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COMMENTARY ISAIAH
By Eugene Garner
ISAIAH - CHAPTER 30
A WOE UPON JUDAH FOR HER FOLLY
Vs. 1-7: THE SINFUL AND DISASTROUS FOLLY OF RELIANCE ON EGYPT
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take
counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but
not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to
go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to
trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of
Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt
your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his
ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people
that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a
shame, and also a reproach. The burden of the beasts of the
south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come
the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent,
they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young
asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a
people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall
help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried
concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
1. Adding sin to sin, rebellious Judah has rejected the
counsel of the Lord (Dt. 17:16; Isa. 8:19; 28:15; 29:15), and
failed to inquire of the Holy Spirit, in her stubborn
determination to forge an alliance (lit. "weave a web") of
security in the untrustworthy "shadow" of Egypt, (see notes
on 8:11-12; 31:1; Jer. 43:7).
2. Their trust in the strength of Egypt, rather than in
the Lord their Maker, will soon assure their confusion, shame
and disgrace, (vs. 3-5; 20:5-6; 36:6; Jer. 42:18, 22;
43:7).
3. Passing through the Negeb desert (largely given over
to wild beasts, vipers and fiery flying serpents), the
princes of Judah are already on their way to Egypt - their
asses and camels loaded with treasures designed to secure a
treaty of defence which would be worthless, (vs. 6-7).
4. Since Judah refuses to wait on the Lord (comp. vs. 15,
18), she need not expect his blessing.
Vs. 8-26: JUDAH'S LACK OF TRUST IN JEHOVAH RELATED TO HER
SPIRITUAL CONDITION
Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a
book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children
that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the
seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us
right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the
Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus
saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word,
and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to
fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh
suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking
of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not
spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it
a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal
out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of
Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness
and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore
shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore
shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee
at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee:
till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and
as an ensign on an hill. And therefore will the LORD wait,
that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be
exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a
God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for
him.
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou
shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the
voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the
water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed
into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy
teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee,
saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the
right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Ye shall defile
also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the
ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them
away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee
hence. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou
shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the
earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall
thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the
young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender,
which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the
great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of
the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of
the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in
the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,
and healeth the stroke of their wound.
1. Isaiah is commanded to make a public and permanent
record of God's warning to His people that, in the latter
day, His faithfulness to them may be recognized, (vs. 8, II
Pet. 1:20, 21; II Tim. 3:16, 17).
2. His children not only lie, rebel and stop their ears
against His instruction (59:3-4; 24:5); they also try to
compromise the witness of His servants, (vs. 9-11).
a. They forbid the seers to foresee their future - much
less relate it to them.
b. The prophets are urged to cease telling them the
truth; let them speak "smooth things" - prophesying
delusions. They have "itching ears", (II Tim. 4:3, 4).
c. Both prophet and seer are urged to forsake the way
of righteousness, and to stop reminding them of "the Holy One
of Israel".
3. The Holy One of Israel, therefore, warns that their
trust in a wall of fraud and perverseness will lead to
disaster, (vs. 12-14); He will Himself break down that wall -
like the shattering of a potter's vessel.
4. The Gospel of Isaiah is succinctly stated in verse
15.
a. They may safely trust in Jehovah and His control of
human history.
b. All earthly assistance may (and should) be renounced
in the realm of international affairs.
c. Their real strength will be found in calm and quiet
reliance on the Lord.
5. In verses 16-17 the prophet clearly foresees the folly
of Judah's presumption; so thorough will be her humiliation
that she will be left as a branchless tree on a mountain - a
banner on a hill.
6. Since Judah will not exalt the Lord by her trust and
worship, He will exalt Himself through the execution of
righteous judgment upon her, (vs. 18).
a. His manifestation of graciousness and mercy must
await her repentance and return to Him with her whole
heart.
b. God allows iniquity to ripen, and shuts up all under
sin, that He may have mercy upon all, (Rom. 11:32).
c. But His blessings rest continuously upon those who
"wait for Him".
7. The ultimate deliverance' and restoration of Zion is
set forth in verses 19-26.
a. The promise of verse 19 is for those "that wait for
Him", (Psa. 37:7; Isa. 40:31; Lam. 3:25, 26; Zeph.
3:8-9).
b. In times of adversity and affliction God will be
their sufficiency, (vs. 20; comp. II Cor. 12:8-10; Phil.
4:19).
c. Instruction and guidance will be provided by
God-sent teachers, (vs. 20b-21; 35:8-9; 42:16; 29:24).
d. Then will Judah purge herself of all her iniquitous
idolatries, (vs. 22; 2:18, 20; 31:7); and anyone who assumes
that the Jews have had no idols since the days of their
captivity in Babylon has a very inadequate concept of
idolatry!
e. The ultimate fulfillment of verses 23-26 awaits the
fruitfulness and glory of the millennial era - when Messiah
rules supremely over the whole earth.
f. The Lord will bind up the breach of this people, and
heal their wounds, ONLY when, from the heart, they can say of
their once-rejected Messiah: "Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord!" (vs. 26b; Matt. 23:37-39).
Vs. 27-33: THE ASSYRIAN BROKEN WITHOUT HUMAN AID
Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with
his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full
of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: And his
breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of
the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and
there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing
them to err. Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a
holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one
goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to
the mighty One of Israel. And the LORD shall cause his
glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down
of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the
flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and
hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD shall the
Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every
place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD
shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and
in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is
ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath
made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much
wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone,
doth kindle it.
1. This passage begins with the portrayal of the Lord's
coming in fiery indignation, with wrath upon His enemies and
those of His people, (vs. 27-28).
2. As when a holy feast is held (Psa. 42:4), the heart of
Judah will be gladdened with "songs in the night" (12:1;
26:1) - as when one goes, in holy convocation, to the
mountain of the Lord that he may extol "the Rock of Israel",
(vs. 29; 2:3; 17:10; 26:4; 44:8).
3. In the meantime, the glorious voice of Jehovah
(66:5-6; 11:4; Joel 2:11; 3:16-17; Rev. 19:15), and the
outstretched arm of His indignation (Jer. 17:6; Ezek.
20:33-36), will be lifted against the dismayed Assyrian
(10:12; 14:25; 37:7, 36-38) - effectively ending his reign of
terror, and without human instrumentality, (vs. 30-32;
31:8).
4. At Tophet, the place in the valley of Jehoshaphat and
Hinnom, where abominable sacrifices were made to Moloch, the
Lord will consume the armies of Assyria (and later those of
Anti-christ) by the fire of His wrath, (vs. 33; comp. 63:1-6;
Psa. 2:1-6; Joel 2:11; 3:9-16; II Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21).
ISAIAH - CHAPTER 31
A WARNING OF MISPLACED TRUST AND
ASSURANCE OF ULTIMATE REDEMPTION
Vs. 31:1-3 A WOE REPEATED
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on
horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in
horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not
unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! Yet he
also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his
words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and
against the help of them that work iniquity. Now the
Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and
not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he
that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall
down, and they all shall fail together.
1. Here is a woe concerning misplaced trust; it is in
Egypt, horses, horsemen and chariots (in men and flesh),
rather than in the LORD! (vs. 1, 3; 2:6-7; 30:16; contr. Psa.
20:7; 33:17-21).
2. The Lord will rise up - both against "the house of
evildoers" (Judah, 1:4; 9:17) and the helper of their
iniquity (Egypt); they shall fall together, (vs. 2, 3b; 10:3,
30:5, 7; Jer. 37:7-10; comp. Matt. 15:14).
3. No one, therefore, can afford to put his trust in
anyone, or anything, but in the true and living God! (26:4,
Acts 4:12).
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