Isaiah 14: 5-9

⁵ "The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
⁶ Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
⁷ "The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.
⁸ "Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
⁹ "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones."

We join Isaiah, Chapter 14, in the midst of the singing of a taunt-song. God has provided the words and approved of its boisterous singing in the face of the "king of Babylon," representing the "rulers" (vs 5) who have oppressed His people Israel. We will continue to study this song over the next couple of posts.

"The oppressor has ceased...," (vs 4) because God has brought a final end to the tyranny of the oppressors. Verses 5 and 6 explain that God is the only one who could have (and will) break the "staff" and the "scepter" of those who have kept Israel in bondage. The power of these kings could not be broken otherwise.

"He smote the people, not in justice, for their correction and reformation, but in wrath, to gratify his own peevish resentments, and that with a continual stroke, pursued them with his forces, and gave them no respite, no breathing time, no cessation of arms. He ruled the nations, but he ruled them in anger, every thing he said and did was in a passion; so that he who had the government of all about him had no government of himself."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Again, this "king" is a representation of all the rulers who came up against Israel. The time in Babylon was particularly brutal, but encounters with the Romans hadn't even happened yet, much less the arrival of the Antichrist. There are many for whom this taunt-song will be sung come that Day. Verse 7 describes the time: "rest" and "quiet." There is no more warring against each other, nor are God's people restrained, imprisoned or crushed. Aye, there is a victory song to be sung, as the Lord's people will know the true joy of being with--not just being ruled under the Law by--Him:

"O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God."

--Psalm 98: 1-3

What else expresses this joy? The Creation! In this passage, it is two of the mightiest trees of the region--the cypress (above) and the cedar--that respond with thanksgiving to the presence of God. "'Since you [king of Babylon] were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.'" If I were a tree, I would probably say that, too. But the Reformation Study Bible provides a bit more insight into the significance of the quote: "Assyrian kings boast in their annals of the magnificent trees they carted off from pillaged lands to build their splendid palaces." The sacred items of the Temple were "chopped off" and taken to Babylon for use at a cocktail party. No more would such "trees" by such "tree cutters" be used against God.

Verse 9 closes out today's passage, though we will continue with these thoughts into next week's passage. "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you...." We looked at Sheol a bit earlier in Isaiah. It is the Hebrew word for the grave. Figuratively--and Isaiah, we know, is a writer and poet and metaphor-lover--the word means death. Some refer to it as a place of the dead and some to Hell itself. Poetically, Isaiah is suggesting that there is a place where all humiliated oppressors of the Jews will gather. The Bible (Revelation) is clear as to what actually happens at judgment time.

So, Sheol is excited to have some new people to join the party, if you will. How do we know it's a party? The "kings of the nations" will arise "from their thrones" [of Sheol] to meet the new guests. I really like how the Amplified Bible elaborates on the end of verse 9: "...It raises from their thrones [in astonishment at your humbled condition] all the kings of the nations." (emphasis mine) "You, really? Here? How is that possible? You were the best! The very best! He got you, too, huh? I...I can't believe you're here. Let's grab a hot hors d'oeuvre ['cause what other kind are there here?!] and chat."

It is not lost on me how huge this turnabout is. Who was going to Sheol in Isaiah 5? Jerusalem!
 

"Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; and Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it."

--Isaiah 5:14

Ask an Israelite carried off into Babylonian captivity and he might well have said it was Sheol. But even after their tortuous existence there, God delivered them! Because He is not a ruler who "subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution." Harsh punishment, no doubt. But He delivers out of love, out of a covenant promise to love. He does it continually as He seeks to save the lost for His sake. He knows that the days of ultimate righteousness are on the horizon, and is waiting for all to be in His number before the singing starts.

 
The preparations in Sheol.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: asthependulumswings.wordpress.com

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Next week: Isaiah 14: 10-15
 
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 10: 1-4

Assyria Is God’s Instrument

¹ Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
² So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the orphans.
³ Now what will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come from afar?

To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
⁴ Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives
Or fall among the slain.

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

Happy New Year, friends! Thank you for accepting a break in our schedule of study. I hope that you enjoyed time with family and friends, a time of peace and refreshing. Had I kept to schedule, we would have completed our poem in Isaiah at the close of the calendar year. While that would have been more apropos, I'm not sure that post would have been very well thought through given the Christmas day and post-day happenings! Aye, well....

So, we finish the poem today, which, if you'll remember when we began, starts Chapter 10 of Isaiah. God has been reminding Israel of its troubles and a pending time of punishment upon the nation. Today's passage concludes those thoughts and closes out the repeating refrain of the last several stanzas: "...His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out." (vs 4)

With verse 1, the prophet revisits the problem with Israel, which was also a problem with Judah. [In fact, Matthew Henry, in his commentary, suggests that this last part of the poem may relate to Judah rather than Israel. It is not clear.] Unjust leaders and judges throughout the administration of the nation. There is woe pronounced to both those who created and wrote the laws, and those who enacted and enforced them.  

"Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
One which devises mischief by decree?"

--Psalm 94: 20

Of course, the answer to the question in Psalm 94 is "No," which is why God's wrath is at hand. In verse 2, again, revisiting problems we read about earlier in Isaiah, the sinfulness within the administration resulted in harming those most in need: the poor, widows and orphans.
 

"Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves a bribe
And chases after rewards.
They do not defend the orphan,
Nor does the widow’s plea come before them."

--Isaiah 1:23

It is necessary to study the verbs in verse 2 a bit, to fully appreciate the depravity of this situation. "Deprive the needy," is used in the NASB, and is translated as "to turn aside the needy" in the King James Version. In Hebrew, the phrase "to turn aside" used here means, by implication, "to bend away (including moral deflection)." [Strong's] The laws were not only written to make things more difficult for the poor to receive help, the administration bent itself away so as to not help, much less see, the poor at all. "Rob the poor...their rights," the verse continues. Again, looking at the Hebrew, there is much more implied in 'rob' than just stealing: "To pluck off; specifically to flay, strip or rob." [Strong's] I can't help but think of Jesus after Pilate's non-sentencing of Him.

"They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, 'and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him."

--Matthew 27: 28-31

There is an intentionality--a greedy, mocking, entitled intentionality--exhibited here. Note how verse 2 finishes: widows are the spoil and the orphans are plundered. Perhaps it is no wonder such oppression led these to fall under the same woes and eventual punishment (Isaiah 9: 17), all in trying to just merely live.
 

"Principal and accessaries shall fall under the same woe. Note, It is bad to do hurt, but it is worse to do it with design and deliberation, to do wrong to many, and to involve many in the guilt of doing wrong."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

So, God's punishment is upon them, and it will "come from afar" (vs 3), meaning from Assyria, as we know now. As He did to Job, God questions Israel: "What now? Who will save you now? You, yourself? Again, Israel? To whom will you flee...? (vs 3) From whence cometh your help?" I like the translation of the end of verse 3 from the Amplified Bible: "And where will you deposit [for safekeeping] your wealth and with whom leave your glory?" 

In the time of punishment that is coming, there will be no help. The decisions and judgments, choices and actions of the people will all come under God. The ill treatment of His people had not gone unnoticed, nor would it go unpunished. Whatever fame and fortune had accumulated would vanish without recognition or vault to crack. Those who were crouched below the captives or under the slain (vs 4) would be found and taken into Assyrian captivity to ponder the wisdom of Ecclesiastes:

"Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun."

--Ecclesiastes 4: 1-3

As I read through the prophets, one of the thoughts that echoes in my brain is how did the people get it all so wrong? I'm careful in that thinking to follow up with how much we, today, still get it all so wrong sometimes--and we have the entirety of Scripture at our disposal! God was with the people. He sent messengers to speak to the people. Past history spoke and present circumstances speak. How have we not heard? Why do we not believe and follow?

Take in afresh what might have been words that Israel could have reflected upon, from one of the greats--David. There is newness in God's Word every day, and we can flee to Him in our times of trouble and difficulty.

"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! 
How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord';
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

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

--Psalm 32: 1-7

  

The call to Assyria.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: adayinourshoes.com

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 10: 5-11

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 3:13-15

God Will Judge

¹³ The Lord arises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ “What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of hosts.

Short passage in Isaiah today, but one that my study Bible sets off by itself, with the title: "God Will Judge." After laying out the case in earlier verses and the presentation of evidence, as it were, God, as lead Prosecutor and Judge, calls His people on the carpet.

"Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,
For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is no faithfulness or kindness
Or knowledge of God in the land."

--Hosea 4:1

If you studied Hosea here in these pages, you'll remember us looking at the word contend. ("Contend with your mother," said Hosea 2:2, as the nation of Israel was grappling with its sinful stance against God.) In the Hebrew, it means to "grapple, wrangle or hold a controversy." [Strong's] God pleads, not in the begging way but in the "Do you see the controversy we have here?" way. The people were not following in obedience or reverence to God, and the leadership was making some drastically unloving, un-Godly decisions. In this Judge's courtroom, the questions asked are rhetorical, as there is nothing the defense can introduce into evidence that can stand.

In verse 14, we read that the elders and princes--those in power--are the ones called into judgment by God specifically. Isaiah began Chapter 3 with a dissertation on the problems with those in charge. In a statement, God says, "'It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.'" The King James Version uses 'eaten up' for devoured, which, more accurately means consumed by fire. Chapter 5 of Isaiah is "The Parable of the Vineyard," into which we'll look more at the metaphor of the vineyard that is Judah. 'Plunder' does not just mean collected items; there is an application of force suggested, whether actual physical theft or taken through deceptive means, such as by fraud. The leadership of Judah is held responsible for these offenses by God Himself.

"Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous."

--Psalm 143: 1 and 2

The above would have been a wonderful thought and prayer on behalf of Judah's leaders. But, it was not to be. God did enter into judgment, and, as Israel had failed to recognize, so, too, did Judah fail to recognize that "no man living is righteous."


Verse 15 is so powerfully worded: "'What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor?'" In Hebrew, the word face literally means "that which turns." [Strong's] The face of the poor, which had turned to the leadership to be its earthly guide and support, would be "crushed" and "ground," with its resources devoured and plundered. I am saddened as I think about our worldview today, with the abundance of poor in so many places and hurting in so many ways. Systems that crush and plunder. Attitudes that devour self-worth.


We simply must remember the lesson of last week regarding the sin of showing partiality. "The shew of their countenance [their respect for persons] bears witness against them." (Isaiah 3:9) A champion of the poor, James must have breathed Isaiah's prophecy as air, given how he addressed the Christian Jews of his day:

 

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool, 'have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man....'"

--James 2: 1-6 (the sin of partiality; emphasis mine)

Judah's leadership had become a nation of "judges with evil motives." Is it any wonder God's words were intended to cut straight to their hearts: "What do you mean....?" If there's anyone rhetorically grappling for an explanation in this controversy, it's God.

"'What mean you, that you beat my people into pieces? What cause have you for it? What good does it do you?' Or, 'What hurt have they done you? Do you think you had power given you for such a purpose as this?' Note, there is nothing more unaccountable, and yet nothing which must more certainly be accounted for, than the injuries and abuses that are done to God’s people by their persecutors and oppressors. 'You grind the faces of the poor; you put them to as much pain and terror as if they were ground in a mill, and as certainly reduce them to dust by one act of oppression after another.'"

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

"And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor...."

--Isaiah 3:5

"Moreover...." God continues. "Judah's women denounced".... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: izismile.com

* * *

Next week: Isaiah 3:16-26

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 3: 1-5

Isaiah 3

God Will Remove the Leaders

 ¹ For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;
² The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
³ The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
⁴ And I will make mere lads their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,
⁵ And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The youth will storm against the elder
And the inferior against the honorable.

If you thought to question why God would issue the command to "Stop regarding man....," (Isaiah 2:22), He explains in Chapter 3 of Isaiah. Using the title "Lord God of hosts"--which breaks down into 'Lord,' or Adonai, and 'God of hosts,' which is a title of a mighty warrior--God reclaims His position as THE One in charge by deposing of all other purported leaders.

"Both supply and support" reads verse 1. The two-pronged deposition involves removing the physical, bodily sustenance of the people (bread and water) as well as their intellectual, emotional, spiritual, you-name-it sustenance--all of which is God-provided! Instead of 'support,' other translations use 'staff,' which means everything from a literal walking-stick to any type of support. [Strong's] Instead of "leaning on the everlasting arms," Judah and Jerusalem leaned on everything but.

Verses 2 and 3 list the supporting roles that had superseded God's. As I read through this list, I can't help but draw parallels to what we do in our society today. We relish the life of the rich, famous celebrity. We seek wisdom and knowledge from tarot cards, horoscopes and 1-900-Psychics. Successful people are attractive. "Shrinks" fix our problems. We can easily make our own list. How far are we from looking like Judah and Jerusalem today? Who receives the Oscar for best-supporting role in getting our lives together?


Just as "the idols will completely vanish" (Isa. 2:18), so, too, will God remove the supply and support. The judgment described here will have a double fulfillment. The end-times will bring the ultimate destruction of these supports. But Judah would see a more immediate fulfillment, after Isaiah's prophecy, in its captivity to Babylon. The cross-reference for verse 2's "mighty man and the warrior" is in II Kings 24:
  

"And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city [Jerusalem], while his servants were besieging it. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.... Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land."

--II Kings 24: 11, 12 and 14

 
Besides removing those in power, God also has the authority to place people in the capacity to rule. Here, though, His choices will not be for the edification of the current system of government, as He will place "mere lads" and "capricious children" to rule. (vs. 4) We must explore the word capricious, because it has as much depth of meaning through our Romance languages as it does in Hebrew. Literally translated, "Caprious children will rule" means "arbitrary power will rule." Strong's says the word means "caprice (as a fit coming on), i.e. vexation." Think of a frustrated, erratically behaving child having a tantrum. Or, think about this image from the breaking down of the roots in the Italian word capriccio: "capo=head + riccio=hedgehog, suggesting a convulsive shudder in which the hair stood on end like a hedgehog's spines." [World English Dictionary]

Sounds a big "flabby" to me! (See last week's post)

Finally, verse 5, can we be surprised by this given the type of leadership to come: "And the people will be oppressed...."? Again, looking at some Hebrew, the word for oppressed comes from a Hebrew root meaning "to drive (an animal, a workman, a debtor, an army)." [Strong's] The people will drive themselves to ruin.


God had a plan when He created the human being. He didn't just want to create another living thing. He created something special, unique, relational. And when man was alone without others like him, God created woman to join him--relationally. "Be fruitful and multiply" was God's encouragement of human relationships. We would be in relationship with God, but we would also have the relationships of others in support. 

But the sin in the Garden has forever damaged the quality of earthly relationships. As God told Cain, "you must master it." (Genesis 4:7) The crux of our relationship problems is not with the people but with the SIN that the people bring into a relationship! Can we stop the oppressiveness? God sent His Son so that our relationship with Him could be forever changed with our belief. It is only through that relationship and our leaning on the staff of His Word that we can work on loving our neighbors as ourselves.

"The Lord is my shepherd....He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.... Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.... Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. "

--Excerpts from Psalm 23 (emphasis mine)

 

Who's in charge?.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: kidshalloweencostumes4u.com

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Next week: Isaiah 3: 6-8

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).