Isaiah 19: 1-3

Message to Egypt

¹ The oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,
And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
² “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians;
And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor,
City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
³ “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them;
And I will confound their strategy,
So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead
And to mediums and spiritists.

It is one of the earliest and most powerful kingdoms of the world. Known for its wisdom, ingenuity, might and mysticism, Egypt is also the place from which God's people are extracted and initially saved. Not surprising to see Isaiah bringing forth a burdensome message concerning this nation, and we devote ourselves to learning more, beginning today, with Chapter 19.

The prophet opens the oracle with God coming down to Egypt on a "swift cloud." (vs. 1) 'Swift' implies a measure of quickness and speed, and also a sense of determination and purpose. In the Bible, the description applies to God not just appearing but bringing His judgment.

"He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
He rode upon a cherub and flew;
And He sped upon the wings of the wind."

--Psalm 18: 9 and 10

There is a time when the Lord Himself will return on the clouds, as He told the high priest Caiaphus and the Sanhedrin in the hours before His death on the cross:

"Jesus said to him, 'You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"

--Matthew 26:64

With such a representation of power, it is no wonder we read that the idols of Egypt "tremble" and the hearts of the people "melt" within them. Hearts are not melting out of love and adoration. Rahab speaks to the two spies Joshua sent to Jericho of her people's fear, as, with the reputation of the Godly warrior and his army, "...our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man...." (from Joshua 2:11) Even mighty Egypt's gods shrink in fear with the Almighty in their sight.

God speaks in verse 2 saying that He will incite a civil war of sorts. The people will turn against each other--brother against brother; city against city; kingdom against kingdom. Disunity is not a state that can stand firm, and God allows sin to run its course, leaving the Egyptians as their own worst enemy. I can more fully appreciate Jesus' wisdom in praying for unity for the community of believers in John 17:

"'Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.... I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.'"

--John 17: 11b and 20

What is the outcome of disunity and in-fighting? A "demoralized" spirit says verse 3. Confusion! Not only will the Egyptians' behavior cause the downfall of the nation, but God will "confound their strategy." The nation that built the pyramids and inspired the leadership of dynasties would find its wisdom and effectiveness tampered with at God's hand. The earliest roots of the word confound include to "mix, mingle, pour together so as to be unable to distinguish between." (Online Etymology Dictionary) God's going to mess with Egypt's mental clarity, leaving the country unable to make a sound decision. Uncharacteristic for Egypt and part of what will bring the nation to ruin.

The other outstanding issue is one plaguing so many of the nations for whom prophecy is written: idolatry.

"The Egyptian religion was a strange mixture of pantheism [worship of multiple gods] and animal worship, the gods being adored in the form of animals. While the educated classes resolved their manifold deities into manifestations of one omnipresent and omnipotent divine power, the lower classes regarded the animals as incarnations of the gods."

--Easton's Bible Dictionary (brackets mine)

If there were a hotbed for the worship of false gods, Egypt would certainly be one of those places--not just in Isaiah's day, but over the course of its existence. Recall God's words of institution to Moses and Aaron as He explains the first Passover. Not only does He tell the people how to prepare, He also explains the judgment that is to come that night:

"'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.'"

--Exodus 12:12

If you're like me, you focus on the striking down of the firstborn part and kind of skim through the part about striking down Egypt's gods. God knew what a powerfully convincing force the gods of this nation would be upon His people. No doubt makes good reasoning for an escape from that environment into the Wilderness and the Promised Land. But, we know that the power of idols did not completely leave God's people--not even in the Wilderness!

Despite the weakness and futility of these idols, and God's promise to strike them down, the trembling idols, "the mediums and spiritists" become the chief consultants to the Egyptians in this time--rather than an acceptance of the Almighty.

 

"When they say to you, 'Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,' should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?'"

--Isaiah 8:19, spoken in reference to Israel

 

The Egyptians choose to go with whom they know. For all their wisdom, they weren't very smart. Their discipline awaits from the cloud.

"And a mighty king will rule over them." ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: allthingsinchrist.org

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Next week:  Isaiah 19: 4-7
 
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 17: 7-9

⁷ In that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,
Even the Asherim and incense stands.
⁹ In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And the land will be a desolation.

In the day when God's people will be carried off into captivity, then they will turn back to Him. Whether a captive or a member of the escaped remnant, Isaiah says that eyes "will look to the Holy One of Israel" and "have regard for his Maker." (vs. 7)

 

Isaiah has already described the time of judgment to come (and he has more to say on that in the next couple of weeks). There is "desolation" (vs. 9) coming to the land. Few--two or three olives on the top bough of an olive tree, if you remember last week's metaphor--will escape from the hand of the Assyrians; most will be taken away. Whatever blinders covered the eyes of the people will be removed, and they shall see clearly that their need for God is great.

 

"These few that are preserved are such as, in the prospect of the judgment approaching, had repented of their sins and reformed their lives, and therefore were snatched thus as brands out of the burning, or such as having escaped, and becoming refugees in strange countries, were awakened, partly by a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their deliverance, and partly by the distresses they were still in, to return to God."

--Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

 

In returning to God, one sees not only His greatness, but his or her own weakness and falling away. It shall also be with Israel. Part of the process of returning was repentance, which meant addressing the sin which caused the distancing from the Holy One in the first place. For Israel, idolatry led to a multitude of sins.

"Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made."

--Isaiah 2:8

 

But, no longer. Isaiah uses this same phrasing in verse 8--with a big 'not', now--to show the change that will come in His time. It is, perhaps, a good place to remind ourselves that God was truly unhappy with the behavior of His people, but His discipline came out of love and to effect a change for the better. A change back to the original ways of the Covenant, when God first called His people 'My people'.

 

"Come, let us return to the Lord.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us."

--Hosea 3:5, the response to God's rebuke (Hosea and Isaiah served a parallel time in ministry, the first to Israel and the second to Judah--the coinciding of their message themes is most definitely not an accident.)

 

 

Back to verse 8, Asherah was a Canaanite fertility goddess, symbolized by sacred groves and poles. (Reformation Study Bible) Even though the Canaanites were no longer in the Promised Land, their idols still maintained a presence. [The power and allure of sin in a nutshell!] But now Isaiah speaks of a time in which the Asherim poles, incense stands, or other items of idol worship would not draw the people's affections, focus, or time in craftsmanship. Indeed, when facing a similar idol-worship conflict, Judah experienced a fulfillment of this prophecy during the time of King Josiah:

"...he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem."

--II Chronicles 34:7

 

Verse 9, also "in that day," "...man's strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Amorites and the Hivites which they abandoned." This is from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The cities of Syria and Israel would face total destruction by Assyria. The pictures Isaiah has painted for us show a vacant landscape. Why did the Septuagint mention the Amorites and the Hivites? The NASB text says, "...which they abandoned before the sons of Israel." The Amorites and the Hivites were before the sons of Israel arrived.

 

I alluded to this part of Scripture just a bit ago when talking about God's naming of His people. In Exodus 34, we read of God's grace in His preparation of second tablets of the Ten Commandments, after the first broke in Moses' response to the golden calf incident. Not only does God make new tablets, but He renews His Covenant with His people--they get another chance, the first of "seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:22) Look what God says to them:

 

"'Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim—for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God...."

--Exodus 34: 11-14 (italics mine)

 

The Amorites and Hivites were among those who lived in the land of Canaan prior to its providential takeover by God's people, Israel. Take note, too, of the warnings of God about the influence of these nations. Don't worship other gods. "...Cut down their Asherim...." Make no covenants with other nations. Isaiah says to Syria and to Israel, you have not listened to the Lord and His Word. As those who had occupied the land before them had to flee from invasion, so shall they, at the hand of the "Jealous" One.

"They shall be as the cities (so it may be supplied) which the Canaanites left, the old inhabitants of the land, because of the children of Israel, when God brought them in with a high hand, to take possession of that good land, cities which they built not. As the Canaanites then fled before Israel, so Israel should now flee before the Assyrians. And herein the word of God was fulfilled, that, if they committed the same abominations, the land should spue them out, as it spued out the nations that were before them (Lev. 18:28)...."

--Matthew Henry 

 

  

 

 When one plants "delightful plants...." ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.ancientdigger.com

* * *

Next week:  Isaiah 17: 10 and 11
 
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 15: 1-3

Judgment on Moab

¹ The oracle concerning Moab.

Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined;
Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.
² They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;
Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.
³ In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth;

On their housetops and in their squares
Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

A new chapter of Isaiah brings a new chapter of judgment upon an enemy. This time, it's Moab, Judah's longtime southeastern enemy. 

My first thought of Moab is Ruth, who, you might recall, hailed from the country but chose to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to her home in Judah at the conclusion of a time of famine there and the death of her sons. No one in the Bible is quoted as saying, "Can any good thing come out of Moab?" but if someone were, he or she would be referring to Ruth. You may also remember the story of King Balak of Moab who, out of his fear, tried to bring a curse upon Israel through his prophet Balaam. (God, through His angel, through Balaam's donkey said, "No." [Find the rest of the story in Numbers 22 through 24.])

God found Moab offensive because it worshiped idols. The nation's reliance on them trickled into everything and tainted the lives of God's people on more than one occasion. 

"This they [Moab] will have in return for their pride, because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be terrifying to them, for He will starve all the gods of the earth...."

--Zephaniah 2: 10-11a

The judgment through Isaiah is not that of complete destruction; God left that oracle to Jeremiah. [Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible] "This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years (Isa. 16:14), and therefore was fulfilled in the devastations made of that country by the army of the Assyrians...."

Not to escape our passage completely, but Henry makes another statement that I found interesting in referring to the speediness of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. It is good every so often to remember the mission of a prophet, and that it is a calling fraught with challenge, at times:

"...That the accomplishment of this prophecy now shortly (within three years) might be a confirmation of the prophet’s mission and of the truth of all his other prophecies, and might encourage the faithful to depend upon them."

--Matthew Henry

This oracle, though referring to Moab, was shared with the people of Judah. In reading through just these few short verses, I found that it sounded like something God would have spoken to Israel or Judah in a time of judgment. King Hezekiah would have been so moved by the sin of his country as to have torn his robes and donned sackcloth in seeking repentance. Isaiah was telling of Moab, and Moab's response, here, would seem similar to Hezekiah's, except for one huge difference. Let's look more closely at our verses.

In verse 1, we read that over the course of a night, Ar and Kir are "devastated and ruined." Ar and Kir are both major cities in Moab--Kir being the capital city. Such destruction in such a short time led the people into mourning. They retreat to the temple to weep, and to Nebo and Medeba. (vs. 2) Mount Nebo, near the Dead Sea, is one of the tall peaks with Pisgah, which is where God led Moses to view the Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 34:1) Medeba is a city about five miles away from Nebo.

With the end of verse 2 and, then, verse 3, come common expressions of grieving for that time: heads are bald; beards are cut; sackcloth put on; and, wailing, not just tears. There is no question that something deeply saddening has occurred. When it comes to the wearing of sackcloth, it is generally a sign, also, of disgrace or humiliation that comes with the grief. There is not just a tremendous loss, but there is sorrow expressed over the behavior that has led to this loss. Consider this example from the cross-referenced verses in today's passage:

"But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands."

--Jonah 3:8

This quote, from the king of Nineveh, comes following the prophet Jonah's words to the nation. God worked through a reluctant, fearful messenger to deliver a word of life-altering change to the head of the nation. Nineveh chose to follow God as a result, turning away from their sinful ways--at least, at that time. Another humble example of one "dissolved in tears" is Hannah. One of two wives to Elkanah, Hannah was unable to conceive and was repeatedly taunted by Elkanah's other wife over the matter. She cries out her grief to an overhearing Eli, the priest:

"She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, 'O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.' ...But Hannah replied, 'No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.'"

--I Samuel 1: 10 and 11; 15

Hannah believed that her life was "devastated and ruined" without a child, under the oppression of a difficult household situation. But Hannah--and the king of Nineveh--understood something that Moab did not. Perhaps you noticed that I left out a detail in looking at verse 2:

"They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep."

--vs. 2

The temple is not the temple in Jerusalem. Dibon is the location of the temple of the Moabite god, Chemosh. Not just any Moabite god, but, as most of the reference sources I looked at said, the national god of Moab. As God would call Israel the people of God, the Moabites were called the people of Chemosh. Putting this together, then, all of the wailing and grief measures and humble dress were all offered to Chemosh, to appease and to seek refuge and restoration in him--not God! Such an enormously critical difference. Because it is not the actions of the people that will rectify their devastated state--not if they are reaching out to a false god.

 

"Note, It becomes a people in distress to seek to their God; and shall not we then thus walk in the name of the Lord our God, and call upon him in the time of trouble, before whom we shall not shed such useless profitless tears as they did before their gods?"

--Matthew Henry

 

Which leads to asking, is there something over which we are crying profitless tears? The God who knows and holds each tear we cry (Psalm 56: 8) is approachable--waiting and ready to receive us.

 

"O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace."

--lyrics from Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Helen H. Lemmel)

"Surely, the grass is withered...," in Moab and elsewhere.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.thenagain.info

* * *

Next week:  Isaiah 15: 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 9: 13-17

¹³ Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴ So the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
¹⁵ The head is the elder and honorable man,
And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.
¹⁶ For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men,

Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,
And every mouth is speaking foolishness.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

The next strophe or section of Isaiah's poem concerning Israel's waywardness deals with the ongoing discipline of the Lord and the people's unresponsiveness to that discipline. As with last week's passage of Scripture, the refrain continues to sing: "In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out." (vs 17)

Being the providential parent He is, God offers discipline to His children. As any parent who loves his children, God has varying layers of discipline to reach a given child in a given situation. The goal of discipline is not to punish, but to instruct and correct. However, when this does not work with the child, there may well be punishment for continued misbehavior. When done with unconditional love, discipline and punishment should work together to help "train up a child in the way he should go." (Proverbs 22:6)

But, what we read in verse 13 says that the people "do not turn" from their misbehavior and turn back to their loving Parent. This forces God's hand of discipline to kick it up a notch.

"O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth?
You have smitten them,
But they did not weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent."

--Jeremiah 5:3

Since the people will not take responsibility for their own behavior, God intervenes to deal with the problem where it originated--at the "head and tail." (vs 14) More descriptively, Isaiah uses "the palm branch" and the "bulrush" (see picture above) to represent the high places and the low places in which His word has been, at best, confused and misrepresented, and, at worst, maligned and ignored.

Verse 15 answers specifically the question of who is the "head" and who is the "tail"? [Not all prophecy or parable is as easy to interpret as this passage today, in which the prophet fills the blanks!] "The head is the elder and honorable man, and the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail." Throughout Isaiah, we have read of the corruption at the top. Israel and Judah both had kings at various times who did not honor God or His word, and the trickle-down effect was palpable in the actions and hearts of the people. Idol worship and false prophets filled in the gaps.
 

"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect."

--Matthew 24: 24

Any evidence of such troubles today? Everyone has his or her own answer to what leads people astray to cause the ills of this world. And that in itself, friends, is the problem. What Isaiah is saying here is that there is really only ONE BIG PROBLEM:

"Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts."

--vs 13

^{Until the worldview becomes a Christ-centered view, "Therefore...." (vs 17), God will not show His favor. The verse continues, mentioning those God would regularly have had His favor upon in better times--young men, orphans and widows. Most surprising to find orphans and widows here, especially, as we read in Scripture of God's special mercy and instruction to show mercy to these.}

^{"Learn to do good; 
Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless, 
Defend the orphan,
Plead for the widow."}

^{--Isaiah 1:17}

^{"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."}

^{--James 1: 27}

^{That the infiltration of ungodliness in Israel had penetrated into the hearts of widows and orphans demonstrates the depths of the people's depravity, and the heights of God's anger and response over the situation. Again, verse 17 says, "everyone is godless and an evildoer...." In the King James Version, 'godless' is translated 'hypocrite'. The Hebrew word means "soiled (in sin), impious." [Strong's] In the Greek, the word means "stage actor, pretender, dissembler." [Online Etymology Dictionary] What describes the people of Israel at the time of the prophets would be used by the Chief Prophet to describe certain people in His day:}

^{"'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!'"}

^{--Matthew 23: 23 and 24}

^{Israel had it wrong. I daresay we might have some things wrong, too.}

^{"Where children pure and happy pray to the blessèd Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more."}

^{--from O Little Town of Bethlehem (lyrics, Phillips Brooks)}

^{Oh, yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute....}

^{The results of wickedness. 'Til next Wednesday....}

 
Photo: nativeplantproject.com

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Next week: Isaiah 9: 18-21

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).