Isaiah 30 - 34

In Chapter 30, Isaiah focuses on Hezekiah’s foolish attempt to make an alliance with Egypt to protect his nation, Judah, from the Assyrians. 

Verse 1, “Woe to the obstinate children...to those who carry out plans that are not mine.” Obstinate? The Israelites?  Have we ever heard that description of them before? The Israelites were described by Moses and others as stiff necked, obstinate or difficult to lead in Ex. 33:3; Deut. 9:13; Neh. 9:16 and Acts 7:51. 

Do you remember when Moses was told to return to Egypt to liberate the Israelites from slavery? He declined because he didn’t think he was qualified.  I wonder if in the back of his mind he also thought, “Those people are disagreeable, stubborn, argumentative, and I pity anyone who tries to lead them anywhere.”

God warned the Jews that an alliance with Egypt would prove worthless. Verse 7, “to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.  Therefore, I will call her ‘Rahab the Do-Nothing’.” This expression meant that Egypt had a big mouth when it came to promises but could do little or nothing to really help Judah. The word Rahab comes from Ra’hav, a mythical sea monster, something like a hippopotamus (from the Greek meaning “river horse”).   Though it is huge in size, the Rahab was not as dangerous as its size would suggest. So Egypt, like the Rahab, was not as dangerous as a military opponent nor as helpful as an ally as one would hope.  But when you are as small a nation as Judah, being confronted by the Assyrian Empire, you make an alliance with whoever you can. 

It’s difficult to be too critical of Hezekiah.  He was a very good king but in this situation, when many of his fortress cities were destroyed and Jerusalem was threatened, his faith faltered.  His faltering faith brings to mind the story told in Mark 9.  Here a father, desperate and afraid for his son’s well-being, brought him to Jesus and asked if he could do anything to help them. Jesus replied, “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.”  The boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” What the father is saying is, “My faith is far from perfect. I may not have enough faith. If my faith is not enough, please help me to have enough.” “I do have faith! Please help me to have even more.” Jesus was pleased with the fathers’ response and healed the boy. And that year the son bought his dad the best Father’s Day gift he could afford.  Well, maybe not.

The point is, Hezekiah was a desperate and fearful king, having seen many of his fortress cities destroyed and with the enemy at the gates of Jerusalem.  He was faithful, but his faith wasn’t perfect, and so he stumbled.  

So what happened?  Did the alliance with Egypt bring Judah success? In 701 B.C. Sennacherib brought his army south along the Phoenician coast. The Egyptians and Assyrians fought in the area of Eltekeh on the Philistine Plain. Do you want to guess who won the battle?  Isaiah gives us some details about this battle in Isa. 10:28-32. God allowed Sennacherib to capture some cities, but not Jerusalem.  Now Sennacherib’s version of what happened to Jerusalem was a bit biased, much as our histories are written today. Sennacherib wrote that Jerusalem was “like a caged bird in Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut up.”  He is correct in saying he put the city under seige, but he didn’t mention that he was never able to conquer it. 

Throughout history, leaders liked to report their accomplishments and ignore their failures. The emperors and kings were the ones with the resources to write the history, build the monuments, and “control the narrative” as we say today. They write memoirs in order to write sanitized versions of the history.  When Winston Churchill was asked how he thought he would be remembered in history, he replied, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” 

Verse 9, “These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.  They say to the seers (prophets like Isaiah), ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right!’ Tell us pleasant things, prophecy illusions.  Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.’” 

Have things changed much over the centuries? Do voters and church members like to hear “pleasant things and illusions”? Vice President Walter Mondale was running against Governor Ronald Reagan.  Mondale said, “Let’s tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you, I just did.”  Can you guess who won the election? Oftentimes, the candidate who promises more for the people at no cost wins the election.

Some pastors have gotten away from teaching and preaching from all the Bible to focus more on the feel good passages. A prominent radio Bible teacher lamented that there is a decline in biblical literacy within churches.  He said that expositional preaching has given way to inspirational talks, which gives way to therapeutical endeavors. In other words, inspiration and entertainment has replaced transformational preaching. Consider Rom. 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

I wonder how many subjects some pastors would like to preach on, but they avoid out of fear of offending some of the church members, especially the larger contributors to the church. 

Verse 15 tells us that rather than seeking help from an alliance with Egypt, they should have turned back to God. “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  The people of Judah were confident of their security, saying, “No, we will not flee on horses.  Therefore, you will flee...your pursuers will be swift.  Verse 17, “A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away.” They bragged about their security, yet flee at the first sign of a threat. When Jerusalem is invaded by the Babylonians, it won’t take them long to realize that they are in danger and many will flee before their land is invaded, leaving the cities more like ghost towns.

As for the threat from the Assyrians, Hezekiah did survive, Egypt proved to have a “Do-Nothing military and Assyria failed to take Jerusalem and became weaker in the process. 

Without any warning, verse 19 moves ahead to the time of restoration of Israel. “O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more…  Verse 21, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hears a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” One commentator said that this “voice” is the still, small voice of God’s Spirit. And the natural result of this will be the discarding of any images of false gods. Verse 22, “Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold, you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth.” Now that’s about as graphic a description that I’ve read in some time.  If Mrs. Isaiah had proof read this text she might have said, “Now Isaiah, you can’t use that term, this is a Bible study.”

This future return to God will result in physical blessings as seen in verses 23-25. This idea goes back to Deut. 28 where the Israelites were offered blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience. Have you noticed that when God is telling his people that they are about to endure a difficult time in their history, he will oftentimes end with words of encouragement by telling them of a future time of peace and prosperity?

But what about those enemies of Israel of God’s people?  Well, Isaiah addresses them in verses 27-33. He is going to come from afar with burning anger (verse 27).  He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction (verse 28). Verse 31, “The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria. Verse 33 says, “Topeth has long been prepared; it has been make ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide.”  Let’s unpack this passage and figure out what it means. Notice that God is described as shaking the “nations”, plural. What God will do to the many nations, he would now do to Assyria. The King of Assyria will lose (verse 31). 

What is Topeth that has been prepared? It was a place located in the Valley of Hinnom.  This was where the people of Jerusalem would burn their garbage.  A landfill that was always burning.  Hopefully it was located downwind from the city. It was also the place where some kings offered human sacrifices to the god Molech. In Hebrew, the Valley of Hinnom is called Gei Hinnom, from which comes the Greek term Gehenna. This is oftentimes translated “hell” and became a symbol of the Lake of Fire.

One Jewish commentator wrote that Sennacherib’s troops were camped nearby.  The fires of Topeth were smoldering when God set it ablaze, this caused poisonous vapors that swept over his troops and poisoned many while others died in the fire. Sennacherib escaped but when he returned home, his sons murdered him. 

Chapter 31

Imagine you’ve just been admonished by your boss, spouse or someone else.  The storm seems to have passed, but then, a few days later, he says, “Oh, and another thing…!” and adds to his first list of criticisms. Well, Isaiah does a similar thing in chapter 31. He returns to the subject of Judah’s alliance with Egypt, giving more details in this second message or second woe. This returning to the subject has been given a fancy name by theologians, it’s called the law of recurrence. It reminds me of a similar idea in Psychology called rumination. This is where a patient endlessly replays negative images. It’s like playing a broken record in your mind. One psychiatrist had a patient who was a victim of physical and verbal abuse and kept thinking about it. He told her that she is continuing the abuse that others laid on her by ruminating on it. She suggested that the patient “lift the needle off the record.” 

The Apostle Paul suggested in Phil. 3:13-14, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The word “forgetting” means to stop focusing on.  Paul is telling us to focus on the present and future. It’s easy to live in the past, focusing on either its victories or failures. Our past mistakes and failures can destroy our self-worth and our past accomplishments can inflate our pride.  Instead, Paul says, we should focus on our new identity in Christ and our ministries, present and future. 

We should refuse to allow past successes to inflate our pride or past failures to deflate our self-worth. We leave it behind and instead adopt our new identity in Christ. Let’s take a look at 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!   1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Rom. 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
There are numerous passages that say that God not only forgives our sins, but he doesn’t even remember them anymore. 

Heb. 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” 

Isa. 43:25 says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Do you think that Paul had to deal with forgetting ugly episodes of his past?  If he focused his mind on his early years when he was persecuting the church (Acts 8:1-3) or his many episodes of being persecuted for being a leader of that same church (2 Cor 6:4), would he be effective in any ministry? If God has forgiven us and forgotten our sins in the sense he isn’t going to hold them against us, why do we sometimes insist on holding onto those disturbing memories?  Try to replace those thought with a new focus on today and tomorrow. 

Now, getting back to Chapter 31:1, in the first “woe” Isaiah condemned Judah’s alliance with Egypt. With this second woe found here, he returns to the subject of the alliance with Egypt and adds more detail. Verse 1 warns that this alliance is doomed to fail. “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help...but do not look to the Holy One of Israel.”

In verses 4-9 he summarizes what he said in the previous chapter. In verse 5 Isaiah wrote, “Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem.”  God would protect Jerusalem, they didn’t need an alliance with Egypt. Verse 6, God urges the people to, “return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites.”  Verse 8, “Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man.” What was the end result of all this? 

Assyria did destroy forty-six of Judah’s fortified cities, but God protected the city of Jerusalem. Sennacherib retreated and was killed soon after he returned to Assyria. 

In chapter 32, we have a parenthetical thought, another jump forward in time. Why? No, not to confuse us, though it does at times, but to give hope to Judah when their nation will be ruled by the Messiah. Verse 1, “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rules will rule with justice.  Verse 2, “Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm.” The context suggests that because the nation would be ruled by competent and honest leaders, the citizens will feel safe and secure. Verse 3, “Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed and the ears of those who hear will listen.  Verse 5, “No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected.”  Well, I guess many of their appointed officials will be out of a job.

The way Isaiah inserts parenthetical passages and jumps from the near future to the distant future makes his writings more difficult to understand.  In verse 9 he does it again, alternating between the Assyrian invasion of his own day and the final invasion by all the nations in the end times. If Isaiah, and other prophets, focused only on their impending captivity and not on their restoration, it would be very discouraging. It would be like a doctor explaining to you all the horrible side effects of a treatment without reminding you that the end results will be a restoration of health and strength.

Verse 9, “You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; your daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!”  Here it comes, get ready!  Verse 10, “In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble.”  He goes on to describe failed crops (verse 10), fields will be overgrown with thorns and briers (verse 13), the noisy city will be deserted (verse 14) UNTIL the Spirit is poured upon us from on high (verse 15). Since these events will take place before the Spirit is poured upon them and doesn’t describe the immediate future, we can assume that these events speak of the tribulation.

The expression, the Spirit is poured upon us from on high” is repeated in Joel 2:28-32, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions...verse 32 “and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved… there will be deliverance as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

Chapter 33

Verse 1, “Woe to you, O destroyer, you who have not been destroyed.”  Who is he speaking about?  It’s Assyria. It goes on to say, “When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed.” As the chapter progresses, it appears to be directed not only to Assyria but to the whole world. It sounds like it is referring to the Antichrist. Sometimes a prophecy has a double meaning.  It might be fulfilled in part in the near future, but ultimately it will be fulfilled in the distant future. Zech. 13:8-9 tells us that the Antichrist will be responsible for destroying two thirds of the world’s Jewish population in the tribulation. He is the destroyer, the treacherous one who breaks a covenant with the Jews made at the beginning of the tribulation. Dan. 9:27 tells us, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”  The Antichrist will be the first casualty of the second coming. 2 Thess. 2:8 says, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”

After hearing this the remnant of believers offer a prayer. Verse 2, “O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you.  Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.” 

In verse 3, it says, “At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.”  The fact that the people and nations are plural, suggests that this refers to more than Assyria, and involved a plurality of nations. This tends to point to the tribulation period. Another clue is verse 6, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” None of these things were happening in the Jerusalem of Isaiah’s day. Either way, the point is made that in time, justice will be served.  Those who oppress the people of God will themselves be oppressed. 

When the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel, the foreign minister and ambassadors, will find themselves weeping to see that their peace agreement has collapsed.  Verses 7-9, “Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.” It goes on to say that the highways are deserted, the treaty is broken, the land mourns and wastes away. If any of these officials were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, they might as well send it back to Oslo, Norway. 

In verse 10 Isaiah turned to the destruction of the invaders, “You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; our breath is a fire that consumes you.” Now there’s an expression you probably haven’t heard before. It’s another way of saying that the enemy who invades will carry within himself the seeds of his own destruction.  It brings to mind when an army invades a country far beyond what the capacity of the logistical chain can provide to maintain its momentum. Think of Germany invading Russia just as winter weather was about to hit.

Verse 14 tells us that the sinners at that time will be terrified and the question is asked, “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?  The answer is found in verse 15, “He who walks righteously and speaks what is right.  The chapter goes on to describe the bright future of the righteous remnant. All those evil people “you will see those arrogant people no more, those people of an obscure speech” (verse 19). The chapter ends with a description of the millennium. There will be peace, led by the Messiah, in a world of abundance and our sins will all be forgiven (verses 20-24).

In Chapter 34 Isaiah focuses on the judgment of the nations, plural. Verse 2, “The Lord is angry with all nations...He will totally destroy them.”  Verse 4, “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved.” In verses 5-7 He focuses on his judgment of Edom. It will be overtaken by desert creatures (verse 14) and culminates with the destroyed land being given over to the wild animals (verse 17).  Didn’t we read elsewhere that Edom would be destroyed, along with Babylon?