Isaiah 5: 24 and 25

  

²⁴ Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
And dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;
For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
²⁵ On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.
And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
For all this His anger is not spent,
But His hand is still stretched out.

With his use of dramatic imagery continuing, Isaiah speaks of the judgment awaiting Judah at the hand of God.

I thought about taking a picture of our backyard when I read about stubble and dry grass in verse 24. Appropriate in this scorcher of a Central Virginia summer! But the image above fits Isaiah's words better, as he describes what could be seen as tongues of fire "licking up straw" (New International Version) and dry grass practically melting in the flames. It's a fire that spreads like a hot post on Twitter!

"Sinners make themselves as stubble and chaff, combustible matter, proper fuel to the fire of God’s wrath, which then of course devours and consumes them, as the fire devours the stubble, and nobody can hinder it, or cares to hinder it. Chaff is consumed, unhelped and unpitied."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The result is that the once-abundant vineyard that was Judah is facing rot at its core. And without roots, you have no shoots, much less blossoms, much less fruit.

 

"Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also has stumbled with them.
They will go with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them....

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
Because he was determined to follow man’s command.
Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim
And like rottenness to the house of Judah."

--Hosea 5: 5, 6, 11 and 12

We read, again, in verse 24, that it is Judah's rejection of the law and despising of the word that brings about this incredible wrath from God. What has happened to the book of the law? Remember, Isaiah is writing of a time of extreme apostasy by the leadership and the people. Not that all who sat on the throne were spiritually lost, but more of them were unrighteous than righteous.

"'Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'"

--II Kings 22: 13

King Josiah came to power after Isaiah's prophecy and death. He was one of the righteous who served prior to the fall of Jerusalem. God's wrath had been burning against the people, but Josiah hadn't quite figured out what the cause was. (He was 8 when he first took the throne!) In 622 B.C., some 18 years into his leadership, Josiah summoned his scribe to go to the high priest to work through a financial transaction--he wanted the workman repairing the house of the Lord to be paid. In that visit, the high priest uncovered the book of the law to share with the scribe, who shared it with the king. As his scribe read the word, Josiah tore his clothes--a sign that he understood the sacredness of the law and the resulting response from God against His people.

[Our merciful God showed Josiah grace from His wrath in that He told the king he would pass from this life (609 B.C.) before the initiation of captivity at the hands of Babylon (587 B.C., in or about).]

Picking up with verse 25, because of the blatant disregard for God's Word, upon which rests the foundation for the ongoing relationship His people have with the Lord, God is angry and is stretching out His hand against His people. One of the cross-references for this verse is in Exodus, with Aaron, holding up the staff that God gave Moses, and calling for Egypt's waterways to be turned to blood. This same hand that protected and provided for these people under so many circumstances is now to be held up against them. I just find the imagery so compelling.

"Mountains quake because of Him
And the hills dissolve;
Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence,
The world and all the inhabitants in it."

--Nahum 1:5

I hadn't taken in the full meaning of this idea until reading this passage in Nahum. "Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence." Who was bringing that state of calamity upon Judah? God is fully responsible. His presence causes upheaval in our lives. And we can see this in a positive light [His people needed a wake-up call!] or a negative one [Captivity is painful, Lord!], but we need to understand that THINGS HAPPEN in the presence of God! Here, He says, "I'm angry! You will notice my presence!" Judah's road to hard times was being announced through Isaiah. Babylon was merely a tool in the Lord's battle arsenal. Captivity and the loss of their home will cause the nation to "be still and know that I am God."

Again, I note the frustration in the work of the prophet who would not see the times change with his warnings. That progressing work would come in exile, with the prophet Daniel bringing together all of these thoughts in his prayer to God on behalf of His people:

"Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice."

--Daniel 9:11-14

A "distant nation" is coming.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: thewe.cc

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Next week: Isaiah 5: 26-30

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 3:9-12

⁹ The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
¹⁰ Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him.
¹² O My people! Their oppressors are children,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths.

God, through Isaiah, is continuing to explain to Judah why He is at His wits' end with them. 

The NASB uses "the expression on their faces" (vs. 9), suggesting that their sin is truly outwardly visible. Other translations and more literal renderings offer a more accurate picture. "In Isaiah 3:9 [speaking of the King James Version], 'the shew of their countenance' is a bad translation for 'their respect of persons.'" [Burton Scott Easton, writing in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia] The idiom suggests that the partiality of Judah--seeing themselves far above others, including God--bore out in all their doings. Can't help but recall the word of James:

"If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,' you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors."

--James 2: 8 and 9

Clearly, the people were not loving others according to the true law, much less were they loving themselves as God would have them.


How obvious was this? Verse 9 continues, "...They display their sin like Sodom." The prophets love to bring back Sodom, I'm discovering. If there were a most hated place by God, Sodom would certainly rank right up at the top. Their open displays of promiscuity and sinfulness (Genesis 19:5) led to God bring down the gauntlet upon the nation--and, thus, for the prophets to echo their story over and over in an appeal to the heart of God's people to examine themselves.

"Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD."

--Genesis 13:13 (or, as some translations would say, "wicked and sinners exceedingly")

Still in verse 9, "Woe to them!" Although this points to consequences to come to the people, this is a much deeper sentiment than just a reference to impending captivity. Again, other translations get to the root: "Woe to their souls!" Such an easy point to gloss over, but it's crucial to follow this through. Sin goes deeper than just the misdemeanor of the moment.

"Note, the condition of sinners is woeful and very deplorable. Note, also, it is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet at the same time there may be a woe to their souls. Note, further, whatever evils befall sinners it is of their own procuring...."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

What Matthew Henry says in his commentary about sinners prospering, is supported in God's Word, difficult as it is to read, perhaps:

"Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly."

--Ecclesiastes 8:12 [italics mine]

Make sure you take the entire verse and concept together. Will we sometimes see sins go unpunished here on Earth? Will we see those who seemingly should be called out 'guilty' proceed forward in their life and ways as though nothing ever happened? The answer is yes. ON EARTH! "In their outward estates," as Matthew Henry puts it. But, as we know from Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." What is going to happen after Earth? God will not let sin win--EVER! So, can He stand and watch as His people continue in their attitude of sin, supposed witnesses of Him to the world? No way! Not with eternity in His eyes.

"The dealing of his hands will be done to him...."

--Literal translation of Isaiah 9:11b

The righteous will inherit Heaven, and the wicked will inherit what they dish out as love to their neighbors!

Verse 12 speaks of women and children. Most of you probably realize that these were not among the well-regarded people in this culture. God's eyes saw them differently, of course, but in the eyes of the people, women and children were low in the totem pole. (Remember that "partiality" evidenced in the character of the people, as mentioned in verse 9.) We had read earlier in the beginning of Chapter 3 about the "capricious children" who would be ruling over the people in these days. Isaiah ties in women with government in this verse, which would have culturally illustrated additional weakness in the leadership.

"Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths." (vs. 12) Remember, again, from the beginning of the chapter, "...The mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet," etc., etc. (Isa. 3:2- ) These are the ones the people had put in place of God. The self-appointed guides were guiding them into evil. How they had forgotten the wisdom of Solomon!

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

--Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 (King James Version)

 

Judah's heart was wicked and filled with trust in themselves. Their ways turned crooked, as they should have, given that the nation no longer acknowledged God nor followed in His way. Although some, for the short term, would seem to succeed in their sinful living, God would, and will, have the final word. Judah had forgotten the word of God, the word of the wise appointed by God, and the God's word spoken through the prophets.

And what of ourselves? In a world that looks much like Sodom, in whom do we seek our righteousness that we might be rewarded with the eternal fruit of Heaven?

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

--Hebrews 12: 1 and 2

 

"God will judge".... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: funnytoons.tv

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Next week: Isaiah 3:13-15

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).