Isaiah 14: 28-32

²⁸ In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:

Judgment on Philistia

²⁹ “Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a flying serpent.
³⁰ “Those who are most helpless will eat,
And the needy will lie down in security;
I will destroy your root with famine,
And it will kill off your survivors.
³¹ “Wail, O gate; cry, O city;

Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes from the north,
And there is no straggler in his ranks.
³² “How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

We could have covered verse 28 in last week's post. But that would have been like one of those season-ending cliff-hangers. "What?! What did the oracle say? What happens next?!...." So, let's take it all in this week.

It is interesting that this message comes with a timeframe, albeit vague. (And the fact that my study Bible says the year of King Ahaz's death is uncertain adds to that ambiguity!) But, we know the king died when Hezekiah began his term, which puts the time between 727 and 716/15 B.C. The Reformation Study Bible suggests the latter date is "preferable" since it occurs 14 years before the fall of Samaria at the hands of the Assyrians--also, the timeframe in which the Philistines were revolting against Assyria.

Ah, the Philistines. If you caught the fact that this week's passage is divided by a subhead in my study Bible, then you see 'Philistia'. And, if you see 'Philistia,' you can figure out from whence cometh the Philistines. Philistia (see map above) was a territory located in what is now southwestern Palestine. ['Palestine' is derived from Philistia/Philistine. (Encyclopedia of the Bible)] Throughout the Bible, the Philistines are public enemy #1 to God's people (David and Goliath just one of many stories). Just as Assyria faced God's judgment in oppressing God's people, so will the Philistines, according to this prophecy. Their judgment closes out Isaiah 14.

Remember, an oracle is a burden or inspired message of concern. Why was this coming before Judah at this time by Isaiah? Upcoming threats. We must continue to review history in light of prophecy.

King Uzziah was the first king under which Isaiah served. Generally, he was considered a "good" king, in that he followed the Lord, most of the time. God would strike him with leprosy for taking the duties of the priest, but God granted him successes, including a take-down of the Philistines.

"Now he [Uzziah] went out and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines...."

--II Chronicles 26: 6 and 7a

So a precedent had been established, but, under King Ahaz (king #3 for Isaiah), Judah disbanded its Godly obedience. With the rising of Assyria as a threat to everyone, the Philistines sought to build up alliances for self-preservation. With Ahaz's passing and the torch being passed to his son, Hezekiah, the possibility for a Philistia/Judah coalition remained on the table for consideration. Thankfully, as we have seen in our review of Scripture, Hezekiah was not the man or king his father was. Having Isaiah--and his prophecies--for guidance demonstrated the wisdom of Hezekiah in keeping the nation secure under the ultimate reign of God.

Back to this week's verses, Uzziah appears to be the 'rod' spoken of in verse 29, especially since the Philistines came back to conquer portions of Judah during Ahaz's tenure. Lest the Philistines should gloat too much, the Lord plans to raise up "a viper" [Hezekiah] to squelch the rise of the nation, not to mention put a damper on the Assyrian revolt, at least, for that time.

"And the Lord was with him [Hezekiah]; wherever he went he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city."

--II Kings 18: 7 and 8

 
Conditions had been so poor under the rule of Ahaz. God says, in verse 30, that when Judah's poorest returned to being able to eat and when its weakest would consider it safe to lie down, then He would strike Philistia with "smoke from the north" (vs. 31)--that being the armies of Hezekiah. Who would have thought the north would rise again? But, Hezekiah "trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him...." (II Kings 18: 5-6, excerpts) And the Lord is the one who sets the world in order. Recall His righteousness and fairness in this from Isaiah, Chapter 11:

"But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked."

--Isaiah 11:4

 

“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?" (vs. 32) is the question closing out the passage and the chapter. The Philistines were bringing forward their offer, to band together to stand against Assyria. How would Judah respond?

"That the Lord has founded Zion, and the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it."

--vs. 32, (i.e., the answer)

 

Not the answer the Philistines were looking for, yet they shouldn't have been surprised. How did David answer Goliath? "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" (I Samuel 17: 26b) The battle belongs to the Lord, and the Lord has founded Zion, therefore, we're sticking with our God!

 

Zion, being Jerusalem, the home of God's people, was founded with the intent that God's people would be able to return to it, time and time again until the time of the final Zion. God would be found with and by His people.

"By faith he [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

--Hebrews 11: 9-10

The story of the Bible is God keeping His people together. The Philistines would never come to grasp this greater truth, and, thus, faced God's judgment. Yes, God is the designer and builder of our earthly homes, but His plan is not just for a structure but for the goal of keeping His people faithful together, to lead and disciple others in the faith. They will then know that they will always have safety, provision, a "refuge," in the presence of God. This is the true hope of the Church--God's eternal presence!

"The poor of his people shall betake themselves to it (so some read it), shall join themselves to his church and embark in its interests; they shall concur with God in his designs to establish his people, and shall wind up all on the same plan, and make all their little concerns and projects bend to that. Those that take God’s people for their people must be willing to take their lot with them and cast in their lot among them. Let the messengers of the nations know that the poor Israelites, who trust in God, having, like Zion, their foundation in the holy mountains (Ps. 87:1), are like Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides for ever (Ps. 125:1), and therefore they will not fear what man can do unto them."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

  

Judgment on Moab.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.accordancebible.com

* * *

Next week:  Isaiah 15: 1-3
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 4: 4-6

⁴ When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion 
and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, 
by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,
⁵ then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion 
and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, 
and the brightness of a flaming fire by night;  
for over all the glory will be a canopy.
⁶ There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, 
and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

With the close of Chapter 4 comes the return of a picture of God that should have spoken volumes to His people, as Isaiah speaks of what the Jews coined the "Shekinah"--a visible presence of the glory of God in their midst. More on this shortly, because His holy glory cannot be present in the presence of sin, which is where we begin with verse 4.

Verses 4 and 5 are a "when...then" construction, as opposed to an "if...then." There will be a time when the Lord will clean up, if you will. As we discussed here last week, sin cannot exist with true holiness. This is why we will always be sinners in our fallen world. Our steps toward true holiness will never be enough to fulfill what God has established as holy. That should not stop us from trying to be Christlike. We just need to realize that every step He brings us in that direction will be accompanied by time on our knees in humility, recognizing, as did Christ, that equality with God is not something to be grasped. (Philippians 2:6)

The Lord will cleanse Judah of its filth (moral and otherwise) as well as its penchant for violence. Bloodshed was common in Judah under its evil kings, notably--and just prior to the nation's Babylonian captivity--under the rule of King Manasseh, who reinstated all of the evil ways his father, "good" King Hezekiah, had abolished. The Day of the Lord will bring bloodshed as well. But, in the time of a revived Zion, in the days of the remnant that would be eternally saved, God would take all of that away through judgment and burning. "Through the process of refining fire, consuming the faithless and purifying the faithful, God will produce a holy Zion." (Reformation Study Bible)

Note the dichotomy, looking at verse 5, as Isaiah moves from speaking of fire as a destructive, yet purifying force to fire as the protective, guiding presence of God Himself. Once the table has been set, God may come to it. Isaiah says He will return to His people in the form He took as in the days of old, leading them out of bondage in Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

"The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."

--Exodus 13: 21 and 22

As I said up top, the Jews would come to refer to this presence of the glory of God with them as the Shekinah. ("That which dwells," in the Hebrew. --International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) Ezekiel, in Chapter 43, reveals his own encounter with the Shekinah, through a vision. "And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory." (43: 2b) Through the wilderness adventure, as recounted in Numbers, the cloud and pillar would appear over the tabernacle--home of the very word of God. When the cloud or pillar moved, so would the people. Whether days or weeks, the people watched and honored the God who led them. These are the days that are coming back! 

"...all the glory will be a canopy," (vs. 5) and, "There will be a shelter...." (vs. 6) The King James Version uses 'defence' for canopy, meaning "chamber or closet," and 'tabernacle' for shelter, meaning "hope, refuge, place of refuge, shelter, trust." [all references, Strong's] That word shelter also more literally means "hiding place," a metaphor Isaiah will use more than once in his prophecy.

"You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance."

--Psalm 32:7

Not only will the presence of God be literal, but His presence of safety and protection will be also. For a nation on the verge of captivity, there remains hope. For souls in the last days on the verge of being lost, there is a "hiding place" and a hope from which there is deliverance.

"That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (Isa. 4:5, 6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a guard."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Concluding today with a theme that we can pick up in a word in verse 5: create. It is important to note, also, the subject that goes with that verb: the Lord. The Lord creates. As has been said before, Judah was not in a position to save itself from itself. God is going to save His people from their sins. To do that, He has to bring about renewal and refinement to create holiness. The Lord washes away and purges that which makes people unholy. He causes His presence to be made known once conditions are right for Him to appear. He brings the shelter, the refuge, the protection, the hope and the glory. "Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves...." (from Psalm 100:3)


We can pray for His presence. We can pray for His protection. We can pray for hope. We can pray for revival. We can pray for the return of His glory. What we need to accept is that we cannot make these things happen by our own will! We need to honor Him as the Creator of all, honoring His word as the Holy Bible, and the Holy Spirit as our Help and our "hiding place" in a fallen world. "For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting
and His faithfulness to all generations." (Psalm 100:5)

"Reformation-work is God’s work; if any thing be done to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (Zech. 4:6), working both upon the sinners themselves that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others that are to be employed as instruments of reformation."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The "Parable of the Vineyard" ....'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: oneyearbibleblog.com

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 5: 1 and 2

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 4:1-3

A Remnant Prepared

1 For seven women will take hold of one man in that day, 

saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, 

only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!”

² In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, 
and the fruit of the earth will be the pride 
and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.  
3 It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem 
will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.

Chapter 4 may be quite short [we'll finish next week], but it is a passage of hope in the midst of judgments. At least, once you get past verse 1.


Verse 1 might well have gone with the end of Chapter 3, as the daughters of Zion received their calling out by God. "Your men will fall by the sword," we read last week in Isaiah 3:25. Indeed, enough men will fall that there will be a shortage of men. This is the situation described in verse 1, with many women trying to secure a single husband. In the battle that left Judah captive to Babylon, men fell. But this passage also alludes to the Day of the Lord in which men will fall and the wicked [like the women of Judah] will be punished with no husbands.

The quote from the women in verse 1 might sound as part rally cry from the days of women's lib. "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan," right? They said they could take care of themselves. But remember the days of Isaiah. Women didn't do these kinds of things for themselves. These women not only overstepped their area of responsibility, but they were willing to take any husband they could grab for the sake of his name, just to save themselves the shame of not being married.

"...These women will be bound to support themselves; they will eat bread of their own earning, and wear apparel of their own working, and the man they court shall be at no expense upon them, only they desire to be called his wives, to take away the reproach of a single life. They are willing to be wives upon any terms, though ever so unreasonable; and perhaps they rather because in these troublesome times it would be a kindness to them to have a husband for their protector. ...That modesty, which is the greatest beauty of the fair sex, was forgotten, and with them the reproach of vice was nothing to the reproach of virginity, a sad symptom of the irrecoverable desolations of virtue."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

If anyone was to remove the reproach of these sinful women, it was God. They needed only to have remembered His servant Jacob's wife, Rachel, and her struggles to have children. She blamed God for the reproach of her infertility and took matters into her own hands. It was quite a few children born to other mothers later that "...she conceived and bore a son and said, 'God has taken away my reproach,'" (Genesis 30:23) in the birth of her son, Joseph. Eventually, by His grace, God will remove the reproach of Judah--a remnant of Judah, more specifically.

Verse 2 brings us to mention of "the survivors of Israel." This means that some are survivors and some are not. This group of survivors is called the remnant. What the prophets begin to foretell is a time coming, a last time coming (the Day of the Lord), in which ultimate judgment will be pending. God in His holiness will take with Him for eternal life--"everyone who is recorded for life" (vs. 3)--those who are the true believers by faith in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, depicted in verse 2 as "the Branch of the Lord."

"'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the Lord,
'When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.'"

--Jeremiah 23:5

What Judah has not known in this time of Isaiah's prophecy is a king who acts wisely or justice that prevails. To know that a time of a "beautiful and glorious" reign, from the lineage of David, is in the wings should have provided hope to the lost nation. For some, it must have, as the base of the remnant would come through them. Of course, this is not the people who would see the first Advent of our Lord, but, over the generations--if the word of the Lord were faithfully shared down through the generations, as God commanded--the remnant would and will know His Son. Difficult to be faithful through captivity, unlawful governments, and the continued sinfulness of mankind. But God has not forgotten, and Paul's words are an enduring reminder:

"I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.' But what is the divine response to him? 'I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice."

--Romans 11:1-5 

'Branch' in the Hebrew can also refer to a sprout. [Strong's] Jesus was certainly more than a sprout, but He is the initial catalyst for the larger picture of spiritual growth and salvation that the Bible is talking about. The metaphor literally grows as we read the Savior's words recorded in John 15. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Judah would not be saved by a revival of its own doing. It did not abide in the Father. It was not a fruit-bearing nation of the type that was pleasing to God. Yet, for some, a time will come when the "fruit" evident upon the earth and a recognition of the Branch of the Lord will distinguish them from others who cry out, "Lord! Lord!" yet will go to eternal doom, familiarly unacknowledged.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

--Matthew 7: 21-23

Jesus said that you will know "by their fruits," those who are abiding in Him. The Jewish remnant and the Christian know the same God and will demonstrate the same good fruits in their lives, even if the Christian does not share the Jewish heritage as one of the remnant. As Chapter 11 of Romans continues, Paul goes into much detail about how God is working out His plan of salvation for all His people! What we must hold fast to, as would be the words of Isaiah upon Judah, the holiness of the one true God and live "by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD." (from Deuteronomy 8:3)

"Note, If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so and all its truths and promises—his church will be so, and all that belong to it. These are the good fruit of the earth, in comparison with which all other things are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us that we are of the chosen remnant, distinguished from the rest that are called Israel, and marked for salvation, if we are brought to see a transcendent beauty in Christ, and in holiness, and in the saints, the excellent ones of the earth."

--Matthew Henry

Cloud and fire return over Mount Zion, as Chapter 4 concludes. ....'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: psywarrior.com

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 4: 4-6

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 2: 1-5

Isaiah 2

God’s Universal Reign

 ¹ The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  ² Now it will come about that in the last days
The mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
³ And many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us concerning His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go forth from Zion
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ And He will judge between the nations,
And will render decisions for many peoples;
And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war.
 ⁵ Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

With the beginning of Isaiah Chapter 2, we engage in the prophet's speaking on a solitary subject across the next four chapters. This will be obvious as we start Chapter 6, in which we read about Isaiah's call to the prophecy. My study Bible says of our verses today that these are "the first of three pictures of Zion (Jerusalem) in this discourse that depicts her future exaltation."

By "future," the commentaries I review suggest times following Isaiah's receiving of this word from God. As I read through this portion, I can clearly see how the passage refers to the millennial kingdom, to be established by Jesus Christ at His second advent and earthly reign. Though it is also true that the text can apply to a time that has already passed. The beauty of Scripture is such that it can apply across multiple time frames. Let's explore that notion today!

"Now it will come about that in the last days...."

--vs. 2

When I see "last days," I generally think end times. Referring back to a passage I explored not long ago in Hosea, "Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days." (Hosea 3:5, emphasis mine) The sons of Israel will not recognize Jesus as Messiah until He appears in the flesh in His second coming. But, the New Testament writers use "last days" to refer to the time after Christ's first advent. Consider this from Hebrews 1: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son." (Hebrews 1: 1 & 2a)

Matthew Henry continues in the vein of the New Testament writers when he suggests that our Isaiah text today refers to the establishment of Christianity:

"Now the prophet here foretels: I. The setting up of the Christian church, and the planting of the Christian religion, in the world. Christianity shall then be the mountain of the Lord’s house; where that is professed God will grant his presence, receive his people’s homage, and grant instruction and blessing, as he did of old in the temple of Mount Zion."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

 

When I was studying Daniel through Beth Moore's teaching, she introduced a couple of terms from Biblical commentators that, I think, apply here as well. "Dual reference" indicates a place in Scripture which can be referred to in a more present time as well as a forthcoming time, like the establishment of "the mountain of the house of the Lord." It is then possible to have a "dual fulfillment" of said prophecy, which would support Matthew Henry's viewpoint on the beginnings of Christianity while allowing for a second fulfillment of the prophecy under Christ in the time when "every knee shall bow...." (Romans 14:11) As you and I continue to digest that, let's look at some other passages more closely, tying in this concept. 

 

The people head to the mountain "that He may teach us...that we may walk in His paths." (vs. 3) Isaiah writes in a time when people went to the mountain to worship their created idols. Certainly, even in that time, Jerusalem had the opportunity to correct their steps. But pride and self-righteousness would keep them from listening to God (which is why He stopped listening to them--Isaiah 1:15).

 

"Good and upright is the LORD;

Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.

All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

For Your name’s sake, O LORD,

Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.

--Psalm 25: 8-12

Isaiah 2:3 also speaks of "the law" (or, per other translations, the instruction) and "the word of the Lord"  coming from Zion/Jerusalem. In addition to Zion referring to Jerusalem, "the mountain of the Lord"--Mount Zion--was the location of the temple in Jerusalem, as the earlier-mentioned Henry comment says. God's word was always available to His people. Not surprisingly, the fulfillment of the law, through Christ and the "going forth" of His word would begin in Jerusalem--following His crucifixion there, His commissioning of the disciples and their receiving of the Holy Spirit:

"Now He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.'"

--Luke 24: 44-47 (emphasis mine)

Isaiah 2:4 speaks of judgment and rendering decisions. Again, not hard for me to see this as an end-times fulfillment, with Christ bringing decisions regarding eternal judgment of all people. But, can we also see this passage as being fulfilled earlier? "Render decisions" in other translations can mean "reprove" or "rebuke." God's power in admonishing and correcting the nations can be seen throughout the course of history. Surely his words through the prophets culminating in the exile of His own people could be included as reproof.

 

The next line is one you have likely heard before: "And they will hammer their swords into plowshares...." Popular musicians--from Stephen Stills to Michael Jackson--have pulled this text for their song lyrics, as have politicians, including Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, used these words in their speeches. The sculpture in the picture above is entitled "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares," by Evgeniy Vuchetich, part of the United Nations Art Collection. The representation in art, speech and verse refers to a time of peace. Interestingly, when God gave these same words to the prophet Joel, they were flipped around to indicate preparation for a time of war: "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears...." (Joel 3:10)

 

With the Messiah, the Prince of Peace--as Isaiah would name Him in Chapter 9--coming to reign, the earth will know a time of peace, a prelude to that in the eternal Kingdom. Yet even our Lord Himself proclaimed, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." (John 14: 27a) He is our peace, and when there is no peace in our relationships and circumstances, we need to remember that He has shown us what His peace looks like. Do we not have the tools to hammer our swords into plowshares, even now?

"The design and tendency of the gospel are to make peace and to slay all enmities. It has in it the most powerful obligations and inducements to peace; so that one might reasonably have expected it should have this effect, and it would have had it if it had not been for those lusts of men from which come wars and fightings." 

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

 This has been difficult study today. I get the basics, though it is still "too lofty" for me to completely understand. This is one of the reasons why I veered away from the prophets for so long. But, I'm thankful for the teachings of others to guide me as I seek to understand where the Spirit is leading through all of this. Thankful to "walk in the light of the Lord." (vs. 5)

"This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

--I John 1: 5-7

 

No new subhead for our verses next week, but the tone and direction sound a lot like the judgments of Chapter 1. Why God abandons His people.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: swordandploughshare.com

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 2: 6-9

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 1: 27-31

  ²⁷ Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with righteousness.
²⁸ But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together,
And those who forsake the LORD will come to an end.
²⁹ Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.
³⁰ For you will be like an oak whose leaf fades away
Or as a garden that has no water.
³¹ The strong man will become tinder,
His work also a spark.
Thus they shall both burn together
And there will be none to quench them.

Chapter 1 closes out with a strong statement of judgment and a series of vivid metaphors. Indeed, the writer in me is seeing the writer in Isaiah, and I'm flooded with verses that tie in with what he is saying. I hope I don't inadvertently get us sidetracked too far from his points today!

Picking up from where we left off last week, remember that Isaiah is speaking of the end times here. (As it turns out, Chapter 2 will continue with this theme.) According to my study Bible, Zion originally referred to a designation for the hill Ophel (a mountain near the Mount of Olives). There seems to be some discrepancy as to what area is exactly covered under 'Zion.' But, when Isaiah uses 'Zion' in his prophecy, he speaks of Jerusalem.


The term "repentant ones" used in verse 27 is more literally translated "returnees." The King James Version says 'converts,' and the Reformation Study Bible explains the reference to mean those "ransomed, transferred or freed from ownership by another through the payment of a price...." The term refers to the "remnant" of the tribes of Israel, preserved by God, who will return to Jerusalem in the end times at Jesus' second coming and earthly reign. God's promise of old--permanent sanctification of His relationship with His people--shall be fulfilled through these "repentant ones."


But, there must also be a "smelting away" of the "dross," to use last week's words from verse 25. The "New Jerusalem" will be a holy city, one that must be devoid of sinfulness in any form if the Lord is to preside over it.

"It is a universal ruin, which will involve the transgressors and the sinners together, that is, the openly profane that have quite cast of all religion, and the hypocrites that live wicked lives under the cloak of a religious profession—they shall both be destroyed together, for they are both alike an abomination to God, both those that contradict religion and those that contradict themselves in their pretensions to it."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

 

I hadn't really thought of transgressers and sinners being different, but the Hebrew definitions help to make clear the distinctions [all following definitions from Strong's]. The word for transgress means, "to breakaway (from just authority), i.e. trespass, apostatize, quarrel." The transgressor is a rebel. Matthew Henry termed these the "openly profane." Then, there are those who may not be profane, but are not true followers either. A sinner is "a criminal, or one accounted guilty." Are we all guilty before God? Yes, we are. Thank God for the saving, merciful grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, however, that we may not be forever condemned as guilty! That's the difference between the "repentant ones" and the "sinners." Finally, those who "forsake the Lord" will also face eternal judgment, 'forsake' meaning "to loosen, leave or relinquish" [a relationship with God].

"For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed."

--II Thessalonians 1: 6-10

With verse 29, Isaiah depicts through a nature metaphor the difference between paradise and, well, truly, Hell. Simple words like oaks and gardens carry a bit more weight than at first glance.

An alternate translation for 'oak' is 'terebinth,' which is another type of sturdy tree that would have been prolific in the area. From reading in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, a terebinth could reach as high as 40 feet with a huge spread of branches. It featured berries in season and, alternatively, lost its colorful leaves in season ("an oak who leaf fades away"). It was under these mighty trees that Judah and Israel chose to offer up sacrifices in worshiping their created idols.

"They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant...."

--Hosea 4:13

Likewise, 'garden' does not refer to a household flower or vegetable patch. In Biblical times, gardens were walled enclosures featuring amazing varieties of plants, fountains and other sources of running water, and planned seating areas. Yes, think Eden--a paradise, in which one could sit and enjoy the pleasantness and peacefulness of beautiful surroundings. No wonder God began the story of Man in such a place! The Hebrew for 'garden' in its most basic form means "a covered or hidden place." [Strong's]

I think Isaiah is referring to the heart when he speaks of the garden in this passage. God knows our hidden-most place and what dwells in that place. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." (Psalm 119:11, KJV) But Jerusalem had turned from His word. It had become a "garden with no water." (vs. 30) How can the heart of the believer be filled and maintained without the living water of God? "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38)


In contrast to the lushness of a garden of paradise, Isaiah tops off his nature metaphor with a counter dry, parched metaphor to represent sinful man and his works. Rather than the strong oak, we read of the strong man who is reduced to timber, with his fruit also to be tossed into the fire. The Reformation Study Bible says, "Drought and fire are metaphors for judgment. Water in Isaiah signifies free, gracious, and bountiful salvation. The absence of water signifies separation from God’s blessings." These metaphors tie together perfectly!
 

Couple this with the King James', which reads "the strong shall be as tow." Tow is the fiber that comes out of flax when it is being processed for use in making thread. The Hebrew means "something shaken out." [Strong's] The tow is the weak, undesirable leftovers on the threshing floor. John the Baptist used his own tow-like metaphor in pronouncing the arrival of the Messiah:

"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

--Matthew 3:12

If we find ourselves in that dry, parched land, may we know in the wellspring that is our heart that living water is at hand by promise of His Word.

"Oh that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments.
I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not forsake me utterly!"

--Psalm 119: 5-8

"God's Universal Reign," begins a five-chapter discourse with a look at the New Jerusalem. Chapter 2.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: thinkgeek.com

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Next week: Isaiah 2: 1-5

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).