.3 in relation to his own transcendent being is condescending grace indeed!

I. The Sign of Shear-Jashub (7:1–9)

Isaiah 7:1–9:7 has a certain unity, not only in its historical background, but also on account of the children with symbolic names. The “day of Midian’s defeat” (9:4), which occurs near its close, perhaps reveals the significance of the whole section. The day of Midian was God’s great victory over a mighty horde through a weak human leader commanding a tiny force of soldiers without proper weapons (Jdg 6–7). Through things that are not, God brings to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh may glory in his presence (cf. 1Co 1:25–31).

1 For the historical background, see the introduction. It is clear from 2Ki 15:37 that the alliance of the two northern kings against Judah began before Jotham died. The challenge to the faith of Ahaz, therefore, came early in his reign and, given a different response from him, could have established him in a relationship of dependent trust on the Lord from the very beginning. The reference to Uzziah could form a studied link with 6:1, hinting at the undoubted spiritual connection between the two chapters. God’s supreme kingship exalts him as sovereign, not only over Judah in the days of its earthly king’s demise, but over Rezin, Pekah, and the great Assyrian monarch himself. Chapter 6 predicts unbelief; ch. 7 records its historical manifestation.

2 The designation of Ahaz as “the house of David” (cf. v.13) is most unusual. This phrase perhaps underlines the sin inherent in his fear and his failure to believe; for the security of David’s house, to which he belonged, was guaranteed by the divine word (2Sa 7).

3 The name Shear-Jashub is, of course, symbolic (i.e., “a remnant will return”). If this name was given to him at birth, its choice may have been determined by the disclosure of the future given to the prophet at his call (6:13). There is a double ambiguity in it. It can suggest either warning or hope, and also either physical return from exile or spiritual return to God. Without doubt the element of warning is prominent in the present context.

The meeting place of prophet and king is precisely located, though we cannot now place it with certainty. An adequate water supply was imperative for a city under siege. The king was probably satisfying himself as to this or making arrangements for its improvement. He was therefore engaged in an activity directly related to the situation described in v.1, one that provided the setting for God’s test of his faith and obedience.

4 How emphatic is Isaiah’s exhortation! A verb commanding attention—“be careful”—is followed by three others counseling trust instead of fear. This is reinforced by the description of the two kings. Their anger may have been fierce, but there was little real fire left in them—they were virtually impotent.

5–6 There is a touch of contempt in the way the personal name of the usurper-elect is omitted (cf. “son of Remaliah”). “The son of Tabeel” cannot be identified with certainty, though, in view of the reference to “the house of David” (v.2), it seems most unlikely that he belonged to the authentic royal line of Judah.

7–9 The message of reassurance is clear. The rulers of the two small kingdoms to the north were but human beings; they could not stand against the decree of the sovereign Lord. Verse 8b is probably best viewed as a prophecy fulfilled in a series of events that included Tiglath-pileser’s imminent invasion, the fall of Samaria to Sargon II, and eventually the racial mixture introduced to Ephraim by yet another Assyrian emperor, Esar-haddon, about sixty-five years after this oracle.

The verbs translated “stand firm in your faith” and “stand” are closely related in Hebrew. They would have stayed in the mind of Ahaz as a somber summary of the message he had received and rejected (cf. vv.12–13, 17).

J. The Sign of Immanuel (7:10–25)

10–11 This oracle probably followed closely on the previous one, for it is related to the same situation. It implies that the earlier prophecy has been rejected or at least treated with noncommittal evasion by the king. If there had been even a spark of faith in Ahaz, God was willing to give it an opportunity of expression. He responded to Gideon’s repeated request for a sign, even though it followed a clear revelation of his saving will (Jdg 6:14, 17–18, 38–40). Once again (cf. 9:4) a superior foe was threatening the nation. God went even further this time in his patience with human weakness, for he actually offered Ahaz the unrestricted choice of a sign. Reinforcement of such an overflowing gesture of grace hardly seems conceivable, and yet it is secured by the possessive pronoun “your,” reminding him of his special relationship to God as the chosen king (cf. 2Sa 7:11–16).

12 Ahaz made his plans, but they did not include God or his will. His reply was a monumental piece of hypocrisy; he probably had Dt 6:16 in mind. It would be good to think that this reveals at least some small attempt earlier in his life to come to grips with this book, which the king was obliged to know and follow (cf. Dt 17:14–20).

13 Isaiah still addresses Ahaz as “house of David” (cf. v.2), with its implication of special promises and also of a continuing dynasty; but here he speaks of “my God” instead of “your God” (cf. v.11). The king may have been the current occupant of the divinely secured throne of David; but it was incumbent on him to hear the divine word through the prophet who, unlike him, was in a sensitive and responsive relationship with God. It was that relationship that made the king’s rejection of the prophetic word a trial of God’s patience and not simply a man’s patience. God was weary of his unbelief.

14–17 This great passage is both important and difficult. Before suggesting a solution, it will be helpful to set out the main facts and problems that a satisfactory interpretation must come to grips with: (1) The mother and child must be seen as a sign to Ahaz. In fact, the reference to the house of David may suggest that the sign will be significant for the whole dynasty. (2) Why did Isaiah use the word almah (“virgin” NIV; “young woman,” RSV; GK 6625), and what is its exact significance here? (3) Does the Hebrew verbal adjective in v.14 mean “will be” (see NIV) or “is” or “has been”? (4) Does Immanuel mean “God is with us” or “God with us”? (5) What is the significance of curds and honey (cf. v.22)? (6) What does v.15 mean? Is the discrimination in view dietary or moral? What age is in view? (7) Verses 16–17 appear to relate to historical events that actually took place in the comparatively near future. If this is so, how can the child be simply equated with the Messiah? (8) The chapters that form the context of this passage contain a number of other references to children. Do any of these shed light on the Immanuel prophecy? (9) Why did the LXX translators use the unambiguous word parthenos (“virgin”; cf. Mt 1:23; GK 4221) to translate almah? (10) Can we gain any light from a study of the way Matthew handles other quotations from the OT?

Expressed briefly, the main question is: Can we find a solution that does full justice to the language of Isaiah and at the same time to Matthew’s application of the prophecy to Christ? Most suggested solutions are inadequate. Neither the queen nor Isaiah’s wife was a virgin, and there is no clear OT example of the use of almah for a married woman. It seems to be used consistently to designate a sexually mature but unmarried woman. There are considerable chronological difficulties that stand in the way of identifying the child with Hezekiah. It seems unlikely that Isaiah’s wife would be designated “the prophetess” in 8:3 and yet be indicated so anonymously here. It also seems unlikely that mothers in general would be referred to by a singular noun with the definite article. Moreover, one would normally expect a sign to be more objective and specific than a general return to faith and hope among the people. If v.14 were not followed by vv.15–17, we could make a straightforward equation of Immanuel with the Messiah; but this context raises major problems. These verses certainly imply a close historical relationship between the child and the political situation of Isaiah’s day.

The best view seems to be that the mother is a royal contemporary of the prophet, whose child’s name would symbolize the presence of God with his people and who would foreshadow the Messiah in whom God would be incarnate. An unmarried young woman within the royal house would shortly marry and conceive. Her son would be called Immanuel (“God is with us”), probably in ignorance of the prophecy (which may have been given in the presence only of Ahaz) and possibly even as a presumptuous gesture to give the support of a complacent piety to the king’s pro-Assyrian policy. Before the child is old enough to eat the characteristic solid food of the Land of Promise (and so well before the age of moral discretion), the Assyrians would lay waste the lands of Aram and Israel, which they did in 733–732 B.C., only a year or two after the prophecy was given.

The “sign” (GK 253) of the child, therefore, constitutes an indication that the all-sovereign and all-knowing God has the situation completely in hand, and it rebukes the king’s lack of faith in him. It is true that the instrument of this devastation was to be Assyria, the very power Ahaz was courting instead of relying wholly on God. But in fact the events of 733–732 not only heralded the downfall in 722 of Samaria—the capital city of the northern kingdom that was a large part of the domain of the house of David in its earlier days—but within a generation led to the devastation of Judah itself (cf. 1:7).

This prophecy was given to the house of David and not simply to Ahaz (“you” in v.14 is plural). In the fullness of time, the messianic Child would be born of that house. He was to be a symbol of God’s salvation of his people, not simply from physical foes like Rezin and Pekah, but ultimately from sin (cf. Mt 1:21). He represents the final purpose of God in his person as well as his work. For he is, in fullness of meaning, God with us; and his mother was a virgin at the time of her conception and not simply, as in the case of the earlier royal mother, at the time of the prophecy. Matthew’s concept of fulfillment is wide-ranging and flexible and embraces many different kinds of correspondence between an OT passage and a NT event.

It is characteristic of Isaiah to introduce a messianic theme at a somewhat general level before spelling it out in unambiguously messianic terms (cf. 4:2; 42:1). This interpretation, therefore, enables us to see the passage as part of a wider pattern in the book. So Isaiah predicted the coming of a boy who would be a sign from God to his contemporaries and who would foreshadow Christ, in whom the terms of the prophecy would be fulfilled in fullest measure. In terms of his heavenly origin and his destiny of suffering, death, and burial—as well as his exaltation to the highest place, where he fills the whole universe (Eph 4:9–10)—the ultimate fulfillment in Christ of the sign given to Ahaz embraces the whole range of options presented to that king (Isa 7:11).

18–19 The phrase that v.17 ends with—“the king of Assyria”—should have struck terror in the heart of Ahaz. History has known few races equal to the Assyrians for sheer cruelty. An international scene dominated by this-ferocious nation was a sure recipe for sleepless nights in the Fertile Crescent, and the prospect of invasion from that quarter presented the mind with an intolerable thought. Yet such was the fate that Ahaz was risking by his course of action! The prophet spelled out the consequences in graphic language.

Whistling for insects finds mention in a number of classical texts. To create a universe, God had only to speak; to gather his instruments of punishment, he had only to whistle. In the years that lay ahead, rulers in Judah would look to the Valley of the Euphrates and to Egypt for military help, but God warned Ahaz that both areas were to be viewed as sources, not of support, but of great danger for his people. Lest his reference to bees might make Ahaz think the invasion is to be somewhat selective and limited in its effect, the prophet pictured them settling in places that were not their normal habitat. Not since the day of Midian (cf. 9:4) had an invading force been so comprehensively and graphically pictured (cf. Jdg 6:1–6).

20 Isaiah passes with ease from one vivid picture to another. The old enemy Egypt recedes from the picture so that the spotlight may be turned on Assyria, the new and even more terrible oppressor that appears on the northeastern political horizon. Shaving, particularly of the beard, was a way of inflicting shame on a defeated foe (cf. 2Sa 10:4–5). The word “hired” seems peculiar till we realize that the Assyrians were well paid—in land and booty—for their trouble. It could also be an allusion to the king’s own inducement to Assyria to come west, though not against him but against his northern enemies (2Ki 16:7–8).

21–22 In a passage otherwise dark with judgment, this picture incorporates some element of hope for the future. Judgment will devastate the land, but the survivors will find that small resources will yield adequate provisions (cf. 2Ki 4:1–7). In this way (cf. 6:13) the purpose of God for his people will continue—if only in a remnant. That “curds and honey” are spoken of in connection with a remnant and with a child who foreshadows the Messiah (see comments on 7:1–17) reinforces other evidence of a divinely purposed link between the two in the prophecies of Isaiah (see comments on 4:2; 42:1).

23–25 The devastation of the country—caused by human foes as instruments of God’s judgment—will affect the whole economy of the land and will set civilization back a stage or two. The agricultural economy, symbolized by the vine, will be replaced by the pastoral, symbolized by cattle and sheep, and even by the regime of the hunter, symbolized by the bow and arrow. If the king carried away in his imagination a picture of a land covered with briers and thorns, then the message was getting through.

K. The Sign of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (8:1–10)

1–2 A large writing surface is in view, though its form or material is unspecified. Its size strongly suggests it was intended for public display, so that it conveyed a message and could be cited later as evidence when its prophecy was fulfilled. Its somber message of doom was to be interpreted a little later (cf. v.4). “Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz” probably means “quick to plunder, swift to the spoil” (NIV note). This particular Zechariah is unknown (the name was extremely common), but Uriah the priest is probably the king’s ally and instrument in apostasy who is named in 2Ki 16:11. “Reliable witnesses” need not describe their character so much as their position as people of standing in the community.

3–4 Isaiah’s wife is called “the prophetess” because she was his wife or because, as the one who bore children with prophetic names, she became involved in the communication of the message of God. It is less likely that she was a prophetess in her own right, if, as seems probable, the events of vv.1–4 are in chronological order, the time involved—including both the pregnancy and the inarticulate babyhood of the child—would be between eighteen months and two years. This would place the inscribed prophecy in 734 B.C., for Damascus was occupied and Samaria plundered (cf. 2Ki 15:29) by Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C.

5–8 Here, as he so often did, Isaiah moves from literal statement to vivid picture-language, setting contrasting metaphors side by side; then he suddenly changes the second metaphor to another to bring out a further aspect of the full truth. Naaman had contrasted Jordan with Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus (2Ki 5:12), and so had justified his initial rejection of God’s way of giving him deliverance from his leprosy. The nation of Judah was more culpable than Naaman, for he had been a Gentile; and the contrast Isaiah used is much more impressive than that used by the Syrian general.

“The gently flowing waters of Shiloah” certainly refers to Jerusalem’s means of water supply and probably to the channel that conveyed a slow-moving stream of water from the spring Gihon. It is not impossible that the location of Isaiah’s encounter with Ahaz in 7:3 has determined the language here. The challenge to the faith of the king may have been delivered to him at a place that here symbolized the very confidence in God (cf. Ps 46:4–5) that he had rejected. Verse 6 shows in fact that the die was cast and the king and his people were committed to a course of trust in Assyria, not in God.

The NIV’s “rejoices over,” though a little free, brings out the almost certain meaning of the language. The people were whooping with delight at the prospect of the downfall of the two northern kings.

“The River” without further explanation in the OT is always the Euphrates (cf. Jos 24:15). The metaphor is immediately explained as “the king of Assyria with all his pomp,” a genuine Isaianic touch (cf. 10:16; 16:14; 17:3–4). Rivers in flood are viewed ambivalently in areas where this natural phenomenon is important. Normal flooding benefits the ground and its produce; abnormal flooding threatens crops and, if extreme, the lives of the people. This exceptional inundation of foreign troops would move inexorably southward, not respecting the border between Israel and Judah. The deluge would almost—but not quite—submerge the whole nation, for above the neck was the head, Judah’s capital, Jerusalem (cf. 1:7–9). Here again, then, in the midst of a terrifying threat of judgment, the remnant theme reminds us of God’s continuing grace (cf. also 7:21–22).

The metaphor suddenly changes. It seems that the Assyrian army is no longer a river in flood but a predator of the sky (cf. Eze 17; Hos 8:1). But is this really what the prophet meant to convey? The outspread wings could belong to the Lord, so that the image is one of protection and not judgment, amplifying in this way the promise implicit in “reaching up to the neck.” God’s protection of the capital was the down payment of his ultimate purpose for the whole land. So the assurance contained in the name Immanuel (7:14; cf. 8:10) would be justified by events.

9–10 The rebellious confidence of v.6b and the confident taunt of vv.9–10 occupy different worlds. The former belongs to the world of trust in human alliances and weapons, the latter is the exultant cry of faith in God. God’s purpose is proof against all that people or nations—any person or nation—can do. Not only human power but also human wisdom must fall before the power and wisdom of God (cf. 9:4–6; 1Co 1:24–27).

L. Isaiah and His Children as Signs and Wonders (8:11–18)

11 In some way related to the normal process of prophetic inspiration, the hand of the Lord was on the prophet. He was under a special, divine constraint. He may have been troubled at his increasing isolation from the people he was called to address with the word and who persisted in rejecting it (cf. 6:9–10; 8:8).

12–15 The word translated “conspiracy” (GK 8004) can mean “treaty” (cf. NIV note), but more likely means “conspiracy” here. But if God was speaking here of a conspiracy, who was under criticism? Isaiah and those who welcomed his message (“you” in v.13a is plural) were to epitomize the response all the people should have made to his message, for a deep reverence for God banishes fear of other human beings. The word for “sanctuary” (GK 5219) comes from the same root as “you are to regard as holy.” God will himself be a holy place in the midst of his people (cf. Ex 40:34–38; Jn 1:14; Rev 21:3).

The prophet has already shown in his language that he regarded the division of the kingdom as a tragedy of divine judgment (7:17). Both houses will face further judgment from God because of their attitude in the present crisis, though the mention of Jerusalem suggests he has Judah chiefly in mind. Perhaps he takes the judgment of apostate Israel for granted.

Isaiah uses two analogies to picture this judgment. God is often described in the OT as a Rock (e.g., Dt 32:4, 15, 18; Pss 18:2; 71:3), normally with implications of shelter and refuge. Here the prophet turns this familiar figure against the people. God the Rock is for his people who trust him, but he is against those who refuse to believe. To them he will be either a boulder over which a person falls in the darkness or loose rock at the edge of a ravine. Isaiah has already pictured people under the divine hand of judgment having to become hunters again (7:24); now he speaks of God as the hunter, who uses bird-snares and spring-traps as foils for his victims.

It is impossible in English to convey the terrifying force of the seven Hebrew words that constitute v.15. We suggest the following: “They will stumble, many of them, they will fall, be smashed, snared, seized.” The NT writers saw the ultimate object of faith to be Christ. Human beings reveal their attitude to God by their faith in Christ or by their rejection of him; so the NT writers applied this prophecy to him (Mt 21:44; Lk 2:34; Ro 9:33; 1Pe 2:8).

16–17 These verses are often taken to mean that the prophet turned from public ministry to concentrate on those gathered around him who had accepted his message. In this way God’s face would be hidden in judgment from the mass of the people. In substance this interpretation iscorrect, but it should be recognized that “testimony” and “law” may refer to an actual document, the written record of the prophet’s message. This record was sealed—possibly in the presence of witnesses (cf. 8:1–2)—so that it could not be altered.

God’s hiding of his face implies judgment (see Hab 1:13). Although persistent rejection of God’s word leads to its withdrawal (cf. 1Sa 28:6; Am 8:11–13), the prophet, who had welcomed that word and became its channel, reposed confidence in God and in the fulfillment of it. Presumably his prophetic activity ceased for a while, perhaps until after the overthrow of Rezin and Pekah, which would then confirm the word of God through him.

18 Meanwhile, Isaiah and his children, with their symbolic names, were an eloquent visible message from God. Like Immanuel (cf. 7:14), they were signs pointing beyond themselves to the Lord and his word. Perhaps it is best to view Isaiah and his disciples here as foreshadowing Christ and his church, especially as Christ himself was a prophet and his disciples, who formed the nucleus of the church, were themselves a remnant of Israel, committed to God’s word in him whom others had rejected. Literally, Isaiah had only two children; figuratively, they included his disciples. This would make this passage somewhat uniform with 7:14–17, for in both Christ is presented in type. This means, then, that both the child Immanuel and Isaiah and his children constituted the same kind of sign (cf. 7:11, 14; 8:18).

M. The Light and the Child (8:19–9:7)

19–20 The law strictly forbade necromancy and other occult practices (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6–7; Dt 18:9–14). The words “whisper and mutter” not only describe the low tones in which the occult practitioners gave their alleged messages but invite a contrast with the clear and distinct word of prophecy.

Verse 20 introduces the theme of divine light, which is important later in the passage. The true source of light is God’s word, for God is himself light (10:17). The dawning light of God within a person provides its own evidence in the way God’s word governs one’s speech, if one professes to be God’s mouthpiece.

21–22 The Assyrian invasions would bring an acute food shortage (cf. 3:1; 7:23–25). Hunger would foster anger, which the Israelites would blame, in part correctly, on their apostate king and, quite wrongly, on their God (cf. Rev 16:11, 21). As there is none from higher authority, they seek around them alleviation of their distress. The picture of total darkness here goes even beyond that in 5:30 and is comparable to 60:2, in a context that, like this, also promises new light from the God of grace.

9:1–2 Despite Israel’s rejection of God’s word through Isaiah (8:11, 17, 19–20), God plans to give his people light again. The humbling of the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali refers to the invasion and annexation of the northern parts of Israel by Tiglath-pileser III in 733/732 B.C. (see Introduction). “The way of the sea” almost certainly refers to Sharon or Philistia, while “Galilee of the Gentiles” is probably Gilead and southeast Syria. The Assyrians carved out three provinces for themselves from these areas. These lands, the first to feel the ominous tread of the warrior’s boot (v.5), would be the first to see the new and great light God would focus on Israel (cf. 60:1–3; cf. Mt 4:15–16; Lk 1:79; Jn 8:12).

3–5 At this point the atmosphere of great joy that entered the prophecy at v.1 turns into exultant praise as the prophet, anticipating the people’s own future joy in their God (cf. ch. 12), turns to address him. National enlargement probably presupposes conditions of peace and prosperity under the blessing of God. Both the farmer and the soldier have their times of joy at the climax of their work, and these provide illustrations of the joy that is to come to God’s people.

"The day of Midian” has been rightly interpreted as the day of Midian’s defeat. The Bible is full of pregnant phrases that contain great power of suggestion. The appropriateness of this phrase can be clearly seen when we recall the historical situation: a vast multitude of the enemy swarming all over the land (Jdg 6:1–6; cf. Isa 8:7–8); the giving of a sign (Jdg 6:17–22; cf. Isa 7:11–14); the emphasis on faith in God and not dependence on human beings (Jdg 7; cf. Isa 7:9; 8:12); and, perhaps, the defeat of great forces through apparently insignificant means (three hundred men in the case of Gideon, and the child of promise here). Most of all the passage promises total redemption by the Lord. Israel is to be utterly delivered from the oppressor (cf. 10:5; 14:25; and esp. 10:24–27).

Isaiah pictures the resultant peace in vivid pictures. The boot of the soldier that had tramped across Israel’s territory and his garment impregnated with the blood of the dead when he lay down to sleep would be as obsolete as the sword (2:4).

6–7 The word “child” is in a position of emphasis. The first person plural “us” suggests a link with 7:14. Just as the theme of the Branch of the Lord (see comment on 4:2) becomes more and more explicitly messianic, so it is with the motif of the child. If the child of Isa 7:14–16 typifies the ultimate divine Christ, the child of these verses is that Christ. It is true that monarchs of the Near East often received exaggerated adulation from their subjects, especially at their enthronement and at subsequent kingdom renewal ceremonies. This is not Mesopotamia, however, but Judah, and Hebrew prophecy was founded on truth, not flattery. The prophets did not hesitate to speak stern words of judgment to their political overlords.

This passage does not necessarily imply that the child is to be a boy-king. In fact, Isaiah may not have regarded that as a blessing (cf. 3:4, 12). The context says much about children, so the child is spoken of in terms of his birth. The tenderness of the child also suggests a comparison with the defeat of Midian’s army by Gideon’s small band of men (Jdg 6–7), a comparison reinforced by the dual reference to the shoulder (cf. v.4).

The KJV has a comma after “Wonderful,” but it seems likely that the prophet intends us to understand that the child has four names, not five. The first two suggest divine wisdom and power, for the word translated “wonderful” (GK 7099) has overtones of deity. The last two set forth the ends he accomplished by the exercise of these attributes—his fatherly care of his people and the bringing of peace with all its attendant blessings. In the context this quartet of names comes to its climax with “Prince of Peace.” Its implications are spelled out in v.7.

The word “increase” (GK 5269) combined with the phrase “his [i.e., David’s] kingdom” suggest that the prophecy has in view much more than a particularly great king of Judah (cf. 2Sa 7:12–16). David’s kingdom went well beyond this; in fact, its boundary extended far beyond the traditional “Dan to Beersheba” limits of Canaan proper (2Sa 8). The language here is reminiscent of that pre-Davidic ruler of Jerusalem, Melchizedek (Ge 14:18). The harmonious linking of peace and righteousness occurs again, with more detail, in 11:1–9.

Since the beginning of ch. 7, the prophet has been making the most amazing disclosures in the name of the Lord; and these have come to a great climax in these two verses. Both the advent of the Messiah and the blessing of his people, the remnant of Israel, are guaranteed by “the zeal of the LORD” (cf. 37:32).

N. The Judgment of Ephraim (9:8–10:4)

The threat of Syria and Ephraim/Israel against Judah and the associated Assyrian move against the petty states of the Mediterranean seaboard form the background to everything from the beginning of ch. 7; so an oracle against Israel is not out of place here. Moreover, the prophecy of the child’s universal reign on the throne of David (v.7) would remind the reader of the defection of the northern tribes (cf. 7:17; 11:13). This oracle stresses God’s coming judgment because the northern kingdom was continuing its impenitent rebellion against the Lord.

8–12 The word of God has great power. Isaiah views its painful descent on Israel. National pride is usually most arrogant in a capital city. From the heart of the country, Samaria’s citizens refused to take the fall of the northern provinces to the Assyrians (cf. 9:1) as more than a temporary setback in the building of a greater and a richer land. In city and garden, the merely adequate that had succumbed to judgment through foreign armies were to be replaced by the superior.

Ephraim may well have discovered that in a foreign alliance a nation shares not only its ally’s resources but also its foes. The word “Aramean” is applicable more widely than to the citizens of Aram proper, the country over which Rezin reigned; and it may here designate enemies on his borders. The specific events referred to in vv.11–12 cannot be fully identified. Isaiah was fond of conveying the concept of judgment by using figurative language for eating (cf. 5:14; 9:20). The refrain in v.12b presents the fearful thought that the judgment already described does not exhaust the manifestation of God’s wrath against his sinful people.

13–17 The Lord’s judgment is both retributive and restorative in purpose when directed against his people. Isaiah’s two illustrations here embrace the whole nation, both the honored and the insignificant. The prophet makes it clear that although the nation was being led astray by its leaders and its false prophets, and the guilt of these was therefore great, nobody was without blame. Even the fatherless and widows, the socially disadvantaged, must share in the judgment; for the contagion of godlessness had spread throughout the whole nation. The order of “ungodly” and “wicked” suggests that the first was the cause of the second (cf. Ro 1:18).

18–21 Both the Bible and experience teach that wickedness unchecked spreads like wildfire, and this is precisely what Isaiah indicates here. The reference to “a column of smoke” (v.18) suggests that the acrid stench of wickedness reaches the nostrils of God, which provides a transition to the different use of the same analogy in v.19. Here it is not wickedness but divine wrath that causes the blaze. In both cases the undergrowth and the forest trees represent the people. The spreading flame of sin is followed in its turn by the fire of God’s judgment, with perhaps just a suggestion of the punishment fitting the crime. “Briers” and “thorns” give us the impression that in the prophet’s mind they stood for the consequences of sin (cf. Ge 3:18).

In vv.11–12 the prophet describes the attacks made on Israel by her external enemies. From the end of v.19, the more terrible picture of civil war takes over. The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim should have been particularly close to each other, for they were both descendants of the sons of Joseph (Ge 48). The first civil war in Israel, however, was fought between the Gileadites of Manasseh and the men of Ephraim in the days of Jephthah (Jdg 12:1–6). Those who would not unite through a common sympathy sometimes did join together to pour out their hatred and jealousy against Judah. Both the earlier and later contexts (i.e., vv.18–19, 21b) suggest that this civil strife was to be viewed as a judgment from God.

10:1–4 Verse 1 suggests that the ruling class in Israel had devised a legal system that departed significantly from the Mosaic standard. The phrase “the oppressed of my people” expresses the affront to God’s special relationship with the whole people that this evil legislation constituted. It may well have consisted largely in oppressive land laws (cf. 5:8–10). This phrase suggests the coming of a day of divine reckoning when possession of ill-gotten wealth would make some Israelites the sure objects of wrath.

The picture of cringing prisoners is so true to life, for there are few who can walk erect on their way to prison camp after defeat in war. It is possible, too, that Isaiah suggested that they were trying to avoid notice (cf. 2:10, 21) in order to escape death. The refrain that has occurred at various points in this oracle is truly terrifying in its climactic position. If even physical death does not satisfy the fierce anger of this holy God, what dread punishment lies beyond the grave?

O. The Judgment of Assyria (10:5–19)

The date of this oracle is not easy to determine, but Carchemish (v.9) was not captured till 717 B.C. This was about two years before the death of Ahaz; so the oracle could have been delivered within his reign, like most of the other oracles in chs. 7–12. A date in Hezekiah’s reign is also possible, of course.

5–11 The emotional interjection “woe,” with which v.1 also began, prepares us for the disclosure of Assyria’s judgment in vv.12–19. Isaiah tends from time to time to anticipate a God-honoring denouement in this way. This oracle clearly relates in its theme to the preceding one (cf. 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4). God uses instruments to manifest his wrath in the judgment of his people. Assyria was the chief instrument God used in Isaiah’s day. The word “godless” (GK 2868) must have been as shocking as the names “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” to those who were fastidious and even excessive in their observance of religious ritual (1:10–17). In fact, the lack of a specific reference to Judah may even have led Isaiah’s hearers to think that he was speaking of some other nation, till the context put his meaning beyond doubt. The simile “like mud” (v.6) may be due to Isaiah’s conviction that Judah has become spiritually and morally worthless (cf. Mt 5:13).

We have been given a glimpse into the mind of God; now we see the mind of Assyria. The two minds are at one only as to the acts of war themselves, not as to the ultimate purpose of those acts. Assyria and its boastful monarchs certainly had no intention of serving the punitive ends of the God of Israel; rather, they sought conquest and territorial expansion for their own glory. Verses 8–11 anticipate v.12, with its reference to the king of Assyria, though in fact the cities mentioned in v.9 were overcome by a series of Assyrian monarchs. Calno and Arpad, both in northern Syria, were taken in 738, Damascus in 732, Samaria in 722, and Hamath on the Orontes in 720 B.C. The ancient Hittite city of Carchemish on the upper Euphrates was vanquished in 717 B.C.

The king of Assyria’s boastful rhetoric (vv.10–11) must have seemed quite irrefutable to the people of his day. In fact, Samaria had not withstood the might of his armies any more than the pagan cities, and Jerusalem ruled over an even smaller kingdom. It was a sad fact that neither the northern nor southern kingdom was without idols (cf. 2:8, 20). What the Assyrian had not realized was the special purpose of God for his people, especially his determination to deliver Jerusalem. The gods of the pagans were mere vanities, but the Lord was the living God (37:4).

12 This verse sums up the theology of this great oracle. God has two ends to fulfill in relation to Assyria. He will punish one nation through her and punish her through another, though the latter nation is not specified nor even hinted at here. The phrase “his work” (GK 5126) stands in strong contrast to the expression “my hand” in v.10. This may be God’s “strange work” (cf. 28:21–22), but it is his work nevertheless; and Assyria is his agent for its accomplishment. Isaiah’s special stress on the holiness and majesty of God made it inevitable that he would launch constant attacks on human pride.

13–14 Strength and wisdom were widely recognized as vital qualities for anyone in authority, especially for a king. The messianic King has them through the endowment of God’s Spirit (11:2; cf. 9:6), but the Assyrian monarch boasted of them as his own. The removal of national boundaries and the consequent mixing of peoples was an Assyrian policy in the lands that they conquered (cf. 2Ki 17:6, 24). The picture of absolute power and total helplessness in v.14 may have been somewhat exaggerated, but there is no doubt that the might and ferocity of the Assyrians won them many overwhelming victories.

15–19 Assyria is pictured as a tool in the hand of the forester to be used for felling the trees. Isaiah uses logic to expose and to ridicule human sin. The tool or instrument breaking loose from the control of its master and exulting in its liberty is held by the Lord Almighty.

Two new pictures come into view to convey the judgment of God on the pride of his punitive instruments. The image of a sick person gradually wasting away under a consumptive disease and that of vegetation and forest trees destroyed by fire present different aspects of the demise of Assyria. Her enemies wore down her resistance over a period of some years, but the decisive moment came with the downfall of her capital, Nineveh, which is celebrated as an act of God in the prophecy of Nahum.

The picture of the destroying fire contains two notable features. (1) Isaiah uses the word kabod (“pomp,” v.16; “splendor,” v.18 [GK 3883]). God’s own unique “glory” (see 6:3) has been revealed to Isaiah. None other may boast of his own splendor in the light of that. (2) The prophet does not tell us simply that the Lord will light the fire of judgment; instead, he declares that the Light of Israel will become a fire (v.17). God remains eternally the same, but humans may experience now one consequence of a particular divine attribute, now another. He is the Light of his people, and one day he will be the source of light for all the nations (cf. 2:1–5; 60:1–3); but here that Holy Light is felt by an arrogant conqueror as a fire of judgment. A torch was an agent of both light and heat.

Yet even in the midst of such judgment, there is a hint of hope, so characteristic of Isaiah’s prophecies. God planned a devastating judgment for Assyria but, amazingly—for this is not Israel but a Gentile nation—not total obliteration. If Israel was to be left a remnant for the fulfillment of God’s purposes for her, so too was Assyria! In this way we are prepared for the astounding revelation in 19:23–25.

This drawing by Gert LaGrance, based on Assyrian reliefs, depicts an Assyrian attack on a town in Judah. A seige ramp was constructed against the wall and tlie infantry stormed the wall, while archers kept sliooting arrows at the defenders. Courtesy Lachish Excavations.

P. The Deliverance of the Lord’s Remnant (10:20–34)

20–23 The eschatological phrase “in that day” introduces some verses dominated by the doctrine of the “remnant” (GK 8637). That phrase also connects these verses with the previous passage. The words “him who struck them down” here denote the human instrument of God’s wrath rather than God himself (cf. 9:13). How incredible that they should put their trust—as Ahaz had done (cf. 2Ki 16:7–9)—in a nation whose known character could guarantee nothing but rapine and almost inhuman cruelty and refuse to rely on the God who had lavished blessing on them throughout their history!

Verse 21 opens with the phrase shear yashub (“a remnant will return”), which is identical with the name of Isaiah’s son (Shear-Jashub, 7:3). The emphasis here is positive. God will not utterly destroy his people. There are in fact two symbolic names in the verse, for “Mighty God” is evocative of the description of the messianic King in 9:6. The doctrine of the incarnation enables us to understand how relying on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, can be equated with returning to the messianic King, whose name was “Mighty God.” Here then the two great Isaianic doctrines of the remnant and the Messiah come together.

Verse 22 links the remnant doctrine with that which it appears to negate but which in fact in the purpose of God it guarantees—the promise to the patriarchs that their seed would be many (cf. Ge 22:17; 32:12). The reader has been prepared for this reminder of the promise by the name Jacob in vv.20–21. The promise could and sometimes did induce complacency (cf. Mt 3:9–10; Jn 8:33–40), for Satan takes even the Scriptures God gave as a blessing and interprets them to serve his purposes of error and damnation (cf. Mt 4:6; 2Pe 3:15–16).

Verses 22b–23 are particularly somber in their tone. God is described by titles of power; this fact—in combination with the reiterated word “decreed”—makes the threatened destruction truly terrifying, for it is sovereign and irrevocable. The great Euphrates produced one “overwhelming” (same word translated “swirling over” in 8:8) flood of judgment through the Assyrians, who overcame Israel, and another in the Babylonians, who brought Judah’s kingdom to its end. These nations were wicked, but God used them as instruments of his righteous judgment.

24–27 The emphasis on God’s power continues as the prophet uses the same divine titles as in v.23. This time, however, his power was to be directed to the salvation rather than the judgment of his people. Other parts of the country may feel the tread of Assyria’s fearful host (cf. 9:1; 10:28–32), but Zion will be secure (cf. Ps 46).

The references to the “rod,” the “club,” and the “yoke” remind us of 9:4–7, with its promises of defeat for the strong enemy and of the peaceful government of the Child born to be king. The King is not here, but the deliverance is. Historical parallels are drawn with the vanquishing of Midian. The death of the two Midianite leaders at Oreb (cf. Jdg 7:25) was perhaps the decisive moment in the later stages of the battle, for an army in flight without leaders cannot regroup and counterattack. On both occasions Israel was greatly outnumbered, but her trust in God was shown by him to be well-founded. So would it again!

Verse 25 may be compared with 40:1–2. God’s wrath against his people was real; but because they were his people, the foreign scourge would be used against them only for a limited time. God would call a halt and would then punish his unwitting instrument for its sin (cf. 10:12–19). Once again we encounter one of Isaiah’s favorite figures, the bearing of a heavy burden (see at 1:4, 14). Israel was like a slave carrying a heavy burden or like a domestic animal yoked and laden. So there would be an Assyrian captivity, but it would be ended by divine action. “The yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat” may picture Israel as an animal so large that the yoke will not fit it. So she cannot be fully subdued by the enemy.

28–32 The processes by which the OT prophets were given their messages are known to us only in part, but we are aware that the vision was one important medium used by the inspiring Spirit. The superbly dramatic appeal to the imagination in these verses suggests a visionary provenance. Perhaps the prophet in his imagination was standing on the city walls looking northward and seeing the inexorable advance of the Assyrian army through places within and just beyond his normal range of sight. For sheer drama these verses have little to equal them in the prophets, except in Nahum.

Isaiah 36:2 tells us that the Assyrian army actually came to Jerusalem from Lachish, from almost exactly the opposite direction. Possibly some tactical situation arose that caused the Assyrian army to make a circuit around the city from Lachish, finally approaching it from the north. The history of warfare contains many parallel examples.

33–34 After the advance, the counterattack! The divine title of power, “the LORD Almighty,” occurs no less than five times in this chapter. This is striking in a section of the prophecy where the mighty and ferocious Assyrian enemy is never far from sight, for it underlines the infinite superiority of the true God over even the greatest of nations.

The Assyrian hosts appear like an advancing forest. Suddenly the divine Forester begins to attack undergrowth, boughs, whole trees, and even the mighty cedars of Lebanon. The pride of Assyria (cf. v.13) caused it to become an example of the general principle laid down by God (cf. ch. 2): those who have great pride are always riding for a fall (cf. Pr 16:18).

Q. The Davidic King and His Peaceful Reign (11:1–9)

The messianic theme reappears, having been out of sight since 9:7; it is taken up at precisely the point where it was left before, because the Davidic throne is implied in the reference to Jesse, David’s father, and the effective zeal of the Lord Almighty in the richly empowering Spirit of the Lord.

1–3a At the end of ch. 10 the axe of divine judgment fell on the forestlike army of Assyria; at the opening of ch. 11 the purpose of divine grace is seen in the growth of a shoot from the stump of Jesse. The reduction of the Davidic dynasty to a mere stump is a true metaphor for its condition when Christ was born; for, though still in existence, that dynasty had been without royal power for nearly six hundred years. The reference to Jesse—who was of course never king—rather than to David may point to the total absence of royal dignity in the house of David when the Messiah would come. But there was still life in the house, for God’s purpose (cf. 2Sa 7:16) had not been set aside (cf. Eze 21:27). The Branch (see 4:2; 6:13) is now fully messianic. God’s people need more than the promise of fertile land or of continued national life through the remnant. They need the very incarnation of God’s life in the Messiah.

The Assyrian monarch had boasted of his own power and wisdom (10:8–14; cf. 14:12–14), but the supreme King will be equipped for his work by the Spirit of the Lord. There are links between this passage and 9:6. The earlier passage shows the King to be divine, while this exhibits his dependence, a combination that requires the Incarnation for its explanation. Solomon, Jesse’s grandson—who might have seemed to be the fulfillment of the hope of “great David’s greater son” and who was endowed with wisdom by God—might have seemed at first to be an expression of this hope in the earlier history of the people; but he fell far short of the divine ideal expressed in Dt 17:14–20, because he did not fear the Lord with an undivided heart (cf. 1Ki 11:1–13).

It may be that the basic description “the Spirit of the LORD” followed by three pairs of qualities attributed to the Spirit is intended to add up to a symbolical seven (cf. the seven “woes” of 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22; 6:5). If so, the symbolism would suggest that the Messiah was to be perfectly endowed by the Spirit with everything requisite to his kingly task (cf. Rev 5:6).

3b–5 The act of pronouncing judgment in the court is often treated in the OT as the acid test of a wise and incorruptible use of authority (cf. 5:21–23; Ps 72:1–4). Verse 3b does not mean that right judgment ignores evidence available to the senses but rather that it requires inner qualities of character (cf. Jn 2:25; 7:24). The word “judge” (GK 9149) has an ominous ring to us; but when used of the poor, it is almost synonymous with salvation (Pss 72:2; 82:2–4). Where there is corruption in the law courts, it is the poor who long for a righteous judge. The reiterated word “earth” also signifies “land.” The rule of the messianic King is to be over Israel but also over the whole world (9:7; cf. 11:10).

In the divine economy, the word is active and powerful (cf. Ge 1:3; Isa 55:10–11), and the Messiah’s word of judgment will be utterly effective (cf. Jn 12:48). He judges as “the Word of God” (Rev 19:13–15). This testifies to his great power (cf. v.2), because he is well able to execute the judgments he pronounces. In him word and consequent action are virtually one.

In the Near Eastern dress styles, the belt or sash was the garment that gave stability to the whole ensemble; and to dress oneself with the belt was to prepare for work. The Messiah would be prepared in character for his work of judgment.

6–9 Biblical eschatology may involve more than the simple restoration of conditions as they were in the unfallen world, but it certainly includes this (cf. Ge 1:26–28; Ps 8; 1Co 15:25–28; Heb 2:5–9). It is not now Adam who is to be king of the world but the messianic King. In his reign nature will be at peace with itself and with human kings. We know something of the effects of the Fall on human kings and on plant life (Ge 3:17–18); no doubt animal life—bound with the human race and the plants in the unity of a worldwide ecosystem—must have been affected also.

The normal prey of the fierce predators need have no fear of them under the Messiah’s reign. Significantly, the calf is the most vulnerable to the lion and the fatted yearling the most desirable; yet the prophecy puts them together. The predators will so respect the lordship of humans, given to them before the Fall (Ge 1:28), that even the little child will command respect and, perhaps, will act responsibly and with benevolence toward the predators like a shepherd leading his flock.

The ecological issues are touched on in v.7, with its implied reference to Ge 1:30. Any adaptation of the ecosystem involved will presumably be a restoration of the world to its unfallen condition (cf. Isa 65:25).

Genesis 3 presents the serpent as human beings’ first enemy within the animal kingdom. Thus, v.8 moves beyond vv.6–7. Venomous snakes will not harm children even when their play temporarily robs the snakes of their access to the world outside their homes. The instinct of self-preservation is deep in every creature; so this scene exhibits peace, trust, and harmony.

As a result of the taming of nature, Mount Zion, the holy mountain of God (v.9), will know a comprehensive peace and security that remind us of the comprehensive promises in 4:5–6. The breadth of the Messiah’s reign (cf. 9:7) means, however, that the peace and security of Jerusalem will be a microcosm of a much wider blessing, because of the references to the sea here and to the nations in v.10. The restoration of human beings to God that is implied in “the knowledge of God” reverses the alienation introduced by the Fall, so making possible the restoration of their environment to its unfallen condition.

R. The Nation and the Nations (11:10–16)

10–11 In 5:26 God raised a banner to summon a nation as one of his instruments of judgment on his people, while here the messianic King has an attractive power that brings the peoples of the world together, just as the Lord himself attracts the nations in darkness to his marvelous light in 60:1–3. In 2:1–4 it was the word of God that had drawing power; here it is the Christ.

The eschatological phrase “in that day” relates this messianic teaching to the end times. Like most OT writers, Isaiah had a lively sense of the special importance of the Exodus from Egypt, when God had stretched out his hand to deliver his people. Isaiah looks forward to a time that will see an event comparable with it in redemptive significance. This will contrast with the Exodus, for those who return will be the remnant of a larger people, while it was the greatly enlarged family of Jacob that left Egypt under Moses. The events will also differ because this time the people will not move together as a body from one point of departure but will come together from many lands and various points of the compass. Instead of going forth under a great leader, they will come together seeking a greater leader still.

The places referred to, with one exception, are located near the two great river-systems that have acted as mothers of civilization in the Near East: the Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile. The addition, however, of the phrase “the islands of the sea” is surprising. The word “island” occurs frequently in Isa 40–66 and appears to designate the Mediterranean maritime areas. The only reference to a dispersion of Jews in this area is in Joel 3:6. The considerable western dispersion in NT times is anticipated here by the Holy Spirit.

12–14 After a brief prose interlude (vv.10–11), the exalted poetry of the prophet is resumed. Isaiah first summarizes the thought of the two prose verses in poetic form, making it clear that by “his people” (v.11) he has Judah primarily in mind, even though “Assyria” may have suggested an application also to Ephraim. The Davidic dynasty had of course been associated exclusively with Judah for many centuries, ever since the division of the kingdom (cf. 7:17). The reference to Assyria (v.11) finds its explanation in v.13. Northern Israelites will also return, and the once-divided nation will be united. It had been torn apart through the sin of one of David’s sons (1Ki 11:11); it would be reunited under David’s Greater Son.

David’s rule had extended well beyond the bounds of the territory of the Twelve Tribes (2Sa 8). Ephraim and Judah would make common cause against the Philistines, taking advantage of their location in the hill country to move down the slopes of the Shephelah, west of the Judean mountains, against the Philistines on the coastal plain. The three neighboring nations to the east and southeast would come under subjection again to Judah.

15–16 The nations mentioned in v.14 were small and insignificant when compared with the great militarist regimes of Egypt and Mesopotamia. God’s hand of power would be stretched forth in fulfillment of his purposes for his people in both areas. He had dried up the water of the Red Sea before; he would act again to dry it up. He had used a great wind (Ex 14:21) at the Exodus; he would do so again to bring the people back from Mesopotamia, for the wind would produce there a delta not unlike that at the mouth of the Nile. The highway promised may contain an allusion to Ex 14:26–29, the dry road through the Red Sea; or it may mean that God will bring them back safely across the desert that stretched between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean seaboard (cf. 35:8).

S. A Song of Joyous Praise (12:1–6)

Chapter 12 forms a fitting climax for this whole section. The preceding chapters have said much about the sins of God’s people, warning them of the divine wrath and judgment that was sure to follow. They have also recorded God’s declaration of forgiving grace for the penitent, the challenge to believe, and predictions of a glorious future for God’s people. God’s great name would be exalted, and his king would reign. Nothing could be more appropriate than a heartfelt psalm of praise to round off this section of the prophecy.

1–3 In ch. 11, the expression “in that day” introduces two verses (11:10–11) that focus on the Messiah and the remnant—and thus on the great final purposes of God for his people. This psalm of praise anticipates the feelings of his people when that great day comes. Isaiah pictures the nation like someone suffering under God’s wrath because of rebellion against God (1:5–6). Though once united in sin and its divinely imposed consequences, the nation here engages as a body in one great act of thanksgiving (cf. Isaiah’s proclamation of God’s forgiveness to the people in the Babylonian exile in 40:1–5; 43:25, anticipating the sweet comfort of pardon they were to know at the end of their history).

The prophet’s language here takes up words from the Song of Moses in Ex 15, so that Israel’s first and final expressions of corporate praise are here brought together. The words “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” are almost identical in the Hebrew to two other verses (Ex 15:2; Ps 118:14). Isaiah’s double use of “the LORD” is appropriate because the people’s trust in the Lord stands in strong contrast to the unbelief of Ahaz and his trust in Assyria (cf. 7:1–9; 2Ki 16:7–18).

The assertion that God is or has become the salvation of his people goes perhaps a little further than a simple statement that he has effected deliverance for them. It is as if his person has taken color from his work; the person and the work belong together so that the one can hardly be conceived without the other (cf. 1Co 1:30). To “the song of Moses, the servant of God” is added “the song of the Lamb” (Rev 15:3–4), for salvation receives its deeper meaning through him.

When it is said that he is “my strength and my song,” the reader is made aware that this God is now everything to his people. Not only do they rely on him for strength, but they have abandoned all other trust. The prophet had been warned that the people would be spiritually unresponsive (6:9–10). In the future day that Isaiah visualizes, however, trust in God the Savior will be so complete as to banish all fear. Not only will the Lord receive all their faith; he will be the sole object of their praise. The redeemed have nothing else to sing about and yet everything to sing about when their song is of him.

Isaiah has already used the imagery of water to symbolize divine supplies that are totally reliable and can be trusted (8:6). The waters of Shiloah flowing gently and yet constantly into the city are replaced by wells of salvation from which the believing people may keep on drawing with joy. The figure suggests constant recourse on their part and constant provision on his.

4–6 The proclamation to all the nations that the Lord’s name is exalted is typical of Isaiah (cf. 2:2–3, 11, 17; cf. Ac 2:21, 33; 3:13–16). With v.5, we find ourselves back in Ex 15:2, but without the references to horses, horsemen, and the sea. The truth is that the Exodus will be eclipsed by an even greater disclosure of God’s power (Isa 53:1). It will therefore take its place at the beginning of a whole sequence of divine saving acts that may now be celebrated retrospectively in their totality. It will not be enough now that the people praise his name simply in the presence of one another. The whole world must know what he has done so that his name may be exalted in all the earth.

The universalism of these verses is now modified by a form of particularism. The song being sung celebrates God’s forgiving grace and saving deeds for his own people, Zion. The pardoning grace of God is the source of many blessings, but none is more wonderful than his presence with his people. That presence was promised and sealed in the child Immanuel (cf. 7:14; 8:10, 18). Here its realization is celebrated and extolled by his people. The presence of God among his people is no contradiction of his transcendent uniqueness and separateness, expressed in the phrase “the Holy One of Israel.” He is distinct but not aloof, for in him holiness and grace find their perfect union.

II. God and the Nations (13:1–23:18)

The Israelites were separated from the nations by God to be his own special people. They did not, however, live in isolation but were placed at the most strategic crossroads of the world. Here they were brought into contact with many other peoples—especially the world powers of Mesopotamia and the Nile, who could only engage each other in trade or in conflict by taking a route through or very near Israel’s territory.

In the time of Isaiah, the international scene was dominated by the cruel and aggressive Assyrians, who were ruled by a succession of ambitious monarchs. Such a situation left a buffer state with only two options: submission or a protective alliance. This formed the general political context for Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. Chapters 1–12 relate the kind of message he brought to Judah from the Lord. Foreign foes were instruments of God’s judgment on his people for their sins. They were not to seek relief in alliances but were to trust in the Lord himself.

The international situation brought Judah into contact with virtually all the other states of the Fertile Crescent; and it is most appropriate that oracles declaring the destiny of each should be grouped together at this point. Every state lived under the threat of Assyria and sought its own way of handling it. Each would have to face judgment. If Judah and Jerusalem, God’s own people, faced judgment—but not extinction—through Assyria (so chs. 1–12), it is inconceivable that these pagan nations should escape. These judgments were in effect anticipations of those universal judgments that, along with the ultimate deliverance of the sons of Jacob, are set forth in chs. 24–27 as a climax to the oracles against the nations. Thus the divine holiness revealed to Isaiah in his temple vision in ch. 6 was to be expressed in judgment on Judah, her neighbors, and the whole universe.

A. Prophecy Against Babylon (13:1–14:23)

This “oracle concerning Babylon,” has been the focus of much scholarly attention. Many modern scholars have been reluctant to accept it as an authentic utterance of Isaiah, assigning it to the sixth century B.C, shortly before the taking of Babylon by Cyrus the Great of Persia. However, the only historical context that is fully appropriate for it is 701 B.C., when the various peoples mentioned in chs. 13–23 were all involved in anti-Assyrian coalitions. The attempt of Babylon to get Judah involved in such a coalition almost certainly lies behind ch. 39.

Jeremiah 50–51 makes use of phraseology and ideas from Isa 13–14 and applies them to the fall of the Neo-Babylonian empire. In Jer 50:17–18, the prophet declared that the kings of Assyria and Babylon, having a common guilt in relation to Israel, would share a common punishment. There are really only two principles of organization for a society: the Babylonian principle (antagonism toward God) and the Jerusalem principle (submission to his purposes). The Babylonian principle is to be seen right through 13:1–14:27.

It is really unnecessary to transfer almost all of these two chapters to Assyria, as some have suggested. The events of 701 B.C. may have provided the historical conditions for this oracle, yet this does not require that all or most of it was fulfilled in the downfall of Assyria. If we accept supernatural foreknowledge in a prophet, Isaiah’s prophecy may have been given in one historical era and fulfilled in another. We will therefore expound the oracle as a prediction of the downfall of the Neo-Babylonian empire and its monarch, uttered by Isaiah at the close of the eighth century, and so intended as a warning to Hezekiah and Judah not to put their trust in coalitions against Assyria inspired by Babylon (cf. ch. 39).

1 The use of a surname or a patronymic may serve the end of designating a person with some precision. In view of the denial by most modern scholars that Isaiah, son of Amoz, had any part in prophecies concerning Babylon, we may see a special evidential purpose in its use here.

2–5 Imagination’s curtain is drawn aside and a bare hilltop is disclosed, surmounted by a banner (cf. 5:26; 11:12; 18:3; et al.). A shout and a gesture are added so that the army will be mustered with urgency. The phrases “a bare hilltop” and “the gates of the nobles” suggest a contrast between the remote areas from which the army comes and the sophisticated urban civilization that it will destroy. Like the Assyrians (cf. 10:5), this army is the Lord’s instrument. “Holy” here implies only that the persons so designated have been set apart by the Lord for his purpose—in this instance, punitive destruction.

The single shout of command is replaced by a tumultuous roar. It is the sound of human voices in such numbers and such volume that words are indistinguishable. The references to kingdoms, nations, and faraway lands would fit the armies of each of the successive world powers from Assyria through Babylon to Persia; but the mention of the Medes in v.17 plus the use of words like “hilltop” and “mountains” suggest that the army was being massed on the great Iranian plateau. “The ends of the heavens” probably refers to the distant horizons and so to the “faraway lands” from which the Medes came. The appropriateness of Isaiah’s selection of designations for God can be seen in his use of “LORD Almighty” here.

The opening verses of the oracle have made it clear that the armies are the instruments of the Lord and that they are coming to execute his wrathful judgment on the whole land.

6–8 The “day of the LORD” is a frequent prophetic theme that emphasizes the certainty and decisiveness of the Lord’s historical judgment in the future. It may be conceived in local or in universal terms. The Lord will expound his great name of power in terms of destruction when the day of his judgment dawns.

In vv.7–8 the prophet piles up expression after expression to convey the sense of fear that would overwhelm the objects of God’s judgment. The phrase “their faces aflame” comes as something of a surprise, for shock normally pales the face. Perhaps the judgment would be recognized by those who suffer it not simply as a visitation of pain but as a punishment for wrongdoing, bringing a blush to their cheeks.

9–13 At this point this oracle of judgment about a great, coming world-power begins to expand to cover the whole world, though the NIV translation suggests that it is still local. The cosmic dimensions of vv.10–13, however, strongly suggest that v.9 needs to be understood universally also. Local judgments should stir in human beings a recognition of final accountability (cf. Mt 24).

God created the natural order as an environment for humans (Ge 1). The Fall disturbed this order, and some indication of this is given in the penalties prescribed by God (Ge 3:14–19). In v.10 we see God’s hand of judgment falling on the great heavenly bodies, whose regular motions provide strong support for one’s belief in an ordered universe. Their light-giving function (cf. Ge 1:14–19) will be hindered (cf. Mt 24:29; Mk 13:24–25; cf. esp. Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44–45).

Isaiah characteristically mentions arrogance and pride as prime targets of God’s judgment on the wicked (cf. 2:11–18; 3:16–24; 10:8–16). Human pride is a blatant insult to the God who is highly exalted and to whom all his moral creatures should submit in obedient worship. Verse 12 makes it clear that the judgment pictured is universal. Verse 13 goes beyond v.10 by depicting the effects of divine judgment on the natural universe. There is to be a general convulsion of the whole created order (cf. 34:4). Thus the instability of the order of things since the Fall will be disclosed (cf. Mk 13), revealing the need for the eternally stable order of the kingdom of God that Christ’s coming will establish.

14–16 The prophet has made no reference to the human agents of God’s punitive justice since v.5; and at least since v.10 it has been clear that a universal judgment is in view. By definition such a judgment cannot be humanly executed, for everyone is to come under it. The prophet here returns, however, to the more local judgment on Babylon, for it is clear that human agencies of punishment are now being used again. A prediction of the Day of the Lord may expand and then contract again in this way, because each particular judgment foreshadows the great ultimate punishment to fall on the human race as a whole.

Beginning with Tiglath-pileser III, each great empire of Mesopotamia followed a policy of transportation and intermingling of peoples. As Babylonia is entered by its conquerors, those living there who have been exiled from their own homelands feel their isolation; and, like hunted or neglected animals, they try to make for home. Such attempts at survival will be quite fruitless. The bitter enemies of their overlords will make no distinction between the native-born and the unwilling incomer. This part of the prophecy shows that the downfall of Babylon will mean the deaths of many from other nations who find themselves within its borders when the blow falls.

17–22 Verse 17 is of special interest because of its reference to the Medes. These Iranian people, who—along with other Aryan tribes—came onto the Iranian plateau about the beginning of the first millennium B.C., were a constant thorn in the flesh of the Assyrian kings; and in 612 B.C. they captured the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Thus in Isaiah’s day they were a significant factor on the international scene. At this time the Babylonians were their allies in the eventual sack of Nineveh. By the middle of the sixth century B.C., however, the situation had altered considerably. After a period when there was enmity between the Medes and the Persians (their fellow Aryans), the Medes put their fierce fighting force at the disposal of Cyrus the Persian and were involved with him in the overthrow of Babylonia in 539 B.C. The Medes are probably mentioned here rather than the Persians because of their greater ferocity and also because they were better known to the people of Isaiah’s day. Historical sources confirm that the Medes served Cyrus without thought of monetary reward.

Babylon, a very ancient city (cf. Ge 10:10; 11:1–9), seems to have had even in times of decline a special prestige among the peoples of the Near East. This was shared also by its leading deity, Marduk, and is well expressed in the phrase “the jewel of kingdoms,” which Isaiah gave to it. Already Babylon was a sure candidate for divine judgment, but the cup of its sin was to become full in the days of its new empire, when it would oppress many nations and destroy Jerusalem and its temple.

It is interesting that Isaiah uses the analogy of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah that we find also in 1:9–10. This suggests not only complete destruction but also its moral cause. The Assyrian king Sennacherib, who detested Babylon, utterly devastated it in 689 B.C. This was, perhaps, a partial fulfillment of the prophecy given here. Babylon was quickly rebuilt, and no comparable destruction took place by the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C. The prophecy did eventually find fulfillment, but over a considerable period of time. Darius the Great and Xerxes both issued important decrees of demolition. Alexander the Great apparently had great plans for the city, but they did not survive his death; and by the close of the first century B.C., Babylon was utterly desolate. So it is today. The last sentence of the chapter refers to Sennacherib’s act of vengeance that stood at the beginning of the whole process and that, at the time of this prophecy, was to be accomplished within twelve years.

14:l–4a These verses are saturated with allusions to the Exodus from Egypt and the entry into Canaan. The New Exodus theme, which is so important later in the book, is the controlling motif here. The clue to this is given in the words “once again he will choose Israel.” The expulsion of Israel from Canaan at the Exile would certainly make it look as if the covenant, so often flagrantly broken by the people, had finally been set aside by God. In fact, however, such was the depth and persistence of his steadfast love that his covenant purpose was never eclipsed by their unfaithfulness. His new choice was a reaffirmation of the old in the return from Babylonia.

The repeated name “Jacob” is a reminder that it is the God of the patriarchs who is setting his love on the people (cf. Ex 3:6–9). The patriarchs had been given the land by divine promise; therefore, it was already “their own land.”

When Israel left Egypt, many other people left with them. There were also many aliens within their gates (Ex 20:10; 22:21; et al.). Jethro, Rahab, and other believing Gentiles found a place within the covenant of God with Israel. So it would be again (cf. 56:3–8). Furthermore, the nations in the land would become servants to them (60:9–14; 61:5), just as the Gibeonites had (Jos 9). We can find parallels to much of this in the actual events of the return from exile, for it was a decree of the Gentile Cyrus that was its immediate human cause (Ezr 1–4; cf. 6:1–12). There are, however, elements of the prophecy that were not fulfilled at this time, especially in the picture of God’s people governing their oppressors. No doubt these are properly eschatological, so that the fulfillment at the return from Babylon itself foreshadows God’s ultimate purpose for the people.

4b–11 At this point, one of the greatest poems in the whole prophetic corpus commences, running through v.21. Its form is really that of the funeral dirge, with the characteristic limping rhythm of a Hebrew lament, so plaintive and yet ominous to the sensitive ear. The form is appropriate, for it speaks of death (vv.9–11, 15). It is not sung at a funeral, however, for the subject of the song is a tyrant who will be denied proper burial, and the song lacks the pomp a great king would expect as his right at death (vv.18–20). There is a considerable element of irony, so that the whole song becomes a “taunt” (v.4a) in the guise of a lament.

The subject of this lament is the king of Babylon, the oppressor; but the reference to the Lord in v.5 is important. Apart from the less direct references of vv.13–14, it is the only place where he is mentioned in the poem; yet he dominates it just as much as he does the book of Esther. His action is implied in all the passive verbs of the poem. If the oppressor has ceased, it is because God has taken action to bring him low.

The “unceasing blows” and “relentless aggression” conjure up an atmosphere of terror. When a great tyrant reigns in Mesopotamia, all the little nations cower in constant fear. How impressive then is the great change intimated in v.7! The glorious peace that follows the downfall of the Babylonian oppressor becomes the setting for the glad sound of rejoicing.

The pine trees and cedars of v.8 may be literal, figurative, or both. The monarchs of Assyria and Babylon were greedy for wood, and their woodcutters stripped whole districts of their trees. Lebanon, with its magnificent trees, suffered more than most conquered territories at their hands. Understood both literally and symbolically, these trees may refer also to human rulers (cf. 2:13; Jer 22:7; Eze 17:3; 31:3; Mk 13:24–25), who are also safe now.

“The grave” is the NIV’s translation of the Hebrew word sheol (GK 8619), the place of the dead. The Babylonian king, though dead, still exists, but now in a different sphere. The picture of the petty kings rising from their thrones to accord a mocking welcome to their oppressor powerfully appeals to the imagination and clearly contains some elements that were intended to be taken seriously but not literally.

To rise from one’s seat is a token of respect in many cultures. Therefore, it probably indicates not only surprise but also mock homage on the part of those whose submission had been all too real, though unwilling, during their lifetime. They had heard the sound of the Babylonian harpers making music for the king as they were brought trembling into his court. All his pomp and circumstance have disappeared. His soft couches and lush carpets have been replaced by maggots and decomposition.

12–17 The taunt song continues. Isaiah’s prophecies make some use of what has been called “dead mythology,” and this may well be an example of this. The language of the myth—known but not, of course, accepted as true by the prophet and his hearers—becomes a vehicle for his thought by supplying the basis of an analogy. Moreover, this passage itself seems to be echoed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 10:18, where language applied here to the king of Babylon is used of Satan. Nothing could be more appropriate, for the pride of the king of Babylon was truly Satanic. When Satan works his malign will through rulers of this world, he reproduces his own wicked qualities in them, so that they become virtual shadows of which he is the substance.

To interpret v.12 and the following verses in this way means that the passage points to Satan, not directly, but indirectly, much like the way the kings of the line of David point to Christ. All rulers of international significance whose overweening pride and arrogance bring them to ruin under the hand of God’s judgment illustrate both the satanic and the antichrist principles.

Verse 13 reminds us of the Tower of Babel (Ge 11:1–9), though the endeavor to be like God takes us right back to Ge 3. Here Satan first sought to reproduce in human life his own proud aspirations for equal status with God. The possession of power can, of course, prove disastrous in creating a desire for utter supremacy. One who is fitted for high authority must be aware that he faces grave spiritual danger.

The dominant feature of vv.13–14 is undoubtedly the repetition of the word “I.” Only God himself has a right to speak in this fashion (13:11–12; 14:24–25; 41:9–10, 17–19; et al.). The analogy from Canaanite mythology probably extends to the reference to the sacred mountain. Like the proud figure in the myth, the king of Babylon sought for absolute sovereignty. It is a strange paradox that nothing makes a being less like God than the urge to be his equal, for in Christ, he who was equal with God stepped down from his glorious throne to display to the wondering eyes of humankind the humility of God (Php 2:5–8).

The leveling power of death is again underlined (vv.15–16; cf. vv.9–10). The death of such a great one in worldly terms causes people to think hard. There are more lessons to be learned about the meaning of existence at the place of death than at the place of birth (cf. Ecc 7:1–4). Only God really has the right to make the earth tremble (cf. 13:13; 24:1–4). Human tyranny can go too far, and God acts against it from his all-sovereign throne (cf. 40:23–24).

18–21 We know from the Egyptian pyramids and other royal tombs how much stress was put on proper burial in the Fertile Crescent in OT times. How horrifying to a great king of Babylon and to his contemporaries would be the prospect of his lying out in the open, unburied, his royal body indistinguishable from those of his soldiers, to be thrown into a common burial pit! What is the cause of such a fate? The great king—like Napoleon, Hitler, and many others—led many of his people into death on the battlefield to gratify his lust for power. God therefore makes the punishment fit the crime.

The principle of group solidarity in punishment is seen throughout the OT (cf. Ex 20:5–6; Nu 16:31–35; Jos 7:24–26). The reference to the conqueror covering the earth with cities (v.21) is perhaps a reminder of Ge 10:8–11, possibly implying that this Babylonian dynasty was following the ways of its great predecessor, Nimrod. Many rulers have sought to perpetuate their names through great city-building enterprises (cf. also Ge 11:4). No throne, no tomb, no progeny, no cities—in all these ways the Lord abases those who seek self-exaltation.

22–23 These verses constitute a kind of appendix to the taunt song. The all-powerful divine King asserts his own intention to act against Babylon. Clearly the language reflects vv.20b–21, but it also goes back to v.20a. The king of Babylon’s sin would bring destruction, not only to his people, but also to his land. He wanted to possess the earth, but in fact the very reverse would take place; for his own land would be possessed—not even by human beings, but by owls—and it would be covered with pools of stagnant water. The analogy the passage closes with has an eloquence all its own. The reader can almost hear the woman of the house breathing a sigh of relief as she sweeps the rubbish out her door, knowing that her house is at last clean and fit for human habitation. Rubbish fit only for the broom of judgment—this was God’s verdict on mighty Babylon!

B. Prophecy Against Assyria (14:24–27)

There was an emotional link between the names “Babylon” and “Assyria” for those who were under threat from Mesopotamia; this is enough to account for placing this brief oracle at this point.

24–25 Sometimes in Isaiah a divine statement is underlined in some particularly emphatic way (cf. 5:9; 9:7; 37:32), and so it is here. The name of God used here and the statement of his settled purpose (cf. 5:19) combine to assure us that the Assyrian cannot survive. If such a mighty God has designed to crush him, he is doomed indeed. As if to reinforce this certainty still more, God speaks of “my land” and “my mountains.”

26–27 God is sovereign over human history. All nations will have to submit to his judgment. This principle will be seen in relation to other nations—both small and great—in the oracles that follow. God is not like a man who makes plans and finds he has no power to put them into effect. Perfect wisdom and absolute power find their unity in God.

c. Prophecy Against Phifistia (14:28–32)

28 The heading of this oracle does not in fact establish the year of this prophecy, for there is much uncertainty about the date of the death of Ahaz. The Assyrian monarch whose death is implied in vv.29–30 is Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser V, or Sargon II.

29–30 The death of a cruel, oppressive monarch is a cause of rejoicing for his subjects, but such celebration is often premature; for that monarch’s aggressiveness often characterizes his whole dynasty. The prophet’s inspired imagination combined two sets of images here. The Assyrian monarchs are likened to a series of reptiles, which is then likened to the succession of root, shoot, and fruit in a plant. In this way the Spirit used the natural gift of a deeply poetic imagination to vividly and powerfully convey prophetic truth.

In the light of v.32, the focus of attention has moved briefly in v.30a from Philistia to Zion. The godliness of the poor and needy and the certainty that God is their helper are often presupposed in the OT, for the integrity of the godly is rarely profitable in worldly terms. Here God assumes the role of a shepherd to his people (cf. 40:11). The destiny of Philistia is portrayed in stark contrast to this, for famine instead of fresh pasture will be its lot. Leaf, branch, or stem may wither and yet the plant survive, but what hope is there when the root has been destroyed?

31–32 The prophet vividly depicts the fear induced by the terror from the north. No doubt the “envoys” were Philistine diplomats sent to Jerusalem to encourage solidarity against the common Assyrian foe. As elsewhere, Isaiah’s message encourages trust in God, not in alliances (cf. 7:1–9; 8:11–15).

D. Prophecy Against Moab (15:1–16:14)

There are special features of this oracle that make it at once one of the most moving and yet most enigmatic of Isaiah’s prophecies. The inspired poet-prophet presents us with graphic pictures of judgment on Moab. Through its verses the anguished wailing of the bereaved and the fugitives touches the heart of the readers. And to our utter astonishment, we discover that the inspired page is wet too with the tears of the prophet himself! Jeremiah wept for Judah (Jer 9:1), but Isaiah for Moab!

1–4 The small Moabite nation is often mentioned in the OT, sometimes on its own, sometimes with its near neighbor, Ammon. The origin of both nations is traced to Lot’s incest (Ge 19:30–38). It is impossible to determine the exact historical circumstances of this oracle or even to identify the enemy with any certainty; it could have been Assyria or some incursive force of hungry and rapacious nomads from the desert—perhaps Israel (cf. 2Ki 14:25) or even Judah, though this last seems unlikely.

All the places mentioned in these verses were in Moab. The enemies no doubt had come unheralded. Their predatory purpose fulfilled, they had probably departed as suddenly as they had come. Behind them was a trail of death and destruction. The land was full of weeping people, some gathering at religious shrines to cry to their gods, others in public places to join in corporate displays of weeping. The sounds of such agonized wailing would strike the men of Moab’s fighting force with a demoralizing terror.

5–9 None of the place names in these verses can be identified with certainty, apart from Zoar, at the southeastern tip of the Dead Sea. Apparently the general direction of flight for most of the fugitives was southward to Edom. The reference to “the waters of Nimrim” suggests that they were in a normally fertile area. Perhaps they passed it during the dry season and saw its withered vegetation as a symbol of their own condition. The Moabites were warned that there was no hope of alleviation. The reference to the enemy as a lion reminds us of the reference to Assyria in Am 3:12, where the ultimate lion of judgment is God himself (cf. Am 3:4, 8).

16:1–5 The prophetic searchlight, having exposed to view the whole land of Moab with its ruined cities and fleeing, homeless people, becomes a spotlight. It concentrates first on the city of Sela, the source of the message of vv.3–4a, and then on the fords of Arnon, where the Moabite refugees, who are the subjects of the message, gather. Sela, normally Edomite, appears to have been in Moabite hands at this time and may even have been the seat of its government. Moab was famous for its great flocks of sheep. The Moabite rulers sent lambs in recognition of the king of Judah’s overlordship to support their appeal for asylum for their refugees, many of whom would be women with children.

The “shadow” (v.3; GK 7498) may well picture Judah as affording protection, like a great rock from the merciless midday sun (cf. 32:2); but it is also possible that it further develops the analogy of the fluttering young birds. These would be easy prey for a predator on the ground, unless the large shadow of the parent bird fell protectingly across them as they moved toward the earth.

Verses 4b–5 are probably the reply sent from Jerusalem to Sela. This passage resembles 14:32 in its triumphant assertion that Jerusalem is a place of security in the purpose of God. If the words are addressed from Judah to Moab, they are most naturally understood along messianic lines (cf. 55:3). The love and faithfulness referred to are in the heart of God and come to his people on the basis of his promise (cf. 2Sa 7:12–16). At one time Moab and Midian were allied against Israel (Nu 22:4; 25:1–18). Interestingly, the prophet presents the Messiah’s rule as extending over both Midian (9:4–7) and Moab.

6–7 These verses contain the only clear references to the sin of Moab. A true prophet would be expected to penetrate beyond the misery that results from God’s judgment to the offenses against him that caused it, and this Isaiah does here. Because of pride the Moabites were brought to this sorry pass.

8–12 The prophet visualizes the land of Moab as a vast vineyard, with vines spreading to its farthest corners but now trampled underfoot by its enemies (cf. 5:1–7). In an agricultural community, harvest is a season of great joy (cf. 9:3). In Moab, however, the vineyards will be silent. The ripened fruit will not be trodden under foot in the winepresses, for judgment through foreign rulers will stalk the land.

Again (cf. 15:5) the prophet’s heart is deeply moved by the undoubtedly deserved sufferings of the Moabites (v.11). The skilled and sensitive musician knows what instrument will best carry the feelings of his song to the heart of his hearers, and Isaiah’s deep emotions come with all the pathos of a lament played on a harp. Unhappily, Moab’s sufferings had not driven her to the true and living God but to the idol shrines of her god, Chemosh. There could be no help from such a source.

13–14 There had been earlier prophecies against Moab with the same general import as the oracle just given by the prophet here (cf. Am 2:1–3). Isaiah has a specific disclosure from the Lord as to the time of Moab’s judgment. It most likely relates to Sargon’s campaign against the tribal peoples of northwest Arabia, for the Assyrian army’s route would naturally go through Moab. This would date the two closing verses of ch. 16 to 718 B.C.

Verse 14 refers either to the contract of a laborer with his master (cf. Ge 29:18; Lev 25:50, 53) or that of a mercenary soldier with his superior. In either case the point is the same, for the exact calculation of the period is important to the transaaction. The prophetic ministry did not require many such timed predictions (but cf. 7:8). Their fulfillment would, of course, provide additional clear evidence of their authenticity.

The Mesha Stele of Moab relates their successful attacks on Israel. Isaiah prophesies the eventual destruction of Moab. Mbzt 2012/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

E. Prophecy Against Damascus (and Ephraim) (17:1–14)

Ephraim’s devotion to the apostate shrines at Bethel and Dan had made her a perpetual rebel against the Lord, but now she became unequally yoked with a pagan nation in an endeavor to coerce Judah into an unholy league against Assyria. This oracle, therefore, certainly appears to belong to the period 735–732 B.C.

1–3 The oracle opens with a call to visualize what God would make of a once-proud city. The downfall of Damascus would not be an isolated event, for other cities too would be deserted. The double conjunction of Ephraim and Damascus and of Aram and the Israelites is striking. Israel had chosen to accept a close link with Damascus; so she had to accept the consequences of that relationship. A shared purpose involves a shared judgment. The basis of the league between the two nations was chiefly military; and, ironically, it was in military terms that she would suffer, in the loss of her “fortified city.” This is no doubt a reference to Damascus, as the fortress that Ephraim herself hoped would protect her from the Assyrians.

The prophet’s reference to the “remnant of Aram” likely relates to that kingdom itself. Damascus, in fact, fell to the Assyrians in 732 B.C., and Samaria, the capital of Israel, fell a decade later. The instrument of these judgments was to be Assyria, but the judgments were ultimately the great power of “the LORD Almighty.”

4–6 The repeated phrase “in that day” underlines the decisiveness of the Lord’s judgment on Ephraim. It has an eschatological quality in the sense that the great principles of that period cast their shadows before them. In other words, in such judgments God is making an emphatic point about sin and his attitude toward it.

The judgment on Ephraim was to be devastating, leaving the people decimated. The “glory of Jacob” suggests Ephraim’s honor, the respect in which others would hold him. He would become subject to a wasting disease, making him perhaps as sorry a sight as if he just had a terrible beating (cf. 1:5–6; 52:14).

Isaiah develops the picture of a body politic suffering the consequences of sin in terms of the grain harvest. The reaper’s arm encircles and makes taut many stalks of grain so that he can remove their heads by one sweep of his sickle. Fruit trees also will be climbed as far as possible and beaten to gather the great bulk of their fruit. In each case the farmer endeavors to leave as little as possible for the gleaners, who are allowed by law to gather anything edible that had been missed (Dt 24:19–22). So thorough would judgment be, and yet the destruction would not be total. The phrases “the glory of Jacob” and “the God of Israel” at the beginning and the end of this section are a reminder that the God of the patriarchal promises has an ongoing purpose beyond temporal judgment (cf. 6:11–13).

7–8 The judgment on Ephraim would bring a spirit of penitence to at least some of the survivors. The contrast between “their Maker” and “the work of their hands” shows that nothing is more misguided or pathetic than the human attempt to mend the relationship between oneself and deity by the work of one’s own hands. The altars mentioned here may be the apostate shrines with their forbidden bull-images at Bethel and Dan. It may be, however, that we should read v.8a in the light of v.8b, for “the Asherah poles” (i.e., “symbols of the goddess Asherah”; see NIV note) reflect the naked paganism of Canaan. The presence of northern Israelites at Hezekiah’s celebration of the Passover (2Ch 30) shows the fulfillment of this prediction.

9–11 The theme of judgment returns. When the Israelites came into the land of Canaan many years before, the strong cities of the land were abandoned to them. The Lord was at work for his people, giving them the Land of Promise. However, the situation has changed, and the same cities will be abandoned by the Israelites themselves as they are under the judging hand of God. Here again we see “the Light of Israel” becoming a fire (cf. 10:17).

The NIV treats vv.10b–11 as a further development of the illustrations of judgment given in vv.4–6. Judgment can be pictured as a thorough harvest that leaves only scattered gleanings, but it can also be pictured as disappointing in itself; for even the finest plants, which the grower has searched out in foreign lands and planted in ideal conditions, may come to nothing. Some kind of pestilence is implied here.

12–14 Mauchline points out that the thunder of many peoples amassing reminds us of the opening of Ps 2: nations mustering their armies and trying to carry out their plans and ambitions. The general nature of the picture is underlined by the implied comparison with God’s creation ordinance restricting the flow of the waters across the face of the earth (cf. Ge 1:9; Ps 104:5–9). The God who rules both nature and history employs language taken from his control of the one to represent graphically his control of the other.

The imagery changes again. The foes are like great rushing torrents, but God opposes their waters by his wind; they become like chaff blown from the hilltop threshing floor (cf. Ps 1:4; 83:13; Isa 29:5) or like mere dust (cf. Isa 40:15), driven in its blinding grittiness before an advancing storm. God’s judgment of the enemies of his people will be both decisive and swift.

The view at dusk is presented simply in terms of the overpowering emotion of terror, with countless hosts of pagan soldiers, eager for their prey. In the morning, however, it all seemed like a nightmare, for there was not an enemy to be seen! Doubtless God’s action against Sennacherib’s great army (37:36) is chiefly in view here.

The prophet closes with a general comment based on this singular example of God’s care for his people and his city. The oracle opened with Damascus, moved on to deal with Ephraim, but at the end it appears clearly that all these events are part of God’s plan to keep in safety those who were in Jerusalem and in the center of his purpose because they were trusting in him.

F. Prophecy Against Cush (18:1–7)

This oracle is unique in Isa 13–23 (except for ch. 20) in that it does not open with the word “oracle.” Chapters 18–20 deal with Egypt and Cush, which were one at this time. The content of the passage hardly seems to warrant the use of the doom-exclamation (“Woe”) with which it begins; for the doom is really pictured as falling on Assyria rather than on Cush, but perhaps it anticipates ch. 20. Biblical Cush is usually translated “Ethiopia,” but the transliteration designates a much larger area than present-day Ethiopia—an area including the Sudan and Somalia. This mysterious area was normally in Egypt’s area of influence and control; but for a period during the eighth century, Egypt was ruled by an Ethiopian dynasty. The visit of the ambassadors could be placed either during the Philistine revolt against Assyria (around 712 B.C.) or in the period of restlessness after Sargon’s death in 705.

1–3 The phrase “the land of whirring wings” is highly evocative for anyone who has been in the Nile valley, with its swarms of insects. Ambassadors in OT days were not permanent officials placed by nations in the capital cities of other states but were emissaries sent out on special commissions. The purpose here was to foment rebellion against Assyria, which was very much in the interests of the rival power that straddled the Nile valley. The lightness of their papyrus vessels made it possible for them to be carried past rapids and other unnavigable stretches of rivers. The word “sea” (v.1; GK 3542) could be interpreted as the Nile, because the word can be applied to a great river.

The ambassadors were to return with all speed to the land they had come from; for their mission, though politically expedient, was spiritually inappropriate and irrelevant. The military reputation of the tall, handsome Nubians of Cush had been much enhanced by their recent conquest of mighty Egypt. Israel, remembering its own captivity in Egypt, might well have been particularly impressed. The message given to the messengers had universal application, for the whole world would reverberate at the trumpet blast heralding mighty Assyria’s fall. The banner and the trumpet represent the call to rally for battle.

4–6 Isaiah often urged his contemporaries to adopt an attitude of quiet faith in their God instead of trusting in alliances with other powers (e.g., 7:4; 30:15). Here God himself is quiet, contemplating the frenzied scene of diplomatic and military activity. When Isaiah commends quiet trust, therefore, he is really calling his hearers to view things from a divine viewpoint.

The second simile in v.4 serves not only to reinforce the first but prepares for the disclosure of God’s judgment described in v.5. The divine harvester is dealing with branches that reveal their barrenness by their emptiness (cf. Jn 15:2, 5). The branches that are valueless to humans are left to the local birds and animals, who put them to their own use. This suggests that the fierce Assyrians would themselves become the prey of others.

7 The very people who from their position of strength had sent word to Judah to secure her cooperation in a military venture would come again with gifts for the true God in Zion. This picture is a specific illustration of the general vision of Zion as the religious center of the whole world.

G. Prophecy Against Egypt (19:1–25)

This oracle is of exceptional interest because of its amazing climax: the judgment of God on the Egyptians is followed by their repentance and conversion, by manifestations of God’s grace to them, and by their incorporation in the people of God, along with their bitter enemy, Assyria, and the chosen people, Israel, who had suffered so grievously at the hands of both.

1–4 The Lord is pictured as riding on a swift cloud to Egypt. Here imagery is employed in connection with his interventions in history. Once before this, the God of Israel had judged the gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12; Nu 33:4) as well as its people. His appearance on the heavenly horizon fills them both with dread. Their power to resist him is still further diminished by internal division and internecine conflict. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Egyptian unity—secured by the power of the Cushite dynasty—was destroyed by civil war.

The idols and human agents of paganism can be of no avail to the Egyptians in their predicament, because this oracle declares that they and their objects of worship will both be overcome by fear. There is little point in the demoralized turning to the demoralized!

The “fierce king” of v.4 most surely is Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who subdued Egypt in 670 B.C. Ferocity was a general characteristic of all the Assyrian monarchs. The Egyptians were not to know this, of course; but their downfall before this monarch would mean the virtual end, not only of their greatness, but even of their independence, for millennia. Who is this whose power is so great that he can hand over one mighty nation to another? Why, of course, “the LORD,” the Lord Almighty!

5–10 This passage graphically portrays Egyptian economics, with its total dependence on the Nile. Dry up the Nile and the whole Egyptian economy will grind to a halt. Who can—and will—dry up the Nile, which was a great deity to the Egyptians as well as a great river? The same God Almighty whose plans to intervene in the history of Egypt had been declared in vv.1–4!

Again we are reminded of the events associated with the Exodus, for several of the plagues had involved the judgment of the Nile. Fishing and linen industries were important; both were completely dependent on the fauna and flora of the Nile.

11–15 Constructive, progressive, and stable rule necessitates the marriage of power and wisdom, characteristics of God’s great King (11:1–5) and qualities of God himself. Every great monarch feels the need of advice from wise counselors, but what if the wisest in the land have nothing but lunacy to offer? No matter how ancient nor how exalted their lore, it makes no difference to their ineptness. Zoan and Memphis were the two most important cities in Lower Egypt. They are mentioned together because of their administrative importance.

The quaint architectural analogy implicit in the language of v.13b is found in a number of OT passages (e.g., Ps 118:22; Zec 10:4). Its use in Isa 28:16 is particularly interesting in the light of its use here, for here the leaders who should have given stability to Egypt led her astray, while in the later passage the God of Israel promises a leader who will give true stability to his people. In Isa 28 the folly of the leaders is due to drink, while their confusion here is pictured as if it were the result of drunkenness.

When the prophet says, “The LORD has poured into them a spirit of dizziness,” he is of course thinking of a personal spirit (cf. 1Sa 16:14; 18:10; 19:9; 1Ki 22:19–23). It is clear that this spirit comes for moral reasons and as a judgment from God. If we accept that God may use an evil human power in judgment (cf. 10:5), then there is really no difference in principle if he uses an evil spiritual being, as here. Foolish confidence in one’s own wisdom leads not only to failure to produce appropriate counsel but also to walking and causing others to walk along a pathway that leads to disaster.

16–17 Isaiah uses the expression “in that day” forty-two times. Verses 16–17 bridge the first part of the oracle (dominated by judgment) and the remainder of it (centered in salvation and grace). They place emphasis on the fear induced in the Egyptians by God’s acts of judgment (cf. v.1), which was a prelude to their repentance. The Exodus account frequently refers to the hand of the Lord and its activities against Egypt (e.g., Ex 8:19; 9:15; 13:3; 9, 16; et al.). Because God was on Israel’s side, her very name became a terror to the Egyptians (cf. Ex 12:33; 15:16; Ps 105:38); so too the mention of Judah would terrorize the Egyptians.

18 The verse as it stands may mean that Jews were then living in Egypt, occupying five of its cities and so instituting a colony of worshipers of the Lord in this pagan land (cf. Jer 44:1, 15). On the other hand, it could refer to the conversion of Egypt to the worship of the true God. The five cities may be an allusion to the original conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. After the capture of Jericho and Ai by Joshua’s forces, their first great victory was over the kings of five important Canaanite cities: Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon (Jos 10). This victory led to the conquest of the whole country. So the spiritual conquest of Egypt outlined in vv.19–22 starts with the conversion of five cities promised in v.18. This not only fits the context perfectly but would also furnish a further example of allusion to the Exodus-Conquest period that is such a feature of this oracle.

What then is “the City of Destruction”? The Hebrew seems like a play on “the city of the sun” (the Hebrew equivalent of Heliopolis). If so, then the conversion of the people of this stronghold of sun worship is perhaps treated as a major victory, decisive enough and significant enough as a great act of destruction at the time of the Conquest.

19–21 These verses spell out in detail the circumstances and results of the conversion of the Egyptians. The “altar” has sometimes been identified with the Jewish temple built at Elephantine in the sixth or fifth century. It is evident, however, that the final fulfillment of vv.16–25 has not yet come, unless it is all to be viewed as fulfilled spiritually in the triumphs of the gospel in Egypt.

Another echo of the conquest of Canaan is found in the reference to the monument or pillar. Pillars were associated with pagan worship in Canaan and so were prohibited to the Israelites (cf. Dt 7:5; 12:3), but it is clear from v.20 that something different is in view. Just as the altars constructed by the patriarchs were witnesses for the true God and his self-disclosure at these places, so various stones and pillars of witness were erected in the days of Joshua (see Jos 4:3, 20–22; 7:26; 8:29; 10:27). The pillar-monument here, situated on the border of Egypt, probably symbolizes the claiming of the land for the true and living God.

The analogy of the Conquest continues with a promise that could have come straight out of Judges (cf., Jdg 3:9, 15). The promise appears to be an assurance of deliverance from physical oppressors. Interestingly, the savior and defender is singular, while the oppressors are plural. The language is well fitted to refer to the supreme Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

A major theme of the Exodus story is the knowledge of the Lord that is given in its events. There is, however, an important distinction drawn between the form that knowledge took for the Israelites and for the Egyptians. The former knew the Lord in the context of his grace to them (e.g., Ex 6:7), the latter knew him as a God of judgment (e.g., Ex 7:5). It is more frequently declared that the events will bring the knowledge of God to the Egyptians than that they will bring it to Israel. The Lord will reveal himself to Egypt again, but this time in an entirely different way, much more after the pattern of his self-disclosure to Israel; for he will deal with them also on the basis of grace.

The references to sacrifices, grain offerings, and vows suggest a comparison with the Mosaic Law, perhaps to make it clear that the Egyptians are to be on equal footing with their erstwhile slaves who had been so gloriously redeemed from their midst. There is an implied rebuke of Israel in the assertion that “they will make vows to the LORD and keep them,” which suggests that the basis of their relationship with him is the new covenant (cf. Jer 31:31–34), fulfilled in Christ’s death as the ultimate sacrifice (cf. esp. Heb 8:7–9:15).

22 This verse is a virtual summary of most of the oracle. The reference to a plague is another clear echo of Exodus. In the time of Moses, the pleas of the Egyptians for the lifting of the plagues were heard through the intercession of Moses, though there was no true penitence in the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants. In terms of this prophecy, however, the plague will bring them to repentance, and God will hear their own cries for deliverance.

23 Astonishment reaches a new height here, for the revelation of God’s amazing grace to the Gentiles embraces not only the old enemy, Egypt, but the new one, Assyria. In Isaiah’s day, Assyria was feared by every little nation in the Fertile Crescent. Their brutality made them more of an object of general hatred than any other nation of antiquity. The Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians were all capable of inhuman acts, but the Assyrian record for callous cruelty is difficult to parallel. This amazing verse assures Isaiah’s hearers that Egypt and Assyria will drop their long-standing antagonism toward each other and cooperate, not only in a great road-building project that will further international communication, commerce, and peace, but they will come together in the worship of the true God, the God of the little Israelite nation whom they had both afflicted so sorely!

24–25 Israel, which seems for a time to have been out of the picture, now takes her place as one member of a trio of godly states. Some of Israel’s own titles (cf. 1:3; 45:11) are applied to her former enemies. This suggests that the Lord has established a covenant relationship with these nations, perhaps extending to them the new covenant that he promised in Jeremiah to make with his people of Israel and Judah (cf. Jer 31:31–34).

H. Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush (20:1–6)

This passage gives not only an oracle but the circumstances in which it was delivered. This is understandable, because it was associated with an acted prophecy and so demanded a setting.

1–2 The five Philistine cities were united in a federation, and this union was dominated first by one and then by another of them. The rebellion against Assyria at this time centered in Ashdod. This revolt occurred 713–711 and probably developed in response to events further south. Egypt had been taken over by the Ethiopian dynasty in 715 B.C., and the petty states of Palestine seem to have felt there might be more hope of securing assistance against Assyria. The demise of Ashdod is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions and can be accurately dated in 711 B.C.

The way Isaiah was clothed suggests that the prophet was in mourning at this time, either because of personal bereavement or because of his concern about the nation. At least from the time of Elijah, however, such rough clothing was associated with the office of the prophet (2Ki 1:8; Zec 13:4; Mk 1:6). The wording does not preclude the possibility that he was wearing a loincloth (cf. v.4), for strict nakedness would have been religiously and socially unacceptable (cf. Ge 9:20–27).

3–6 The sign is given first and then its significance is clarified in a spoken prophecy. Acted prophecy occurs frequently in the OT (e.g., 1Ki 11:29–32; Jer 13:1–11; Eze 4). The act normally requires verbal interpretation before it becomes a true prophecy with a specific meaning. The sign was a message to those in Judah who were inclined to put their trust in Egypt (cf. 30:1–5; 31:1–3), especially in its revived strength under its new Ethiopian rulers. In fact, the Egyptian army sent to the help of Judah in 701 was defeated at Eltekeh; this was the first of a series of disastrous defeats by Assyria in the next few decades.

Verses 5–6 probably refer to different people, those in v.5 being chiefly the leaders of Judah, while v.6 refers to the inhabitants of the Palestinian coastal strip. This makes it clear that not only Ashdod but the whole Philistine federation would suffer; and it may even imply that Phoenicia, further north, would be smitten by the Assyrians.

I. Prophecy Against Babylon (21:1–10)

This passage has two main schools of interpretation. Some feel that the occasion depicted in the prophet’s vision is the downfall of Babylon in 539, when Cyrus entered the city with his triumphant forces. Cyrus was originally king of Persian lands that were formerly part of Elam, and he had conquered Media a decade or so before his assault on Babylonia. So “Elam” and “Media” in v.2 refer to the multinational army of Cyrus.

The other interpretation relates the passage to the time of Merodach-Baladan, a prince of southern Babylonia. He revolted against Assyria and had himself crowned king of Babylon in 722 B.C., with the support of the Elamites. He reigned during several periods, and after his death Babylon had further times of independence from Assyria before Sennacherib’s ferocious destruction in 689. There had, however, been earlier sackings of the city under Sargon II and Sennacherib, while Merodach-Baladan was alive. This puts not only the prophecy but also its fulfillment in Isaiah’s day.

1a “The Desert by the Sea” could refer to the desert lands southeast of Babylonia, where Merodach-Baladan’s home territory lay. Possibly it was the great plain that Babylon stood on. This plain was so divided by lakes and marshy stretches of country that it was appropriate to call it “the sea.”

1b–2 The prophet saw in his vision an invader approaching Babylon from the desert lands, through which the invading armies would pass on their way to it. His strongly imaginative mind discerned a similarity between these and the whirlwinds that were liable to move up toward Judah through the Negeb. The prophet then told his hearers that he had been shown a dire vision. If this oracle refers to Cyrus and his attack on Babylon, it might have seemed dreadful at first, because the Jews in Babylon could well have perished in the overthrow of the city. In fact, however, this did not happen. Thus an application to the time of Merodach-Baladan is certainly feasible. News of his revolt against Assyria would encourage the Jews in the thought that Assyria might be weakened or perhaps even overthrown by him. The fall of Babylon would represent a severe setback to such hopes.

Most commentators take the words of v.2b as utterances of the Lord, in which he calls on Elam and Media to attack Babylonia. However, in the time of Isaiah it was more natural to see Elam and Media as enemies of Assyria and allies of Babylonia. Thus, as has been suggested, the cries are probably the battle cries of Babylon’s allies against Assyria.

3–4 The oracle against Moab (15:5; 16:9, 11) showed the deep distress Isaiah felt when he contemplated the slaughter of human beings, even when these belonged to a nation that was often an enemy of his own people. But Isaiah’s horror may have come from his own identification with his people so that he felt the deep dismay that came over them with the downfall of their hope in Merodach-Baladan. The latter is perhaps the more likely, because Isaiah speaks of fear as well as horror.

5 This verse paints a scene of feasting, but where was it enacted? Herodotus says that the taking of Babylon by the Persians in 539 B.C. was so swift that many who were at their wine in the city center did not even know that the outlying parts of the city were in enemy hands. On the other hand, if this is the leaders of Judah who are feasting (cf. 22:1–2, 13), the second half of the verse does not in this case depict a sudden change of mood, with agitated preparation for battle, but rather underlines the atmosphere of leisured ease. Arrangements are made for sentry duty, and the officers detailed for this use their time on guard to apply oil to their leather shields to prevent them from cracking when they are struck by the weapons of the foe.

6–10 The prophet had seen a vision; then he hears the word of the Lord. Isaiah is to have a man posted on the lookout. Any group of riders is to be reported, for they could be bringing news of what was happening in the far country. The lookout was at his post for many days. His tour of duty wearied him, but his patience was at last rewarded as a lone charioteer appeared on the horizon. The message he brought was that Babylon, from which the people have been expecting so much, had fallen, presumably to the Assyrians. The reference to the images of Babylon’s gods and their shattering is perhaps an implied rebuke to Judah’s leaders. How could they hope for the blessing of God on an alliance with pagans?

The people of Judah, who had already suffered much at the hands of the Assyrians, are depicted as prostrate but still alive, like grain that has fallen—bruised and yet safe—on the threshing floor after the thresher has battered it severely with his flail. The image underlining their helpless condition was also perhaps intended to convey a note of hope. Judah was not chaff but grain, and the Lord Almighty who had used Assyria to bring the downfall of Babylon was also the God of Israel who would protect his people and fulfill his purposes for them.

J. Prophecy Against Edom (21:11–12)

11–12 “Dumah” means silence or stillness and is a wordplay on Edom (see NIV note). As part of the Word of God, this short oracle must have both meaning and relevance. Its meaning is perhaps secured if we understand it through the wordplay in its title. God gives light to his people in the midst of perplexing historical circumstances; the very ministry of Isaiah is evidence of this. It is otherwise, however, with Judah’s pagan neighbors. The reply of the watchman is so vague and enigmatic that it is tantamount to no reply at all. The one certainty is that the night will end in morning, but also that this will be followed by another night. Perhaps this refers to the lifting of the oppressive Assyrian overlordship, which would be replaced by another black night, the rule of Babylon.

K. Prophecy Against Arabia (21:13–17)

13–17 This oracle has often been thought to have close ties with the brief one that precedes it. It is noteworthy that Edom was really on the edge of Arabia. Dumah, Tema, and Kedar all occur in Ge 25:13–16, in the list of Ishmael’s descendants. The Dumah referred to there, of course, would be the Arabian one, as Edom was the people of Esau (Ge 25:30).

Sargon II conducted a campaign against the northern Arabian tribes in 715 B.C., which could well provide an appropriate setting for this oracle. Armed men are drawn from various Arabian tribes, but they are no match for the Assyrians and are put to flight. They flee exhausted, parched with thirst, and in need of food. The caravans plying their trade and camping out in the wastelands and the settled town-dwellers of the oases are both urged to provide sustenance for the fugitives. The resistance of the Arab tribes will be short-lived, for their armies will be reduced to a meager remnant within twelve months. The closing oracle formula probably underlines the fact that this is the judgment of the God of Israel.

L. Prophecy Against Jerusalem (22:1–25)

This chapter divides into two sections: vv.1–14 show us Isaiah’s strong denunciation of Jerusalem’s people because of their attitude on the occasion of a deliverance of the city from enemies outside its walls, while vv.15–25 focuses attention on two of the leaders of the people. If we read the first part in the light of chs. 36–37, we may well conclude that the occasion is the deliverance of the city from Sennacherib. Chapters 36–37 emphasize the divine deliverance that took place in response to the faith of Hezekiah and his people, while this present oracle makes it clear how shallow this faith really was. In a similar manner, the joyful attitude to Josiah’s reformation taken by the writers of Kings and Chronicles stands in contrast with Jeremiah’s recognition of the people’s superficiality and shallow penitence. These perspectives were complementary.

1a The expression “Valley of Vision” has been variously understood by commentators, though always in reference to Jerusalem. We do not think of this city as situated in a valley because of the hills of Zion and Moriah on which it was built; but in fact it is comparatively low, being surrounded by hills (cf. Ps 125:2; Jer 21:13). The phrase may refer to the fact that it was the very place where so many prophetic visions had been received and then given to the people. This would, therefore, intensify the responsibility of her people for their reprehensible attitude.

The exceptional sharpness of the prophet’s language indicates that he was deeply disturbed. If we have rightly located the prophecy during the deliverance from Sennacherib, this was late in Isaiah’s public ministry; and he poured into this prophecy all the disappointment he had with his own people that must have accumulated throughout the decades that he had been prophesying. He had been warned that there would be little response (cf. 6:9–10), and he had certainly found this to be true in the days of Ahaz (ch. 7). Perhaps he had hoped for better things under Hezekiah, who was more godly than his predecessor. In this way, Isaiah identified with the feelings of the Servant of the Lord as the latter looked back on his own ministry (cf. 49:4).

1b–2a A noisy spirit of excitement came on the whole city, and the flat roofs were thronged with revelers. The people probably went up originally to survey the Assyrians outside the city; but finding them dead (cf. 37:36), they stayed to celebrate (cf. vv.12–13).

2b–3 Sennacherib, in his inscriptions, spoke of inflicting a defeat on Hezekiah; and this probably took place during the earlier stages of the Assyrian campaign in Judah (cf. 2Ki 18:13–16; Isa 1:5–9). Is the reference to the “slain” in v.2b an ironic comment on the revelers lying in drunken stupor who, only a short time before, had feared that they would be killed in battle? Possibly, though the prophet may be thinking of those captured and put to death in the early stages of the campaign. Isaiah’s main point is that the people could not glory in themselves, as if they had won a mighty victory. In fact, they were so demoralized at the approach of the enemy that they simply fled.

4–8a Isaiah knew that Jerusalem, delivered by a wonderful act of God’s grace, would one day perish at his hand. The people had learned nothing from what had happened. The spiritual sorrow of the prophet for his people was so deep that he was inconsolable. As a man of God, of course, he could accept what, as a Judean, he could not welcome; for the destruction of the people that had been revealed to him was the judgment of God.

The Day of the Lord, prophesied in 2:6–22, would fall on Jerusalem. The NIV has brought out the terrifying alliteration and assonance of three consecutive Hebrew words with its translation of “a day of tumult and trampling and terror.” The people were looking down over the walls, gloating over the slain Assyrians. On God’s great day those same walls would be battered down by the enemy, and the mountains surrounding the Valley of Vision would echo with the wails of Jerusalem’s inhabitants.

This prophecy was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar took the city in 586 B.C ., though history was destined to repeat itself in A.D. 70, when the Romans overcame Jewish resistance and entered Jerusalem to wreak havoc on its people and its buildings. There may have been Elamites and Syrians (from Kir) serving in the army of the Babylonian king. The mention of them imparts an extra dimension of terror to the oracle, because it pictures the besieging army as an international one.

8b–11 The prophet returns to the situation in Jerusalem when the Assyrian army appeared on the horizon. By their actions the people had made it clear to Isaiah that their trust was in human beings rather than in God. A city facing a long siege has many needs. Its defenders need adequate weapons. Jerusalem had, in the Palace of the Forest, its own royal armory (cf. 1Ki 7:2–5); and no doubt its staff undertook an urgent check on their supply of swords and spears that day. The walls of the city and especially its defensive towers were in need of repair, and some of its houses had to be destroyed to obtain stones for this, for there was neither time nor liberty of access to get stone from the Judean quarries. Any house that was not really needed would have to go. Ahaz, also in unbelief, had busied himself with the water supply of the city (cf. 7:1–3), and the men of Hezekiah’s Jerusalem had the same outlook (cf. 2Ch 32:1–5). A special reservoir was built, probably to retain surplus water from the Pool of Siloam.

God is the maker of history as well as of nature. History, with its series of world empires and successive judgments (cf. 10:23–24), is all under his almighty hand; he is the God of Israel, for this people is in special relationship with him. Because of this situation, they should have looked to him with faith. Instead, they were busy trying to find ways of evading the challenge to believe.

12–14 There is something ominous about using a title of power—“the LORD Almighty”—instead of one of relationship, like “the God of Israel.” If the people would not seek his grace in repentance, they would feel his power in a terrifying act of his judgment on their city. The prophet is outraged by the scene that presents itself to him as he walks through Jerusalem’s streets. They should have been thronging with people, contrite in spirit, making their way to the temple in a corporate act of penitence.

Verse 14 contains one of the Bible’s most terrifying sentences, comparable perhaps to the words of Rev 22:11. The revelers had probably slaughtered the animals used by them for their feasts at Jerusalem’s temple. Let them not think, though, that any sacrifice could be offered to atone for this sin. At the very time when God’s promises to protect Jerusalem were being so wonderfully fulfilled, the threat was given that the city would most certainly fall one day before its enemies and that nothing—just nothing—could avert the judgment of God on it.

15–16 Terrifying as this threat of judgment undoubtedly was, it might seem to some to lose something of its horror because it was so general. After all, Jerusalem was a community; and when an act of judgment strikes a group of people, any individual may seek to assure himself that he has simply been caught up in the consequences of other people’s sins, whereas he himself is without specific blame. Isaiah allows no such escape route for the hardened conscience. God’s people are dealing with “the Lord, the LORD Almighty.”

The spotlight of judgment is now directed toward one man, Shebna, the steward of the king’s palace (cf. 36:3, 11, 22; 37:2). The pyramid tombs of the Pharaohs epitomize the desire of prominent people in the ancient Near East to have a grandiose burying place so that they would be the objects of adulation for centuries after their death.

17–19 “Beware” forebodes for Shebna a future scene different from the one he had planned. The words “O you mighty man” take him at his own estimate of himself. God will show him who it is that has real power, for God will project him ignominiously out of his office and into another land—surely a reference to Assyria. The splendid tomb, hewn out at his order in some place of prominence, will not then be a witness to his greatness but to his overweening ambition; for he would lie dead in an alien land. He perhaps had paraded through Jerusalem’s streets in ceremonial chariots (cf. 2Sa 15:1; 1Ki 1:5); but he would now be seen to be, not the glory of his master, the king, but his disgrace.

The contempt felt for Shebna is summed up in the scornful expression “this steward” (v.15). Perhaps this oracle does not tell us the whole reason for this contempt, that allied to the official’s ambition and pride was a political policy (probably pro-Egyptian) that ran counter to Isaiah’s message for the king and the people to trust only in the Lord. This would certainly explain why this oracle is associated here with the one in vv.1–14.

20–23 Shebna had been riding ostentatiously in his chariots and building a splendid grave for himself, seeking in all this the praise of other people. How much better to have God’s smile of approval and to be described, in a simple but eloquent phrase, as “my servant.” Eliakim, who is also—like Shebna—mentioned in 36:3, 11, 22, and 37:2, is to take over Shebna’s office and so to be given his ceremonial robes (cf. comment on 36:3). The word “father” suggests both his authority over the people of Jerusalem and the provision he would make for them in virtue of his office. Verse 22 is to be understood literally, for the steward would have the large master key of the palace fastened to the shoulder of his tunic (but cf. Rev 3:7; see also Mt 16:19; 18:18).

The simile of a “tent peg” symbolizes the stability of the kingdom (cf. 33:20). Through Eliakim his whole family would advance in social dignity, promoted, as it were, to a seat closer to the throne at the royal table. Apparently Eliakim had a different policy from that of Shebna, more in line with Isaiah’s counsel to trust in God. If so, his advice to the king would help to secure a real and not just an apparent strength to the nation in a time of international insecurity.

24–25 The mood of the oracle changes dramatically. The true honor of “my servant” (v.20) is replaced by a satirical picture that reveals almost as much contempt as that shown toward Shebna in vv.15–19. Shebna’s great sin was pride, but Eliakim’s was nepotism. There is a legitimate honor that comes to those related to a family head with a high position in the land. Eliakim had, however, been chosen for office because of his own qualities, not theirs. The peg is not now seen giving strength to the tent but rather fastened to the wall of the palace kitchen with a motley assortment of kitchen vessels hanging from it (cf. Zec 14:21). The temptations of high office are many, and those who occupy them need the prayers of God’s people.

M. Prophecy Against Tyre (23:1–18)

Phoenicia, with its two important ports of Tyre and Sidon, was the maritime commercial state contemporary with much of OT history. Until the time of the Assyrians, who had designs on the whole Mediterranean seaboard and its hinterland, this small state and its important commercial cities had been left relatively undisturbed by conflict. It certainly merited judgment, however, and would experience this at the hands of the Asyrians, just as other states in the area were to face. During the period 705–701 B.C., Sennacherib turned his attention to Phoenicia, which had been a nominal part of the Assyrian Empire for some time. The country was devastated, and Tyre itself was subjected to a long and bitter siege. It was later also besieged by the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who virtually destroyed it in 333 B.C. after one of the greatest sieges in history. It may be that the prophecy, in terms of its fulfillment, incorporates elements from some of these later times as well as the time of the Assyrian onslaught.

1–5 The Phoenicians had a number of colonies and dependent trading-stations in the Mediterranean. Tarshish, probably in Spain, and some of the cities of Cyprus were among these. Ships making their way back eastward from Tarshish would call at Cyprus before completing their journey to Tyre. At Cyprus they would hear that their harbor had been destroyed; so they could not complete their journey. Sidon (v.2) was the other port that alternated with Tyre as the chief port of the land. The Phoenicians had special commercial links with Egypt, and no doubt many a Tyrian or Sidonian vessel would carry large quantities of grain from the fields of Shihor, in the Nile Valley. These commercial ties would be viewed with considerable suspicion by the Assyrians and other rulers of various world-empires, for Egypt was usually the final major enemy to be overcome before complete mastery of the Fertile Crescent and the eastern Mediterranean could be achieved.

The sea is personified as the mother of the Phoenicians, and nothing could be more appropriate. With so many Sidonians slaughtered by Assyria, Sidon was bereft of her children and left as if she had never had them. The sadness of the sea is matched by that of Egypt, whose trading links with Tyre and Sidon gave her sympathy.

6–9 The prophet next turns to the people of the nearest Phoenician colony, Cyprus. They would take the news farther west to Tarshish or even, perhaps, flee there. The prophet points to the contrast between Tyre’s past gaiety and wide-flung colonization and commercialism and its current humbling under the mighty hand of God. No doubt all the rulers of world empires from Assyria onward would plan to deal with Tyre on their way to other victories; but her downfall was really the work of the Lord, whose counsels ultimately prevail in the affairs of humankind. Isaiah never tires of saying that God is absolutely opposed to human pride in its every form.

10–12a Isaiah warns the Phoenicians that their trading links with Tarshish and Egypt should not induce complacency in them in the face of the threat of divine judgment (cf. Jnh 1:3–4). The hand that had been stretched out over the Red Sea in judgment on the Egyptians in the time of Moses was stretched out now even over the Mediterranean. No kingdom on its coasts could reckon itself immune from God’s righteous wrath.

12b–14 If this prophecy comes from the year 703 or a little after, then it refers to the ferocious attack of Sennacherib, who had an almost pathological loathing of the Babylonians. If it is be dated a few years earlier, it could refer to the campaign of Sargon II against the Chaldeans in 710. Both events predate Sennacherib’s attack on Tyre in 701. Neither Tyre nor even Cyprus, across the sea, could be regarded as a haven of safety when Assyria, the instrument of God’s wrath (cf. 10:5–11), was on the rampage.

15–18 Many of Isaiah’s oracles contain a note of surprise at their end, and so often it is a word of grace (cf. 8:16–9:7; 19:1–25; 42:18–43:13). Here, however, there is to be a partial reprieve, with a new period of commercial success for Tyre, but with a view not so much to the blessing of her people as to supply the needs of the house of God in Jerusalem.

The period of seventy years is familiar to readers of Jeremiah (cf. Jer 25:11–12; 29:10), where it refers to the captivity of the Jews in Babylon; here, however, it applies to Tyre.

A careful study of the symbolic picture of Babylon in the book of Revelation reveals that not only did “Babylon” prophecies in the OT go into the construction of this picture but other oracles as well, and especially those against Tyre. The description of the great city as a harlot (Rev 17) probably owes something to this present passage. The comparison is appropriate, for the harlot bedecks herself in gaudy finery and enters into a commercial transaction with her clients. Seaports have always been particularly notorious in connection with prostitution. Tyre was an old, old city and so would need to attract her clients now by singing some song associated with her trade.

There is an important link here between the oracles against the nations (which come to their conclusion with this prophecy against Phoenicia) and the range of prophecies that occur later in the book. All three major parts of the book contain the notion that people from the Gentile nations will come up to Jerusalem, not only to worship (cf. 2:1–5; 49:6–7; 60:1), but also to make their treasures available for the use of the chosen people and in the temple of God (cf. 18:7; 45:14; 49:22–23; 60:9–14). This motif, therefore, gives a further change of tone to the final verse of the oracle. God’s ultimate plan for Tyre—as for Ethiopia, Egypt, and Assyria (cf. 18:7; 19:18–25)—was to bring her into line with his central purpose for Israel. As in the days of Solomon, material from Israel’s northern neighbor would again be used in the service of the temple (cf. 1Ki 5:1–12).

III. God and the Whole World (24:1–27:13)

A. The Judgment of the World (24:1–23)

This chapter is fundamental to the three that follow it. It speaks of a universal judgment. Not only does it make no reference to particular nations or specific historical events, it does not even restrict the judgment to the earth. This means that it sums up all the judgments on particular nations, as predicted in chs. 13–23, and goes beyond them.

1–3 These verses are a fitting introduction to the chapter. They call for inner vision in the opening word “see” (GK 2180), so that the prophet is eager for his hearers to share what he has been given. A universal judgment on the earth is proclaimed, affecting all its inhabitants. What kind of disaster does the prophet have in mind here? “Lay waste” (GK 1327) signifies emptying. This emptying is amplified when the prophet says, “He will ruin its face.” Perhaps the prophet is thinking of an earthquake, so that the inhabitants are scattered by the violence of the tremor. Or perhaps he is contemplating an extreme drought (cf. v.7), so that the earth’s surface is dried up and cracked (cf. Mk 13:8).

Isaiah seems to have had the early chapters of Genesis in mind as he uttered the prophecies of this chapter. At the Tower of Babel judgment, the people were scattered (cf. Ge 11:9); and this was to happen again. God’s judgment would be completely indiscriminate, for it would affect all strata of society. The religious, social, and economic relationships of human life would not restrain it. The affirmation that God has spoken underlines the certainty of the judgments predicted. They are so terrifying and so universal that some such assurance is needed.

4–6 These verses are characterized by a strong moral tone. The true and living God carries out his judgments on moral principles, not as the expression of an arbitrary will. If human kings experience his righteous wrath, it is because their actions and their way of life are contrary to his will.

Modern society is concerned about the physical pollution of our environment. Isaiah deals with the even more tragic and urgent matter of moral pollution, which is as widespread and serious today as it was in the eighth century B.C. While v.5 might seem especially appropriate to Israel, because of her possession of the Mosaic Law, the context makes it plain that the whole world is in view. The world did not possess the moral commandments of God in written form as in the Mosaic Law; but those laws nevertheless represent the will of God for humankind, and the human race is under judgment for their violation. The word “disobeyed” (GK 6296) implies at least some awareness of these moral requirements in the human conscience (cf. Ro 1:18–32; 2:11–16), thus an element of deliberateness in sin.

The judgment on original sin has already been passed, of course, and what is before us here is an eschatological judgment executed on the whole human race after centuries of disobedience to God. The earth—at the beginning placed under the dominion of the human race—has already been cursed and bears the scars of human folly. Bearing guilt means suffering its consequences and so experiencing punishment at the hand of God.

7–9 Although this judgment is universal, it appears to be carried out on earth, like many of the judgments in the book of Revelation; and there will be a remnant of humankind surviving it. The Genesis curse had affected the plant world, and thus the man whose daily work took him into the fields (Ge 3:17–19). Here the further curse of judgment affects the vines and those who use them to make drink. The prophet seems to be presenting a scene in which the vineyards are under judgment, so that little wine is available and that which is produced is bitter to the taste. The instrumental music and singing that often accompany bouts of drinking are heard no more. All the joy seems to have gone out of life, for the God of judgment is abroad.

10–13 Much has been written about the various references to “the city” in chs. 24–27. There have been many attempts to identify it with some particular city, especially Jerusalem or Babylon or an unnamed Moabite city. These attempts are probably all on the wrong track. As Clement has noted, it can best be understood as a pictorial description of organized human society, a type of “Vanity Fair.” “When God asserts his will in judgment, he will bring to an end the existing human order, so that in a sense every city will be brought to chaos.” These passages, therefore, help to prepare the way for the symbolic use of Babylon in the book of Revelation.

The city is in ruins; the entrances to all its standing houses are blocked, perhaps because of much rubble in the streets or because of a spirit of fear that has gripped the hearts of its remaining inhabitants. They lock themselves within their houses, hoping they will be safe from judgment (cf. 2:19, 21). Those still out in the streets are overtaken by a spirit of gloom, symbolized by the lack of wine (cf. vv.7–9). Earlier Isaiah had spoken about the judgment of Ephraim, in league with Damascus, and likened the tiny remnant left after judgment to a few olive berries left on the remotest branches of a tree that had been beaten during harvest, to secure the maximum yield (cf. 17:6). Isaiah uses the same image here, but now in relation to the whole world.

14–16a Like Revelation, chs. 24–27 have the declarations of coming judgment interspersed with songs of thanksgiving. There has been a great judgment, but God has not made a full end to the earth’s population. Those who remain lift up their voices in grateful praise to him. But who are they? Jews? Gentiles? or both? The book of Isaiah provides examples both of Jews (12:3–6) and of Gentiles (42:10–13) giving praise to God from the ends of the earth. What favors Gentiles is the reference to “the islands of the sea,” for these are not normally associated with Jews. In fact, later in the book the phrase often refers to Gentiles considered collectively (cf. 41:5; 42:4, 10; et al.). That the Lord is described as “the God of Israel” must be regarded as neutral or perhaps even as slightly in favor of a reference to the Gentiles.

What begins as a purely factual statement becomes an exhortation before emerging again as an affirmation, implying that the exhortation has been heeded. The prophet heard the song first of all in the west. He called on those in the east to blend their voices also in harmony of praise to the Lord. As a result, the praises of the God of Israel ascend on all sides.

16b–20 The welcome interlude of praise is over. A balanced picture of the future in the Bible contains notes of judgment and salvation. The solemn fact, however, is that more space is given in Scripture to future judgment than to future salvation.

In face of the threats in v.17, the prophet lifts his voice in great sadness. Perhaps he saw his present attitude of sorrow as continuous with the future song of praise to be sung at the ends of the earth, because both were motivated by a desire for the glory of the Lord. To express one’s gratitude to God for his grace and to reveal a sorrowful concern about the treacherous acts of humankind is to manifest the character of a godly person.

In Isaiah’s day the international scene was dominated by the Assyrians. We think of international law as a comparatively modern phenomenon, but there were conventions and treaties in the ancient Near East. Aggression was never welcome; but when it was married to treachery, it was to be doubly feared. The prophet felt a deep horror as he thought about this, and he identified with his people’s fear.

If vv.17–18 describe the effects of Assyrian aggression on the nations, there is a thematic unity to the present and the future, for the prophet may well be saying that the present Assyrian scourge is to be replaced ultimately by an even greater and more widespread judgment from God. God is the divine Hunter who pursues his guilty prey inexorably to a kill. There is no escape from the judgment of God (cf. Heb 2:1–3).

The language of the hunt is replaced by that of a flood, with allusion to the judgment of the Flood (cf. Ge 7:11). Isaiah does not seem to be thinking of an actual worldwide flood here, for God had promised that such a flood would never happen again (Ge 9:11–17). But the language of the Flood was appropriate to represent pictorially other great acts of judgment.

The whole earthly order is proved to be unstable (v.19), just as if some colossal earthquake had taken hold of it. Evidently all that can be shaken is being shaken. The drunken man and the swaying hut (v.20) convey an impression of total instability. Earlier the prophet had used the image of a hut (1:2, 8) to describe the divinely ordained effects of rebellion against God.

21–23 The vision of judgment that has already included the whole earth becomes yet wider, for it is seen to encompass “the powers in the heavens” as well as “the kings on the earth.” The term “powers” (GK 7372) is sometimes used of the heavenly bodies (34:4; 40:26; 45:12) and sometimes of the angelic armies (1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 18:18). Since the prophet is speaking about punishment—despite the reference to other heavenly bodies in v.23—we take “powers” to apply to fallen angels (cf. Eph 6:12). The two sets of powers—in heaven and on earth—are at one in the fact of their rebellion but also in the possession of authority. Rebellion by a subordinate authority is serious, for such a being may well drag others down with him. Isaiah 14 pictures the great king of Babylon descending to Sheol. Here it seems that both the heavenly and the earthly rebels are confined in some kind of prison (cf. 2Pe 2:4; Jude 6; Rev 20:1–3).

Some suggest that “after many days” (v.22) refers to the Millennium, which harmonizes with a premillennial interpretation of Revelation, in which the spiritual powers of evil are bound in prison during the reign of Christ on earth, after which they—along with the unsaved dead—suffer eternal punishment in the lake of fire. “After many days” suggests that the imprisonment referred to in v.22 is an anticipation of God’s final punishment.

The sun and the moon were created by God “to govern” (GK 4939) the day and the night (Ge 1:16–17). This expression, with its implication of authority, suggests that the term “host” can apply to both heavenly bodies and angelic beings (see comment on v.21) because there is in fact a relationship between them, with parts of the visible universe representing the spheres of authority of unseen heavenly beings. Whether or not this is true, the prophet pictures the two great heavenly bodies hiding their lights in shame when the Lord exercises direct rule in Jerusalem. All other glory is simply a reflection of his glory, and one day it will be seen that it can be no rival to him (cf. Rev 21:23).

The language of locality in v.23 may be literal or symbolic, in the latter case forming a link with the New Jerusalem of Revelation. The vision of Revelation also shows twenty-four elders, probably representing the redeemed under the old and new covenants, before the throne of God (Rev 4:4).

B. Psalms and Predictions of Judgment and Salvation (25:1–12)

The typical OT prophet is characteristically thought of as being a descending rather than an ascending mediator; that is, he functions for God toward humanity rather than for the human race toward God. This is, of course, only broadly true, for the prophet Amos prayed for the people to whom his stern messages of judgment were addressed (Am 7:2, 5), and Micah was virtually uttering the praises of the God of mercy in the last three verses of his book. Yet none of the prophets includes so much praise among their oracles as did Isaiah. He was a psalmist as well as a prophet.

1–5 Isaiah’s call came to him in the temple (ch. 6), and he must often have joined the worshipers in songs of praise. The language of Psalms was in his heart. The prophet’s song of praise is so worded that it may apply almost equally well to his own day or to the eschatological future he has portrayed so vividly in the previous chapter. There is a fitness about this, for God’s activities at the End are all of a piece with what he does throughout history; and they provide a climax to the story of his dealings with humankind. What had been done was yet to be done.

The prophet displays a sense of personal relationship with God that is reminiscent of the psalmists of Israel. The focus of his praise is not simply the acts of God but his faithfulness. Each act of God reveals his attributes and makes us aware of what he is in his perfect character. The word translated “marvelous” occurs in one of the names of the messianic Child in 9:6. In the present context Isaiah is giving praise to God after describing his coming judgment on all the earth. The maleficent schemes and actions of people can never overturn God’s own sovereign purpose, eternal in conception, declared in his Word, and executed in due time.

In our comment at 24:10–13, we accepted the view that references to a city of destruction in chs. 24–27 do not have any particular city in view but are general designations of society organized apart from any reference to God. Each specific city is a manifestation in a particular place and time of the general city-spirit, the determination that life is organized for human ends and not for the purposes of God. Such cities have often been brought down, and many will suffer such an overthrow in the future (cf. 40:23–24). The logical word “therefore” in v.3 should be especially noted. God’s judgment of these cities leads the strong and ruthless nations to honor and revere the Lord.

The Psalms often extol the God of Israel as the Refuge and Shelter of his people. Verse 4 uses three different words, the first of them—“refuge”—repeated, to stress the same thought. The “poor” and “needy” stand in strong contrast to the “strong” and “ruthless nations” of v.3. Judah had faced the current representative of the spirit of ruthless militarism and imperial aggrandizement. She was, of course, utterly powerless, but she had found that her God had placed his wall of protection around her (see esp. chs. 36–37). He had been her refuge ever since the Exodus from Egypt (Dt 33:27). Contrasting weather conditions provide further illustrations of God’s protecting care.

Isaiah has a most sensitive awareness of the power of words and the various ways one word may be used to convey somewhat different ideas. He moves easily here from the figure of the shady place to that of the shadow cast by a cloud, both giving protection from the fierce summer heat, yet in different ways. The raucous battle cries of the foreign armies become a triumph song when God intervenes on behalf of his people, and all is changed.

6–8 There is a close connection between v.6 and 24:23. We must not forget that chs. 24–27 constitute a special section within the book and that all the diverse parts of it are bound together into one. As the Lord’s eschatological purposes unfold, he will reign in glory on Mount Zion. The prophet has already pictured the Gentile nations coming up to that mountain for worship (2:1–4); v.6 gives us a view of the great feast God will prepare for them.

Verse 7 may refer to the blindness of the nations, which in the past caused them to worship false gods. The theme of light from God is important in Isaiah, and in ch. 60 the prophet pictures the shining of a great light over God’s people and all the nations moving out of the darkness that covers them and into that light. On the other hand, the prophet may have mourning veils or even a shroud of death in his mind. If this is so, then vv.7–8 are concerned with God’s victory over death.

Paul quotes v.8a at 1Co 15:54 in application to the doctrine of resurrection. If God is going to deal finally with death and so with the tears occasioned by it, and if vv.6–8 are intended to continue and develop the thought that ch. 24 closes with, this raises an important issue of prophetic interpretation. The banishment of death belongs to the final stage of God’s great plan and is associated with the descent from heaven of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:1–4). This suggests that Mount Zion and Jerusalem in 24:23 are not geographical terms but symbols for the ultimate society. This raises, therefore, the question of the relationship between the Millennium and the final state. It is most unlikely, of course—especially if v.7 is understood as a reference to the removal of spiritual blindness—that vv.6–7 (as well as 24:23) refer to the Millennium but that the prophecy moves on to the final state in v.8.

The disgrace of God’s people can be best understood in the light of the later prophecy given in Eze 5:13–17. It lies in the fact that those who are destined by him for salvation must suffer judgment at his hands because of their sins. This too will pass away when that Day comes. God now stresses that these are his own promises, and so they cannot fail.

9 Once more we hear a song of praise to the Lord (cf. 24:14–16; 25:1–5). It wonderfully expresses the joy in God that comes when patient trust finds its reward in a consummated salvation. Its ideas and language are thoroughly characteristic of this prophet.

10–12 The destinies of Jerusalem and of Moab are here contrasted. The physical proximity of Mount Zion and the mountains of Moab should not be forgotten. The Moabite plateau can be clearly seen from Jerusalem, and this might even be included in the prophet’s vision of this mountain exalted above all the surrounding hills (2:1–4). Moab, so easily visible, may therefore represent the surrounding pagan nations. If the purposes of the Lord are to triumph, so that all the nations will find their reconciliation with him and with one another at Mount Zion, it follows that their own pagan and aggressive purposes must be thwarted.

In a powerful anthropomorphic figure, the prophet pictures the Lord’s hand resting in blessing on Mount Zion and his feet trampling on Moab in judgment (cf. 40:11; 63:3). The following similes are intentionally unpleasant and probably suggest that sin in its vileness reaps a harvest of judgment that is appropriate to it.

The pride of Moab is symbolized by the high fortified walls that surrounded its cities, making the people think them impregnable. The fall of the cities despite their protective battlement is just another reminder of the physical symbols of pride that are crowded together in 2:1–18. It is also an example of the general judgment threatened in v.2 on strong fortified towns.

C. Praise, Prayer, and Prophecy (26:1–21)

The movement of thought is beautiful. The prophet begins by uttering a song of praise, sung by Judah of the future. Its theme is the trustworthiness of God who protects the city of his oppressed people and destroys that of their oppressors (vv.1–6). Next Isaiah meditates on the ways of the righteous and of the wicked (vv.7–11). The Lord has blessed his people, despite their former acknowledgment of the lordship of other deities (vv.12–15). The people had been through a lot but accomplished little blessing for the world, and they confess this (vv.16–18). The God of grace then promises them a joyful resurrection to new life (v.19) after the revelation of his wrath against sin (vv.20–21).

1–6 The way chs. 24–27 are punctuated with songs of praise affects this whole section of the prophecy, for even the threats of judgment are seen in the perspective of thanksgiving that God is bringing his own purposes to fruition and that human arrogance and tyranny will not prevail in the end. The theme of the two cities links this passage with chs. 24 and 25. God here gives strength to the city by making salvation its walls and ramparts.

Every year large numbers of people from all parts of the land made pilgrimages to Jerusalem (cf. Dt 16) to take part in the great feasts. Many of the Psalms (e.g., Pss 120–34) were connected with these pilgrimages (cf. Ac 2:5–11). Isaiah may have had some such pilgrimage in mind here, or he may have had permanent settlement in view, the city being part physical expression and part symbol for the whole people of God, “the nation that keeps faith” (v.2). The latter seems more likely.

This righteous nation is made up of individuals who trust in the Lord, for the new covenant purpose of God provides for a gracious personal knowledge of him for every person included within that covenant (Jer 31:31–34). The gates of the city admit the returning members of the dispersed nation, and its walls symbolize divine protection; the Lord is himself the protecting Rock in whom believers trust. Just as there is a place of peace within the city for those who dwell in it with God (cf. Ps 46), so the Lord gives “peace” to those who repose confidence in him.

Verses 5–6 take up again the theme of God’s judgment on the worldly city. Once again the language of physical elevation is used to suggest pride (cf. 2:12–18). So often an ancient city was built on raised ground so as to gain the maximum military advantage from its physical elevation, which then became the basis for walls, battlements, and other means of defense. This stress on the vertical dimension became part of the typical image of the city for most people. When God judges the pride of the city, he lays it low. Here presumably the people of God who have suffered oppression from it tread it under foot. This suggests that they share in his victory (cf. Ps 110:2–3; 2Co 2:14).

7–11 The prophet describes the way of the righteous and contrasts this with the outlook of the wicked in a fashion reminiscent of Ps 1. The God of the righteous is himself righteous, and he is described here as “upright” (GK 3838)—a term used of God’s word (Ps 33:4), his judgments (Ps 119:137), and his ways (Dt 32:4). Physical uprightness is often the linguistic basis for the moral concept of righteousness. The words also suggest appropriateness of destiny. Those who are straight or “on the level” have their path smoothed by the God who is upright.

“Laws” (GK 5477) is a better translation than “judgments” in v.8 (see NIV note), as this fits the context much better. Just as the NT believer looks forward “to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2Pe 3:13), so the OT saint, represented here by Isaiah, longed for the coming of a day when God’s name would be honored fittingly. The words “we wait for you” show Isaiah’s conviction that such a day would come—and come by the activity of God himself. This passionate longing is not just a deep desire for a better order, a kind of moral Utopia. The whole expectation is personal; the prophet longs for God, day and night.

Sin blinds the mind of sinners so that they see nothing from a divine perspective, least of all their own sin. It is a function of judgment to teach humans the seriousness of sin and to show them that God cares deeply about righteousness (cf. Ac 5:1–14). In this respect, the prophet assures us, judgment is more effective than grace. Isaiah stresses that the wicked may receive undeservedly many blessings from the hand of God and yet show no regard for the righteousness that so greatly concerns him. Not only so, but even where general moral conditions are favorable to righteousness (i.e., in a time of spiritual revival), the wicked are determined to go their own way. Even now, God’s hand is uplifted, ready to strike them in judgment; but they are totally unaware of it. The prophet identifies himself completely with the judgment of God on the wicked (cf. Rev 19:1–5). We must compassionately seek to bring the gospel to others, but on the day of judgment we must accept his every verdict; for as the Judge of all the earth, he does only what is right.

12–15 In v.11 Isaiah spoke about God’s zeal for his people. It is as if Isaiah became suddenly aware of the contrast between God’s dealing with Israel and with the nations and is moved to make this confession of the great unworthiness of those who have received such rich blessings from God. Verse 12 was probably written after the divine protection of Jerusalem in 701 B.C., expressing a profound truth that is destructive of spiritual pride.

The name “LORD” (GK 3378) is the distinctive name of the God of Israel by which he is set apart from every false god. Obviously this does not suggest that the “other lords [GK 123]” had real existence as deities but simply that they were believed to have and that their rule was sinfully acknowledged by the people in past times. It is possible to regard these “other lords” as the various nations that had exercised sovereignty over God’s people, and certainly v.14 must refer to human beings. Perhaps it is best to think in terms of both false deities and the foreign rulers who regarded themselves as their representatives, the first being emphasized in v.13 and the second in v.14.

The rise and fall of nations and of great empires is a fact of history, and Isaiah sees it to be due to the activity of God in the story of humankind (cf. 40:23–24). Isaiah has already vividly pictured the descent of the king of Babylon into the world of departed spirits in 14:12–21, and now he makes it clear that this is the way all Israel’s past oppressors have gone.

In 54:1–3 Isaiah foretells the expansion of the nation (cf. 9:3). We should, therefore, treat v.15 as predictive, expressing the prophet’s certainty that what God has promised is as sure as if it has taken place already. Isaiah 9:7 contains the intriguing promise “of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (emphasis mine). All this will bring glory to God because it is his act, not theirs (cf. v.12), and because it will result in the showing forth of his glory in areas where paganism formerly held sway.

16–18 The prophet looks into the future as if it has all ready occurred. The people would come to the Lord in distress but with great earnestness. That “they could barely whisper a prayer” reminds us that fervor and noise are not necessarily spiritual companions. The phrase “when you discipline them” suggests that the prayer was motivated not only by distress because of foreign oppression but also by sorrow for sin.

The experience of childbirth forms the basis for a forceful analogy. The nation tried to achieve her own salvation, when, in fact, God alone could bring his own purposes for her to birth. Israel was like a woman in labor because of the pains she had suffered, yet unlike her in not giving birth to a child. All the suffering had been in vain. It was, in fact, to be only through the Servant of the Lord (52:13–53:12), not through Israel’s suffering without him, that salvation would be brought to the earth. Birth into God’s kingdom for the nations (Ps 87:4–7) is God’s work alone—through his Messiah-Servant—and beyond the capacity of Israel herself. Only through him who is the true seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16, 28–29) can the nations become his children and so inherit the promise made to him (Ge 12:1–3; et al.).

19 This verse presents a glorious contrast for Israel not only with the dead and impotent tyrants who have lorded over her in the past (v.14) but with the strenuous and yet ineffective endeavors of Israel herself to bring forth spiritual fruit (vv.17–18). Certainly there are metaphors here, for the prophet calls the dead to awake and asserts that the earth will give birth to her dead. The metaphorical, however, must always rest on the literal; and it is with the literal that this verse commences: “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.” This verse itself prepares the way for Da 12:2, which fills out more fully the destinies of the righteous and the wicked beyond death and subsequent resurrection.

20–21 A time will come when God’s wrath will have passed by. This “wrath” may be his wrath with Israel herself, and during the Exile the people are to encourage themselves with the assurance that this judgment on them will come to an end in God’s good time. On the other hand, the wrath may be that expressed in God’s punishment of the nations, which v.21 relates to. The latter is more likely because there is an allusion to the Passover in v.20. Just as the people of Israel found refuge within the blood-sprinkled doors of their homes (Ex 12), until the wrath of God against Egypt spent itself, so Israel is told to hide for a while, perhaps in Babylonian exile. Shutting the doors suggests safety and separation from the surrounding pagans, who were under judgment. Israel in exile was called to be a holy people.

While the people are hidden away in their places, God comes forth from his place for a punitive purpose. Verse 21 is a reminder of the general context and of the disclosure of the cosmic judgment given in ch. 24. The earth is not only the burial place of many who will desert her at the Resurrection; she has also admitted the blood and bodies of many whose deaths have been due to the sins of others, the terrible consequences of the acts of violent people. Places where great human tragedies and horrifying sins have taken place may disclose no evidence of their history to the casual passer-by, but on the day of the Lord’s judgment on sin that evidence will appear to the terrified eyes of the perpetrators. Such secrets belong to time, not to eternity.

D. The Restoration of Israel (27:1–13)

The eschatological-apocalyptic section of Isa 24–27 is concerned with God’s final purposes in the world. The prophecies recorded here concern the whole world, but they also relate to Israel and her place in the universal purposes of God.

1 This fascinating verse presents a graphic picture of God the great Warrior, going into battle against fearsome and monstrous enemies and utterly defeating them. The language draws on mythology; but this need cause us no serious problems. Writers frequently use illustrative material from a wide variety of sources. The use of mythology here simply shows that Isaiah and his readers knew these stories, not that they believed them.

The succession of adjectives describing the sword of the Lord stresses the fearsomeness of this weapon and so emphasizes that judgment will be completely effective. Some commentators suggest that if “his fierce, great and powerful sword” is in apposition to “his sword,” then “Leviathan the coiling serpent” is in apposition to “Leviathan the gliding serpent.” This would mean that the prophet had only two enemies in mind, not three. But if there are two Leviathans here, the first being perhaps a reference to the fast-flowing Tigris where the Assyrian heartland was and the second to the more sluggish and therefore more twisting Euphrates, the great river of the Babylonians, then the monster of the sea becomes Egypt, to complete the trio of Israel’s great oppressors. But we can hold the latter interpretation and still think of the two phrases as being in apposition, so that the two Mesopotamian enemies are thought of as different manifestations of the same evil power centered in the Tigris-Euphrates basin.

2–6 One of the most memorable passages in Isaiah occurs in 5:1–7. Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard there demonstrates that beauty of language and solemnity of theme are not inconsistent with each other. Moreover, his use there of the vineyard for Israel established this word as a symbol, used also here.

The phrase “in that day” (repeated from v.1) suggests that both the judgment on the enemies of God’s people and Israel’s own blessing belong to the same general eschatological era. In ch. 5, the vineyard is barren, unproductive, and threatened with judgment. Here, however, it is fruitful. There the parable began as a happy song to lull the hearers into a complacent mood and so take them unawares with the message of judgment. Here the opening mood is similar, but this time the atmosphere is sustained throughout.

“A fruitful vineyard” is literally “a vineyard of wine.” This suggests both comparison and contrast with ch. 5. In v.3 the thought of 5:2 is carried through but expressed quite differently. There is even more emphasis on the loving concern of the Lord for this vineyard, and it is made clear that never for one moment does he forget its needs or relax his vigilance, lest it should become a prey to its enemies. The constant watering reminds us of Jeremiah’s repeated assertion (Jer 7:25; et al.) that the Lord repeatedly sent his servants the prophets to speak to his people.

The wonderful statement that opens v.4 can be understood only in the light of the expression “in that day.” The prophet is not describing Israel that then was but the Israel that was to be, when the wrath of God was past (cf. 40:2). “Briers and thorns” (likely meant to represent internal rather than external enemies, i.e., paganizers, not pagans) appear in ch. 5 both as part of the judgment of God on the vineyard and as the final evidence of its lack of real fruit. Here God pledges himself to destroy them should any such appear again to threaten his vineyard. Indeed, he appears eager to do this, perhaps as evidence of his covenant faithfulness to his people and his determination to do them good in every possible way.

Verse 5 is a neglected OT promise of forgiveness to the penitent. In v.4 the God of battles is marching against the briers and thorns with a flaming torch in his hand, about to set fire to this rank undergrowth. But before doing so, he proclaims the alternative of peace. His action against the briers and thorns is for the protection of his people, but in v.5 the enemies themselves are offered refuge (cf. 25:4), if they will accept his terms of peace.

Verse 6 brings the parable to a beautiful climax. The prophet does not speak of Judah but of Israel, for he has the whole people in view, represented now by a plant rather than a vineyard. The picture is at first perfectly normal. The root, the bud, and the blossom depict strong and healthy growth, everything happening in its season. The unexpected comes at the end. This plant will become extraordinarily extensive (cf. 16:8), filling the whole world with its fruit. Perhaps this is an allusion to the fruitfulness and extensive influence of Joseph promised in Ge 49:22. We can certainly see a spiritual fulfillment of this in the progress of the gospel throughout the world, for the Messiah is himself the true Vine (Jn 15:1–8) and his disciples the fruit-bearing branches. In this way God’s purpose for Israel finds its expression in those who are joined by faith to him.

7–11 The word “Jacob” is used both within this immediate passage (v.9) and in its context (v.6), which suggests that Israel (the northern kingdom) rather than Judah is in mind. The fortified city could be Samaria, and the exile of v.8 would then follow its fall. A reference to Judah is not, of course, impossible. In this case the city would be Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon.

A third possibility takes into account that many of the references to cities in chs. 24–27 are general. The reference to Israel (i.e., Jacob) may be taken as the designation, not of Israel apart from Judah (the northern kingdom), but of Israel including Judah. The whole people and their judgment are in view. The fortified city stands for each stronghold overcome by the Mesopotamian enemies, and the Exile is the common experience of the whole people. A section of the book whose general subject is so comprehensive might be expected to treat the chosen nation as a whole in its concluding chapter. This is the standpoint from which we will view these verses.

The subject of v.7 is clearly the Lord. The questions are like those of the imaginary Jewish objector in Ro 3:1–8. There is no doubt that the new parable of the vineyard in vv.2–6 does not tell the whole story of Israel’s relationship with God; for he has taken punitive action against his own people, not only against their adversaries. Despite the undoubted fact that God had often to beat his people very severely (e.g., 1:4–9), the implied answer to the question is no. God does make a distinction between his own people and their oppressors. All the chastisement is for a good end, to bring them to repentance.

Characteristically, Isaiah refers to judgment as a fierce wind (cf. 4:4; 41:16). The scorching east wind, driving the hot desert sand before it, was much dreaded (Ge 41:6; Job 27:21–22; Jer 18:17; et al.). Both the Assyrian and the Babylonian enemies came from the east and moved captives from Israel and Judah into exile. But exile, unlike destruction, is punishment tempered by mercy; for there is still life and therefore still hope.

It may seem strange that the language of atonement is used in v.9 in application to the penitence induced by exile rather than in reference to sacrifice. Through exile the nation would come to a penitent awareness of its guilt. The actual objective basis of its reconciliation with God is not so much in view as the practical cause of that reconciliation. The people were removed so that their sins might be removed. This becomes clear when we read the whole of v.9, for it is about a new attitude to the will of God, the product of a penitent heart. Isaiah is in line here with Jer 31:31–34 and Eze 36:24–31.

Israel’s penitence would show itself especially in the destruction of pagan altars and symbols (cf. Ex 34:13; Dt 12:2–3). After God had purified Israel through banishment from the land and the experience of exile, she would return much chastened to carry out this commandment that she failed to do thoroughly enough at the beginning of her sojourn in the land.

In northern Israel, Samaria and other cities had been devastated by the Assyrians, who had also desolated many cities of Judah (1:7). Jerusalem too would eventually go the same way, through the Babylonians. Isaiah often represents the effects of judgment through war as the virtual reversal of civilization (e.g., 3:4–6; 5:17; 7:23–25). This language is quite literal. When a city is reduced to rubble, the domestic animals normally pastured outside the city are free to cross the broken walls and roam in the city. Soon vegetation emerges through cracks in the streets and between the fallen stones. The ghost town eventually has trees growing in it, and these will feed animals with their bark and supply firewood for the women of the surrounding villages.

In some respects Isaiah stood in the wisdom as well as in the prophetic tradition. His prophecies place emphasis from time to time on the importance of wisdom and discernment and the seriousness of inner blindness. This note is struck at the very beginning of the book (cf. 1:2). It was this culpable blindness that caused Israel’s exile. The statement that God does not show “compassion” or “favor” to them is not, of course, absolute. It is perhaps a partial yes answer to the questions of v.7, the main answer to which is no. When the appointed time of their judgment came, God did not show compassion; but later, of course, he would and did.

12–13 These two verses conclude the great eschatological-apocalyptic section of Isaiah, but they do not teach the same truth; they are complementary rather than repetitive. In v.12 the prophet refers to the traditional boundaries of the Promised Land. God will treat this whole large area as one huge grain field. Never throughout its history did a pure Israel exist. There were always foreign and unbelieving elements in it. God’s judgment would therefore begin at the land of his own people. If his threshing-floor yields much grain, there will be chaff, too. The nation is to be purified (cf. Eze 36:24–32).

The figure of the threshing floor is replaced by that of a trumpet. Beyond the Euphrates is the land of the Assyrians, and beyond the Wadi of Egypt is Egypt itself. In 2:1–4 and in 60:1–14, Isaiah describes Jerusalem as the focal point to which penitent Gentiles would come, both to hear God’s word and to worship him. But not even Israel is there yet, and the prophet declares that the traditional lands of her captivity must yield up her lost and scattered ones so that they may join the worshiping throng at Zion’s temple. Like v.6, this is capable of being interpreted at different levels.

IV. God and His People (28:1–33:24)

When the book of Isaiah was divided into chapters, clearly it was noted that at several significant points in this part the Hebrew word for “woe” (GK 2098) occurred; this was adopted as the clue to the appropriate division of chs. 28–33, except for the division between chs. 31 and 32. The material in those chapters seems to belong to the period of Hezekiah’s reign.

A. Woe to Samaria (28:1–29)

1–4 Isaiah here seems to have had a vision of the alleged spiritual leaders of Ephraim, the northern kingdom (cf. v.7), staggering in their inebriation and wearing some kind of floral wreath on their heads, probably tilted at a jaunty angle. This suggested to him another crowned head, that of the hill on which their capital city, Samaria, was situated. This hill stands in a commanding position at the head of a “fertile valley.” Amos also castigated Samaria for its drunken decadence (Am 4:1; 6:1, 6).

The Assyrian threat appeared on the eastern horizon at a time when the northern kingdom was relatively prosperous. It might seem to have been cut off in its prime; but, as this passage shows, the telltale signs of a descent into decay were already present. There may have been flowers, but they were fading.

A strategically situated city may also be exposed to the elements. A destructive wind from the east (cf. 27:8) was no stranger to Israel, though this time it was not the hot “sirocco” coming in from the desert but a strong hail and rain-bearing wind that normally came from another direction. The prophet piles up words and phrases to convey the ferocity of the storm.

The “powerful and strong” one is undefined, and the object of its attack is unexpressed; but they are obviously Assyria and Samaria respectively. The Assyrians will tramp through Samaria’s streets, and Samaria itself will be trampled on by the great foreign foe. Outside the city walls, figs would be growing. Sometimes a fig ripens before the normal season. Isaiah pictures a traveler—perhaps an Assyrian soldier on his way into the city—quickly picking and eating it. So sudden would Samaria’s destruction be (v.4).

5–8 The prophet, changing the word “pride” in v.1 to “glory” (in the phrase translated “glorious crown”) because of the possibly unfavorable connotation of the former, asserts that this is what the Lord will be to “the remnant of his people.” Their glorying had had a physical focus, but this would be replaced by a spiritual one. Perhaps he had in mind the southern kingdom—so small in comparison with the northern, but with God in her midst—or else the remnant left behind in Israel by the receding Assyrian conquerors, or perhaps both. “In that day” should perhaps be understood eschatologically, so that the prophet’s thought overleaped many intervening centuries to the last days.

The drunkards of v.1 are the leaders of the people, such as priests, prophets (cf. v.7), and probably also judges. The administration of justice requires great wisdom and clear-headedness. The prophet promises that God will himself be a spirit of justice giving wisdom to the judge, and that the people’s arms will have success against the foe (cf. 11:1–5). The remnant would have God as their crown when Samaria, the crown of Ephraim, had been taken by Assyria.

Isaiah then turns his attention to the leaders of Jerusalem (cf. v.14). The vivid picture of spiritual guides lacking not only supernatural insight but even common reason (“befuddled”) is horrifying. The realistic description of the environment bears all the marks of eyewitness reporting.

9–10 As the prophet declares the word of God in this drink-dominated setting, his hearers make their response. The drunkards feel insulted. Are they not themselves spiritual leaders, well able to teach others? What right has this man to teach them the spiritual “milk”? Isaiah’s words have hardly penetrated the alcohol-impregnated atmosphere that surrounds his hearers. What they have picked up are simply a few stray syllables, some of them repeated, like the baby-talk that delights the child but insults the adult. They mouth this gibberish back at the prophet. Their judgment lies in their failure to hear the word that could have led them back to God; but there is another judgment on its way, most appropriate in its form. Their sin has turned the word of God through Isaiah into a meaningless noise that may just as well have been a foreign language.

11–13 Very well, then, the next message will come through foreigners. The Assyrian devastation of Judah (cf. 1:5–9) is surely in view. Just as the drunkards picked up a few familiar sounds but no connected meaning, so the people of Judah would detect similarities between the Akkadian of the Assyrians and their own Hebrew (both Semitic tongues), without being able to understand what was being said. In reality it was through the Assyrians’ swords that God would speak his message to Israel.

More serious still was the people’s failure to hear God’s word offering rest to those who insisted on rejecting it. The prophet was clearly speaking of the call to faith. Their disobedient refusal of the way of faith in God was therefore a continuing condition preventing the word from getting through to them. The effects of drink may pass off, but unbelief can be a permanent barrier to God’s word.

On an earlier occasion, in the days of Ahaz, God had pointed out the way of faith and had warned the people against the consequences of rejecting this. Times may have changed, but not the principles of God’s dealings with his people. The call to faith then had been accompanied by a warning of the consequences of walking in another way, and those consequences were the same now. The drunkards’ fall is thought of first of all as a result of their drunken staggering, but the range of analogies is then extended to the picture of the hunter’s snare.

14–15 People may have lost their capacity to hear God’s word, but this does not modify its character. We are commanded to hear it simply because it is his, and we are culpable if we do not hear. Rejection of God’s word and confidence in our own selves often go hand in hand. Isaiah is not really quoting the “scoffers” in v.15 but ironically combining their words with his interpretation of their consequences. There can be little doubt that Isaiah has in mind the growing link between Judah and Egypt and the attempt in this way to warn off the Assyrians.

The “overwhelming scourge” contains a mixture of figures: for how can a scourge be said to overflow? The separate elements are from 10:26 and 10:22 respectively. Perhaps the leaders of Judah had the circumstances of the original Passover in mind. They thought themselves immune, like Israel sheltered beneath sacrificial blood in Egypt (cf. 1:10–17), but there could be no such refuge in that land for them now.

The reference to lies and falsehood may be an attack on that trust in expediency rather than in principle. It seems more likely, however, that the prophet was not charging them directly with a lack of integrity but rather that his words were still ironic. The assertion that Egypt would effectively come to their aid, which they believed to be sober truth, was in fact a lie.

16–19 In 8:14 the Lord had declared that he would be both a sanctuary—and Judah’s sanctuary at Jerusalem was made of stone—and a stumbling stone for the people of Israel. Faith would make the difference. Here the stone illustration is presented in an eminently positive fashion.

Without doubt this passage is of great importance in the messianic teaching of the prophecies of Isaiah (cf. Ro 9:33; 10:11; 1Pe 2:4–6). In 8:14 the prophet used the stone analogy in a significant way. The Lord himself was calling people to faith. If they responded, he would be a sanctuary, a holy place, to them. As the altar of God in the temple was treated as a place of refuge (Ex 21:14; 1Ki 1:50), so God himself would be a holy place of refuge for them (cf. Eze 11:16). If, however, they refused belief, he would be a stone of stumbling they would fall over. The altar of stone was, of course, set within a temple of stone, so that both the promise and the threat rest on the spiritualizing of the stone.

The stone-built temple is once again a picture of the God the people are to trust in. Instead of reapplying the stone illustration in a threat (but see v.13b), Isaiah declares God’s condemnation of the poor Egyptian makeshift that the unbelieving people had constructed as a substitute for faith in God. A comparison of the language of 8:14 and the present passage shows us that there the sanctuary and stone were God himself whereas here the stone is laid by God. If this passage is a development of the former, then who in Isaiah’s prophecies is both God and distinct from him? The clear answer is “the Messiah” (cf. 7:14; 9:6).

If then the stone is the Messiah, what messianic qualities or functions emerge from the prophet’s words? Zion was itself, of course, the place of the temple and also the place where the leaders of the people lived. The stone is first of all a “tested” (GK 1046) stone. As a foundation stone it has been tested for strength and shape. However, it may be taken as a “testing” or capstone, shaped by the master mason for placing at the end of the whole building process, so forming a test of trueness of line for the whole edifice (cf. Ps 118:22; Mk 12:10). The Messiah comes as the consummation of the divine building project (Mk 12:6); and, although rejected by the religious leaders of his day—the spiritual counterparts of the unbelieving leaders here—he was God’s proof of the soundness of the whole structure of messianic promise. If the prophecy is truly messianic, then it is eschatological; and if eschatological, then the idea of a capstone is most apt.

The testing stone is also “a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.” This clearly points to the stone that is placed on the living rock and that is of special importance also because it is at the junction of two walls. He is “precious” (GK 3701) because of his superlative value in the divine plan. The ultimate spiritual sanctuary will find its foundation in him. In the NT God’s great “building” is the church, built on Christ as confessed and proclaimed by his people (Mt 16:13–19). Here too there is a call for faith.

In architecture the same stone cannot fulfill both purposes, i.e., both capstone and foundation stone; but God gives one great answer to the totality of human need: Christ.

The architectural language continues into v.17. Divine justice and righteousness may govern the entire building operation, from foundation to capstone, so that the entire edifice of promise and fulfillment is just and true. On the other hand, it may show up as unrighteous and false the flimsy human structures represented by the refuge or hiding place that the storms of God’s judgment will demolish. A similar contrast between two buildings, where relationship to Christ and his teaching is the test of true construction, is found in Lk 6:46–49.

Verse 18 takes up language from earlier verses, chiefly from v.15, but also from v.2. Water will overflow the hiding place and carry the people away. The judgment will not pass quickly. Verse 19 clearly suggests that wave after wave of the enemy will come into Judah, so that the people’s hearts will be dominated by fear throughout the whole period. Through hordes of cruel Assyrian warriors, then, God would speak his message of judgment to his people, who would not hear the prophet’s message.

20–22 God’s people had made their bed; now they must lie on it, and they would discover its inadequacy to provide true rest. Earlier the prophet used historical allusion for the comfort of his hearers (cf. 9:6; 10:26). Now such allusions become the vehicle of threats rather than promises. Earlier, at Mount Perazim and in the Valley of Gibeon, God came to his people’s aid against their enemies (Jos 10:1–10; 2Sa 5;17–25). God’s anger against the Philistines, dammed up so long by his people’s sin, broke forth and overwhelmed them through David; now that anger, held back again through many a year of grace, would finally burst in a “strange work” of judgment against his own people.

Isaiah’s reference to mocking should be compared with v.14. Those destined for judgment are bound with chains, suggesting that there will be no escape from that destiny. Isaiah’s auditory experience of God makes him aware of a terrible judgment to come, in which the whole land will be involved. The devastating Assyrian invasions, culminating in the terrible siege and overthrow of Jerusalem by the Babylonians at a later period, progressively fulfilled this prophecy in line with the terms of v.19.

23–29 Isaiah knew how obtuse and spiritually hard of hearing his listeners were and so calls on them to pay close attention. Nature, as God has created it, contains so many illustrations of spiritual truth that the sensitive and godly observer is forced to conclude that there is divine design in this.

Agriculture requires the farmer to change his activity from time to time. Plowing is needed, but it is not a year-round activity. So God’s purposes require him to act differently at different seasons, perhaps sparing Jerusalem in 701 B.C. and destroying it in 586 B.C. Then, too, a farmer does not normally sow all his fields with only one plant variety. In a mixed farming economy, space is found for a variety of crops. Once again, the variety of God’s ways with people is being underlined. The farmer learns such things from God, by a study perhaps of nature. Why then is humankind so reluctant to learn from God in spiritual things?

Verses 27–29 take the illustration further. When it comes to harvest time, threshing takes different forms, each dictated by the type of crop harvested. More than this, threshing time comes to an end, for the ultimate aim of all this activity is to produce edible food. Plowing, sowing, threshing, and grinding are all means to this end. So God has his purposes in history, and through a sequence of events he brings them to pass. God’s power (“the LORD Almighty”) and wisdom, united in his nature, bring forth a pattern of events in the story of the human race. The agricultural processes here suggest pain, implying that it is possible to find oneself on the wrong side of God’s purposes in history and so to experience his judgment.

The cornerstone was always the most important stone in a building or wall. The picture on the left shows part of the wall of old Jerusalem, with the cornerstone to the right. The picture right gives a closeup of that massive cornerstone. It is not known why there are holes in this stone; perhaps it was for drainage.

B. Woe to Ariel (29:1–24)

This chapter presents the second of the “woe” oracles in this section of Isaiah’s prophecies (see introduction to chs. 28–35). Despite the double use of the word in vv.1 and 15, the atmosphere—though solemn—is not one of unrelieved gloom. Not only is judgment promised for Jerusalem but also salvation.

1–4 What does the reiterated word “Ariel” (GK 790) mean? The connection of the city with David (v.1) and the reference to Mount Zion in v.8 established its identification with Jerusalem. The NIV note (“The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel”) does not make it clear that the word translated “altar hearth” (GK 789) in v.2 is exactly the same word “Ariel” and not simply like it in sound. In other words, “Ariel” is not simply a name but actually means something, “altar hearth.” That name possesses a certain naturalness, derived from the fact that Jerusalem was a place of sacrifice, with an altar hearth in the temple where sacrifices were always burning.

David besieged Jerusalem when it was a Jebusite stronghold. When he took it, it became his capital city. Through many a difficult century in its history, it had never been taken again. The true poignancy of the “woe” here lies in the fact that the God who had enabled David to take it would now besiege this city himself, through its enemies, and cause its destruction by fire just as if the whole city had become an extension of the altar hearth within its temple.

The popular religion in the eighth century B.C. gave sacrifice too great a place in the relationship between God and his people, so that it was conceived to be almost purely external and ritualistic (cf. 1:10–17; 29:13). The point of v.1b is that it was at the festivals of the religious calendar that the Jerusalem altar was busiest. The people became more and more confirmed in their false assurance that all was well between themselves and God. What a shock awaited them! Verse 3—with its threefold statement that God would become their enemy—is more forceful.

The penitence of spirit that was so conspicuously absent from the sacrifices that the people were making would at last come about through divine chastisement. Instead of pompous boasting (cf. 28:15), their speech would come as a mere ghostlike whisper from the ground where they lay prostrate.

5–8 The whole mood of the oracle changes as suddenly and dramatically as the events it depicts. God would judge his people by sending their enemies against their capital city, but he did not intend that city to be taken. The ominous towers and siege works are replaced by fine dust and blown chaff. Those sent in judgment would themselves experience it (cf. 10:5–19). Appearing to be so formidable, they would be cut down to size.

The “many enemies” are further described as “the hordes of all the nations.” Moreover, the coming of the Lord Almighty is described as an awe-inspiring intervention. The language (esp. v.6), so reminiscent of Ex 19, suggests that the God of judgment is also the God of the law, his judgments expressing his concern for righteousness.

Isaiah’s illustrations are appropriate and true to the common experience of humanity. We all know something of the dream that seems as vivid and compelling as reality itself. The city of Jerusalem, which seemed so real a prize to its attackers, would suddenly be seen to belong to the dream world of military ambition. The phrase “Mount Zion” itself has overtones of stability and divine protection (cf. Ps 48).

9–12 The inaugural vision of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry made him aware that as he declared the word of God, many of his hearers would simply shut their eyes to the truth (cf. 6:9–10). The spiritual blindness of the drunken religious leaders was emphasized in ch. 28. The professional prophets, whether literally drunk or not, are pictured here as stumbling unsteadily through life, unable even to plot their own course, let alone point the way to others. Blindness, drunkenness, and sleep build a picture of total inadequacy in the realm of spiritual leadership.

The whole point of vv.11–12 is that Isaiah’s own God-given vision was a closed book to the people of Jerusalem. To those who could read—perhaps the professional prophets—the vision contained mysteries to which their eyes were closed. Those who could not read—perhaps the ordinary inhabitants of Jerusalem—were removed further still from understanding. The seeming advantage of the professional prophets did not really place them ahead of the common people, for neither understood the vision.

13–16 Spiritual blindness (vv.9–12) is an appropriate partner of externalism and traditionalism. Here the spiritual condition is diagnosed and found to be malign indeed. Wrong teaching was based on mishandling God’s true revelation, the sacrificial regulations, and the Mosaic Law as a whole respectively (cf. Mt 15:9). “Rules taught by men” applies not to the Levitical teaching itself but to the way it was applied by the priests. Human nature does not change but finds different expressions of its fundamental rebellion against God. So often the prophet says in effect that the God of Israel, who had shown himself to his people in one of his great attributes for their blessing, would demonstrate that same quality in an act of judgment (10:17; 28:20–22). He is “wonderful” and had done wonderful things for his people (Ex 15:11; Ps 77:2, 15), but his power to astound them would be turned against them. The prophet seems still to have in mind the judgments God had decreed against his people in vv.1–3. Isaiah shows great interest in the distinction between worldly and godly wisdom (e.g., 5:21; 11:2; 26:7–10).

Negotiations with Egypt to form an anti-Assyrian alliance were probably carried on in secret. If so, then Isaiah was implying that the negotiators thought their actions were so clandestine that even the Lord himself was denied access to them. When human minds are not controlled by the revelation of God, their thoughts of him easily become unworthy of who he really is. The prophet suggests that such people have a completely illogical view of God. Without doubt total depravity so affects the mind that people can no longer think God’s thoughts after him in any adequate way.

Isaiah anticipates Jeremiah in his use of the illustration of the potter and the clay (cf. 45:9; 64:8; Jer 18:1–6; cf. also Ro 9:19–21). Each writer made somewhat different points; yet each argued for the sovereignty of God from this analogy.

17–21 Significantly, even when the human mind retreats from logic in its conception of God, God still addresses that mind. “In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?” appears to be a promise of blessing for the land. This transformation of the physical world becomes the introduction to the eschatological picture presented in the remainder of the chapter. The former spiritual insensitivity of the people will be a thing of the past (cf. 35:5–6).

Isaiah shows a concern for the godly poor (cf. 3:14; 11:4; 25:4). That the reference to them in v.19 is followed by a promise that those who “have an eye for evil” (cf. Pr 1:11–14; 12:6) will be cut down certainly suggests that it is the restoration of justice to the oppressed in the messianic kingdom that is in view. For the “mockers” (GK 4370), see 28:14, where the same Hebrew word is translated “scoffers.”

The general picture of malignity rampant in v.20 becomes more specific in v.21, where the reader is transported to the court of law. Each of the three lines relates to a verbal sin, the clever and specious use of words that perverts justice. The prophets stressed the Lord’s hatred of oppression furthered by the manipulation of the courts of justice (see 10:1–4).

22–24 Joshua 24:14 links the region “beyond the River” with Egypt as places where the people had served other gods. The language of redemption was regularly applied to the deliverance from Egypt, and there is no good reason why it cannot be applied to the exit of Abraham from Ur at the call of God. There may not have been the same human bondage, but in both cases they were under a regime acknowledging other gods. The passage makes much of the people’s relationship to their ancestor Jacob, and the mention of Abraham further reinforces this emphasis on the past.

In v.23, the prophet has both the patriarch Jacob and his descendants in mind. There is such a solidarity between a people and their ancestor that they can be closely identified in this way. The shame of Jacob here certainly seems to be the dispersion of many of the people of Israel from their land because of their sin (see Dt 28:36–37, 63–64). God will bring his scattered children back to the land.

Isaiah’s characteristic title for God is “the Holy One of Israel [Jacob].” This holiness sets him apart from all other beings, not least the false gods worshiped in the great civilizations of the Fertile Crescent. Thus there is probably a subtle connection between the reference to the redemption of Abraham (from idolatrous Ur and Haran) and the assertion that when scattered Israel will be brought back from the pagan lands of their dispersion they will keep God’s name holy.

The emphasis on God’s holiness is strong. It is as if this is his final vindication of his great name at the climax of Israel’s history, inspiring awe and wondering gratitude in his people. It is their deep awareness of God’s goodness to them as a nation that will produce a penitent and receptive spirit in those formerly wayward and complaining. God’s own light will have dispersed the spiritual darkness that the prophet was so conscious of in the people he ministered to (cf. vv.9–16).

C. Woe to the Rebellious Children (30:1–33)

This chapter, like the two that precede it, commences with the word “woe,” and, also like them, contains promises as well as threats. The people of Jerusalem will have judgments to face, but these will not annul the ultimate purpose of their God to bless them with his salvation.

1 The occasion is still the proposal to enter into alliance with Egypt as a defense against Assyria, whose dark shadow looms menacingly on the eastern horizon. The rebellion against Assyria was at the same time a revolt against God. The accumulation of sin by the people is probably an allusion to the alliance with Assyria in the days of Ahaz, a device to secure aid against Israel and Syria, which is the background to the oracles in chs. 7–9. The political alignment was now different but expressed the same sin—refusal to trust in the Lord and him alone.

2–5 The Ethiopian rulers of Egypt had sent ambassadors to the land of Judah either in 712 or 705 B.C. (see comments on 18:1–7). Now the ambassage moved in the opposite direction, perhaps during the period of Hezekiah’s revolt against Sennacherib in the years 703–701 B.C. Zoan and Hanes were both in lower Egypt, though Hanes was a good deal farther south.

6–7 Isaiah not only visualizes Hezekiah’s emissaries arriving at Egypt’s court but also pictures the terrain and the animals of the environment and the Judean caravans. At the end of the journey, too, was an “animal”—Rahab, the Egyptian dragon. The Negev was inhospitable to travelers, which may have been the reason the messengers went this way, avoiding the more public route across the southern Mediterranean Sea. The large number of words for “lion” in Semitic languages gives some impression of the wildness and danger of much of the Near East in biblical times. “Darting snakes” renders the same Hebrew word as “darting, venomous serpent” in 14:29.

The journey was not only dangerous but costly, for it was expedient to carry a substantial bribe to this powerful potential ally. Egypt’s reputation was undoubtedly great. And the advent of a new and vigorous regime may well have enhanced it, but Hezekiah was in for a shock. Great powers have chosen fearsome animal symbols for themselves, like the lion, the eagle, and the bear. Egypt, however, was identified by others with the mythological Rahab (see on 27:1). “Rahab the Do-Nothing” may be an ironic suggestion that the Judean messengers to Egypt were in more danger from the beasts of the desert than Assyria would be from that notorious super-monster, Egypt! If Assyria was to be shattered, it would be done by God (v.31), not Egypt.

8–11 The command to write has brought untold blessing and challenge to countless numbers. It may just be the ironic name for Egypt (v.7) that Isaiah is to write (cf. 8:1). On the other hand, the whole oracle may be in view. The purpose of writing is to secure a witness to God’s solemn warning; vv.9–11 expound the necessity for this written warning.

The prophet repeats his accusation that the people were rebellious (cf. v.1; 1:2). An apostate priesthood and a rebellious people rejected the warnings that came through the true prophet of God. Isaiah’s listeners would listen to him, but only if the content of his message was trimmed to their own desires. But the preacher was to bring a message to his listeners, not to find it among them. The words “way” and “path” in v.11, with their moral overtones (cf. Ps 1), may be a sarcastic echoing of Isaiah’s own message to them, indicating that prophetic morality was unacceptable to such hearers.

The people’s closing command to Isaiah is striking. His title for God was “the Holy One of Israel.” This title—implying as it did the great demands that the relationship to such a God entailed—filled their hearts with loathing. Their ears could no longer tolerate its sound.

12–14 Isaiah’s use of the “Holy One of Israel” is particularly significant. The people had resisted his use of it, but he was not their servant but the Lord’s. Nothing would be trimmed to suit their taste. The people’s reliance on “oppression” and “deceit” is probably a reference to Egypt, the oppressor par eminence. At this time her promises of aid were worthless. Judah’s trust in a foreign power rather than in God would bring about her demise. A small fault in a wall may spread, and the onlooker may become so accustomed to the bulging wall that he does not detect the worsening of the problem till the collapse comes, and it is too late.

The prophet had to convey not only the suddenness of the judgment but also its completeness. He did this by likening the destruction of the wall to the breaking of pottery; the disintegration is so complete that nothing of value remains. This prophecy was not fulfilled in 701 but rather in 586, when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and perhaps even more in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (cf. Mk 13:2).

15–18 “The Sovereign LORD” translates Adonai (GK 151) followed by Yahweh (GK 3378), thus combining God’s sovereign authority with his redemptive name. Sovereignty and holiness find expression in vv.16–17 while redeeming grace is seen in vv.15 and 18. The word of God cuts right across ordinary human thinking (cf. 55:8–9). Those who have learned from God will turn to him in repentant faith, but continued rebellion against him produces panic when the foe appears in all his might. “Repentance” (GK 8746) here is literally “returning.” In the contemporary political situation, to turn away from trust in Egypt and to return to the Lord were two sides of the same fact.

God had promised overwhelming victory to his people if they obeyed him but overwhelming defeat if they were rebellious (Lev 26:7–8; Dt 32:30). The lonely hill signal—which had served in a promise of God to suggest a fresh rallying of the scattered nation (11:10, 12)—here stands for shattering defeat. The whole army has gone into battle and met its death; the flag-bearer, kept back at the hilltop base in case he was needed for rallying purposes, discovers that he alone is left and so is without function.

The threatening tone of vv.16–17 gives place to an assurance that God is ready and willing to show mercy to his foolish and obstinate people. It is because God’s justice must be expressed—and therefore punishment must fall on this rebellious people—that the manifestation of his mercy is delayed. As so often in the prophets, God’s judgment falls first of all; but a remnant preserved through the judgment experiences the blessings of his grace and the fulfillment of his positive purpose for them. Those who wait for him will be identical with this remnant. The Babylonian exile and the return from it are chiefly in view here.

19–26 The God of Israel speaks to his people as if addressing the heart of one person, for singular forms are used most of the time. There is a solidarity among the people of Jerusalem that allows that city to be viewed as a single entity, a kind of corporate person, whom God addresses in grace. The people had been so dull of hearing when he spoke to them, but at their cry he comes immediately to meet them in their need. “The bread of adversity and the water of affliction” probably relate to the Exile, beyond which God would exhibit his grace to them.

The people’s penitence would be accompanied by a new responsiveness to God’s word through the prophetic teachers. Rejection of God’s word always brings hardness of heart, so that the word cannot be heard as before. That word possesses ethical content, keeping God’s people to the right path. It also possesses religious content, for their response to it will lead them to purge their land of idolatry. The idols, so splendid in appearance, were really worthless. The illustration stresses the repugnance with which they will now be viewed.

Isaiah had a deep attachment to the soil of his own land. It was not simply the natural affection of the patriot for his native land; for it was God’s land, given by him to his people and from which he threatened to remove them as a consequence of their persistent sin (cf. Dt 1:8, 21–25, 34–40; 3:25–29; et al.). The prophet often saw God’s blessing therefore in terms of good agricultural weather, increased fruitfulness, and fat cattle (cf. 4:2; 35:1–2; et al.). In the day of God’s blessing on the land, even the working animals will live well above subsistence level.

The reference to the day of great slaughter and the fall of towers seems strange in this context. The Bible is realistic and shows that God’s plan includes judgment for the rebel as well as blessing for the penitent. The choice of the word “tower” is doubly appropriate, for it has military connotations but also suggests haughty pride (cf. 2:15).

In keeping with the general context, the prophet declares that there will be abundant supplies of water from the mountains. The modern town-dweller views the hill country quite differently from the country farmer. The one sees its beauty, the other its agricultural barrenness. The language suggests that the mountains themselves will enjoy the refreshing waters with all their potential for fruitfulness.

This picture of nature, released from its present limiting conditions, is expanded further. Both the moon and the sun will be much brighter. The number “seven” is not chosen arbitrarily. It is as if the fullness of the divine creative energies is channeled to secure the greater radiance of the sun. The people had known severe chastisement from God through the Assyrians (cf. 1:5–9). Now his powers will secure healing.

27–33 With strong visual appeal, Isaiah describes God, not so much as the Redeemer of his people, but as the Judge of his enemies. The condemned foe is identified in v.31 as Assyria. The name of the Lord is, of course, a revelation of himself (Ex 3:13–15; 6:2–3). That his name is said to come from afar in judgment may be an allusion to Mount Sinai, where, in circumstances of awesome splendor (Ex 19), God showed himself in all his holiness to his people.

Verses 27–28 employ four illustrations of the wrath of God: (1) fire, with all its power to terrify and to destroy (cf. 33:14; Heb 12:29); (2) water (in 8:7–8 the prophet pictured the waters of the great Euphrates [i.e., Assyria] overflowing and reaching even to the neck of Judah; now he would similarly chastise Assyria); (3) the sieve of judgment, revealing the spiritual inadequacy of the unrighteous; and (4) the horse with a bit, suggesting that God will take the arrogant sinner down the road that leads to destruction.

God’s judgments are often his means of salvation. Because Assyria was to be judged, Judah would enjoy God’s deliverance. The great “festival” (v.29) in which there was a celebration night was the Passover (Ex 12:42). The prophet may have expected his hearers to draw the parallel between these two acts of salvation.

At certain times the heavens are loud with noise and are the source of God’s many demonstrations of his power in nature (cf. Ps 29). This figuratively and vigorously presents the judgment of God. Amid all the noise of the storm, the Lord’s arm strikes with many a forceful blow at his adversaries. Judah had been smitten through Assyria, but now God would punish Assyria. In v.32 God’s people are portrayed rejoicing at his judgment on sin; this is because they must take his point of view on everything, and because this judgment is at the same time their salvation.

Some places have become symbols of spiritual realities. Zion-Jerusalem is the people of God, Babylon the world in arrogant opposition to God, and Tophet God’s judgment on sin. Tophet was in the Valley of Hinnom to the south of Jerusalem (Jer 7:31–32), where apostate Jews offered their children by fire to the pagan deity, Molech. Perhaps the prophet is saying here that the king of Assyria himself must pay. He had dedicated himself to paganism, and now he would suffer for this in terrible judgment.

D. Woe to Those Who Seek Help From Egypt (31:1–9)

1–3 Hezekiah had repeated the sin of Ahaz in seeking an alliance with an alien power instead of encouraging his people to put their trust in the Lord. In so doing he showed he had failed to learn from history (for Egypt had proved to be anything but an ally to Israel in the past), from Scripture (since attempting to secure horses for cavalry units was against the divine constitution for the king; see Dt 17:1–20), or even from the experience of his father, Ahaz, which could have provided him with a salutary warning.

The decision to call for help from a particular source is in fact a value judgment, particularly when there are a number of options open. Judah was showing that it set greater value on Egypt (“Rahab the Do-Nothing,” 30:7) than on the living God. The statement “yet he too is wise” is pregnant with sarcasm. False political wisdom ruled in the courts of Judah. The so-called wise men had themselves used sarcasm when speaking about the Lord’s wisdom (5:19; 29:15). The prophet was convinced that divine wisdom would prove all vaunted human sagacity to be wrong (cf. 1Co 1:18–3:23).

“Disaster” (v.2) is literally “evil” (GK 8273) and is, of course, a reference to war (cf. Am 3:6). This is made the more terrifying by the assertion that God does not retract such threats of judgment (cf. Nu 23:19).

Comparisons are particularly odious when made between things or people differing in quality. The greatest distinction exists between the all-sovereign Creator and the universe he originated and rules. To us “flesh” seems so substantial, because it is visible and tangible, while “spirit” may seem ethereal. Nothing can be further from biblical thinking (cf. Zec 4:6; Jn 3:5–8). The invisible source of supernatural, almighty power in God is in an altogether superior class from the apparently strong but actually almost infinitely weak human beings and horses.

“When the LORD stretches out his hand” is ominous in reference to Egypt; for it has overtones of the Exodus, when all the power of that land was overcome by the Lord. Putting Isaiah’s thought into a figure, the unequal yoke Judah was seeking with Egypt would mean that the fall of the one would bring disaster to the other also.

4–5 Is the lion, as Mauchline suggests, the Assyrians who have devastated Judah and are ready to devour Jerusalem, and are the shepherds the Egyptians who have come to aid Judah and have succeeded only in making an ineffectual noise that has not deterred or troubled the Assyrians? Or does the lion’s behavior depict the Lord’s descent from heaven to fight upon the hill of Zion (cf. 10:32), not allowing anyone to steal from him what belongs to him, as O. Kaiser thinks? Amos uses the lion figure of both God (Am 3:8) and Assyria (Am 3:12). The way the sentence is structured strongly suggests that the figure is intended to be understood in terms of God.

Verse 5 changes the figure but not the message, though it clarifies the peaceful intent of God’s activity in relation to Jerusalem. Egypt could give no guarantee of that city’s protection from the Assyrians, but God would make it his special care. In the closing line we are reminded of the Exodus. The God of the Exodus would protect his people in Jerusalem as he protected them in Egypt on the night of the Passover.

6–7 The Lord’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib was a singular demonstration of his reality and power, setting him apart from other deities (see chs. 36–37). The gods of many nations had failed to protect their devotees from the Assyrians, but now the true God showed he was supreme. Isaiah called his people to repentance in anticipation of that day when, because of God’s singular act of deliverance, the worthlessness of the idols would be recognized. Clearly idolatry was the deep revolt that the prophet called them to return from.

8–9 Isaiah makes it clear that the “sword” was not literal and that the Lord secured a great victory over Assyria by nonmilitary means (cf. 37:36–37). “Their stronghold” (lit., “their rock”) conveys the picture of a fortress city, perhaps one in Assyria’s heartland, approached by its enemies with their battle standards clearly visible. The sight was so unfamiliar to those who were used to constant victory for their armies that the task of the enemy would be made easy by their demoralization. The description of God, however, takes us back swiftly to Jerusalem, for whose sake Assyria was being judged, and whose temple and its ever-burning altar fire symbolized the presence of God with it.

E. God’s Kingdom and the Triumph of Righteousness (32:1–20)

1–2 Are these verses messianic or do they picture an ideal government in which the whole administrative system of the country is in the hands of the righteous? The reader inevitably makes a link with the picture of the righteous messianic King given in ch. 11. The book of Isaiah presents its messianic theme in such a way that there is development from one passage to the next, and this passage certainly figures as a development of ch. 11, the new emphasis being on the association of others with the king in his righteous reign.

At the opening of ch. 31, the prophet had criticized those at the court who looked to Egypt for help against the Assyrian menace. No doubt the king would have to bear a special responsibility, but clearly the prophet had others at the court in mind as well. The whole sinful scene of government will pass away, and its place will be taken by a righteous king supported by subordinates who share his concern for righteousness and justice. Government, when it is righteous, affords protection from oppression. In the Messiah’s kingdom, righteousness will reign and fear of the oppressor will belong to the past.

3–8 Isaiah was warned that he would see people shutting their eyes and ears to the truth he proclaimed (6:9–10). When the messianic kingdom comes, this spiritual insensitivity will be no more. Those who should have had minds made clear by the bright shining of divine truth in them had in fact been befuddled by drink (28:7–10) and had stammered out rash things instead of prophetic truth. This situation too is to be rectified. If leaders are blind, their people often share this blindness. A nation gets the leaders it deserves (cf. 3:4–7). The moral sense had been so warped in Judah (5:20) that there was failure to recognize the true nature of those who were in positions of leadership. This too would change in the Messiah’s kingdom.

In v.5 the prophet speaks of the “fool” (GK 5572) and the “scoundrel” (GK 3964); in vv.6–7 he gives a description of each. In the OT folly often has overtones of godlessness (e.g., Ps 14). If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps 111:10; cf. Pr 1:7), then the godless man must be pursuing the wrong way.

Verse 6 presents an appalling picture of the fool, whose mind is controlled by evil, so that both his own life and his influence with others are evil. The messianic King demonstrates his godly righteousness by his concern for the poor and needy (11:4). The godless fool is utterly unconcerned for their most elementary needs (cf. 58:7). Scoundrels (v.7) are even worse. They stoop to lies and deceit to deprive the poor of their legal rights. In fact, scoundrels are precisely those from whom the messianic King will protect the poor (11:4–5). Conduct reveals character; and this is true of both the noble man, whose day will come in the messianic kingdom, and the scoundrel, who will face God’s judgment.

9–14 In ch. 3, Isaiah had moved from condemnation of Judah’s leaders to strong criticism of the women. Apparently certain aristocratic women were exercising unhelpful influence over their husbands and so had to share in judgment. The stress falls on their complacency, probably meaning the court’s pro-Egyptian policy. The women too were relying on Egyptian help for the security of Jerusalem, and so of their homes.

This present prophecy was probably uttered a year or so prior to Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah, which led to the situation depicted in ch. 1. It is probably the effects of such an invasion that the prophet had in view here, rather than a simple harvest failure. In this case, its failure is due to the inability of the people—because of enemy occupation—to gather the vintage and other ripe fruit. The women are called to mourning. It is not their husbands or sons who are dead but their land, but this in itself will produce some of the effects of widowhood; for poverty and malnutrition must surely be their lot.

Isaiah often speaks of “thorns and briers.” This also points in the direction of enemy occupation rather than mere harvest failure, for the latter would not account for the generally unkempt condition of the countryside. There is a certain emotional quality attached to the phrase “my people.” How sad that the land of God’s people, a chosen land for a chosen people, should be reduced to such a lamentable condition! It was, of course, their sin that had caused this.

The word rendered “yes” (v.13) is intensive, suggesting that what follows goes beyond the Assyrian judgment to the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem and its results. This language, employing the singular, indicates that Jerusalem rather than the cities of Judah is in view. The devastation caused by Sennacherib’s wind would be completed by Nebuchadnezzar’s whirlwind.

15–20 The description of judgment suddenly changes to one of blessing. The contrast becomes particularly impressive considering the intentionally illogical words “a wasteland forever, . . . till” (vv.14–15)! Such a decisive assertion of judgment can only be canceled by an equally decisive manifestation of grace. The condemnation humans live their lives under is undoubtedly “forever,” because death ushers in their judgment and its eternal consequences; but this condemnation can be canceled by the marvel of justifying grace through faith in Christ.

The reference to the Spirit is most appropriate. If ch. 32 amplifies certain aspects of the messianic prophecy in ch. 11 (see at vv.1–2), we might expect some reference to the Spirit, who has such a place of importance in that earlier chapter. The idyllic picture described there is echoed here, but it is particularly significant that the righteous king in v.1 is accompanied by righteous subordinates. This sug-gests a wider ministry of the Spirit, not confined simply to the Messiah himself. The NT brings together the OT teaching that both the Messiah and his people would know the endowment of the Spirit of God. Here we see an implicit link in Isaiah’s own thought. The language of outpouring was destined to be far-reaching (Joel 2:28; Ac 2:17–21).

In v.13 we noted the emotional quality of the phrase “my people,” as God’s people experience his hand of judgment on them. But now God is able to bestow on them the blessing that is in his heart for them as his own beloved people. Verse 18, with its sequence of prepositional phrases, gives emphatic expression to God’s promise that he will bring them, through righteousness, into a condition of “quietness and confidence forever” (v.17).

Verses 19–20 form a fitting conclusion to the oracle, because they sum up the two elements of coming judgment and ultimate blessing. Verse 20 picks up from 30:23–26 the picture of a plentiful economy based on abundant supplies of water, but it presents it in an even more desirable form. The amount of produce given by the soil will be so great that the farmer can actually allow his working animals to browse in the fields.

F. Woe to the Destroyer (33:1–24)

This oracle is the final one in a series of five, interrupted only by the messianic oracle in ch. 32 (see introduction to chs. 28–33). It is the only one of the series in which the introductory “woe” is directed against a foreign power.

1 Seemingly the first half of this verse takes up the boasts of the Assyrians, who had been all-victorious for so many years. The second half declares they will be caught in their own trap.

2–4 The people in the city had at last been brought to realize their total dependence on the Lord. These words are best understood as their prayer when the Assyrian army was at the gate. In 30:18–19, the prophet stated that their God would hear them when they called out to him. Here we see his words beginning to bear fruit. This must have been encouraging to Isaiah after so many years of unresponsiveness to his preaching. Verse 3 is an expression of general confidence in the Lord, with a possible echo of Ps 68:1. Joel 1:1–2:10 points up the appropriateness of the image used here.

5–6 Isaiah believed that the Lord alone is fit to be exalted to the highest place; in ch. 2 he depicted this great God as finally given his rightful place when everything contrary to his supremacy has been debased. Here, he presents the complementary truth that the Lord is exalted already. Eschatological judgment is therefore simply the demonstration in history of that exaltation.

The major issue in recent chapters (esp. chs. 30–31) has been political security. If the Assyrian officers were below the city walls at the time of this oracle, with all hope of relief from Egypt gone, the words of the prophet are particularly significant. That “a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge” is in apposition to “the sure foundation” shows that to the prophet the Lord was all the people needed (cf. 1Co 1:30; Col 2:2–3). The Lord himself was more than enough to give them protection from their enemies and wisdom in living as his people in the world.

The assertion that this “rich store” becomes available through the fear of the Lord reminds us of the association of “the fear of the LORD” with the messianic King (11:2–3). The word “fear” may also have been chosen because of the historical situation. The people trusted Egypt and feared Assyria; in fact, God was to be their fear just as the reference to a sure foundation suggests that he too should be their trust.

7–9 The prophet focuses attention on the sorry condition of Jerusalem, which led the people eventually to call on their God in penitent faith. Terror grips the hearts of the warriors within the city gates. Those who have been sent out to parley with the enemy return weeping, for their words would not penetrate the Assyrians’ hard heart. All normal commerce between communities comes to a halt, and the treaty that apparently existed between Sennacherib and Hezekiah is treated as null and void.

The whole land was in mourning. The northern kingdom had already felt the heavy tread of the conqueror’s feet; and the places named suggest that Judah would go the same way. If the withering of Lebanon refers to its trees, then this is clearly an indication that what happened was a divine judgment; for its slopes were covered mostly by evergreens, whose leaves do not normally wither. Sharon was one of the most fertile parts of Palestine while the Arabah was dry and arid. The prophet surveyed places farther north and saw the devastation, a hint of what faced Jerusalem if the Assyrians gained entrance.

10–12 The threefold assertion of God’s exaltation reminds us of the thrice-exalted Servant of the Lord in 52:13. The enemy’s plan to take Jerusalem will come to nothing, and the prophet uses the figure of a pregnancy to bring home its futility. Their destruction will in fact be self-induced, for it is the result of their sinful antagonism to God’s people. In v.12 the prophet moves briefly from the particular to the general, making a point about the comprehensiveness of judgment, when it falls on all nations.

13–16 God speaks to the whole world, calling on people to learn from the object lesson provided by his judgment of Assyria. The terms “far away” and “near” describe the Gentile nations and Judah respectively (cf. 49:1; 57:19; Ac 2:39; Eph 2:13, 17).

The phrase “the sinners in Zion” jars the spirit, for such a situation should not exist. Zion was God’s city. This was surely no place for the godless, and yet in every age the godless have lived cheek by jowl with the godly, contemptuous of the things of God that made their presence felt every day.

The effects of great judgments may have some kinship with those of spiritual revival, for a new sense of God—his power and his holiness—overtakes the sinners in Zion. Like those who heard Peter at Pentecost, these people, cut to the heart, cry out in their conviction of sin (cf. Ac 2:37). The “consuming fire” is not hell; it is God (cf. Heb 12:29)! Yet, in a sense, those who mistakenly interpret it as hell are not really so wide of the mark (see 10:17).

The cry of the convicted seems to require a negative answer. No human being can dwell in God’s holy presence. Yet the prophet goes on to give his hearers a wonderfully positive reply. Time and again he had called his people to faith in God. To find security through the fear of the Lord is to have the key to great spiritual treasure, including that practical wisdom that indicates the way for the individual to walk as well as the right approach to international politics for the leaders (cf. 58:6–12; cf. also 32:3–8).

The book of Isaiah shows a deep concern about sins of speech (cf. esp. 6:5–7). The man of God will neither speak evil nor listen to it from the lips of others. The final line of v.15 underlines the importance of fleeing from temptation. Verse 16 promises security and provision to the one who thus dwells with God and walks in righteousness.

17–20 If this prophecy was uttered as the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem, then these words would have been immensely reassuring to the beleaguered people. The “king” is either the Messiah or God himself; considerations of poetic structure support the former view. Viewing the land is presented as somehow complementary to seeing the king, and the greatness of the Messiah’s earthly dominion has been asserted in passages like 9:7; 11:9–10 (cf. 26:15). In contrast to this embattled city, the only free territory left to God’s people, the future king would appear as ruler over a wide empire.

Isaiah graphically pictures the people in the days of the Messiah reflecting on the past and contrasting their lot then with the blessings they now have. They had been the people of a king who had paid tribute to Sennacherib in attempting to buy him off (2Ki 18:13–16); and Assyrian officials had been seen in the streets of Jerusalem, the financial agents of an avaricious tyrant. The earlier prophecy had proved true. God had spoken to this people, in judgment, through men of strange speech (cf. 28:11).

At the time the prophet contemplates, however, all this is a thing of the past, subject still to vivid mental recall, but no longer experienced. The emphasis on sight—whether physical or mental—that characterizes the last few verses continues. Those who have been exhorted to see the king and the wide land of his domain are now called to view his capital city, the cultic center of the nation, where its joy in God finds its corporate expression at festival time. The enemies will be gone, and “peace” will reign (the meaning of “Jerusalem” includes “peace”). It possessed many fine buildings, but we are reminded that its people belonged to a race formerly nomadic (cf. the “tent” firmly fixed).

21–22 This chapter presents a picture of Jerusalem as a kind of Near Eastern Venice or Amsterdam. Most great civilizations have grown up around important rivers. Israel and Jerusalem were exceptions. Indeed, Isaiah remembers the concern for adequate water supplies that had been in the mind of Ahaz when he confronted him in the past (7:3). The city would now be amply supplied. Just as the prophet hastened to guard against a possible misconception of his imagery once before (see 31:8), so now he makes it clear that such broad rivers would be an unmitigated blessing. Many a city, formerly glad of all the advantages brought to it by its situation on a great river, has cursed its location when that same river brought an enemy armada into the very heart of it. Gates may keep out an enemy that a waterway may admit.

Verse 21 began with an assertion about the Lord before moving on to statements about Jerusalem. What Jerusalem is depends entirely on what Jerusalem’s God is. Each of the three brief but impressive statements about God is structured so as to place emphasis on the divine name. All three recall different periods in Israel’s history, for the period of the judges was preceded by that of Moses the lawgiver and succeeded by that of the king. All three were savior figures, acting as agents of God to bring deliverance to his people. Their God now sums up all these functions in himself.

23–24 It is clear that v.23 takes up again the imagery of the ship from v.21, but who is being addressed by the prophet? Assyria seems to fit the context. If a “mighty ship” was feared in Isaiah’s day, it was Assyria. Let this ship sail belligerently in the direction of Jerusalem, and its essential instability—making it vulnerable to its foes—will stand revealed. Assyria appeared to be anything but vulnerable, so that the prophet is speaking with God-given insight. Only God and God’s prophet can penetrate the military facade to the true condition of Assyria. When it falls, its empire will be evenly divided; and even apparently impotent states will find themselves enriched from its plunder.

Verse 24 reminds us that the whole passage is really a description of the future blessedness of Jerusalem. The blessings of God will take both physical and spiritual forms. In Ps 103:3, the greater blessing of forgiveness is placed first; here it is placed at the end, to provide a climax for the whole chapter. No blessing is greater, none more urgently needed.

This cylinder records Sennacherib’s campaign against Judah and against Jerusalem in particular. Indirectly, the Assyrian king admits he was not able to take Jerusalem, only shut up Hezekiah “like a bird in a cage.”

V. God’s Purposes of Judgment and Salvation (34:1–35:10)

Despite what is said in ch. 34 about Edom, there is a universality about the references to the judgment to come.

A. Judgment on the World—and Edom (34:1–17)

1–4 Isaiah dramatically addresses the nations of the world here. They cannot hear him, for, presumably, he is speaking in Jerusalem; but his message concerns them all. He accumulates words and phrases—“you nations,” “you peoples,” “earth,” “world”—to emphasize this universal scope. This makes the later particular reference to one small state all the more striking.

A great judgment will someday manifest the anger of God with the nations. It is significant that the prophet refers to the armies of the nations, for national arrogance and cruelty have so often found their focus in aggressive acts by military forces. Israel had in fact been on the receiving end of many such attacks, but divine retribution was coming. The fearsome description in v.3 drives home the point that God’s wrath will lead to the death of his enemies.

Verse 4 transports us suddenly from earth to the heavens. The ultimate character of this judgment encompasses the entire cosmos (cf. 24:21–23; Mt 24:29; 2Pe 3:10; and esp. Rev 6:13–14). The way Isaiah illustrates this truth of cosmic judgment from situations familiar to his readers heightens the impression of God’s absolute control over all things (cf. 40:12).

5–7 God is here the universal Judge, his judgments including even the very heavens. Then, with great suddenness, the sword of judgment falls on one of the smallest states in the biblical world: Edom. Edom was a traditional enemy of Israel, so this probably represents God’s judgment on all Israel’s foes. Edom had appropriated territory from Judah during the reign of Ahaz (2Ki 16:6). The prophecies against the nations recorded in chs. 13–23 do not contain an oracle against Edom, though many of Judah’s neighbors are mentioned. Edom has not, however, been overlooked (cf. 11:14). Indeed, its fall was so certain that it was described as “the people I have totally destroyed.”

In some respects cities, persons, and articles given over in destruction to the Lord were like sacrifices, for they were holy to the Lord (Lev 27:28–29; cf. Jos 6:17–19). This is probably why v.6 goes on to speak of sacrificial animals. The inhabitants of Edom, under divine judgment, were like sacrificial animals. The fate of both was death. Yet it seems inappropriate to liken the antagonistic Edomites to the docile domestic animals employed in ritual; so the prophet looks to the herds of wild oxen that no doubt roamed parts of Edom’s territory; they too would die.

8–10 The word “judgment” (GK 5477) in v.5 sets the slaughter in Edom in a moral context, which is emphasized in v.8. This act of vengeance is to further God’s purposes for Jerusalem, which, in times of weakness in Judah, might well have cause to fear a threat from the south. There is an implied comparison with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Edom’s judgment will be so complete, so permanent, that it will be utterly desolate. The final line of v.10 may mean that, not only will Edom be unable to harass Zion herself, but she will not even witness the passage of armies from beyond her borders on their way to attack Judah.

11–15 Precise identification of these creatures matters little, for the general thrust of the prophet’s thought is clear. Edom will become a desolate place, fit only for creatures of the wild. Just as nomads rejoice to find terrain that has been abandoned by its inhabitants, so the birds and beasts of the desert will move into the land whose people have suffered God’s judgment.

What looks at first like a suggestion that Edom, now destroyed, may be reconstructed becomes, in the prophet’s paradoxical language, a warning that God is in fact measuring it up rather for destruction. The references to “chaos” and “desolation,” Clement notes, recall the formless void of the world before God imposed the created order upon it (Ge 1:2).

“Nothing there to be called a kingdom” in v.12 provides a kind of parallel to the description of Egypt in 30:7 as “Rahab the Do-Nothing.” Just as a measuring line suggests architectural order, so a kingdom suggests social order; but there will be none.

16–17 Most likely “the scroll of the LORD” is the prophecy just given. Thus the communication of prophetic oracles to writing has importance because it makes possible later recognition of the veracity of God. What the Lord has said comes to pass because he is the God of truth. Scripture is God’s witness to his own faithfulness. The Spirit of God puts into effect what his word has promised, and the birds and animals gathering in Edom are mute testimony to the truth of what he has said. God will order the new homes of these creatures in Edom so that each is given his proper place (cf. Dt 32:8). Even in his judgments God is concerned that everything should be done in an orderly way (cf. 1Co 14:40).

B. Blessing for God’s People (35:1–10)

1–2 The prophet speaks of the desert but does not indicate its location. Verses 8–10 suggest that he is thinking about the exiles returning from Babylon and crossing the many miles of desert lying between Mesopotamia and the Promised Land. In view of the promise that the messianic King will be seen “in his beauty” as governing a far-stretching land (33:17), it is probably best to think in terms of all the terrain occupied or traversed by God’s people, but with Zion (v.10) as the center of the kingdom and the end goal of the returning exiles.

Nature bursts not only into bloom but into song. The very environment of God’s people reflects their mood of joy at what God has done. The prophet does not say that the desert will burst into bloom with the crocus but like it. Probably he has in mind the transformation that comes over a land when winter ends and spring, with its characteristic flowers, suddenly comes with the advent of a few warm days.

The whole face of the earth is changed. So will it be with the desert. Lebanon’s glory is found, of course, in its wonderful cedars, while Carmel and the plain of Sharon that runs south from it are covered with trees and other plant life. The beauty and splendor of transformed nature will be seen as a reflection of the beauty and splendor of the Creator and Redeemer (cf. 40:5).

3–4 The prophet returns briefly to his age and the fear that gripped the hearts of so many of his people in the face of the external threat (see esp. 7:2–9). Fear in the heart affects the ability of hands to work for God and of feet to walk in his ways. This could mean, then, that the returning exiles of v.10 are in view, needing divine encouragement to make the journey.

The link between ch. 34 and ch. 35 is emphasized by the contrasting pictures of topographical desolation and blessing and by the use of “vengeance” (GK 5934) in 34:8 and here. Biblical realism requires that peace be the result of righteousness, and righteousness demands the punishment of sin. Only when God has judged the enemies of his people can his salvation in all its fullness be theirs.

5–7 In view of the frequent references to spiritual blindness and deafness (e.g., 6:9–10; 29:9–12) and the promise that one day spiritual sight and hearing will be restored to the people (29:18), we are at once inclined to interpret v.5—and in harmony with it v.6—in spiritual terms. However, Jesus appears to allude to this chapter in Lk 7:18–23, and he takes the language literally and physically. But physical and spiritual sight and hearing have a symbolic relationship; and in God’s ultimate kingdom his people will have glorified bodies and a perfected spirituality.

Renewed nature comes into view once again. The transformed desert is alive with the sound of living streams and gushing springs. The only sign of life before the water’s advent was the jackal or wolf. But their place will be taken by the characteristic vegetation and population of lands with abundant water supplies.

8–10 In ancient times people did not build roads across stretches of desert. But this land is desert no longer, so roads are appropriate. The prophet concentrates on one highway, with a most exalted name. It is called “the Way of Holiness” because its goal is the Holy City of Zion, but also because it is intended for holy persons. Israel’s highways were all intended for pilgrimage, of course, as people went up them at the feasts to meet the Lord in his holy temple. In the light of 26:7–8, the statement “It will be for those who walk in that Way” is probably to be understood morally, not simply ceremonially. Hazardous conditions faced desert travelers in that part of the world (30:6). This road will be free of predators, for it will be restricted to the redeemed.

Verse 10 brings the whole oracle to a glorious conclusion (cf. 51:11; 61:7). The most joyous periods of the year for the people of Judah had been the three annual pilgrim feasts, when they went up the highways to Zion singing pilgrim songs. The word “return” (GK 8740) makes it clear that they are in fact now coming from farther afield, probably not from Babylonia alone, but from all the lands of the Dispersion (see 49:8–26). The note of joy with which the oracle opens and which can be discerned through the language of its every part now takes over completely. Sorrow and sighing are denied any place in this revelation of God’s purpose of joy for his people (cf. Rev 21:1–4).

VI. Isaiah and Hezekiah, Assyria and Babylon (36:1–39:8)

The narrative character of these chapters makes them somewhat different from other parts of the book. There are oracles of Isaiah here, but they are set in a historical framework. In the overall pattern of the book, they fulfill an important function. Chapters 1–35 have the Assyrian menace as their main historical setting; and, though many other nations are touched, the reader is never allowed for long to forget the dark shadow of that threat in the background. From the beginning of ch. 40, however, exile in Babylon forms the setting of his oracles. These four chapters therefore provide a historical transition, chs. 36–37 looking back to Assyria and chs. 38–39 on to Babylon. These chapters are practically identical with 2Ki 18–20, except for the poem of Hezekiah (Isa 38:9–20).

A. The Deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (36:1–37:38)

1–3 These events can be dated in the year 701 B.C., which raises a problem about the reference to the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign. Quite possibly a scribe made a slip when he should have written “twenty-fourth year,” which harmonizes better with the historical facts. The NIV translates the familiar “Rabshakeh” (KJV, RSV) as “field commander” (GK 8072); he was probably second only to the supreme commander (KJV “Tartan”; GK 9580) of 20:1. Lachish, an important fortress city of Judah guarding the road to Egypt, was captured by Sennacherib. The location of the main Assyrian army at this point, because of its strategic position, precluded any possible hope of Egyptian help to Hezekiah.

Once again, as in the days of Ahaz (ch. 7), Jerusalem is being threatened by her foes. On that earlier occasion the aqueduct had been the place of decision for Ahaz. Much had happened over the more than three decades that separated that event from this one. Now the Assyrian himself is the threat, which in itself underlines the folly of Ahaz on that earlier occasion. This foe is much more powerful than the two allies of the earlier event. While there may have been some differences in the circumstances, the spiritual issue has not altered. Now at precisely the same spot, the son of Ahaz faces the same spiritual issue. How will he react?

The king of Assyria did not come personally but sent three of his leading men (2Ki 18:17), and Hezekiah did the same. In this way he preserved something of his dignity as the monarch.

4–7 The grandiose designation of the field commander’s master (“the great king, the king of Assyria”) contrasts sharply with the absence even of the word “king” in his reference to Judah’s monarch. The tone of the speech is insolent, and the opening question shows that it is essentially an attempt to undermine any confidence the people might have. In a sense Hezekiah was the contemporary custodian of the messianic promises, as the dynastic expression “house of David” in 7:13 reminds us. The words of the field commander relayed to Hezekiah may even have encouraged him to trust in the God whose messianic promises were an implicit assurance that his line would continue.

Unknown, no doubt, to the field commander, his words in v.6 tallied exactly with what Isaiah had been saying about the futility of trusting in Egypt (30:3–7; 31:3). His use of a vivid illustration too may have reminded them of the prophet’s words. No doubt the Assyrians were well aware of Hezekiah’s religious reformation (2Ki 18:3–7). The field commander refers to Hezekiah here as if he is not addressing him. The speech, though ostensibly intended for Hezekiah, is so phrased that those who are to relay it to him will ponder its import.

8–10 The field commander’s offer is sarcastic. Judah was indeed painfully weak in cavalry and looked to the Egyptian army to supply this lack (cf. 31:1, 3). The field commander does not at this stage attack the Lord’s ability to save his people, but he does imply the anger of the Lord against his people. This coincides with what Isaiah constantly taught, that the Assyrian armies, wicked as they were, were accomplishing God’s purposes of judgment (cf. esp. 10:5–11). The field commander could hardly have known about the prophecies of Isaiah.

11–12 Aramaic, ultimately the common language of Palestine, was at this time the diplomatic language of the Fertile Crescent, but unintelligible to the common people. The comment by Hezekiah’s officials suggests that any confidence they themselves had left was fast ebbing away as a result of this speech (cf. v.22), and they feared its effect on the people. The vulgarity of the field commander’s reply attests its authenticity.

13–15 Far from changing the language of his speech, the field commander raises his voice to enable the wider audience to hear more clearly. He gives at this stage no arguments against faith in the Lord’s power to deliver his city.

16–17 The appeal suggests that many from the surrounding villages had taken refuge within Jerusalem at this time. The threat of exile was hardly likely to prove an extra inducement to the commander’s hearers. The people were actually at the city walls at this time. In the foreground was the Assyrian detachment, including the arrogant speaker himself. Beyond, however, the people could see the devastation these Assyrians had wrought.

18–20 The reference to exile in v.17 would make the people think about Samaria’s fate twenty years before. The commander gives a list of some of the main places conquered by Assyria, concluding with Samaria. Each had its distinctive gods, but all had proved ineffective against Assyria. The field commander concludes his speech with what must have seemed to him to be his punch line. But a frontal attack like this on such faith as they had may well have roused his hearers to a greater trust. The Lord had such a wonderful record of delivering his people that this man was in fact beginning now to tread on thin ice.

21–22 The silence on the wall had apparently been broken only by the request of v.11 (cf. Ecc 3:7).

37:1–4 Hezekiah presents a great contrast with both Ahaz (ch. 7) and his own former attitude (2Ki 18:14–16). The account in 2Ki 18 places the visit of the field commander after Hezekiah’s first payment of tribute to the king of Assyria at Lachish. That the king of Assyria should demand tribute and then absolute surrender is not without historical parallel, nor is the change in Hezekiah’s attitude inconceivable.

Hezekiah went into God’s temple and sent for God’s servant, the prophet. Hezekiah probably hoped for a reassuring word from the Lord as well as a promise that the prophet would pray. The reference to childbirth was probably proverbial. The words “it may be” do not betoken lack of faith but rather a realization on the king’s part that the people, through their sins, had forfeited any right to expect divine deliverance. Their only hope was in his unmerited favor.

In one sense God would “hear” (GK 9048) the words of the field commander, for he hears everything. But the king was using the verb in that pregnant sense that implies that action will be taken as a result of what has been heard. There is a sense of sin implicit also in his reference to the Lord as “the LORD your God,” for Isaiah had shown a faithfulness that rebuked both people and king. On the other hand, the reference to “ridicule [of] the living God” and “the remnant” are expressions of hope in God, because of his nature and his purpose for the remnant of his people, so often expressed through Isaiah himself (e.g., 10:20–27).

5–8 Isaiah had once before counseled a king not to be afraid (7:4), but Ahaz had proved unresponsive to the reassuring word of God. The expression “the underlings” (GK 5853) could be an insulting reference to the field commander and the other high officers who had formed the Assyrian delegation. More likely, however, the field commander’s words were not the only insults to Judah’s God from the Assyrians outside the walls that had assaulted the ears of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The reference to “a certain report” could apply to the report about Tirhakah (v.9). But this report did not send Sennacherib back to Assyria; rather, it gave him greater concern to reduce Hezekiah to submission.

At first v.7 seems irreconcilable with v.36. In fact, v.37 records two events: the withdrawal of the threat to Jerusalem and the return to Nineveh. The first may have been caused by the miracle recorded in v.36 and the second by a report of trouble elsewhere, perhaps in Babylon. For the manner of Sennacherib’s death, compare v.38. Verse 8 is an incidental testimony to the concern for truth of fact that motivates the author.

9–13 The report of the approach of an Egyptian army gave greater urgency to the bid to gain Jerusalem. No military leader welcomes a war on two fronts. The message—sent by letter as v.14 makes clear—repeats much that the field commander had said (cf. 36:13–20), except that he attributes deception now to the Lord rather than to Hezekiah himself. The reader gets a shock when he sees the God of Hezekiah designated as “god,” till he recalls that the words come from a pagan and represent his valuation of the God of Israel. Sennacherib’s reference to his forefathers shows his pride in being a member of an all-conquering dynasty. The list of names is longer, and therefore even more impressive, than that given in 36:19.

14–20 Hezekiah prays in similar fashion to the early church in Ac 4 (esp. v.24). His address is theological in the best sense. As “LORD Almighty,” his God has all power; and as the sovereign Creator, the Assyrians are subject to that power. The word “alone” is a critical glance at their paganism. On the other hand, the God of Israel has a special relationship with his people and therefore a concern to protect them from their enemies. The act of salvation Hezekiah prays for is to be a revelation of God to all the kingdoms on earth that the Lord alone was God.

21–25 Again God speaks to Hezekiah through Isaiah. Verses 21–22 clearly imply that, even though it was God’s purpose to deliver his people, it was important that Hezekiah prayed. The oracle is a taunt song with the characteristic “limping” rhythm in Hebrew. Jerusalem is represented as a young girl rebuffing with contempt the unwelcome advances of a churl. Perhaps there is a suggestion that she is betrothed to the Holy One of Israel, a title for God characteristic of Isaiah’s prophecies.

Characteristic too is Isaiah’s emphasis on pride, especially the quotation of arrogant words by a foreign monarch (cf. 10:12–14; 14:4, 13–15). The annals of Sennacherib are dominated by the occurrences of the first person singular. It looks as though the course of his boasting follows that of his conquering marches. The emphasis here is on the king’s ability to overcome any natural obstacle that lay in his path. The mountainous, tree-covered terrain of Lebanon could not hold him back, neither could the waterless lands of southern Palestine and Sinai. The streams of the Nile Delta were equally powerless to stop him, for he had but to tread on them. This final claim, of course, went beyond the facts but was perhaps made in anticipation of a great victory over Tirhakah (cf. v.9).

26–29 The question “Have you not heard?” anticipates the great rhetorical questions of 40:21, 28 and draws attention to Israel’s God. All the great conquests of the Assyrians are to be ascribed to God, whose instruments they were. Many of Isaiah’s oracles up to this point have spoken of judgment on the nations of the Fertile Crescent, including Israel and Judah; and a great many of them were in fact executed through Assyria. Everything had been preordained, and Assyria can boast of nothing. Without doubt the conquests of this nation were devastating. There was a ferocity and ruthlessness that the eastern Mediterranean had never seen before, and which has probably not been surpassed since, at least on the grand scale.

God knows all there is to know about the Assyrians, and Isaiah expresses this in language that had become standard (cf. Dt 28:6; Ps 121:8; et al.). The Assyrians often treated their prisoners like animals, with the use of the rope and the nose-hook. God would do the same.

30–32 Though Scripture does not encourage us to ask for signs, God’s word is sometimes followed by a given sign (e.g., 1Sa 10:1–7). The Assyrian occupation of Judah had devastated its fields (1:7–8), and it would take years to recover. If this oracle was given at the close of one season, that just about to start would probably not be normal, for the people would have building as well as agricultural tasks to perform (32:13–14). The prophecy is therefore consistent with the departure of the Assyrians.

In characteristic fashion Isaiah moves from the literal to the figurative. The remnant is pictured as a vine or fruit tree. This prophecy relates specifically to the deliverance from Sennacherib. God underlines this prophecy and the certainty of its fulfillment in a most impressive manner. The word and sign become a threefold cord when the great affirmation that ends this oracle is spoken. This puts this prophecy on a par with the great messianic oracle of ch. 9, which also closes in the same way (9:7). In fact, the two are linked, for it was of David’s line (represented now by Hezekiah) that the Messiah would come and on David’s throne (in threatened Jerusalem) that he would reign.

33–35 This brief oracle puts the matter clearly and painfully. Far from entering Jerusalem, the Assyrian king would not even subject it to a normal siege. Sennacherib himself said in his famous “Sennacherib Cylinder” (see picture of this cylinder at Isaiah 33) that he shut up Hezekiah in the city like a caged bird. The phrase “for my sake” shows that the Lord answers prayer, and the phrase that follows it shows that he keeps his promises (cf. 2Sa 7).

36–37 “Went out” is often used of going forward to battle. “The angel of the LORD” is a divine figure, at once distinguished from God and yet identified with him. Herodotus, the Greek historian, records that one night Sennacherib’s army camp was infested by mice (or rats) that destroyed the arrows and shield-thongs of the soldiers. The rat, quite appropriately, symbolized plague (cf. 1Sa 6:4), which could well have been the means used by the angel of the Lord. The unexpected and shocking carnage seen by the living next morning is most vividly described.

38 An interval of twenty years passes, but we get the impression that Sennacherib’s death is a further manifestation of divine judgment. His death at the hands of his own progeny is confirmed from Assyrian sources. His death when at worship in a pagan shrine should be seen as further evidence of the main thesis of these two chapters, that the God of Israel is the living and true God while all other deities are powerless.

B. Hezekiah’s Illness (38:1–22)

1 The phrase “in those days” is similar to 39:1. In fact, all these events probably occurred within about two years. Thus the time reference is to be taken generally. The nature of Hezekiah’s illness is not mentioned, nor is it stated that it is punishment for sin. God’s command suggests that Hezekiah had a duty to his family and kingdom to arrange their future administration.

2–3 Hezekiah’s prayer may have been a direct result of putting his house in order, or at least this may have intensified it; for, as a comparison of v.5 with 2Ki 21:1 shows, he would have been without heir if he had died within three years. He probably turned to the wall to shut out the faces of others while he prayed. Second Kings 18:5–6 confirms Hezekiah’s statements about himself and shows that his manner of life was grounded in faith in God.

4–6 God’s description of himself as “the God of your father David” implies that he keeps faith with his word, especially his promises to David in 2Sa 7. God is even more concerned about the continuance of David’s dynasty than Hezekiah is.

7–8 Here is another sign of messianic significance (cf. 7:10–17), for Hezekiah’s dynasty was the line of the Messiah. The sun had been about to set on the life of Hezekiah but now it would return somewhat, prolonging the day. Attempts to explain this scientifically or to relate it to some calendrical adjustment have not been convincing. It is best to admit that we do not yet know the explanation but to accept this Scriptural testimony to the fact that a miracle took place.

9–14 Verses 10–14 are retrospective, the king recalling his thoughts during his illness by the device of self-quotation. Verse 10 assumes that a person can normally look forward to a certain probable life span. The reference to “gates of death” conveys an image of Sheol (“death”; GK 8619) as a city of the dead. To “see the LORD” probably refers to appearing in his presence in the temple. The king shows a right sense of priorities when he places this before the continuance of human fellowship. After the tent illustration, he alludes to the weaver rolling up and cutting a finished length of cloth from his loom. The recurrent statement “day to night” conveys the same idea of suddenness—in the morning perfect health, in the evening, death. Verse 13 seems to refer to a night spent in prayer, only to be ended in the morning when God suddenly falls on Hezekiah like a lion. The varied cries of Palestine’s birds express the varied nature of Hezekiah’s many cries to God, now quiet, now shrill, now mournful. The reference to Hezekiah’s eyes conveys a picture of concentrated appeal to God and to him alone.

15–20 At this point the tone of the psalm changes dramatically. The opening question implies that the king feels that no words of his can do justice to his sense of gratitude to God for his great deliverance. The king has learned humility from this experience, for through it he has come to recognize that someone else controls the course of his life and the day of his death. The words “by such things men live” probably refer to the words and deeds of God mentioned in v.15. God the Creator is also God the Healer. The “benefit” of v.17 is his new understanding of God’s gracious, forgiving love, expressed in his deliverance from death.

Verse 18 reflects Hezekiah’s sense of forgiveness of sins. The deeper significance of death cries out for the forgiveness of sin, which Hezekiah has himself now experienced. His restoration to health has this as its crowning blessing: he can give thanks to God. Rendered literally, v.19b says, “Father tells children about your faithfulness.” If he is speaking in anticipation about his literal children rather than Israel as the children of God, this strengthens the view that part of Hezekiah’s concern lay in his lack of a son at that time to succeed him. Verse 20 reminds us that Hezekiah encouraged the singing of the songs of David and Asaph in the temple worship (2Ch 29:25–30; cf. Rev 5:9–10).

21–22 These verses occur in 2Ki 20 immediately after the promise that the city would be delivered from the king of Assyria. The words of Isaiah and Hezekiah may have been recorded here to satisfy the reader’s natural queries about the means of healing and the reason for the sign. Hezekiah is not criticized for asking for a sign. After all, Isaiah’s two prophecies in v.1 and v.5 may have puzzled him by their contradictoriness. He sought not so much confirmation as clarification.

C. Envoys From and Exile to Babylonia (39:1–8)

This brief chapter sets the scene for the chapters that follow (chs. 40–66). These chapters—enigmatic prior to the reference to Babylon in ch. 43 and perhaps even before the dramatic mention of Cyrus at the close of ch. 44—become clear as to setting when seen to presuppose the fulfillment of the prophecy given in this chapter, which therefore fulfills an indispensable function.

1–2 Merodach-Baladan, known to secular history as Marduk-aplu-idinna, was king of Babylon 721–709 B.C. and again for nine months in 703 B.C. (see ZPEB, 4:191–92). Babylon had known years of greatness in the past and was to be great again. Merodach-Baladan’s brief success in throwing off the Assyrian yoke was an earnest of this. There was, of course, a political motive for sending a deputation to Hezekiah. It could have taken place during the closing years of his first period of rule; but, in view of the time references in 38:1 and here, more likely it was in 703, two years before Jerusalem was delivered from Sennacherib.

The envoys were taken on a grand tour of the palace and the kingdom. Hezekiah’s glad reception of them may have been due to a desire to be involved in concerted action against Assyria, and the display of his wealth would show he had something to offer as a potential ally.

3–4 Isaiah’s inquiry may have been preliminary to the coming of a message from God to him, so that he would himself understand its significance. More likely its purpose was to emphasize to the king the reason for the prophecy. Hezekiah’s conduct had been unbelieving, and there may have been pride in it also. These were the two sins most often condemned by the prophet.

5 -7 “The LORD Almighty,” the title of God used by Isaiah in v.5, lays emphasis on the infinite resources used by the Lord in his acts of power. Hezekiah’s own resources may have seemed great to him, but those of the Lord were far greater; and they would be used in judgment against Hezekiah’s people through the Babylonians. The reference to his “fathers” was perhaps a rebuke to his lack of a sense of stewardship. Through his folly, what his predecessors had gathered would be lost. Furthermore, his descendants would suffer in the judgment to come. It was not until Jeremiah’s day that Judah’s dynasty was to take its history of sin beyond the point of no return. Yet even in the midst of this declaration of a coming judgment, there may have been a hint of a continuing purpose of grace. Almost certainly Hezekiah did not have a son at this time to succeed him. The phrase “some of your descendants” would leave room for hope.

8 Hezekiah’s acknowledgment that God’s word was good probably includes a recognition that the judgment was appropriate—because deserved—and that it was not altogether unmixed with grace. His final statement was not selfish and unfeeling; more likely, it was a thankful recognition that God had not dealt with him personally to the measure of what he deserved.

VII. The Sole Sovereignty and Sure Promises of the Lord (40:1–48:22)

To move from ch. 39 to ch. 40 is to enter a part of the book (chs. 40–66) that has produced more scholarly literature than any other part of the OT. The number of different views as to authorship, structure, and other related matters is bewildering; and the debate as to the nature of the Servant Songs (see comments at 42:1–4) and the identity of the servant shows no sign of abating. The view taken here is that the whole book is the work of Isaiah of Jerusalem and that chs. 40–66 consist of oracles given to him by the Spirit of inspiration, thus enabling Isaiah to live in spirit in a future day, so that he might be the vehicle of God’s message to the people of that day.

A. Good News for Jerusalem (40:1–11)

This passage sets the mood for chs. 40–48. The prophet responds to the command of God to bring a message of comfort to his people.

1–2 Such a command must have been a great joy to hear, for the prophet had been fulfilling such a discouraging commission as given in 6:9–13. Imperative or vocatival repetition is a characteristic of emotional speech and occurs frequently in Isaiah. The phrase “my people” itself suggests either comfort or rebuke rather than a message of judgment. In close connection with “your God,” as here, it is really a covenant term.

Jerusalem is addressed, for God’s saving deeds in Babylon were to make possible a new Jerusalem that would emerge from the ashes of the old. The “hard service” is the Babylonian exile. “Double” appears to be hyperbole used to impress on the people that the chastisement of the exile was really over.

3–5 Like other prophets, Isaiah was given visions (1:1), but he also heard words. An unidentified voice calls. John the Baptist, to whom the words are applied in the NT, was prepared to be such an unidentified voice (Jn 1:19–23). Isaiah 35:8–10 had spoken of a highway for the returning exiles, implying perhaps that it would traverse the desert (35:1). This is made clear now; and, because it represents God’s purpose for his people, it is called his highway.

“Prepare” (GK 7155) introduces the idea of the removal of obstructions. The whole concept is figurative, declaring in dramatic fashion that the Lord will let nothing stand in the way of the exiles’ return. Coming back often has dual significance in Isaiah, combining the physical and the spiritual (see 7:3). John the Baptist’s call to repentance does not settle the matter, for the NT fulfillment of an OT passage often moves the concept from the physical to the spiritual. It seems best to consider it physical here but with possible spiritual overtones. What is in prospect is an amazing new revelation of the glory of the Lord, not now for Israel only (as in her temple), but for all humanity (cf. 60:1–3).

6–8 The prophet hears a voice again; and, in response to his request, he hears the message he is to give. The self-sufficient do not respond eagerly to good news from God. The Exile itself must have made the people aware of their frailty. God is the only enduring reality in a constantly changing world, and he has himself designed it so. The following chapters lay great stress on the enduring word of God.

9–11 Zion is the first to hear the good news of her God’s return and is commanded to climb, like a herald, to some elevated place to proclaim the news to her satellite towns (cf. Ac 1:8, “all Judea”). From vv.3–8 the reader has anticipated the coming of the Lord; and he is now described, with the reiterated call to attention—“see.” There is a perfect balance of strength and tenderness here. “His arm” suggests his power manifested in the Exodus (Dt 4:34), appropriate in relation to a return from exile and due to be most wonderfully expounded later (see 53:1).

“His reward” and “his recompense,” Whybray suggests, perhaps refer to the spoils of victory, in this case the rescued exiles, who are in a sense God’s “captives.” All this power is employed with great tenderness on behalf of his people, leading them back from Babylon to the fold in Jerusalem. “Sovereign LORD” in v.10 underscores the idea of a strong and tender Shepherd-King.

As people in ancient times traversed the desert (cf. 40:3), camels were often used for riding and for bearing burdens.

B. God the Incomparable (40:12–31)

These verses develop the “Here is your God!” in v.9 and describe more fully the all-powerful yet tender Shepherd-King.

12–17 The use of the magnificent anthropomorphisms in v.12 is so natural after the picture of God as a shepherd (v.11). These do not reduce God to a human level but simply give vividness to the theological truth of his personality.

“Mind” (GK 8120) can also be translated “Spirit” (see NIV note). This passage is about God’s creative power, and Ge 1:2 gives the Spirit a place in this work.

Near Eastern marketplace commerce would take no account of the minute water drop in the measuring bucket or a little dust on the scales when meat or fruit was weighed. This passage implies the consummate ease of the Lord’s control of history as well as of nature. He had given a sacrificial system but was not, like Babylonia’s deities, tied to it, for the most impressive forest land known to the Near East was quite inadequate to furnish fuel or sacrificial animals for a worthy offering to him.

18–20 The reference to animal sacrifice—visible offerings made to an invisible God—leads Isaiah to speak of the spectacular folly of idolatry. Later (see esp. 44:12–20) he stresses the selection of the best materials and the finest human skills; but there is a touch of prophetic irony about the stated purpose of all this: “to set up an idol that will not topple.”

21–24 God is like a father here, gently yet firmly chiding his children for their failure to see the relevance to their situation of God’s disclosure in history and nature of the fact that he is sovereign. He is supreme over all; he utilizes the majestic heavens he has created to suggest, through their overarching form, that the universe is a home for him; and he allows no one to further his ambitions without limit. His absolute control over all human life is quite unchallenged.

25–26 Verses 18–20 had contrasted God with the idols that were all too common in Babylonia. Now the same question introduces an implicit contrast with the astral deities that dominated their religion. This passage asserts that, far from being deities in their own right, the heavenly bodies have simply been created by the one Creator-God, who is also Israel’s “Holy One.” He orders their pattern, knows each in its distinctiveness, and upholds them all in their being (cf. Col 1:17; Heb 1:3).

27–31 The prophet’s majestic view of God, stemming in part from the inaugural vision of ch. 6, is now brought to bear on the people’s despondency. The name “Jacob” suggests the unworthiness of the chosen people but also brings to mind the ancestor’s experience in the story of his descendants (cf. Mal 3:6); for Jacob too had been in exile in Mesopotamia as a result of his own folly. As God had said to Jacob (Ge 31:13), so he was now telling his progeny: Return to the Land of Promise. The language used here suggests that the people were bringing God down to their own level, thinking him either forgetful or tired—perhaps because their long history of folly seemed to be never-ending.

The closing verses assert that the God who upholds the stars (v.26) also supports his weary people. Those who found the journey to Jerusalem from other parts of the land tiring were given strength for it by God (Ps 84:5, 7). The people in Babylon could exchange their little strength for his omnipotence. The verb “renew” (GK 2736) suggests an exchange of strength. The threefold description in v.31 forms a climax, not its opposite; for the exceptional flying and the occasional running do not require, as does the constant walking, an ever-flowing stream of grace.

C. God the Lord of History for His People (41:1–29)

1 Most commentators dub this the beginning of a trial-speech, in which—as in 1:2—the scene is a courtroom. In his dealings with us, God sustains a multiplicity of legal roles; he is plaintiff, injured party, judge, lawgiver, and creator, each role finding its place within his many-sided relationship with sinners. In ch. 40, Isaiah spoke of God in the third person; here God himself speaks.

Although this verse is an address to the nations, the message of the chapter is intended for Israel. The discomfiture of the nations and the demonstration that their gods are impotent are intended to encourage God’s people to trust in him. The repetition of “renew their strength” (cf. 40:31) may well be ironic. As the exiles renew their strength in the true God, so the nations are ironically exhorted to do the same—but in their man-made deities!

2–4 The Lord directs attention to himself as the true author of great historical events. But who is the mysterious “one from the east”? Most commentators have taken this and v.25 to be references to Cyrus, who is dramatically named at the close of ch. 44. If this prophecy comes from Isaiah of Jerusalem and not from an unknown prophet of the Exile, and if (see comments on 44:24–28) the revelation of the name of Cyrus is a moment of great prophetic drama, then we should expect some material at an earlier stage to stimulate the expectations of the reader. The references here and in v.25 are fully appropriate when applied to Cyrus. Every historical conqueror raised up by God is, despite his faults, a faint shadow of the great ultimate Victor, God’s Messiah; and in him Israel is triumphant and her kingdom enlarged (9:2–7).

Cyrus, king of Persia, crossed the Tigris from the east and so entered the Babylonian Empire. He marched swiftly and victoriously against Croesus, king of Lydia, and took his capital, Sardis, in western Asia Minor, having already subdued the Medes in the north (cf. v.25). He could therefore be described as being both from the east and from the north. The references to “dust” and “chaff” recall 17:13; 29:5; and 40:24. In fact, this reference to Cyrus is an example of the general principle stated in 40:23–24. The conquests of Cyrus took him into areas quite unfamiliar to the people of his land (v.3). The past tenses of these verses should be interpreted as prophetic perfects, describing with vividness what is yet to be. The great conqueror does not hold the center of the prophetic stage for long, for he exists only to exalt the name of the Lord. Verse 4 declares the absolute sovereignty of God over history—from its beginning, through all its generations, and to its end. No wonder he can predict and raise up Cyrus!

5–7 Places remote from Cyrus’s route get to hear of what he has done. These verses contain clear allusions to 40:18–20. In the cooperative effort of idol-making, the terrified peoples try to find strength. The atmosphere of panic in v.5 seems to disappear, for the more gods, the more security—or so they think; but v.29 shows how vain is such trust.

8–10 In Cyrus’s day the people of Israel would be in exile in Babylon, itself under threat and eventually to fall to Cyrus. The remote islands may have been feeling fear (v.5), but these verses are God’s answer to his people’s fears.

Verses 8–10 describe Israel in several encouraging ways. The name “Israel” suggests what God is determined to make of his people (Ge 32:28), while the name “Jacob” indicates that God loves them and has chosen them despite their demerit. Taking them “from the ends of the earth” is hyperbole that stresses the distance of Abraham’s journey from Ur to Canaan. God chose his people for a purpose of service; thus they cannot perish without that purpose being fulfilled. These people are loved for the sake of beloved Abraham (cf. Dt 7:7–8), to whom God gave great promises (Ge 12:1–3; 17:1–8; et al.). The strength already promised (40:31) would indeed be given to them. The threefold affirmation of strength (v.10) comes to its consummation in a reference to the “righteous right hand” of God, a reminder of the tender strength of the Shepherd-King in 40:9–11.

11–16 Those who are put to shame sometimes do not feel it as they ought, because of moral insensitivity. The call to leave their fear (cf. vv.8–10) comes yet again, with encouragements to trust in their God. The assertion “I am the LORD, your God” is a reminder of the opening of the Decalogue (Ex 20:2) and so suggests a new Exodus. This is reinforced by the use of “Redeemer” (cf. Ex 6:6; 15:13) and made even more emphatic by the phrase “the Holy One of Israel,” which stresses God’s special relationship with Israel as well as his own distinctive nature.

The description of Israel in v.14 represents the people’s self-valuation, while v.15 shows what God’s amazing purpose will make them (cf. 2Co 2:16; 3:5–6). Threshing with a heavy wooden sledge was preliminary to winnowing, which was carried out on hilltops where the wind could carry away the chaff. The hills are not now the location of the threshing floor but are themselves threshed! In this way the prophet stresses the powerful instrument God would make of this apparently insignificant people. Every hindrance to God’s ultimate purposes in the international scene is overcome through a judgment executed through Israel.

17–20 The provision here described is an answer to prayer. The need for water dominates the passage (cf. 32:6–7). Through the difficult conditions that would beset the returning exiles, God expresses his total provision for their deepest needs. In the most unlikely places, plentiful supplies will be found, making the whole environment fertile and beautiful. God would supply all that his people needed by his power and grace.

21–24 The trial scene of v.1 resumes; but it is now the gods of the nations, not the nations themselves, who are called on for evidence. The concept of deity is, in some ways, simple, combining superhuman power and the claim to human worship. It has many implications, however, and ability to predict is one of these. This is the basis of the argument here. If the gods of Babylonia and other nations have objective reality as deities, they should be able to predict the future and also to so interpret history that past and future are seen to be linked in one divinely controlled plan. If prediction is beyond them, let them produce at least some evidence that they exist! They cannot respond; they and their worshipers are beneath contempt.

25–29 Cyrus was to emerge on the international scene at least a century and a half later. Here then is evidence indeed that what the gods of paganism could not do, the God of Israel could and did do. Here is prediction indeed! North and east (“the rising sun”) are combined, for, considered from the standpoint of Palestine, Cyrus originated in the east and carried out major conquests in the north. The Babylonian idols might have been expected to predict Cyrus’s coming, for his activities would greatly concern the people who worshiped them; but they were silent.

The prophet presses home his point with quite exceptional emphasis, for vv.26–29 are given over entirely to different ways of underlining the great contrast between the true God who predicts and the false gods who cannot. The coming of Cyrus was, of course, a message of good tidings for Israel (cf. 40:9), because through him would come the release of the exiles.

D. The Lord’s Servant—the Perfect and the Defective (42:1–25)

In this part of the book, it is not easy, or perhaps even appropriate, to distinguish separate oracles. Certainly this whole chapter exhibits a point of unity in the servant theme.

1–4 The term “Servant Songs” is something of a misnomer, for there is no evidence they were ever sung. Through the prophetic word the reader’s eye is directed away from the pagan gods to God’s servant (cf. 41:8–10), in whom the servant mission of Israel finds perfect expression. There can be little doubt that we are intended initially to identify the servant with Israel, that we might be gently led to him who is the incarnation of God’s mind for Israel (cf. Mt 12:15–21).

The words “in whom I delight” immediately suggest that the servant is either Israel idealized or Israel represented by the ideal Israelite (cf. Mt 3:17). If the baptism of Jesus was his official initiation into the messianic office, with the descent of the Spirit representing his anointing for the work, the present passage too presents Jesus’ ministry in prospect from the perspective of his baptismal inauguration. There are, however, more personal links with the earlier messianic prophecies, in which the king, anointed by the Spirit, promotes justice (cf. 11:1–5; 32:1). Verses 1 and 4 suggest that even if we cannot completely identify the servant with a king, there is a regal aspect to his work.

Already the element of suffering in the servant’s experience, which finds fuller and fuller expression until it achieves dominance in the fourth song (52:13–53:12), is gently suggested in v.4. Others, faced with what he would have to experience, would falter; but his faithfulness sustains him in the pathway of obedient service.

5–7 Just as Ps 2 presents the divine address to the messianic King or to Israel’s king as foreshadowing him, almost certainly in the context of his kingly enthronement, so here, with the ministry of the servant in prospect, God assures him of divine support in the execution of his mission. As Genesis sets redemption in a context of creation, so the picture of God as Creator and Lord (cf. ch. 40) is summarily expressed here. His relationship to the universe is suggestive of almighty power. This power is now channeled for the support of his servant in the doing of his will. If we interpret this passage in terms of its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, then it was through his earthly ministry with its climax in death that he was “made” a covenant and a light, just as through his sufferings he was perfected in experience for his priestly work (Heb 5:4–10).

Verse 6, with its reference to “a covenant for the people,” makes us aware that the servant cannot be simply identified with Israel. He at least represents a group within it, perhaps the faithful remnant, if not an individual. Thus the reader is being gradually educated as to the identity of the true Servant of God. The “covenant for the people” implies a structured relationship between God and those already possessing his revelation, while “a light for the Gentiles” suggests the widening of the scope of this revelation. The covenant reference may be to the new covenant (Jer 31:31–34), presumably confirming the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Ge 12:1–3; et al.).

Verse 7 can apply both to the people and the Gentiles, but in fact it looks like an exposition of the light-imparting work of the servant. Ancient Near-Eastern prisons were extremely dark; but this verse teaches that the servant gives liberty as well as light (cf. 61:1–2). Freeing captives suggests the conquest of the captors and so kingship, while the opening of blind eyes and the enlightenment of the Gentiles introduce a prophetic feature into the work of this Spirit-anointed Servant of God.

8–9 The great assertion “I am the LORD” recalls 41:13 and so makes another link between the servant and Israel. Therefore, although the servant may not simply be Israel, he is closely associated with that people. God acts in the servant’s work for his own glory. That work does not detract from his unique glory but rather ministers to it. “The former things” refers either to earlier prophecies given through Isaiah and already fulfilled or to the entire Israelite prophetic movement and its already fulfilled predictions. The point is that the God who has already proved his word true is able to make known new things. Perhaps he is speaking here of the predicted work of the Servant.

10–13 If we take this chapter as a unity, it is natural to see the chief cause of praise to be the work of the Servant. If his ministry is to reach to the islands of the sea, then it is not surprising that the whole earth joins in the song. The sea and the desert probably find special mention because they are great areas with few people. Even in such places there are islands and oases, and the people who live there are encouraged to join the universal song of praise. The Bedouin, represented by Kedar, and the inhabitants of rocky Sela will also be involved in this vocal worship. Even from the mountaintops, where perhaps only a wandering shepherd is to be found, singing voices are to be heard.

The song is a new one. Before there can be a new, however, there must be an old, and v.13 (recalling perhaps Ex 15:3–12) suggests that the old song was sung by Israel at its release from Egyptian bondage. If the song is occasioned by the work of the Servant, then he is to achieve a new Exodus, a great victory over the enemies of God. What an amazing paradox, when the gentleness of the Servant (vv.2–3) is pondered! This paradox is even more strikingly expressed in Isa 53:1, for “the arm of the LORD” denotes power (cf. also 52:13; 53:12). The nature of the enemies is not indicated here.

14–17 God presents himself as a pregnant woman. The long period of gestation—perhaps representing the Babylonian exile—is over; and God, who has seemed inactive, will be at pains to bring forth his people.

Verse 15 means that the Lord will remove obstacles to his people’s deliverance (cf. 40:3–4), and the reference to the drying up of the waters may be an intentional allusion to the Exodus. The unfamiliar paths recall Abraham, who went out (from Babylonia) not knowing where God would take him (cf. Heb 11:8–9). Both the Gentiles and the Israelites need light from God. People worship idols because they promise more immediate satisfaction than does the worship of an unseen God. But here all such apparent promise that cannot in fact produce results will retreat before the deliverance effected by the true God.

18–20 This passage, depicting Israel as blind and deaf in her sin, stands in stark contrast to vv.1–7, where the perfect Servant of the Lord is depicted. Clearly we have been brought back with a jolt from the future’s perfection to the present’s lamentable failure. A blind and deaf person can hardly function as a servant. Verse 20 makes it clear that this condition is culpable; the faculties are in fact still present, but there is failure to attend. That is, the blindness is of the mind or heart rather than of the eye.

21–25 “Law” (GK 9368) here probably means “teaching” and includes the prophetic word. Whether Israel, as God’s now useless servant, hears that word or not, God has determined to magnify it. By contrast, Israel in Babylon is anything but great and glorious. Her lot is a sorry one. Not only have the people been plundered, but they are themselves plunder for their enemies. In the perspective of history, the words “with no one to say, ‘Send them back’ ” remind us that before long Cyrus would say just that.

Israel had failed to learn the spiritual and moral lessons of the Exile, tracing the calamity of it to their own rebellion against God. Herein lay their obtuseness. The occurrence of “we” in v.24 shows that the prophet himself has spiritual perception and moral sensitivity even if they have not. In this way he anticipates in his own person the Servant of the Lord whom he has so beautifully portrayed at the start of the chapter.

E. Grace Abounding and Despised (43:1–28)

This whole chapter expounds the redemptive grace of the Lord toward his people, grace that is highlighted at the end by reference to the people’s sin.

1–7 The words “but now” link this chapter with ch. 42, where the prophet declared the consequences of Israel’s refusal to obey the law of their God. Here Isaiah declares they will experience God as their Redeemer (cf. 44:1). The names “Jacob” and “Israel” together suggest God’s grace to an unworthy people and his great purpose for them. His names and titles are reassuring, for those in v.3 imply a special relationship between God and his people, while his activities on their behalf—such as creation (out of “nothing” in Egypt), redemption, and protection—demonstrate his loving concern.

God promises his people that he will gather them from every quarter, the passage making many allusions to the Exodus. The waters and the rivers look back to the Red Sea and the Jordan, and the fire perhaps points to Da 3. The nation’s preciousness to him suggests a filial relationship, which becomes individualized in v.7. As the firstborn of Israel were ransomed by substitution at the Passover (Ex 13:14–16), so God would ransom Israel as his own firstborn (Ex 4:22–23). The statement “I am the LORD, your God” (v.3) recalls Ex 20, where the divine description is followed by the words “who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex 20:2). So, learning from this significant past event, they could rest in his promise to bring them again into their own land, this time from every point of the globe. Fear is banished as God’s nature, activities, and promises to his people are considered.

8–13 The atmosphere of the prophecy changes from comfort to challenge. Once again we are transported to a courtroom (cf. 1:2; 41:1, 21). Israel and the nations are in court together. What is being examined is the Lord’s claim to uniqueness, to sole deity. First of all, only he can foretell. He alone is divine; this always has been and always will be the truth. From his dealings with Israel in the past—as Revealer and Savior of his people and Judge of others, at a time (presumably the Exodus) when the people’s trust was in him alone—it is clear that he alone is God and Savior.

Israel appears in these verses as God’s “witnesses” (vv.10, 12). Other nations can give no witness for their own impotent deities, but the Israelites have so much to declare; for the Lord’s wonderful works have been done in their presence and on their behalf. Yet, sadly, though they are God’s chosen servant, they are blind, deaf, and a failure. To make matters worse, their choice by him was with a view to intelligent faith in him, which should have made them most articulate and effective as witnesses for him.

14–15 The comforting tone of the opening verses of this chapter is now resumed, along with some reassuring titles and descriptions of Israel’s Lord. The generalized promise of vv.5–7 gives place to a specific reference to Babylon, the first express mention of it since ch. 39. It is clear that Babylon is to be judged.

16–21 The fundamental principles of the divine activity are changeless, but the outward shape of that activity alters with the changing needs of God’s people. God affirms—in detail and with emphasis on the deadly efficiency of his deeds—that he was the God of the Exodus, but he also asserts the wonderful freshness of his new act in prospect. He had made a way through the waters; now he would make a new way—through the desert! Water, formerly a barrier, would now be a blessing, with God as its source. The abundant provision for people would be enjoyed by the wild creatures also. This would perhaps be a foreshadowing of the regeneration of creation promised in Isa 11:6–9; 65:25.

22–28 Once again the mood changes, and comfort gives place to accusation. The Lord’s past acts of grace should have evoked gratitude from his people, but they have offered him sins instead of sacrifices. Both ritualistic excess of sacrifices (cf. 1:2–17) and shameful neglect of them testify to their deep spiritual malaise.

Both here and in ch. 1 the assurance of forgiveness of sins is given in the context of sacrifice. The ultimate in sacrificial—and therefore priestly—teaching is given in 52:13–53:12, where there is full forgiveness through the Servant’s sacrifice. Much in vv.22–25 recalls ch. 1, esp. the double use of the word “burdened” (GK 6268; see comments on 1:4, 14, 24). The appropriate has been doubly replaced by the unexpected—on God’s side by his incredible grace, and on Israel’s by her unthinkable ingratitude.

Verse 26 evokes memories of 1:18, where the divine urge to forgive is expressed in courtroom language, with a call for settlement of the issue. Here God speaks to establish the guilt of his people, for without a recognition of this they would never come for forgiveness. The first father could be Adam, Abraham, or Jacob; from their beginning and throughout their history the nation has been characterized by sin, even on the part of its spiritual elite. Not only would that elite be disgraced, but the whole people would suffer destruction at God’s hands.

The word “destruction” (v.28; GK 3051) refers to “the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them” (see NIV note and comment on Jos 6:17). In other words, God will treat his people as if they are pagan. Isaiah’s opening vision, however, assured him that even devastating judgment for Israel would leave a remnant in whom God’s purposes would find ultimate fulfillment (cf. 6:11–13).

F. Israel’s Great God and the Folly of Idolatry (44:1–23)

1–5 Once again, as in 43:1, after a strong affirmation of divine judgment, God says, “But now.” The name “Jeshurun” (see Dt 32:15; 33:5, 26), like Israel, provides a contrast in meaning with Jacob (i.e., “Deceiver”), as there can be little doubt that it means “the Upright One.” This fact may suggest that the Jacob-Israel name combination, so common in chs. 41–49, is used to designate the people as sinful and yet as the object of the Lord’s gracious purpose of redemption.

Whybray points out that the promises of abundant rain seem not to refer to miracles that will occur during the journey through the desert but denote the conferring of a blessing. Numerous progeny are often treated in the OT as a sign of God’s blessing (e.g., Ge 15:5; 17:3–5), and spiritual progeny are evidence of God’s blessing on his suffering Servant (53:10).

Isaiah is almost Pauline at this point, for the Gentile converts seem like an (adopted?) extension of the children of Israel. The statement “I will pour out my Spirit” reminds us of Joel 2:29, with its fulfillment at Pentecost and the Gentile evangelization that followed it. Verse 5 probably refers to the mark of a master on the hand of a slave (cf. 49:16).

6–8 The expression “This is what the LORD says” (v.6) is most apt as introducing verses in which God’s perceptive word is proclaimed. Although the Lord is the God of his own special people, he is also sovereign over all history and so holds sole title to the designation “God.” He is incomparable, especially in his power to interpret the past and predict the future. The statement “I established my ancient people,” the phrases “the first” and “long ago” and the use of the title “Rock” from Dt 32 all evoke memories of the Exodus, assuring the people that the first Exodus was the guarantee of the second.

9–20 These verses commence with theological statements (vv.9–11) that introduce the imaginative scene in the idol-maker’s shop. The workers share the worthlessness of their images. They are nothing and must suffer discrediting and judgment. Pagan religions have attempted to provide an intellectual framework and justification for idolatry. Isaiah will have none of this, because he is jealous for the glory of the God of Israel. Whether the medium be iron or wood, the enterprise deserves nothing but ridicule. God-given strength and skill are being misused, and sin has deprived the idolater of any sense of what is fitting. He uses a tree that is dependent on God’s rain for its growth and uses it for two purposes—to make a fire for warmth and a god for worship! Here is the absurdity of idolatry, for sin has blinded the mind. Right from his call Isaiah in ch. 6 was aware of the blinding effects of sin. The words “he feeds on ashes” suggest that the idolater collects the ashes remaining after his fire has burned out—unbelievably foolish!

21–23 The call to “remember” probably embraces both the vast contrast between the true God and the idols and also the earlier reminders of his activity and power to predict revealed in the past history of his people. The promise of forgiveness in 43:25 is repeated, but now the people’s sins are likened to passing phenomena of the sky, blotting out the sun for a while. This does not mean that their sins are not serious, but it does mean that God has determined to forgive them. The command to “return” implies the objectivity of God’s redemptive provision, to which the people are called to react in penitence. This objective work is so wonderful that the whole universe is called on to share their exuberant joy at his redemption. Clearly the glory he displays is the glory of his grace.

G. God’s Actions Through Cyrus (44:24–45:25)

This great passage, with its two explicit references to Cyrus, has attracted much scholarly discussion. Some modern scholars cannot conceive of supernatural predictive prophecy of such detail. Yet it cannot be denied that the context for such predictions is the most appropriate in the whole Bible; for Isa 40–48 says more about the Lord’s power to predict than any other passage.

God assures his people that he plans to rebuild Judah, Jerusalem, and his temple, that this will become possible through the pagan Cyrus, and that the ultimate issue of the divine acts through Cyrus is that people everywhere will acknowledge God’s uniqueness (44:24–45:8). His sovereign choice of such a vehicle is unchallengeable and the coming of Cyrus absolutely certain (45:9–13). God will vindicate Israel as his people in the eyes of pagan peoples subdued by Cyrus (45:14–17). This will herald a final challenge to paganism, the offer of salvation to people everywhere, and the ultimate submission of the whole world to his sovereign rule (45:18–25).

24–28 The assertion “This is what the LORD says” punctuates this section of the prophecy (cf. 45:1, 11, 18). The Lord is first designated as his people’s Redeemer. The phrase “who formed you in the womb” links this passage with 44:1, confirming the integrity of Isa 40–48. The simple yet important affirmation “I am the LORD” recalls Ex 20:2 (cf. 43:11; see comment on 43:1–7).

With a series of prepositional phrases, Isaiah builds a powerful doctrine of the past activities of the God of Israel. He is the sole creator, the sole revealer of the future, and the sole guarantor of a new day for Jerusalem and Judah. The meaning of v.27 is disputed, but it most likely refers to the Exodus.

There have already been allusions to Cyrus (see comments on 41:2–4, 25–29), but his name has been held back for this great moment of poetic and prophetic climax. Only in 1Ki 13:2 do we find anything quite comparable in the OT, though Isa 52:13–53:12 could hardly be made more wonderfully specific if the name Jesus had been mentioned. Only a little less dramatic than the name is the description of Cyrus as “my shepherd,” for this was a pagan foreigner. The term would remind the people of the shepherd role of their own kings, especially David (cf. 2Sa 5:2), and of the description of God in Isa 40:11. The lost sheep were to be rounded up and returned to their true fold in Judah by this foreigner, who would make possible the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple of Israel’s God. This oracle gives the first explicit reference in Isaiah to God’s plans to rebuild the city.

45:1–7 The last five verses of ch. 44, for all their majesty, contain only one main statement: “I am the LORD” (v.24). All else leads into or amplifies this great affirmation. It is repeated in vv.3, 5, and 6. This is surely significant in an address to a pagan king. “His anointed” and “my shepherd” (44:28) explain each other, for both meet in the concept of a divinely chosen and divinely employed king. There is precedent for the divine anointing of a non-Israelite king, though in one passage only (1Ki 19:15–16). Although the living God normally employed Israelites for such purposes, he is sovereign and may use whom he will.

Because in God’s purpose Cyrus functions for Israel, he comes into the good of some of God’s promises to that people. He would enjoy great triumphs over his enemies and would find their fortified cities no obstacle to his advance. The reference to great “riches” could refer to the treasures of Lydia—the riches of whose ruler, Croesus, were proverbial—or to those of Babylon; Cyrus overcame both. That all these victories were for the sake of little Israel is one of the ironies of God’s control of history.

The prophet declares that Cyrus would call on the Lord’s name (41:25) and that God’s support of Cyrus has as its purpose that he might know that Israel’s God is the Lord. Yet twice over it is denied that Cyrus acknowledges him (vv.4–5). In the Cyrus Cylinder (see EBC, 1:238), the king attributes his victories to Marduk, god of Babylon, though in Ezr 1 he is quoted as asserting that the Lord had given him dominion. Clearly Cyrus used the names of deities without any sense of exclusiveness.

The general assertions of absolute monotheism in vv.5–6 are underlined by the specific affirmations of v.7. There are three in all, the first related to the universe, the second to human society, and the third summing up. Genesis seems to imply the creation of darkness as well as light by God (Ge 1:1–5). Although it is said in Genesis that the light is good, there is no suggestion that the darkness is evil, for it too has its function (cf. Ps 104:19–24). The words shalom (GK 8934) and ra‘ (GK 8273), rendered “prosperity” and “disaster,” are, literally, “peace” and “evil” (cf. Am 3:6). So the God who created darkness, which is not itself evil—though it is sometimes used to symbolize it—and who brings disaster as a punishment for sin, is supreme over all.

8 This verse suggests that the prophet had Ge 1 in mind. The heavens and the earth, called on first to witness the rebellion of God’s people (1:2) and then to praise God for redeeming them (44:23), are now addressed in ecstatic apostrophe. The poetic imagination of the prophet sees the processes by which vegetation grows on the earth as symbols of God’s saving work (cf. Heb 6:7). The God of creation and the God of redemption are one.

“Righteousness” and “salvation” are closely linked here. God’s righteous order of the future is to include the manifestation of his salvation. In Pauline theology the righteousness of God is seen in the gospel (cf. Ro 1:16–17; 3:21–22; et al.); for through the bearing of sin by Christ, God’s righteous wrath against sin has been fully manifested and sinners are given, by his grace, a righteous standing with God (Ro 3:25–26).

9–10 The point at issue in the quarrel is probably God’s disclosure to his people that he would deliver them through pagan Cyrus. We cannot accuse God of using inappropriate means to achieve his ends. Isaiah was particularly gifted in portraying sin as ridiculous and illogical, as he does here with the illustrations of the discarded scraps of pottery and the lump of clay in the hands of the potter (cf. Jer 18:1–6). Verse 10 applies ultimately to God the Creator (cf. Ro 9:20–21).

11–13 In v.13 Isaiah again clearly refers to Cyrus (cf. NIV note). “My children” and “the work of my hands” allude to vv.9–10. The coming of Cyrus, though still future, is as certain as the existence of God’s created universe. Not only is Jerusalem to be rebuilt (cf. 44:26–28), but its people will be freed from their exile, and that without any financial inducement to Cyrus.

14 This verse anticipates ch. 60. The people of Egypt, Cush, and Seba are seen here submitting to Israel. Despite their chains, the language suggests the people will voluntarily submit, and that for the best of reasons—recognition of Israel’s God and him alone.

15–17 The startling disclosures just made prompt this prophetic exclamation of wonderment. The conversion of the Gentiles involves the discrediting of idolatry and the salvation and vindication of God’s ancient people. The final phrase of v.17 makes it clear that this is no momentary thing but a permanent vindication of them by their God.

18–19 The introductory “This is what the LORD says” introduces some utterances of grandeur about God himself. He created the universe as an environment for humankind; thus his work is to be discerned in history as well as in nature. Perhaps he does hide himself, for revelation is his sole prerogative; but when he does speak, his word is clear and true, enabling his people to find him.

20–21 After the disclosure about Egypt, Cush, and Seba in v.14, the prophet calls on the remnant of humanity left after all history’s wars and upheavals. There is to be one last challenge to paganism. Only the Lord predicted the coming of Cyrus and the righteous salvation of Israel. He has established forever his claim to be recognized as the only God there is.

22–25 Amazingly, the God whose actions discredit paganism calls the discomfited idolaters, not for the judgment they so richly deserve, but for salvation—if only they will turn to him! God’s great decree has been announced that all humanity will come to acknowledge his sovereignty. All will not be saved, but all must acknowledge the Lord as God alone. Under his ultimate sovereignty there will be both judgment for the rebel and salvation for God’s people (cf. Php 2:10–11).

H. Babylon’s Ineffectual Idols and the Lord Almighty (46:1–13)

1–2 All references so far made in the prophecy to pagan deities or idols have been general. Here, appropriately, where Cyrus and his victories are much in view, Isaiah named the two great gods of Babylon; Bel (also called Marduk) and Nebo, familiar to us from the compound names Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar. In ch. 45 Isaiah declared that every knee will bow to the Lord, and here he pictures the gods of great Babylon stooping low in humiliation. Isaiah applies the imagery of burden-bearing first to the gods of Babylon and then, in vv.3–4, to the Lord. The idols are taken from their places of honor and placed on the backs of animals, bundled off perhaps first in flight and then to captivity. It is true (see at 45:1–7) that Cyrus attributed his victories to Marduk, but there can be little doubt that those who heard of the downfall of Babylon would see in this a colossal defeat for her gods. The tiredness of the animals underscores the impotence of the gods. They have become a liability to both people and animals.

3–4 How different is the Lord’s relationship to his people! His people do not carry him; rather, he bears them. Moreover, he always has done so and always will. The repetition of the fact that he is the God who carries his people gives place suddenly and dramatically to a new fact: he promises to rescue them. The work of Cyrus will be viewed as God’s great work of deliverance.

5–7 The Lord’s uniqueness (cf. 40:18, 25) has been singularly demonstrated in the overthrow of Babylon’s gods. Not in their downfall alone, but at every point in their history, the idols’ paltry character vividly contrasts with the Lord’s unique majesty. The whole process of making idols, from the preparation through the commissioning of the workers and the transportation of the idols to their eventual worship is quite unavailing; for they are powerless to hear, to speak, or to save.

8–13 Isaiah concentrates here largely on consolation and encouragement, but he is a realist, knowing from experience that there was much unbelief among the people. They approached the prophecies of Cyrus and his work with skepticism. The Lord calls them to consider the history of his relationship with them. This illustrates that faith has objective reference and so is a response to revelation, to truth about God declared by God himself. The people’s history had demonstrated his sole deity and especially his power to predict. Isaiah asserts it again: from the east Cyrus will swoop on his victims, as suddenly as the descent of an eagle from the sky. Whether they believe it or not, it will happen; for in this way the Lord will fulfill his saving purpose for Israel. The term “Zion” is a reminder of the promises of 44:26–28.

This small Egyptian god was broken during a Babylonian assault. How weak idols are! Courtesy Ilan Sztulman of the Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations.

I. The Fall of Proud Babylon (47:1–15)

There is a sense of fitness to the downfall of Babylon’s gods being followed immediately by a proclamation of the fall of Babylon herself, for there was solidarity between them.

1–4 The prophet’s inspired imagination continues to overleap the years separating his own day from the close of the Babylonian exile. He addresses the proud capital city with irony as “Virgin Daughter of Babylon.” She is to be dethroned and made to sit in the dust. Three analogies follow one another in swift succession: (1) she is a beggar, sitting in the dust; (2) she is a slave, divesting herself of the gentlewoman’s veil and accepting the hard grind of manual labor; and (3) she is a fugitive, needing to tuck in her skirts to enable her to cross streams. The Lord declares all this to be an expression of his impartial punitive justice, and the prophet follows this by asserting that the judgment is to be understood in the context of his holy and redemptive purpose for Israel.

5–7 The prophet’s interjection in v.4 is parenthetical, for the direct address from God is now resumed. Babylon will go from the blare of world publicity and the glare of the palace lights to the silence of obscurity! Babylon’s dominion was not only over the southern Mesopotamian heartland of her empire but also over many petty kingdoms she had vanquished. The prophecy recognizes that the destruction of Judah and the exile of its people were to be understood as a divine punishment. Babylon, however, went too far, and the condition of the exiles may have worsened toward the close of their captivity. Characteristically, Isaiah underlines not only man’s inhumanity to man, but also pride as a major cause of Babylon’s judgment.

8–11 The accusation of self-sufficient pride already leveled at Babylonia is further expounded. This pleasure-loving lady of leisure will soon find herself a childless widow, her widowhood robbing her of the possibility of further family. Isaiah has already made it plain that sorcery and other ways of trafficking with the forbidden supernatural realm were a cause of God’s judgment on his own people (2:6; 8:19). For the Babylonians, sorcery also induced a mood of complacency, because the people relied on their magicians to predict the coming of the enemy and to defeat him. For them, the intellectual and the magical were intertwined.

12–15 The prophet taunts Babylonia sarcastically. Such a rag bag of spells and magic arts she has accumulated! Could it be that there is an outside chance of success? “Not a hope!” the prophet implies. Then he exhorts the experts with the horoscopes to provide deliverance. Babylonia, with its astral deities, was the natural home of the astrologer and his kin. The prophet identifies for a moment with the people, besieged with advice from such people and yet with no hope of a remedy for future calamity. In v.13 he says, “Let them save you”; and in v.14 he boldly asserts, “They cannot even save themselves.”

The coming of the great judgment is likened to a consuming fire, and the tone of sarcasm returns in the second half of v.14. They should not mistake the meaning. This is fire as an enemy, not as a friend. The whole history of Babylon’s long flirtation with astrology is bluntly dismissed in v.15. All this effort, all this expenditure, and at the end—nothing!

J. Israel’s Stubbornness and God’s Purpose of Grace (48:1–22)

l–6a The call to “listen” introduces God’s charge that his people are stubborn skeptics. They are untrue both to their national names and to their religious profession. The name “Israel” means “he struggles with God” (Ge 32:28 [cf. NIV note]; cf. Ro 9:6) and “Judah” means “praise” (Ge 49:8; cf. Ro 2:28–29). The people were proud too of their citizenship in the place God had set apart for himself (cf. 52:1). God’s own name was used in solemn religious vows and in prayer, not in true faith manifested in righteousness, but in presumptuous reliance on mere profession. Let them recall that he is also the Lord Almighty, implying that he may use this great power to bring judgment on them.

Not only were the people stiff-necked and brazen in their attitude toward God’s word, but they had a chronic tendency to attribute his acts to other gods. The adjectives “wooden” and “metal” reflect the prophet’s contempt for idols (cf. 44:19). Let them admit that he is the God of prophecy and fulfillment and therefore true to his word.

6b–11 From things foretold “long ago,” the divine word proceeds to reveal new things: the work of Cyrus (vv.14–16) and the Servant of the Lord (v.16; 49:1–7). The word “create” (GK 1343), used in Ge 1 of God’s creative word, is used in v.7 to emphasize that what God has declared is as certain as if it is already fulfilled (cf. Heb 1:1).

Israel was rebellious. God did not reveal these things earlier, for he knew how cynically his people would react. Their ears were shut to his glad tidings, while, as Isaiah will show, the Servant’s would be open to accept his destiny of suffering (50:4). They were untrue to their own name, but God would vindicate his own. Rebellious and treacherous they might be, but they would always find him true, upholding the honor of his great name and therefore restraining the full outpouring of his wrath on the people of the promises.

12–16 The renewed call to “listen” apparently underlines the importance of the three great facts here declared. (1) God speaks of himself, his self-existence, his lordship over all history from its beginning to its consummation, and his creation and present control of all that is. (2) He speaks a word about Cyrus, whom he calls “the LORD’s chosen ally.” This makes explicit for the first time that Cyrus’s work would bring down Babylonia (cf. 14:13–23).

(3) Another speaker mysteriously enters the prophecy. Numerous conservative commentators have argued that the new speaker introduced here is in fact God’s Servant, the Servant of the songs. He is clearly not simply the Lord, and the phrase “Sovereign LORD” recurs in 50:4–5, 7, 9, in the context of the third Servant Song. Unlike the first and fourth songs, where it is God who speaks about him, here, as in the second and third, he himself speaks. Perhaps he is introduced here because Cyrus’s work is simply a harbinger of the much greater deliverance he would bring to God’s people (see comment on 53:1).

Grammatically “the Spirit” could be either a second subject (with “LORD”) or a second object (with “me”), but it is almost certainly the latter. The NIV’s rather free rendering is probably intended to leave both options of interpretation open.

17–19 Every sensitive teacher knows the pain of heart that comes when one pours oneself out for one’s students who prove to be unteachable. Israel proved to be like that (cf. v.8); and God expresses his deep concern for them, because they are themselves the losers. The language used does not exclude all possibility of penitent amendment, as if all hope had gone. The similes speak of abundance; and the whole passage stresses the contingent nature of God’s blessings, even some of these that have been the subject of his own promises. Divine grace can, of course, so work within the heart that promises seemingly uncertain of fulfillment are made sure by the regenerative work of the Spirit.

20–22 This most dramatic passage anticipates the call given in 52:11–12. The military-style command is explicit and urgent and is associated with a call to all the earth to praise God for his redeeming grace to Israel. The “shouts of joy” were perfectly natural, as those who have suffered internment in prison camps well know. Verse 21 suddenly moves from the future to the past, for the people’s confidence in God as their Redeemer from Babylonia was to be based on his redeeming love demonstrated at the Exodus and his care of his people during their journey through the desert. In such a context v.22 may seem harsh, but the prophet was a realist, knowing the unbelief with which many of the people would view this vision. Acts of salvation are not for the stubbornly wicked and unbelieving but for those who have faith (cf. Rev 22:14–15).

VIII. The Gospel of the Servant of the Lord (49:1–57:21)

A. The Lord’s Servant and the Restoration of Israel (49:1–26)

This is the second of the so-called Servant Songs, though, as we have suggested at 48:16, this passage is anticipated not only by ch. 42 but also by that verse.

1–7 Although a collective interpretation of this passage is not impossible and is naturally suggested by a consideration of v.3, a straightforward application to Israel is ruled out by vv.5–7. The reader is therefore forced by the material itself to face the question: Who is this?

If the first song can be viewed as contemplating the ministry of Jesus the Servant in prospect from the perspective of his baptism, this second song seems to be looking back on that ministry from its close. The distant nations are to benefit from his work; so he calls them to “listen” (v.1). This harmonizes with the prophetic ministry to which he was predestined (cf. Jer 1:4–5). In v.2 the penetrating character of the Servant’s message is likened to two sharp weapons, and the implications of the second weapon are developed to bring out a further point. Concealment in the quiver suggests an eternal purpose manifest at the appropriate time (cf. 1Pe 1:20).

Isaiah 42:18–20 presents Israel as the deaf and blind servant of the Lord, and 44:21–23 assures us that nevertheless God intends to display his glory in Israel his servant. Here (v.3) that promise is reiterated. Matthew saw Jesus as the expression of God’s mind for Israel (cf. Hos 11:1; Mt 2:15); and the Gospel of John asserts that God’s glory is revealed in him (Jn 1:14; 2:11). Jesus, even more than Nathanael, is “a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false” (Jn 1:47).

The close of the ministry of Jesus saw the great crowds of Galilean days no longer thronging him, the official religious leaders plotting his death, and the disciples forsaking him in the face of danger; but God would reward him (v.4; cf. Heb 12:2).

Verse 5 makes it clear that the Servant is not Israel per se, for he has a ministry to Israel. The people may despise him, but God honors him. Honor is shown in the range of his ministry, for through it he will in fact be brought to great honor before the world’s kings and princes. The initial phrase “and now” suggests the transition from the limited ministry of the Gospels to the more extensive proclamation of his gospel through the apostles in Acts. The words “it is too small a thing” suggest an estimate of his person or of his work or of perhaps both. Israel has light but needs restoration, while the Gentiles need both light and salvation. The church’s mission to the Gentiles is to be viewed in the context of the mission of Jesus himself (cf. Jn 20:21) and is to the uttermost parts of the earth (e.g., Mt 28:19).

Accordingly Paul and Barnabas could apply the words of v.6 to themselves (Ac 13:46–47). The song of Simeon, however, applies this verse to Jesus (Lk 2:32). In other words, we have NT warrant for interpreting this second song both individually and collectively, with the second emerging out of the first.

Verse 7 prepares for the third and fourth songs. The unique servant’s ministry was in fact rejected by the nation (cf. Ro 9–11). Great as he was, he came as a subject of God and of earthly rulers. As a result of his work, the highest of men and women would not only stand in respect and amazement but also would bow low in worship and submission.

8–12 Often in the NT it is said that the Messiah (Christ) rejected and crucified by humanity was raised and vindicated by God (e.g., Ac 2:23). The favor of God to the unique Servant is of course merited, but 2Co 6:2 shows that in Christ we share not only his service but also his acceptance (cf. Eph 1:6).

The background to “the time of my favor” is probably the Year of Jubilee in Lev 25:8–55 (cf. 61:1–2). The context here suggests that part of the Servant’s work is to establish the aspects of the Abrahamic and possibly the Mosaic covenants that relate to the land of Canaan. Children and a land were major blessings of the covenant with Abraham (Ge 12:2–3); the first is mentioned in 48:19 and the second here. The Servant would be a kind of second Joshua (the Hebrew equivalent of “Jesus”). The land would be repopulated by freed captives.

The new conditions of the people are beautifully described. They are first pictured like sheep finding abundant pasture in a formerly barren land. In this land they will find food, water, and shelter. They will be guided by a compassionate shepherd (cf. Ps 23). These verses are echoed and applied to Christ in Rev 7:16–17. The pastoral imagery now disappears and is replaced by assurances of suitable road conditions and of a return from every quarter (cf. 35:8; 40:3–4; et al.).

13–21 The news of deliverance from Babylonia was to be proclaimed with joy to the ends of the earth (48:20); now the heavens and the earth are called to praise the Lord. The note of “comfort” with which ch. 40 opened returns, but now the prophet confronts the people’s discouragement. Verse 14, like 40:9 (cf. 44:26–28), speaks not of Israel but of Zion. At the time of the return from the Exile, the Holy City would be in ruins, its walls reduced to rubble. The Lord assures her that he has not forgotten her. He uses two telling illustrations. Mother love is proverbial in every culture; God’s love for this city and its people went well beyond this (v.15). The walls of Jerusalem would not even exist at the time of the return, but those people had been and were yet to be engraved on the hands of God (v.16).

Zion was to look up to see her restored citizens coming from every quarter (cf. Ge 13:14). God pictures Zion as proudly putting on her citizens, like a bride her jewels. The numbers coming would be so great that the city could not house them all. Zion regarded herself as a widow; but her husband, the Lord, had not forsaken or forgotten her. The children who would one day crowd to her are legitimate children, begotten through a living faith.

22–23 In v.7 the Servant was told that kings and princes would give him respect and submission. His people will also have their share, for not only will the nations rally to God’s banner, tenderly bringing the exiled Israelites with them (cf. 11:10–12), but their exalted monarchs, with all the gentle care of parents, will also do obeisance before them. They will recognize the special place of Israel. God will not fail his people who trust in him (cf. 28:16).

24–26 Echoes of the Exodus constantly appear in this part of Isaiah. The question of v.24 recalls that this is exactly what God did when he delivered his people from Egypt (Ex 12:35–36). Moreover, not only did God make himself known to Israel but also to the Egyptians, and the greater redemption from oppression promised here will also lead to a wider recognition by all peoples of who God is. Verse 26a is a graphic and gruesome way of indicating the utter desperation of the enemies of Israel, overcome with hunger and thirst, in contrast to Israel’s promised condition (vv.9–11).

B. Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience (50:1–11)

Here, as in ch. 42, the true Servant of God appears in a context speaking of rebellious Israel, named also as God’s servant in 42:19. Here, as in 49:3, 6, the Servant is the perfect expression of God’s mind for Israel. The imperfect servant, though not so named, appears in vv.1–3 and 11, and the perfect in vv.4–10.

1–3 The figures of divorce and debt set forth Israel’s conception of the Lord’s relationship to her. Exiled, she assumes that he has cast her off (cf. 40:27); but God her husband (cf. Jer 31:32) has not divorced her nor sold her to pay off his debts; for he, the Creator, has none. The cause of the Exile was simply sin on Israel’s part; and if she returns to God, he will restore her.

Verse 2 rebukes Israel’s unbelief. Through the prophets God called to the people but found no answering response (cf. 48:8). Their unbelief had closed the book of redemptive history to them. The end of this verse refers to the Exodus (cf. Ex 15:16; Dt 26:8; Ps 77:15). “A mere rebuke” suggests how simple an act of deliverance is for him. The argument from history is reinforced from nature, itself affected by the events associated with the Exodus. The judgment on the Nile and the clothing of the sky’s brightness with darkness are fit symbols of God’s power to judge Israel’s enemies.

4–9 Although there is no explicit reference to the Servant here, there are many links with the other songs, as well as to 48:16. This divine title “the Sovereign LORD” also binds this third song together, occurring in four of six verses.

There is a contrast with vv.1–3. Here is response to God’s word (cf. v.2; 42:18–20). The second song stressed the penetrating power of the word that the Servant transmits (49:2), while this one shows its pastoral effectiveness (cf. Isa 40:27–3; Mt 11:28–30). God’s Servant waits on God in the morning watch (cf. Mk 1:35), the word he speaks comes from the God who sent him (cf. Jn 7:16–18).

Israel is rebellious, but God’s Servant is responsive even when a destiny of suffering and shame is the subject of God’s word to him. He does not draw back but “offers” his body to the tormentors. A combination of pain and shame introduces the Servant’s conviction that this disgrace must yield place to a glorious vindication (cf. 52:13; 53:12). His face, cruelly assaulted, will not flinch before suffering (cf. Lk 9:51). Even in this, however, though the individualization reaches a high point, we are reminded of the picture of afflicted Israel in Ps 129. The Servant is the innocent sufferer par eminence.

God helps Israel (43:2, 5; 44:2) and Cyrus (45:1, 5); he will also help his unique Servant (cf. 43:1). The NT emphasizes the vindication by God through the resurrection of the despised and suffering Jesus (Ac 2:23–24; 3:15; et al.). Here in Isaiah there is no indication of the form the divine vindication takes. The setting is clearly forensic, and the trials of Jesus make this peculiarly appropriate. He too could confront his enemies with the challenge, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (Jn 8:46).

10–11 The people who obey identify themselves with the Servant’s own attitude and so express their reverential fear of God. This fear is not one that makes people hide but draws them to God in faith. Verse 10b perhaps calls for repentance, for it speaks of walking in darkness and offers, by implication, light from God through the word of the Servant (cf. Jn 12:44–45). Before the advent of modern science, a source of light was also a source of heat, so the analogy of v.11 develops that which brings v.10 to its close. It reminds us of 1:29–31, teaching that the wicked will be caught in their own trap.

C. Listen! Awake! Depart! (51:1–52:12)

The climax of the servant theme and, indeed, of the Christological theme generally in this book is being prepared for in this passage. The many statements about God and the promises of what he will do, along with allusions to earlier parts of Isaiah, anticipate a great climax.

1–3 The prophet calls for maximum attention, the concentration of both the literal ear and the eye of the imagination (cf. Mk 4:3). His call is to those who fear the Lord (50:10). The people are to reflect on their origins, for this will encourage them as they await his deliverance from Babylonia. The Lord had brought this nation into being from such small beginnings, in fulfillment of his promises; and he is able still to translate his word into events.

God’s promise to Abraham included both a land and a people (cf. Ge 17:1–8). The capital city of that land is now in ruins and its environs a wasteland, but God will comfort her by transforming her land and giving her a voice to praise him. Genesis has been in view in the reference to Abraham and Sarah; and it is again when the prophet alludes to the Garden of Eden.

4–6 The repeated use of “my” presents a vivid impression of the personal activity of God on behalf of his people. The Lord will manifest his own righteousness to those who pursue it. The first Servant Song shows that the Servant is the mediator of this divine justice (42:1). Here we see that the law, justice, righteousness, and salvation are all to be widely disseminated throughout the nations. This combination suggests that there is going to be a thorough reordering of human life on the basis of God’s own character, revealed in his law, expressed in his righteousness, and taking the form of salvation. Salvation and righteousness are closely parallel ideas here, providing a background for the Pauline doctrine of salvation as righteousness (e.g., Ro 1:16–17).

The prophet calls on Israel to consider the universe. The heavens and the earth that seem to be so stable are in fact less enduring than the salvation God has promised (cf. Mk 13:31).

7–8 Isaiah draws a close link between righteousness and the law of God, for the law publishes God’s right way for the human race. The heart is where God’s law should be (cf. Dt 30:14), and the new covenant pledges that it will be written there (Jer 31:31–34). The prophet assumes that the righteous in the land will experience antagonism from the wicked. Like the visible universe, the wicked will perish. The only abiding realities in God’s new order are his own righteousness and salvation.

9–11 Characteristically, prophets stand facing the people, addressing them for God. They must often have prayed, however, for those to whom they were sent (cf. 1Sa 7:8; Am 7:1–6). Here Isaiah prays wonderfully, with great urgency expressed in the threefold cry, “Awake!” The prophet, who had been the inspired channel of the wonderful promises God had given to his people, now cries to God for their fulfillment. A new revelation of the power of his arm had been promised (cf. v.5). This had already been manifested in the destruction of Egypt’s power, for Rahab and the monster are symbols of that land (see comment on 30:7). Here is praying indeed, in which God’s great deeds in the past are made the basis of prayerful confidence in his power to act again for his people. Once before the people had entered the Land of Promise with joy, and so they would again.

12–16 God begins to answer his people’s cry. He rebukes them for their lack of faith. As he had been telling them since ch. 40, he is going to make himself known to them as their Divine Comforter. The repeated “I” heightens the contrast between “the LORD [their] Maker” and the “mortal men” of whom they were afraid (cf. 40:6–8). Presumably the oppressors mentioned here are the Babylonians, though there is of course an important general principle here as well.

The “cowering prisoners” are either the people as a whole or a group of hostages imprisoned as surety of the good behavior of the remainder. If the Exile did become more severe toward its close, v.14 may reflect the fears of the people that death or extreme starvation would overcome them before their release.

Verse 16 is apparently an allusion to the Servant of the Lord, another indication that he is to be found outside the Servant Songs (cf. 48:16). The verse closes with references to God’s creative work, in which he established the cosmos, and that special work he had pledged himself to on Zion’s behalf.

17–20 The repeated “awake” of v.17 must surely be the divine call to Jerusalem that answers the call of the prophet to God (cf. v.9). The illustration of a cup, containing the awful wrath of God and so potent in its effects that those who drink it would be totally overcome by it, is a bold one (cf. Mk 10:38). Such a drunk person is, of course, unable to walk steadily without a guide; Jerusalem’s sons, sharing her drunkenness, lie prostrate in the streets. The “double calamities” remind us of 40:2. The figure of inebriation gives way first to the general (“ruin and destruction”) and then to the specific (“famine and sword,” which probably represents the two calamities intended). God thus metes out his judgment through nature and people.

21–23 The question asked in v.19—“Who can comfort you?”—is answered here. The cup of God’s wrath, justly placed by him in Israel’s hand, is to be removed in mercy and transferred to her oppressors. The barbaric practice referred to in v.23 is well documented in the ancient Near East, especially in Assyrian inscriptions.

52:1–2 The cry “Awake, awake!” addressed first to God (51:9) and then to Jerusalem (51:17), comes again as a clarion call to that city. Babylon is to be debased and Jerusalem exalted. The strength that Jerusalem is to put on is the power of her God. Her garments typify armored might and perhaps priestly beauty, fitting in view of her new God-given holiness, having now a reality formerly lacking (cf. 48:2). The exclusion of the uncircumcised and the defiled should not be read as the product of a harsh nationalism but as a reminder that the alien had so often entered Jerusalem either to conquer or to pollute its worship or both (cf. Ps 79:1). Verse 2 especially reminds us of ch. 47; instead of Babylon, Zion is now to be enthroned in queenly splendor, a gloriously free city.

3–6 Verse 3 preserves in brief compass three important truths. Jerusalem was, in fact, handed over to Babylonia by God himself—as a punishment, of course. Yet those who were given to her paid nothing and so were owed nothing. Thus God would act again, but this time in redemption. So the word “redeemed,” normally implying cost, does not have this connotation here.

Verse 4 traces a history of oppression and a sequence of oppressors, with v.5 showing that Babylonia is now to be added to Egypt and Assyria. The divine soliloquy in v.5 dramatically presents the question of the appropriate divine action in this new situation faced by his people. All three tyrant nations scoffed at the God of Israel with constant blasphemy. The expression “in that day” (v.6) points to a period in which God will act decisively for his people in vindication of his name. The prediction would be called to mind when it was fulfilled, thus establishing the true and exclusive deity of the God of Israel (cf. 45:21).

7–10 This exultant passage contains echoes of 40:1–11. Here the prophet brings together a number of important themes, virtually identifying peace, salvation, and the kingdom of God, reminding us that Christ’s work secures these and every other blessing for God’s people. How fitting this is just prior to the fourth Servant Song (52:13–53:12), in which the sufferings of God’s Servant are described and their significance expounded!

Verse 9 reminds us that Zion is the ruined city of the future. Faith can claim the promises with joyous songs, rejoicing in God’s comfort and redemption. The reference to God’s “holy arm” takes us back to 51:9, and it is part of God’s answer to his prophet’s prayer. This powerful act of salvation will be as public as the deliverance from Egypt.

11–12 Urgent as the call to “depart” is, the departure from Babylonia will not be a pressured flight, unlike that from Egypt (Ex 12:33, 39). Interestingly, Babylonia is described, not as “here,” but as “there,” indicating that the prophet is in Judah and not Babylonia.

Ceremonial purity is important, especially for the priests who transported the holy temple-vessels (cf. 2Ki 25:14–15; Ezr 1:5–11). It is clear that the purpose of God includes the rebuilding of the temple. The most comforting word comes at the end, for God promises that he will protect this holy procession from both the front and the rear (cf. Ex 13:21–22; 14:19–20).

D. The Man of Sorrows and His Vindication (52:13–53:12)

The interpreter who has meditated on the third Servant Song in 50:4–9 and then moves on to this fourth song feels somewhat as the high priest must have felt when he moved from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement. This “song” is to be seen in its full glory, not only in the light of the NT interpretation of it, but also in terms of the context in which it comes to us. We have already commented (see 51:1–52:12) that this earlier passage anticipates a great climax. It should also be noted that the important phrase “the arm of the LORD” in 53:1 is anticipated in 51:9 and 52:10.

A great deal has been written on the interpretation of the songs in general and the fourth song in particular. Whatever may be said about the earlier songs, we take this one to be understood exclusively in individual terms, fulfilled in Jesus. It is readily granted that the principles of obedience to God’s will whatever the cost, in which the cross is taken up by the disciple of Jesus, apply to individual Christians and to the church as a whole. The atoning significance of the sufferings of the Servant, outlined in this passage, is, however, peculiar to Jesus the unique Servant.

13–15 Once again, as in 42:1, God draws attention to his Servant. The Servant’s wisdom was deeply self-denying, for it meant accepting ends determined by God and willingly shouldering a burden of untold suffering to make them possible. Here God’s wisdom and human wisdom decisively part company. The threefold assertion of the Servant’s exaltation is most emphatic, whether or not we spell it out in terms of resurrection, ascension and session, or second advent. The predicted exaltation is most reassuring as we approach predictions of shame and suffering.

The observers of the Servant have a double experience of astonishment, the first mingled with horror and the second, at least for those responding in faith, with joy. The theme of suffering and subsequent glory is here presented from the standpoint of the impression made on the onlookers. The strong word translated “appalled” (GK 9037) finds its justification in the words that follow, for the sight disclosed is of such exquisite suffering that the Servant’s bodily appearance seems hardly human. We need not assume from this that the experience being described is purely physical, for deep inner experiences of anguish demonstrate their presence by their effects on the face and form of the sufferer.

The word “sprinkle” (GK 5684) has priestly-sacrificial overtones, preparing us for further sacrificial language later in the passage. In common with everything else in these three verses, “sprinkle” relates to the consequences of the Servant’s sufferings rather than to the sufferings themselves. It also relates his sacrificial work to the world in general, not simply to Israel. His exaltation gives him complete supremacy over all; and kings will fall silent in his presence, overawed and eager to see and hear rather than to speak themselves in the presence of such an unprecedented revelation. Notice the striking reversal here of the discouraging words of Isaiah’s commission (6:9–10).

53:1–3 The intimate link between v.1 and the closing verse of ch. 52 can hardly be missed and poses a difficulty for those who divorce the end of ch. 52 from this chapter. The two astonishing events of 52:14–15—the suffering of God’s own wise Servant who deserved none of it and the subsequent elevation of one so dishonored by people—produce incredulity in many who hear the report of these things. God’s way of doing things often does not seem to make sense to human beings (cf. 55:8–9; 1Co 1:18–31). The Cross is, however, where God’s power resides, and here is the ultimate answer to the prophet’s prayer of 51:9, anticipated by its foreshadowing in the new Exodus of 52:10.

Are the speakers in v.1 Gentiles or Israelites (the latter possibly speaking through the prophet as their representative)? The Servant’s work was to have wide-ranging application (cf. 42:6; 49:6). In the context it would seem natural that the nations and kings (52:15), at first struck dumb by the astounding revelation, should then speak in response to it. The “arm of the LORD” is the disclosure of his power. So this revelation answers the prophet’s representative prayer in 51:9.

Verse 2 echoes and contrasts with 4:2. The whole verse suggests that the Servant would be confronted with adverse conditions from his youth. In fact, Jesus could not be explained in terms of his human environment, which in his day was dominated by a legalistic Judaism almost devoid of the refreshing moisture of God’s word truly understood and applied. Verse 2b implies that his true intrinsic beauty was hidden from people because they looked at him entirely from a human standpoint. The principle that human appearance is irrelevant to God’s choice is more radically applied here than in the choice of David (cf. 1Sa 16:5–13). It is possible, however, that these words apply to the Servant’s appearance produced by his sufferings (cf. 52:14).

In v.3 the onlookers move from failure to desire the Servant to despising and rejecting him, refusing even to look at him. The words translated “sorrows” and “suffering” really mean “pains” and “sickness.” These might suggest either a sick person or one sick at heart (Jer 15:18). Another possibility, as Derek Kidner points out, is that of the physician’s voluntary involvement; for he is also a man of pain and sickness in the sense that he gives himself to these things and their relief (cf. Mt 8:17).

There is another possibility. The concept of punishment finds many analogies in Isaiah’s prophecies, from the whipping of the body politic in 1:5–6 to the inebriated helplessness of 51:17–20. In this case the punitive nature of the Servant’s sufferings is indicated before the vicarious nature of them is made clear in v.4.

4–6 This central stanza of the fourth Servant song has a number of general characteristics. The first is the frequency of the first person plural. Who are the speakers here? Probably the amazed onlookers of the first stanza, who appear from 52:15 to be predominantly Gentiles. Then there is the frequency of words suggesting pain and punishment. The passage also emphasizes the sins of the onlookers, with one of the most vivid analogies given in v.6. Here is a picture of the willful and yet purposeless waywardness of sin, with a suggestion that this is an offense against love as well as holiness, for the divine Shepherd is a tender, loving image in the Bible (cf. 40:11).

The costly atonement provides the dominant theme of this stanza. Verse 4a views our punishment figuratively in terms of the visitation of disease, while v.4b shows the onlookers coming to the grievously wrong conclusion that the Servant was suffering for his own sins at the hand of God. Verse 5 shows that they have now accepted for themselves the objective fact declared in v.4a. Piercing and crushing are both appropriate terms for the Crucifixion, the first literal and the second figurative; and both are aptly summed up as “wounds” later in the verse. Peace and healing view sin in terms of the estrangement from God and the marring of sinners themselves that it causes. Verse 6 may well derive its language from the Day of Atonement ritual (cf. Lev 16:21–22); for as God was the Author of the ritual (cf. Lev 17:11), the high priest was simply his agent for transferring the sins of the people symbolically to the scapegoat.

Finally, we should note the element of conversion in vv.4–5. The onlookers put aside their premature judgment on the matter and accept that the sufferings of the Servant are not only penal but also substitutionary.

7–9 The term “oppressed” (GK 5601) was appropriate in relation to the trials and death of Jesus; for all those who tried him had a measure of human authority and misused it when they condemned him, or, washing their hands of him, allowed others to take him to the place of death. In it all, he was quiet and uncomplaining (cf. 1Pe 2:23), which suggests not only comparison but also contrast with Jeremiah (cf. Jer 11:18–20; 12:1–3).

The phrase “by oppression and judgment” is two nouns presenting concomitant aspects of the same fact. The judgment was in fact employed as an instrument of oppression. It seemed as though the Servant must die without descendants, which was regarded as a great misfortune in that society. The phrase “cut off” (GK 1615) strongly suggests not only a violent, premature death but also the just judgment of God (cf. Ge 9:11; Ex 12:15).

Verse 9 presents an enigma, forming a striking prediction fulfilled in due time and a transition to the final stanza, which describes the Servant’s vindication. This enigma consists in the apparent juxtaposition of “the wicked” and “the rich,” the former more appropriate to his rejection and the latter to his ultimate vindication. We are forced to conclude that the parallelism in this verse is not synonymous but antithetical, the first line indicating the human intention in his death and the second the divinely ordained intervention and transference. This in fact was strikingly fulfilled in the burial of Jesus (Mt 27:57–60). The Servant’s gentle ingenuousness is asserted at the close of the stanza.

10–12 Verse 10a is almost shocking in its apparent presentation of arbitrary disregard for personal righteousness, until we recall the substitutionary nature of those sufferings (already declared in vv.4–6 and to be referred to again in v.12b). God is therefore not seen as harsh but as astonishingly gracious.

Verses 10b–11 remind us of 52:14–15; for after suffering comes vindication, suggesting the completion of the Servant’s atoning work in his death and the opening of a new life beyond that death. The “guilt offering” may have special overtones of completeness, for it involved restitution as well as an offering to God. Nothing then remained to be done; the work was complete.

Verse 11a, with its contrast of “suffering” and “light,” points to the Resurrection, which is still more clearly suggested by the earlier words “prolong his days” (v.10). In fact, the words “he will see his offspring and prolong his days” seem to stand in intended contrast with the second and third lines of v.8. There is a parallel here with Ps 22, where a sufferer now vindicated declares, “Posterity will serve him” (Ps 22:30). In this context the Servant appears, not as a teacher, but as a savior.

Not “by his knowledge” does he justify us, but by bearing our iniquities. That is, we are saved by redemptive suffering, not simply by revelation. In this case, then, it is the experimental knowledge of faith that is in view; and we have here an important background for Paul’s doctrine of justification through Christ’s blood, appropriated by faith.

Christ’s righteousness and therefore his innocence of sin furnished a basis for his substitution. The final clause of v.11 states the objective grounds of this justification, which is a new position before God, the righteous Judge, on the basis of what the Servant has achieved in his sufferings, not of what we have ourselves done or will do.

The opening statement of v.12 shows God honoring the Servant for his faithful work and the Servant in turn distributing the spoils of battle to others. In fact, it introduces a new note into the passage, for nowhere else is there military language. Christ’s work is presented as a victory over spiritual foes, resulting in a distribution of spoils to those made strong in him (cf. Eph 4:8; 6:10–17). Some argue that the words “made himself nothing” in Php 2:7 translate a Semitic phrase meaning “he poured himself out” and are based on this verse. Both passages contain the ultimate in self-abnegation in dedication to the will of God.

The last three clauses of v.12 sum up the matter. The Servant was numbered with the transgressors, not only in the outward circumstances of his death (cf. NIV note on Mk 15:27), but as a general description of the meaning of his sufferings (Lk 22:37). Innocent, he was charged with human sins and so bore their penalty. Beyond this, he has an intercessory ministry, based on the finality of his sufferings. This means that even when vindicated by God, he is still concerned to minister to his people.

In 44:28 the name “Cyrus” is solemnly and dramatically revealed long before his coming. Our present passage speaks so eloquently of the work of Christ that even the inclusion of his name could add but little more to the extent of its disclosure of him.

E. God’s Glorious Future for Jerusalem (54:1–17)

The change of mood between Isa 53 and 54 is abrupt. The Servant’s task is seen to be fulfilled. But the incredible triumph of Isa 53:10–12 issues into the hymn of praise in 54:1–10, welcoming the dawn of the New Age.

1–3 The only appropriate response to a great work of God is joyous praise, which is exactly what we find here (cf. 12:5; 26:1; 35:10; 42:10–11; 61:10–11). In the OT culture childlessness was a deeply shameful state. The prophet has already indicated in 50:1–3 that there has been no divorce between God and his people. After the temporary separation of the Exile, Israel would bear more children than in earlier days.

A figure is taken from nomadic life, suggesting that the promises to Abraham and his family (Ge 12:1–3; 28:13–14) are in the prophet’s mind. The family tent must be enlarged and thus will need to be strengthened. The probable allusion to Ge 28 finds confirmation when we find that the verb translated “spread out” (GK 7287) is used there also. The phrase “dispossess the nations” occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Deuteronomy and always in reference to the conquest of Canaan by Israel. This suggests that the primary reference is to the gradual expansion of the little postexilic community in Judea; however, it is possible to interpret it more broadly.

4–8 The figure of the restored wife continues to dominate the passage. People often fear disgrace more than physical danger. The shame of their youth is either Egyptian bondage (cf. Hos 11:1) or, less likely, affliction under the Assyrians; the widowhood is the Exile. In v.5 the prophet encourages them to think of the one who is the husband of his people. No less than six titles and descriptions are brought together here, all building up a picture of a God of immense power and overflowing grace. He is both able and willing to restore them to himself and to their land.

Illustrations have their limitations. God is no more to be thought of as a deserting husband than as an unjust judge (Lk 18:1–8), though both figures teach spiritual lessons. The repeated phrase “for a (brief) moment” contemplates the Exile—which must have seemed so long to the people themselves—as a mere episode in contrast to God’s everlasting kindness.

9–10 Illustrating his theme from both history and nature, Isaiah compares God’s oath to the great postdiluvial promise of Ge 8:22, which itself related to the natural environment of the human race and so suggested the reference to the mountains. Even the visible universe, dominated for the Jews by the hills of their native land, would prove less enduring than God’s love, guaranteed by his word (cf. Mk 13:31). A relationship between persons is given added strength by its formalizing in covenant terms. The beautiful Hebrew word hesed (GK 2876) is here translated as “unfailing love.”

11–15 The expression “covenant of peace” (cf. Eze 34:25–31) in v.10 is expounded here (see esp. v.13). God’s covenant with his people implies that he will protect them, as a husband does his wife. In fact, the marriage analogy is still present; and, as Eaton suggests, the adornment of Zion with jewels may relate to her preparation as a royal bride of the Lord. Certainly Rev 21:10–27 presents the New Jerusalem in the context of v.2.

This covenant of peace may not be identified with the new covenant of Jer 31:31–34, but it has important links with it; for in it the people will know God through his personal instruction. Thus v.13 can be quoted and applied to Christ and his disciples (cf. Jn 6:45). The city that has for so long known iniquity and judgment through enemies whom God visited on her will then be true to its name Jerusalem, a place of peace, resulting from its new righteousness. There is no reference to the Messiah, but the juxtaposition of righteousness and peace reminds us of 9:7; 11:1–9. All this will be under God’s new regime. Yet perfect and effectively protected as the city is, there will still be evil intent on its destruction, suggesting the Satan-inspired antagonism faced by the church.

16–17 In v.15 God promised that he would not send attackers against his people; here he declares that destructive nations are created by him. They are in his power and so are restrained under his sovereign hand. Not only physical assault but moral accusation will be repulsed, for Israel’s righteousness (v.14) is from him. The people then enter their heritage (Dt 4:21). “Servant” (GK 6269) in the singular occurs twenty times from chs. 41–53; but in chs. 54–66, since the supreme Servant and his unique act of divine service have been revealed, and he has made the singular use of the word forever his own, it never occurs again in the singular in this book.

F. The Generosity, Urgency, and Effectiveness of God’s Word of Grace (55:1–13)

1–5 The voice may be that of the Near Eastern water vendor or the accents of personified wisdom (Pr 9:1–6). Either would be appropriate, for Isaiah was a master of illustrations from nature and culture. We may in fact discern overtones of both. The water carrier is also a wise counselor.

The water vendor is part of the normal commercial scene in the Near East; but God through the prophet offers the people in Babylon not only water but more costly drinks and invites them to a banquet (Lk 14:15–24). Verse 2 probably alludes to the people’s preoccupation with settling down in Babylon. As Thexton puts it, “The prophet does not plead or argue but throws into the quiet pool of their complacency a disturbing pebble as he asks: ‘Does all this really satisfy you? Is this what you are for?’ ” He speaks with urgency, “Listen, listen.”

This passage, which constitutes an important link with the promises of a Davidic Messiah given earlier, is quoted by Paul in Ac 13:34 with reference to the resurrection of Christ, through whose risen kingship the promises of this passage receive their eternal and therefore their final fulfillment.

During the reign of David, Israel’s kingdom reached its greatest extent. David, as a faithful worshiper of the Lord, was therefore a witness to God’s truth to all the peoples in his empire, as well as being their leader. He anticipated in himself the prophetic and kingly functions of the Messiah. In God’s future for his people here depicted, the empire will be wider still. The far parts of the earth will come up to Zion (cf. 2:1–5; 60:1–14), because she will attract them by the beauty her God has given her (cf. 54:11–12).

6–7 The call of vv.1–3 is echoed here but with a stronger moral emphasis. Earlier the folly of self-willed waywardness was stressed, while here it is its wickedness. Verse 6 implies both a promise and a warning. There is urgency in this call, for the time is not unlimited. Both in lifestyle and in the attitudes that lie behind it, the sinner is wrong; and so repentance must touch the inner person as well as the outward deeds. The call here is not simply uttered to the people as such but to the individual. The promise of God’s pardon is assured.

8–13 God’s thoughts and ways are governed by righteousness—his righteousness—and his effective word therefore accomplishes a moral purpose, the reclamation of sinners from the error and wickedness of their ways. Verse 10 shows an awareness of the ceaseless round of nature but also of the purpose of it, which was hidden, at least for a time, from the Preacher (Ecc 1:5–7). The whole food-producing process is encapsulated within v.10, only the actual sowing of the seed being excluded (Mk 4:1–20; Heb 6:7–8). The passage teaches the efficacious nature of God’s word and of the grace that works through it.

With God’s conditions of repentance having been fulfilled and the people’s return to the Lord having made possible a return to the land, the prophet can speak of their joyous and peaceful journey. He moves from the literal joy and peace to the metaphorical mountains and hills and then back again to the literal, for v.13 probably refers to the regeneration of the land (though this in turn may symbolize spiritual fruitfulness). All this will serve to bring glory to God.

G. Salvation Extended to the Disadvantaged (56:1–8)

Clearly there is a change in geographical perspective here. The people addressed in chs. 40–55 are being encouraged to return from the Babylonian captivity, whereas in chs. 56–66 they are in the land of Canaan. That land was a place of corruption (56:9–59:15a) and devastation (63:7–64:12), so that neither the moral standards of God nor the great hopes of the people found true realization in it. Everything cried out for something more; and, of course, it was never intended that the great promises given earlier in the book should find perfect fulfillment in the postexilic community but in an altogether new order. They are therefore confronted with their own failures and stimulated afresh both to turn to God and to hope in him.

1–2 Earlier (46:13) God chastised his people for their unbelief and failure to accept his word promising them an imminent salvation. Here, however, their general lifestyle and their failure to keep his law (cf. v.1 with 51:4), symbolized by the Sabbath, are under attack. But righteousness by works is not being taught here. The ideal here presented is negative only if the Sabbath itself is viewed in terms simply of the prohibition of work and not positively, in terms of opportunities of worship and of spiritual, mental, and physical renewal. The negative that brings v.2 to its close is balanced by the positive exhortations in v.1: “Maintain justice and do what is right.” So, from now on, whether one trusts in the Lord or not is a matter for the individual to decide, and the most conspicuous sign of decision is observance of the Sabbath.

3–8 The worship system of Israel was centered in the temple and emphasized the particularism of the Jewish faith. Inevitably some who lived in the land would feel excluded, for passages like Dt 23:1–8 banned eunuchs and some foreigners from participation in the worship system. The prophet has a word of comfort for them, showing that the blessing pronounced in v.2 did not contain built-in racial or physical limitations.

Verse 3 speaks of the proselyte and the eunuch. The prophet engages with the sense of insecurity that must often have plagued proselytes. If even native-born Israelites could still have guilty consciences despite the offering of sacrifices (cf. Heb 9:9), how much more the “incomer”! The eunuch would have felt even more insecure, for his very place in the ongoing life of God’s people was simply an episode. The family had great importance in Israel. A dry tree bears no fruit; a eunuch begets no children.

For each group God has an authoritative word of consolation through the prophet. This word is eschatological and so belongs to the new order of the future. Faithfulness to the Lord—expressed in keeping the Sabbath law—will give the eunuch a secure place in God’s temple. (It should be noted that the Sabbath is treated in Ex 31:12–17 as a sign of the covenant, as here.) We can hardly imagine that the prophet is speaking literally when he refers to a memorial in the temple. There may even be a suggestion of eternal life in the closing affirmation of v.5. The six marks of the foreigner (v.6) provide a beautiful description of true godliness, with love as its great dynamic, the very antithesis of Pharisaic legalism.

In one of Isaiah’s greatest visions (2:1–4), the people of the nations come up to Jerusalem to worship in the house of the Lord. There their eagerness is highlighted, while here it is the divine initiative. The very one whose purpose involves gathering his own scattered people will include the foreigners too in the great pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Court of the Gentiles was a kind of symbol and foreshadowing of this, and it is from this that Christ expelled the traders, using the words of v.7 (see Mk 11:17; cf. Jn 2:16). These Gentiles would not come simply on sufferance or as mere observers but as full participants, offering sacrifices alongside the Jews.

H. God’s Message to the Wicked (56:9–57:21)

9–12 The people are viewed, implicitly, as the flock of God. The prophet, as God’s mouthpiece, likens the enemies of Israel to wild beasts lurking in field and forest and ironically calls them to feast on the sheep. The watchmen—who almost certainly include false prophets (cf. Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; 33:2–7) and perhaps other leaders of the people—belong properly to a different picture, that of a city in danger; but they are soon translated into the dominant scene as dogs, set to watch the sheep. Blindness, muteness, indolence, and self-seeking greed describe different aspects of their culpable ineffectiveness. When the analogy moves from the dogs to the shepherds, the same characteristics can be seen. Verse 12 graphically represents the drunkard’s careless abandon (cf. 22:13) and inebriated optimism.

57:1–2 Verse 1 has an unexpected twist to its thought at the end, suggesting the rewarding of the righteous after death and leading into v.2. A man lying dead may seem to a distant observer to be resting. He is, indeed, if he is righteous.

3–10 The words of v.3 and v.4b are intentionally insulting, not to the parents, but to the children. This was a conventional way of indicating undesirable qualities. Sorcery (cf. 2:6) and adultery in combination point to pagan fertility rites. Those who practiced them apparently did so blatantly and with a mocking gesture against the true prophet of God sent to chastise them in his name.

The pagan rites of Canaan, featuring sacred trees (cf. 1:29–30), pandered to the sexual appetites of the worshipers. During the reign of Ahaz (cf. 2Ki 16:3–4) and of Manasseh (2Ki 21:2–9), Isaiah must have been deeply grieved by the pagan child-sacrifices practiced in the land. The references to ravines, crags, and stones are obscure but no doubt reflect aspects of paganism.

At v.6 the people are pictured collectively as adulterers or prostitutes. The place where adultery was committed was “a high and lofty hill” (cf. Jer 2:20), referring to the pagan high places. The analogy could refer either to the temple or to domestic houses, but there may be an implied comparison with the prostitute’s sign of her trade. The sensitive Israelite reader would also remember that it was the word of God—and, most aptly, the assertion that there is only one God—that was to be inscribed on the doors (cf. Dt 6:4–9).

Molech (v.9), god of the Ammonites, is associated with child-sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 2Ki 23:10) in the OT. The olive oil and perfumes either are offerings or belong to the picture of the prostitute. The apostate people did not pursue their paganism as a kind of leisure activity but went to great lengths. They had courted the gods of nations far away and indulged too in necromancy. Weariness had not however induced them to give up. Verse 10 might represent an ironic comparison with 40:27–31 and perhaps suggest that there was a wicked, supernatural source from which this strength was derived.

11–13 The section closes with a message of comfort for those who had faith. The people had forgotten who God was (cf. v.15), for otherwise how could they fear the petty deities of the pagans more than their great and holy God? The references to righteousness and works are ironic. Verse 13 reminds us of the prophet’s onslaught on idolatry in chs. 40–48 (cf. also 40:6–8, 24).

14–21 The urgent imperatives of v.14 echo 40:3, the second allusion to that chapter in this passage (see above). The great call for repentance in 55:6–7 finds expression in this picture of spiritual road-building requiring the removal of obstacles.

The wearied but unrepentant sinner somehow finds renewal of his strength to continue in sin (v.10); but here the “contrite and lowly” (lit., “those crushed [GK 1918] and bowed down [GK 9166]”) are revived in the presence of the exalted, living, and holy God. The urgent call to bustling activity in v.11 contrasts strikingly with the eternal calm of v.15. The Lord is pictured as active in reviving the spirits of his dispirited people.

Verses 16–18 seem to allude to ch. 40 (cf. 40:1–2, 27; cf. also Ge 6:3). These verses reveal the righteous anger and the amazing grace of God and also the awful persistence of human rebellion against him. The unmerited nature of God’s favor has rarely been expressed more beautifully than in v.18. The passage does not suggest that there is to be grace for the determinedly impenitent, for the “mourners” (GK 63) are probably identical with the dispirited of v.16, properly chastened and restored to God, but hardly daring to hope for comfort from him (cf. Mt 5:4). Once more the prophet employs a reiterated word—“Peace, peace”—to make a point. Possibly he uses the familiar conventional word of greeting (shalom) to emphasize that there is a welcome home for the wayward. The “far and near” here may simply be home-dwelling and dispersed Israelites respectively (cf. 11:11–12; 43:5–7; 56:8), or it may include also the foreigners (cf. Eph 2:17).

This passage ends with the same warning to the recalcitrant as the prophet gave in 48:22, but with the addition of a telling illustration. In a book so well structured as this, it may mark the end of a particular section of prophecies.

IX. God as Judge and Savior (58:1–66:24)

These chapters, while confronting realistically the fact of human sin, present God’s final purposes of both judgment and salvation and thus make us aware of both his justice and his grace.

A. The True Fast (58:1–14)

Although this oracle may have been intended especially for the postexilic community, there are a number of features that remind us of the eighth-century prophets. There is the emphasis on social righteousness and also particular phrases (cf. v.1 with Hos 8:1; Mic 3:8). An eighth-or early seventh-century provenance is therefore perfectly feasible. Its teaching also has links with the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5–7).

l–3a The prophet has already exposed the empty ritualism of the people in ch. 1. Here he concentrates on one religious activity—fasting. A trumpet call is intended to rouse the hearers to action, but it must be clear and unambiguous (cf. 1Co 14:8). There is no mistaking the message here. The people showed outward evidence of wanting to do God’s will, probably by consulting priests and prophets. They were prepared too to show their earnestness by enduring the minor inconvenience of fasting. A little abstinence did not matter if they could retain their basic lifestyle of disobedient rebellion against the moral demands of their God. Such empty externalism reappears in every age and culture.

3b–5 Through his prophet God exposes the people’s hypocrisy (v.3b); their fasting was not spiritually motivated. Apparently they made the fast easier by idleness and made up for lost time by getting their laborers to work all the harder. Fasting undertaken as a duty can produce an edgy, irritable community, especially in difficult climatic conditions. Prayers offered with this kind of background would never reach the heavens (v.4b). The humbling seems to be a synonym for fasting. Sackcloth and ashes also suggest the extravagant expression of humiliation.

6–9a The questions of vv.6–7 point up the people’s separation of religious observance and social righteousness. There were oppression (cf. Jer 34:8–22) and poverty in the land. The prophet even has to appeal to the claims of blood relationship, for their insular selfishness was leading some to neglect relatives.

The first two clauses of v.8 emphasize speed. Elsewhere Isaiah uses the verb “break forth” (GK 1324) of the hatching of eggs (59:5) and of water gushing forth (35:6). The word suggests suddenness and swiftness. God also pledges restoration of health, protection, and access to himself in prayer. “Light” perhaps encapsulates all this, for in these chapters it suggests fullness of divine blessing (cf. 59:9; 60:1).

9b–12 Isaiah develops the same basic theme again but with some variations. Oppression is emphasized by repetition, and there is also a reference to character assassination. Verse 10 suggests that social concern is not just to be seen in an isolated episode but should be a way of life for God’s people. We must spend not just our money but ourselves. The promise of v.8 is taken still further. The glorious dawn will issue in an even more glorious midday. In this light a full life can flourish under God’s blessing. An intended postexilic readership seems in view in v.12.

13–14 The Sabbath here may represent the entire Mosaic covenant and the blessings to be enjoyed in following it (see 56:3–8). As Kidner says, “These verses describe the strictness and the gladness of the sabbath-keeping God desires. If fasting is to be an opportunity to show love to our neighbour, the sabbath should express first of all our love of God. . . . It will mean self-forgetfulness and the self-discipline of rising above the trivial. But to people of this spirit God can safely give great things.”

B. Sin, Sorrow, and Salvation (59:1–21)

The prophet who could speak words of great comfort and encouragement could also confront his hearers with their sins and make them face unpleasant spiritual and moral facts. In ch. 57 he condemned adulterous paganism, in ch. 58 hypocritical fasting, and in the present chapter, injustice. Each of these chapters speaks about prayer. In ch. 57 it was not answered because it was not addressed to the true God (57:13); in ch. 58 because the petitioners are hypocrites (58:4); while here it is because of their sins and particularly their injustice.

1–8 The vivid anthropomorphisms of vv.1–2 remind us of ch. 40. Here, however, they stress condemnation rather than comfort. God is addressing people who have anticipated some kind of divine intervention and have prayed for it, but whose lifestyle reveals all too clearly that their desires and prayers are not directed toward the establishment of God’s rule on earth; for they are themselves rebels against that rule.

The people are guilty particularly of social injustice. In words reminiscent of 1:15, the prophet moves from the worst effects of legal oppression (unjust condemnation to death) to the false witness that produced such a verdict, and ultimately to the state of deep social and moral apathy that was causing such a situation. He then employs two figures taken from the basic human needs of food and clothing. The metaphors suggest that what these evil people produce seems at first wholesome, only to be revealed for what it really is later. In fact, the illustration of the cobweb that is useless for clothing implies that evil is ultimately counterproductive, not only for its victims, but for its perpetrators.

The prophet is not condemning any particular class among the people, though perhaps he has chiefly in mind those in whose hands the administration of justice is placed (cf. 5:22–23). Because his words are not only strong but general, Paul was able to quote them in his general indictment of human sin in Ro 3:15–17. The image of the moral life as a walk dominates vv.7–8. “The way of peace” finds its definition at the end of v.8, making it clear that the prophet is speaking about the results of their conduct for themselves (cf. 57:20–21), not for others.

9–11 The people, accused and condemned in the earlier verses, now begin to face their own sins, or, at least, the consequences of them. The justice and righteousness referred to in v.9 belong to God, to be manifested on behalf of his people. The “darkness” mentioned here is caused by disobedience to God (see Dt 28:15, 29).

12–15a A much deeper note is now sounded. Hatred of the consequences of sin and its destructive effects on one’s own life is not necessarily evidence of true repentance. Only when we face sin as rebellion against a holy God who loves us do we begin to see it as he sees it. The prophet seems to be identifying with the people, expressing what he knew should be their own penitence. He confesses on their behalf that all was being done against the Lord. Social justice is excluded from their society, along with truth—again probably truth of witness (cf. vv.3–4). The situation is so serious that the good person was at risk.

15b–18 Paul’s quotation of vv.7–8 in Ro 3:15–17 is in a context that presents sin against the background of the wrath of God (Ro 3:18–20). Here that wrath manifests itself. The intervention probably applies to those who are willing to take the part of the oppressed. The salvation reference made here is God’s saving activity on behalf of those unjustly treated (cf. 49:24–26). God goes to war against sin, and this passage becomes a model for Paul’s description of the Christian armor employed by God’s people in their struggle against the devil, master of the realm of sin (Eph 6:10–17). In the final line of v.18, it becomes clear that God will do battle against evil in Gentile lands as well as in Israel.

19–21 The chapter that began with a picture of a nation utterly depraved by its sin moves now to a glorious climax in the grace of God. Verse 19 means that God’s acts of judgment will cause people over all the world to reverence him, while the second part of the verse presents a further statement of the overflowing wrath of God against his foes. As he comes in judgment to the world, the Lord will come in quite a different character to Zion—but only when she repents. The NT shows that God has given two covenant gifts to his church—the Word made flesh in Christ and the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 4:4–7). These two gifts are here pledged—at least in anticipatory forms—as eternal gifts. The words “in your mouth” may be personal reading, or it may be that the word given and appropriated is now to be proclaimed.

C. The Future Glory of Zion (60:1–22)

In 2:1–5 Jerusalem was distinguished by its elevation; it was the center from which the divine message would go out to all the world. In 42:6; 49:6–7, the servant of the Lord had a ministry to the nations, who in 52:14–15 were astonished by both his sufferings and his subsequent exaltation. Now the prophet depicts the future glory of Zion, a glory that is but the reflection of the glory of the Lord God himself.

1–3 In 52:1–2 God called Zion to awake and to sit on her throne. This passage calls her to shine with the divine glory. Impenetrable darkness covers the whole earth, and it once enveloped Israel when she was not walking in the light with her God (cf. 8:19–22; 59:9–10). The wonderful spotlight now shining on Zion’s hill is really the divine glory that is situated above Jerusalem, whereas in the desert journeys it preceded and followed God’s people (see Ex 14:19–20; Isa 52:12; 58:8, but esp. 4:5–6). His glory, so situated, would act like the sun, not only giving light, but causing the city itself to radiate it (cf. v.5). This light of God would have great power of attraction. The combination of “nations” and “kings” recalls 52:15; and this, along with the use of ch. 60 in Rev 21 and the linking of the glory of God and the Lamb in Rev 21:22, prompts us to think of the divine glory here as that of the risen Christ-Servant-Lamb.

4–9 God told Abraham to lift up his eyes and look at Canaan, which he and his seed were to possess (Ge 13:14–17). Here Zion is told to look and see her dispersed children coming from other lands. She glows with the radiance of God’s glory and with the joy of a fulfilled hope. There are also streams of pilgrims from the far parts: wealthy sea-faring peoples like the Phoenicians and merchants from the deserts of Arabia. They all come with appropriate gifts: gold, incense, and lambs all finding their place in the worship of the temple. This passage, unfulfilled before the coming of Christ, can hardly teach literal sacrifice, for his sacrifice has fulfilled the entire OT system of offerings.

Psalm 87 predicts that foreigners will be registered among the citizens of Zion. Isaiah 19:23–25 places Egypt and Assyria alongside Israel as God’s people. Do the “sons” (v.9) of Zion include foreigners or are they simply the dispersed of Israel returning on Gentile ships? Probably the latter, though the former is not impossible in the context.

10–12 Throughout much of her history, Jerusalem had been subject to assault from foreign enemies. The Babylonians destroyed her walls, and the Romans would do so again. Like other Near Eastern cities, Jerusalem’s gates were shut every night as a protection against sudden attack. All this reflected the judgment of her God that was so often on her. Now she would be the object of his grace. Jerusalem would receive both the service and the wealth of the nations and their monarchs, and no opposition to her would be tolerated by her God. Any fulfillment of this after the Exile was only partial. The Persians made possible the rebuilding of the walls but did not do it themselves. Its true fulfillment lay beyond the OT era altogether.

13–14 Although these verses go beyond anything realized in history, they take up elements from the past. Just as Lebanon supplied wood for the building of Solomon’s temple (1Ki 5), so it would again (cf. Eze 40–42). The nations that had come against Jerusalem in such a scornful spirit would now do obeisance to her as the city of her God.

15–22 The exultant tone of this chapter is sustained right to its end. The city so oppressed by some had been avoided by others. Perhaps her smaller near neighbors are in view. Now foreigners and their monarchs will love and cherish her, delighting to supply her needs. This is because the Lord will be revealing himself to her in all the glory of his grace, as indicated by the titles used in v.16, each of which has covenant implications. “The Mighty One of Jacob” reminds the people both of the sinfulness and guile of Israel’s ancestor and of God’s unmerited favor.

In v.17 the merely adequate is replaced by the valuable. Once again peace and righteousness, those heavenly twins, are found together (cf. 54:13–14). The beautiful description leads first of all to literal statements about the absence of violence (v.18), and then to further abstractions, symbolizing God’s action on Zion’s behalf and her own reaction to this. There may be an implicit reference to the meaning of the name “Judah” (i.e., “praise”).

Verses 19–20 supply important background for Rev 21–22. Genesis 1:14–19 describes the sun and the moon as mere lamps made by God for lighting the earth. The Lord himself, whose glory set over the city gives the latter its special glory in this chapter, is in fact replacing his creatures—the sun and the moon—with himself. This symbolizes the fact that God’s people, in his community, will always know his presence and the revelation and joy that come from him. This constant fullness of divine light will transform everything, including all the imperfections of life.

Verse 21 foreshadows the declarations in Rev 21–22 that only those cleansed of sin may have any part in God’s city. His promise to Abraham (Ge 17:8) will be fulfilled. The “shoot” illustration is found again (4:1; 6:13; 11:1; 53:2). God’s splendor is displayed in the growth and fruitage of this despised shoot, which symbolizes Israel. Verse 22 develops it, for the tiny shoot is seen here in its fullest development. The second half of v.22 grounds these promises in God’s great name—“the LORD.” It is hinted that the fulfillment of this prophecy will be remote in time.

D. The Year of the Lord’s Favor (61:1–11)

1–3 These verses present a picture of a man anointed by the Spirit of God, especially for the task of preaching (cf. 1Ki 19:15–16). He proclaims glad tidings (cf. 40:9; 41:27; 52:7). His anointing with the Spirit of God provides a link with both the kingly and the servant prophecies of this book (11:1; 42:1). If he is both King and Servant, then already within the book of Isaiah that union of the two in Jesus Christ is anticipated.

Those benefiting from the preacher’s message are described as the poor, the brokenhearted (cf. Ps 147:3), the captives, and the prisoners. The “poor” (GK 6705) may be literal, but the word probably has overtones of piety as well. The “brokenhearted” appear again as those who mourn and grieve. They could be mourning for sin or over the destruction of Jerusalem, though this was itself punishment for sin. The poor and the mourners reappear in the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3–4). The captives and the prisoners are likely to be the Exiles (cf. 42:22; 49:9; 51:14), so that the overtones of a new Exodus are still present.

The first two lines of v.2 are important. The term goel (“Redeemer”; GK 1457) does not appear in this passage, but in the OT the Year of Jubilee—when slaves were set free and all land was returned to its original owners—was closely linked with the legislation providing for the kinsman-redeemer (Lev 25); and the same word was used of the avenger of blood (Nu 35:12). Moreover, the Hebrew word translated “freedom” in v.1 is deror (GK 2002), a technical term for the Jubilee release in the OT (cf. Lev 25:10, 13; 27:24; Jer 34:8–10; Eze 46:17). God presents himself here then both as Savior and Judge. Significantly, Jesus, in quoting these verses in Lk 4:18–19, stopped before the reference to “the day of vengeance.”

The threefold bestowal in v.3 expresses the same basic idea in different ways. Ashes symbolize deep sorrow; and the crown, oil, and garment all suggest preparations for joyous festival. The “oaks of righteousness” allude to 60:21, but with the thought now individualized.

4–9 At Sinai God described his people as “a kingdom of priests” (Ex 19:6). This ideal would now come to pass. As the Levitical priests were for them, so is Israel’s place among the nations to be, which implies that her priestly ministry is for their benefit.

The laws of inheritance, so closely linked to the Jubilee regulations, provided for a double inheritance for the firstborn (Dt 21:17). Previously, perhaps because privilege brings greater responsibility, Israel had received double punishment (40:2); now, as God’s “firstborn” among the nations (Ex 4:22–23; cf. Ps 89:27), she has a “double portion” in her land. Perhaps the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8, 17; et al.) was itself reckoned to be of double value.

The land will be restored to God’s people because those who had taken it had no right to it, and the Lord is a God of justice. The “everlasting covenant” (v.8), preceded by a reference to the divine faithfulness, probably undergirds the existing covenants; so it is evidence of God’s integrity. The reference to their blessing among the nations suggests the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Ge 12:1–3) rather than the Davidic (cf. Isa 55:3).

10–11 The speaker in these verses is probably personified Zion, who expresses her unbounded joy in God. The analogy of clothing appears again (cf. v.3). Clothing often expresses either status or mood—or both (cf. Ro 13:14; Eph 4:22–24).

The final verse reminds us of 55:10–11, supporting the theme of God’s faithfulness. God’s faithful word will secure the growth of righteousness and praise in his people, which will be publicly displayed, as at a bridal feast, before all the nations.

E. Assured Prayer for Zion’s Future (62:1–12)

1–7 Here the prophet takes his place among the great men of prayer in the OT. He has received a vision of Jerusalem, living in the good of all God’s promises and shining with the glory of her God (ch. 60), and he now prays with persistence and deep feeling for that day to come. Assured praying rests on the promises of God (cf. Ge 32:9–12). Jerusalem will be a spectacle for the whole world to see. So often in the OT a “new name” is the pledge of divine action to change the status or character of a person (e.g., Ge 17:5, 15). Zion’s new name will emerge in vv.4, 12 and will reflect the grace of God to her, for “the mouth of the LORD” in Isaiah is associated with utterances of grace (cf. 40:5; 58:14). Once again Zion will enjoy an intimate relationship with her God.

The theme of the wife separated from her husband because of her sin and yearning for reconciliation and home often appears in this book from ch. 49 onward. It emerges again in vv.4–5. The promise that she would be a “crown” for her God (v.3) may reflect the idea that a wife, especially a queen, should be an adornment to her husband. The Servant of the Lord is a delight to him (42:1); so is she to be. Verse 5 suggests the analogy that loyal citizens may be said to be married to their city. The analogy of the bride and groom reminds us of Rev 21:2, 9; 22:17.

Verse 6 reminds us that the vision of vv.1b–5 inspires the prophet in his praying, and that prayer continues here. If the speaker is the prophet, the watchmen here may be his fellow prophets (cf. Eze 3:17) or the godly in general, protecting the city from the ravaging forces of evil by their prayers. If the speaker is God, the watchmen could still be the godly at prayer. True prayer begins and ends at the throne of God. God graciously involves others, through prayer, in the fulfillment of his great purposes.

8–9 These words are particularly assuring to Zion’s prayer-watchmen. The solemn oath of God underlines his faithfulness, and that he has sworn “by his mighty arm” stresses his ability to carry out his word; for his arm is the executor of the divine will, its power in salvation already wonderfully demonstrated (cf. 53:1). Zion repeatedly had been subject to assault from enemies and had been robbed of food supplies, either by marauding armies or as the payment of taxes to foreign overlords. God had warned her that disobedience would bring this about; but now, through his gracious action, she is righteous (62:1), and the Lord promises that this will never occur again. The temple courts would throng with worshipers offering the harvest firstfruits to the Lord and rejoicing before him.

10–11a There is to be a massive pilgrimage to the city. A road-building and road-clearing project is to be undertaken, with the banner and a proclamation providing visible and audible signals to the nations of its completion; for, as ch. 60 shows, they will be instrumental in enabling the dispersed to return.

11b–12 Here is salvation in its final stage, the fulfillment of all that has gone before. Verse 12 furthers the theme of v.4. All these names bring out different aspects of God’s grace to his people (cf. Hos 1). The first goes back to the beginning of their history as a nation (Ex 19:6). At that time they also knew what it was to be the Lord’s redeemed people, but before the end this experience will have been filled out with other wonders of redeeming grace. Jerusalem’s destiny as the wife of the Lord will find complete fulfillment because he has sought to win her from her sin and restore her to everlasting married fellowship with himself.

F. The Lord the Avenger (63:1–6)

1–6 The oracle is most dramatic. The only OT passage that in any way resembles it is the account of Joshua’s encounter with the angelic captain of the Lord’s host (Jos 5:13–6:5). The city watchman or sentry peers anxiously out at a solitary and majestic figure who appears on the scene, his garment spattered with crimson. When he first comes into view, it is clear that he is coming from the direction of Bozrah, Edom’s capital. That Edom means “red” (cf. Ge 25:30) is particularly apt in this context. Is this fearsome figure who has been executing judgment on Edom now coming to judge Jerusalem? The answer makes it clear that this is the Lord himself, and that he is coming to his people, not as their judge, but as their righteous Savior.

As the figure draws nearer, the watchman directs a question to him, perhaps still with a measure of apprehension. The winepress metaphor has relevance only to judgment (cf. Rev 14:19–20; 19:11–16), though atonement involves the bearing of the wrath of God. The book of Revelation takes this passage to be fulfilled in Christ as the Judge of the world, and his title “the Word of God” there probably relates to the speech at the close of v.1. The Lord declares that he has executed the judgment alone. This suggests that this passage looks beyond historical judgments—in which God uses one nation to punish another nation—to the eschatological day of God’s wrath.

The “day of vengeance” and “the year of my redemption” belong to the same complex of ideas, involving the goel (“redeemer”; see comment on 61:1–3). God’s act of judgment against Edom is conceived to be a putting right of the wrongs done to Zion (see 34:8–15), especially when the Edomites took advantage of Judah’s weakness after the fall of Jerusalem (La 4:21–22; Eze 25:12–14; 35:1–15). Thus, as at the Exodus from Egypt and also at the return from Exile—preceded as it was by the judgment on Babylon through the Persians—judgment and redemption would be effected by the same events.

Verse 5 recalls Rev 5 and the search for someone to open the Book of Destiny, with its revelation of ultimate judgments. This testifies to the universality of sin. Verse 6 widens the judgment, making it clear that Edom is simply an appropriate example of the judgment of God on the nations. In many prophetic passages, Edom appears to represent Gentiles under divine judgment. For drunkenness as a picture of the divine wrath, see 51:22–23.

G. A Psalm of Praise and Lamentation (63:7–64:12)

Since the start of ch. 60, Isaiah’s prophecies have majored on Zion’s exaltation, the final fulfillment of all God’s purposes for her. No doubt the man who received such visions would be filled with a deep longing for their fulfillment, especially if he was passing through a period of intense, God-given awareness that Judah’s sin was going to bring devastating judgment through the Babylonians. Just as the Spirit of God used such moods in the psalmists to produce many an impassioned lamentation, so he did also with Isaiah. Indeed, this passage is really a psalm of communal lamentation, wherein the prophet’s identification with the nation becomes the means by which he expresses the deep longing of the most spiritually sensitive in it. Such prayers were part of the prophetic ministry.

7–10 The repeated word “kindnesses” (GK 2876) represents God’s faithful covenant love. It is fitting that the prophet should begin with praise, for God has never failed to honor his covenant promises even though his people have so often proved untrue to him. In the Lord’s saving deeds his faithfulness has revealed itself. Verses 8–10 present a picture of God as a disappointed Father, facing the fact that his children have rebelled against him. This does not deny his omniscience or even the sovereignty of his purpose but expresses the fact that Israel’s rebellion ought never to have been and was an offense against love as well as holiness.

God, declaring himself to be his people’s Father, promised to save them from Egypt, declaring that he knew their afflictions (Ex 3:7–10). Verse 9 is one of the most moving expressions of the compassionate love of God in the OT. There are Trinitarian overtones in the passage, for “the angel of his presence”—in whom the Lord is personally present—is apparently a reference to Ex 23:20–23, in combination with Ex 33:12–14; and “his Holy Spirit” (cf. Nu 11:17, 25–29)—who can be grieved (cf. Eph 4:30)—is clearly personal. The people’s rebellion brought God into conflict with them, as he had threatened (Ex 23:21; cf. ch. 32).

11–14 The prophet, still dwelling on the past deeds of God for his people, suggests that things have changed since “the days of old.” The focus of attention is still the events of the Exodus period, when the nation came into being. Moses, like David, was taken from pastoring the flock to leadership of Israel, thus symbolizing the self-forgetful care God expects in those in authority over his people. The right arm of Moses symbolized and was accompanied by the right arm of God, for the Exodus was an act of divine power (see 51:9; 52:10; 53:1).

The two analogies of vv.13–14 point to the conditions of the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan respectively. The people found the sea bed—and perhaps the desert as well—easy to negotiate; and, descending from the plateau of Moab to the Jordan and across it, they were like a herd of cattle being led into green pasture. The word “rest” (GK 5663) recalls Dt 12:10 and Jos 21:44, though Heb 3–4 teaches that there is a deeper rest available in Christ.

15–19 The wistful note that was sounded in the last few verses now becomes explicit, and the characteristics of a communal lamentation appear clearly. In his prayer at the consecration of the temple, Solomon had called on God to hear his people’s cry from his heavenly dwelling place (1Ki 8:44–53), and Isaiah has shown a personal awareness of God as exalted in his holiness (ch. 6; 57:15). This exalted God has pledged his zeal in the cause of his people (9:7; 37:32); but now, as he foresees the temple and its ruin, the prophet identifies with the people’s cry for mercy.

In v.16 we have the first two of three references to God as “Father” (cf. also 64:8). This repeated plea gives the prayer special intensity. The sense of relationship with God goes deeper than national solidarity; it is the deepest fact of the people’s life.

Verse 17 recalls Isaiah’s commission and the warning he had then (cf. 6:9–13), that through his verbal ministry the people would become hardened in sin. The prayer perhaps alludes to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the Exodus story, which provides much background to the thought here. It recognizes that God has established that moral law in which sin hardens the heart, and does so by divine design (cf. Ro 1:18–32). The word “return” (GK 8740) may suggest the return of the shekinah glory to the temple as the symbol of God’s dwelling among his people (cf. Eze 43:6–12). Certainly v.18 implies that their sense of alienation from him is not unconnected with the destruction of their sanctuary. There is a deep sense of special election in v.19.

64:1–7 The longing for renewed blessing expressed in the closing verses of the previous chapter is now poured out in a passionate outburst. The Exodus had been followed by the great revelation at Sinai, when the mountain trembled at the presence of God (Ex 19:16–19). On that occasion God descended on the mount (Ex 19:18). Here the prophet graphically conceives of the very heavens being rent by Israel’s God in his eagerness to be once more in the midst of his people. The illustration of v.2 sets forth the judgment of God. Pharaoh and the Egyptians had learned the power of God’s name at the Exodus (Ex 13:3, 18). The Sinai revelation had made God’s people tremble; this new disclosure of him would terrify the nations of the world.

The God of the Exodus and Sinai who revealed himself to his people was the God of the unexpected, for in so many of the plagues the ordinary course of nature was interrupted. He was a unique God, for all other so-called deities are impotent. He was also a God of righteousness, caring about the obedience of his people to his laws. It is this ethical quality in him that is revealed over against the sins of his people.

Verses 5–7 present a many-sided doctrine of sin, remarkably full for an OT passage. Sin is a continual practice; it is defiling, it is destructive, and it creates a barrier between God and humankind—both from our side, for we do not want to pray, and from God’s, because he will not hear us. God himself has determined that it will have these results. No wonder the people cry out, “How then can we be saved?”

8–12 Verse 8 quite suddenly moves from the thought of God as the moral governor to whom his people are responsible to the Father who brought them into being. Both Jeremiah (Jer 18:1–6) and Paul (Ro 9:19–21) develop the analogy of the potter and the clay and present God as sovereign in the realm of sin and judgment. The people cast themselves on the mercy of God, calling on him to remember their standing as his people. Because the land is itself holy, so are all its cities, though the prophet lays special emphasis on the desolation of Jerusalem. He appeals to the fact that the land is the Lord’s; it was to him that the praises of earlier generations had been offered in the temple which he had set apart for that purpose but which now lay in ruins.

Verse 12 implores God to intervene and bring to his people that forgiveness and salvation that have been promised over and over again in this book, especially since ch. 40. What response did God make to this prayer? The two closing chapters will show us.

H. The Great Final Issues (65:1–66:24)

These two chapters are not only the end of the book but also its climax. Here eschatology reaches its zenith, for the promise of new heavens and a new earth (65:17; 66:22) not only goes beyond anything else in the book but even the speculative imagination could not conceive any greater reality. At the same time, the spiritual challenge to the reader and the ultimate issues of destiny are presented with great power.

Chapter 64 was an impassioned prayer in which the people, represented by the prophet, stated their sense of relationship to God but also made frank confession of their sins, crying to him for mercy. A man of deep spiritual sensitivity may—like Daniel (Da 9) or Ezra (Ezr 9)—take the burden of a whole community’s sins on his heart and confess those sins with a depth of feeling that may be shared, in fact, by very few of his compatriots. Isaiah, at his call, had confessed not only his personal sin but that of his people generally (6:5). We will then treat these chapters as God’s answer to the prayer of ch. 64.

1–5 Paul applies vv.1–2 to the Gentiles in Ro 10:20–21. The Hebrew for v.1a, translated literally, is “I permitted myself to be sought.” The NIV is somewhat disappointing when it translates v.1b “to a nation that did not call on my name,” following the LXX and the Targum but not the Hebrew text, which reads, “to a nation that was not called by my name.” We therefore understand that v.1 applies to the Gentiles and v.2 to the Jews. This reminds us of the work of the Messiah, through whom the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth (11:9), and especially of the Servant of the Lord, whose work will savingly enlighten the nations (42:6) through his sufferings and exaltation (52:15).

Verse 2 presents God’s hands held out in love “all day long” (meaning perhaps all throughout Israel’s history), but finding obstinate rejection of his ways (cf. 64:5). “Imaginations” may refer to the sinful product of the unsanctified imagination in idols. “Continually” seems to answer to “all day long,” with the thought that the people’s sinful insults to God were as constant and longstanding as his own gracious overtures to them. The catalog of sins in vv.3–4 suggests Rev 21:8; 22:15, which lead to the second death and thus exclude those from the Holy City who practice them. “Burning incense on altars of brick” must, because of its context, be pagan, though its exact significance is unknown. The first half of v.4 refers to the forbidden practice of necromancy (cf. 57:9; Dt 18:9–13), while v.4b probably refers to flagrant disregard of the laws about unclean meats that show a rebellious outlook.

There is a tone of irony in v.5a. Paganism has its “holy” men; and these instill fear in others lest they should come too close to them and be harmed. These descriptions of sin begin to give place to the assurance of punishment at the close of the verse (cf. Dt 32:22; Jer 17:4).

6–7 The introductory “see” is a call to attention. God has those sins written before him (cf. Rev 20:12). The people’s prayer (64:12) is answered, but not in the way they would hope for. In responding to our prayers, God always keeps within the spiritual and moral structure he has established. His judgment on a nation often awaits the full term of its sin (Ge 15:16; Da 8:23; Mt 23:32; cf. Rev 14:15). The mountain shrines were centers of idolatrous worship (cf. 57:7; Jer 3:6; et al.).

8–10 Here again is the important doctrine of the remnant. The vineyard of Israel, so unproductive (5:1–4), has nevertheless produced some genuine grapes. They are the servants of God. In them the promises to “the chosen people” find their fulfillment, for this remnant is “my people who seek me.” Those who had received the great OT revelation had a responsibility to seek the Lord on the basis of it, while those who had never known its light would receive it through a new divine initiative (v.1).

Sharon was beautiful and fertile; but Achor had an ominous sound, for it symbolized God’s judgment on his people (Jos 7:24–26). Hosea had, however, presented the God’s promise (Hos 2:15).

11–12 Here God turns to the rebels among his people. The reference to the holy mountain refers to the forsaking of the worship of the Lord at his temple. This worship involved the offering of items connected with the people’s food and drink. Instead, these were being presented to pagan gods (cf. 1Co 10:21–22). Verse 12 recalls v.2 (cf. 55:1–7).

13–16 The term “Sovereign LORD” was characteristic of two passages picturing the Servant of the Lord (48:16; 50:4–5, 7, 9). Here the term occurs again, providing a link between the Servant and the servants. Those addressed in these verses as “you” are the same rebels God speaks to in vv.11–12.

God’s people are promised food, drink, and table fellowship (cf. Rev 2:7, 17; 3:20; 21:6; 22:2, 17). Those still in their sins will be excluded, and their name will be a byword among God’s people for the curse of God. The true servants of God will have a new name (cf. Rev 2; 17), perhaps the name of their God (Rev 3:12), the “God of truth” (cf. Rev 3:14). The final promise of v.16 takes its significance from the fact that the nation’s troubles had been the result of its sins. This full and free forgiveness would be achieved through the sacrifice of God’s Servant (ch. 53).

17–25 The great promise, with its introductory call to special attention—“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (cf. Rev 21:1)—is staggering. The whole created order is to be renewed. Great and new as this promise is, the reader does not come to it completely unprepared, for it builds on passages like 11:1–9 and ch. 24. For those whose imagination cannot cope with the macrocosm, the prophet indicates that Jerusalem too is to be created anew. The God who had identified with his people in their affliction would now do so in their joy also. The former sorrows will be over (cf. Rev 21:4).

The picture in v.20 promises greatly extended but not infinite life; yet v.19 declares that weeping will be banished! Advisedly, we are to dwell on the positive blessings in v.20 and not on their negative implications. If we take the references to death seriously, we have here a blessed but not ideal state, not quite parallel therefore to the whole of Rev 21:4.

The people’s blessedness is portrayed largely in terms reminiscent of the “godly materialism” of Deuteronomy (cf. Isa 62:8–9). The greatest blessing they will know, however, will be a relationship with God in which there is complete harmony between their prayer and his will, between his desire to provide and their dependence on him to give. Verse 25 (cf. 11:6–9) is a reminder that these blessings come only through the Messiah, while the words “dust will be the serpent’s food” (cf. Ge 3:14) remind us that the overthrow of Satan, the great serpent (Rev 20:2), is the result of the work of the woman’s offspring (Ge 3:15).

66:l–2a There was a reference to Jerusalem in 65:18–19 and to its holy mountain (65:11) but no express mention of the temple. These verses could mean that this great God, who could not be contained in the whole of the old created order (cf. 1Ki 8:27), could have no appropriate temple at all. But the postexilic temple was built at his command; so the passage must mean rather that no edifice made by human hands could be more than a symbol; and the symbol could, as Stephen made clear, come to be cherished above the reality (Ac 7:44–54).

2b–4 In 57:15, Isaiah refers to God’s heavenly dwelling and the fellowship he offers the contrite and lowly in spirit. At Sinai, where the sacrificial system was given but before its details were made known, God’s people trembled when the Ten Commandments were heard (Ex 20:18–21). Here a humble reverence for God’s word is in view. This thought governs v.3, where the teaching is even stronger than in 1:10–20. The most sacred exercises of true God-given religion are like the worst sins when they are divorced from humility of spirit. Verse 4 repeats the thought of 65:12. This is all the more striking in the light of the context of ch. 65, for there it is paganism that forsakes the holy mountain of God that is being condemned. Paganism that sets aside God’s word and ritualism that obeys it in the letter only and not the spirit are both abominations to the Lord.

5–6 Once again the word of God passes from his enemies within Israel (vv.3–4) to his servants. The words in the second half of v.5 are uttered in irony. Verse 6 certainly implies that in some sense God accepted the Jerusalem temple as his, for from there he revealed his wrath against his enemies (see comment on 56:7).

7–11 In 54:1–3, just after the fourth Servant Song, Zion was told to rejoice and to prepare her tent for a great influx of inhabitants. This is emphasized again, with special stress on the suddenness of it. The questions of v.9 are really making the point that God promises not only a speedy but a complete work, with Zion’s family deeply satisfied in their mother.

12–16 In 8:6–8 Isaiah pictured Assyria—the crudest enemy Israel and Judah ever had to face—flooding the whole country like an immensely spreading inundation from the Euphrates. He went on to promise endlessly increasing peace as the result of the Messiah’s reign (9:7). Now the analogy of the overflowing river is applied to that peace, the nations coming up, not in devastating conquest, but in peace and with their wealth (cf. 48:18; 60:11).

From the thought of Zion’s children as nursed by her, the thought moves to God as the “mother” of his people. This is surprising because in earlier chapters God was represented as the husband and Zion as the wife (e.g., 54:5). Here the purpose is to make it clear that the Lord is the real source of those blessings mediated to Zion’s children through her. The same flexibility is shown in v.14, where grass is not a symbol of human frailty (cf. 40:8) but rather of nourishment under the blessing of God. In this way God’s power will be shown in grace to his servants but in wrath to his enemies. The manifestation of his wrath is expressed especially in terms of fire, which, like the whirlwind and the sword, has great destructive potential.

17–21 The book that has been largely poetical throughout ends in prose. To understand v.17 it should be remembered that it is possible to consecrate oneself to a false god. The prophet clearly has in view those described in 65:3–5. In v.18 “their actions and imaginations” refers to the Jews and their departure from the true God (cf. 65:2). Isaiah had seen the glory of the Lord in the temple (ch. 6), where it had also been revealed to him that the people of Israel would not accept his message. Frequently, during the course of his prophecy, he has seen the light of God going forth and the Gentiles being attracted to it (2:1–4; 42:6; 49:6; 60:1–3). Now he expresses their promised knowledge of God in terms reminiscent of his own inaugural vision.

“Those who survive” are the Jewish remnant, and they go out to many a foreign country to proclaim the glory of the true God. The beautiful picture in v.20 is based on the Levitical system of offerings. The Gentiles will bring the dispersed remnant to the temple, just as if the Gentiles themselves were Israelites and the members of the Dispersion were the offerings they would bring to present to the Lord. Grammatically it is possible that the words of v.21 apply to the Gentiles, which anticipates Paul’s teaching that there is no barrier to blessing or to privilege in Christ (Gal 3:28–29). More likely, however, they apply to priests and Levites selected from among the regathered brothers mentioned in v.20.

22–24 God here makes the greatest and most comprehensive of all his promises: the guarantee of his pledges to his people. He further affirms that the wider vision of the worship of all humankind will also find its fulfillment. This is expressed in terms of the old God-given Jewish system of special days and Sabbaths for worship and, with many other aspects of these two final chapters, raises important questions of interpretation (see the section “Eschatology” in the introduction to Isaiah). The prophecy ends on a note of the starkest realism. It pictures vividly the lessons to be learned from the eternal judgment of God on sinners for their rebellion against him. Notice that this judgment will have the approval of human beings. This reminds us of the awesome “Hallelujah!” of Rev 19:1. God’s people must agree with all he says, for he is God.

In the western wall of Jerusalem, someone has etched, in Hebrew, these words of hope from Isa 66:14: “When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass.”

The Old Testament in the New

OT Text	NT Text	Subject
Isa 1:9	Ro 9:29	The remnant
Isa 6:3	Rev 4:8	Holy, holy, holy
Isa 6:9–10	Mt 13:14–15; Mk 4:12; Lk 8:10; Ac 28:26–27	Seeing but not perceiving
Isa 6:10	Jn 12:40	God binds the eyes
Isa 7:14	Mt 1:23	The virgin birth
Isa 8:12–13	1Pe 3:14–15	Do not fear
Isa 8:14	Ro 9:32–33; 1Pe 2:8	A stone on which people stumble
Isa 8:17	Heb 2:13	Trust in God
Isa 8:18	Heb 2:13	God’s children
Isa 9:1–2	Mt 4:15–16	Galilee of the Gentiles
Isa 10:22–23	Ro 9:27–28	The remnant
Isa 11:10	Ro 15:12	The root of Jesse
Isa 13:10	Mt 24:29; Mk 13:24–25	The end times
Isa 22:13	1Co 15:32	Tomorrow we die
Isa 25:8	1Co 15:54	Death is swallowed up
Isa 25:8	Rev 7:17; 21:4	God wipes away tears
Isa 27:9	Ro 11:27	Full removal of sin
Isa 28:11–12	1Co 14:21	Through strange tongues
Isa 28:16	Ro 9:33; 10:11; 1Pe 2:6	Trust in the cornerstone
Isa 29:10	Ro 11:8	God seals the eyes
Isa 29:13	Mt 15:8–9; Mk 7:6–7	Hypocritical worship
Isa 29:14	1Co 1:19	Worldly wisdom perishes
Isa 29:16	Ro 9:20	Potter and clay
Isa 34:4	Mt 24:29; Mk 13:24–25	The end times
Isa 40:3–5	Mt 3:3; Mk 1:3; Lk 3:4–6; Jn 1:23	Voice in the wilderness
Isa 40:6–8	1Pe 1:24–25	Eternity of the word
Isa 40:13	Rp 11:34; 1Co 2:16	The mind of the Lord
Isa 42:1–4	Mt 12:18–21	The servant of the Lord
Isa 43:21	1Pe 2:9	Declaring God’s praise
Isa 45:9	Ro 9:20	Potter and clay
Isa 45:23	Ro 14:11	Every knee shall bow
Isa 49:6	Ac 13:47	Salvation of the Gentiles
Isa 49:8	2Co 6:2	God’s day of salvation
Isa 49:10	Rev 7:16	Eternal blessings
Isa 52:5	Ro 2:24	God’s name cursed among Gentiles
Isa 52:7	Ro 10:15	Beautiful feet
Isa 52:11	2Co 6:17	Touch no unclean thing
Isa 52:15	Ro 15:21	Gentiles hear the gospel
Isa 53:1	Jn 12:38; Ro 10:16	Unbelief of Israel
Isa 53:4	Mt 8:17; 1Pe 2:24	Taking our infirmities
Isa 53:6	1Pe 2:25	Like sheep gone astray
Isa 53:7–8	Ac 8:32–33	Jesus as the dying lamb
Isa 53:9	1Pe 2:22	Sinless servant
Isa 53:12	Lk 22:37	Numbered with transgressors
Isa 54:1	Gal 4:27	Joy of the barren woman
Isa 54:13	Jn 6:45	All are taught by God
Isa 55:3	Ac 13:34	Blessings of David
Isa 56:7	Mt 21:13; Mk 11:17; Lk 19:46	God’s house of prayer
Isa 59:7–8	Ro 3:15–17	Sin of humanity
Isa 59:20–21	Ro 11:26–27	Deliverer from Zion
Isa 61:1–2	Lk 4:18–19	God’s Spirit on me
Isa 64:4	1Co 2:9	What no eye has seen
Isa 65:1	Ro 10:20	Salvation of the Gentiles
Isa 65:2	Ro 10:21	Obstinate Israel
Isa 65:17	2Pe 3:13	New heavens and new earth
Isa 66:1–2	Ac 7:49–50	No temple contains God
Isa 66:24	Mk 9:48	Unquenchable fire of hell