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

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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

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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).