Isaiah 2: 10-12

 

¹⁰Enter the rock and hide in the dust

From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty.
¹¹ The proud look of man will be abased
And the loftiness of man will be humbled,
And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

A Day of Reckoning Coming

 ¹² For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased.

Pride. The Bible does not say that it's the root of all evil. But, man.... It's not a good thing! That strutting peacock above has become a symbol for pride--so beautiful, yet so outward showy and self-important. A tour through Psalms and Proverbs will fill you with references to the evils of pride. For example:

"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;
He who watches his way preserves his life.
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly
Than to divide the spoil with the proud." 

--Proverbs 16: 17-19

Today's passage from Isaiah focuses on Judah's pride and the resulting "destruction" and "stumbling" to come. I've left the subhead from the NASB in place, though it might well have been placed beginning with verse 10, as the text focuses on a "day of reckoning" and, more specifically, what the prophets called "the Day of the Lord."


Judah's pride--its self-sufficiency in the face of God Almighty--was the cause of the Lord's consternation. The "proud look" and "loftiness" of man will "be abased" or "humbled." Verse 11 can also be more literally translated as the "eyes of the loftiness of men." We think of a loft being a place up high. Looking at the Hebrew, we get an expansion of that definition: "To be (causatively, make) lofty, especially inaccessible; by implication, safe, strong." [Strong's] The eyes of the nation were not on God but on surpassing God to the point of being inaccessible and utterly powerful. This could not, nor would ever, be and the outcome of their sinful "look" was not unknown.

"Pride will, one way or other, have a fall. Men’s haughtiness will be brought down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of their pride, and clothing them with humility, or by the providence of God depriving them of all those things they were proud of and laying them low. Our Saviour often laid it down for a maxim that he who exalts himself shall be abased; he shall either abase himself in true repentance or God will abase him and pour contempt upon him."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

That "fall" would come in a "day of reckoning." And, no, it's not God saying, "I reckon I'd better do something about My wayward people." [Or is it?!] A reckoning can mean a settling of something, like an account, but it can also mean "an accounting for things done or received" or "an appraisal or judgment." [Dictionary.com] Looking at some of the older English and foreign definitions of the root word, we see it means "ready, straightforward," and "to move in a straight line." Straightening out a wayward people was definitely part of God's plan, and, one can see how Isaiah's prophecy here might be referring to a more immediate day of reckoning through the captivity of the people to Babylon.


But, given some of the other details here in the passage, it is more likely that Isaiah is referring to the Day of Reckoning or the Day of the Lord. If you studied Obadiah, Joel, Amos or Hosea with me, then you know what this means. It's Judgment Day! It is the day that Revelation speaks of--a day of God's ultimate wrath--in which He will destroy His creation, saving those who confess and live out their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. That which is dross will be smelted away, once and forever. (Isaiah 1:25) 

Going back to verse 10, we read of the command to "enter the rock and hide in the dust." There are those who will try and escape this destruction by hiding, even though there will be no hiding or escape from "the terror of the Lord."

"Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;  and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb....'"

--Revelation 6: 15-16

We will read more about this Day in the weeks' verses ahead. Knowing that the Day has not yet arrived, we should be praising God for His grace and His mercy, for there are still those who will come to Him today, who can be reached for Him today, who can be saved from the pride that brings destruction right now. Look at the encouragement Paul gave to the Corinthians, and us, in this regard:
 

"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.... You are looking at things as they are outwardly.... For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding."

--II Corinthians 10: 5-7; 12

 

Let us not be without understanding, operating out of pride--measuring, comparing, commending ourselves. For it is not the outward appearance but what is in one's heart that matters to God. (I Samuel 16:7) As we enter Holy Week next week, may the words of this beloved hymn carry forth new encouragement:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

--When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts, 1707)

A Day of Reckoning against.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: birdsgallery.net

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Next week: Isaiah 2: 13-18

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: 6-9

⁶ For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
⁷ Their land has also been filled with silver and gold
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land has also been filled with horses
And there is no end to their chariots.
⁸ Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.
⁹ So the common man has been humbled
And the man of importance has been abased,
But do not forgive them.

The beginning of our passage today reads as though we are back in Chapter 1 of Isaiah. This is God's case against Jerusalem, and the prophet uses a favorite writing technique of mine--parallel phrasing--to emphatically get the word out.

God has abandoned His people because they are "filled with" all the wrong things:

• Influences from the east (vs 6)
• Silver and gold (vs 7)
• Horses (vs 7)
• Idols (vs 8)

Let's explore each category a bit more, because there are other details here.

Eastern influences came into Jerusalem in the form of various superstitions and cultural belief systems from places to the east of the city. That Jerusalem was considered to be "soothsayers like the Philistines" indicates that the city was also besieged from the west. The Philistines were known for their journeys into sorcery and other forms of divination. The King James Version uses 'replenished' instead of "filled with influences" which strikes an ugly note, as God's people should have been filled with His Spirit and power rather than replenished by evil influences. How appropriate that the Hebrew for soothsayer means "to cover; cloud over; to act covertly." [Strong's]

"Their country was peopled with Syrians and Chaldeans, Moabites and Ammonites, and other eastern nations, and with them they admitted the fashions and customs of those nations, and pleased themselves in the children of strangers, were fond of them, preferred their country before their own, and thought the more they conformed to them the more polite and refined they were; thus did they profane their crown and their covenant."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The infiltration of these ideas did not only help recalibrate the spiritual and intellectual thinking of the people, but also the business/political environment of Jerusalem. "They strike bargains with the children of foreigners." The city sought out practical relationships and formed alliances with pagan nations in the hopes of maintaining, if not increasing, its status and wealth.

This dovetails with verse 7, which highlights the massive treasures held by Judah. It wasn't enough to merely have silver and gold, but the people actively sought to possess treasures. Again, bringing up my Beth Moore study of James, she mentions a Latin phrase of Ovid's indicative of the time in which James spoke to the Jerusalem church. "Amor sceleratus habendi"--This means "the accursed love of getting." You might want to consider it possessed with possessing!

"You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you."

--James 5: 5 and 6

Thankfulness for the blessings of God?! They didn't recognize God's goodness in the days following the visible presence of Jesus Christ, and neither did the Jerusalem of Isaiah's day. [Do I even have to mention today's world?] Indeed, the corrupt kings who served during Isaiah's ministry offered up their precious gifts to alien nations, seeking their protection.

 "So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, 'I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.' Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria."

--II Kings 16:7 and 8

Verse 7 continues with references to horses and chariots. The accumulation of such items suggests having at hand tools of war. Israel had built up strongholds (walls and towers) as a means of protecting itself from invaders. Judah was taking its possessive ways into its security systems, too. God had made it clear early on that those in charge were not to amass such items but to rely fully and completely upon Him for their safety.

"Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself."

--Deuteronomy 17: 16 and 17 (italics mine, 

to illustrate that earlier point one more time)

Verse 8--a biggie--the land was filled with idols. God certainly disliked that His people were working so hard to live and act self-sufficiently, trying to keep up with their neighbors. But, top that with the creation of idols, and it's like a straight slap to the face. Not that one sin is greater than another, but--and I've said this before--that "You shall have no other gods before me" is the first Commandment speaks to what is primary on the heart of God. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." The workmanship is ALL His!

"Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them."

--Psalm 115: 4-8

What is left of the relationship between God and His people at this point? Who still acknowledges the presence of the Lord? Verse 9 says both "the common man" and the "man of importance" have fallen to the base of idols.

Is it any wonder the end of our passage today says: "But do not forgive them." There were so many times of past grace. What now?

"What a shame it is that great men think the service of the true God below them and will not stoop to it, and yet will humble themselves to bow down to an idol!"

--Matthew Henry

A bringing about of ultimate humility.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: idlehearts.com

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Next week: Isaiah 2: 10-12

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).