An Overview of Isaiah

Isaiah
Written By David Gooding

by David Gooding

The biblical authors used the literary conventions of their day to convey their message. These included structures and patterns less obvious to us in our modern age. David Gooding brought his expertise in ancient literature to the biblical text, and these study notes represent his thinking about the structure, patterns and thought-flow of Isaiah.

When speaking to groups of Bible students, he often said, ‘When it comes to Bible study, there is structure, pattern and thought-flow, and the greatest of these is thought-flow. Here are the thoughts of God expressed. Our job is to follow the thought-flow’. He taught that the most important thing to grasp in biblical interpretation is the way the author develops his message, and that discerning structure and patterns within the text should always be directed towards that end.

David Gooding developed these study notes over many years and distributed them at public and private talks. The study notes are not meant to be the last word on the book, and may not cover it entirely. The Myrtlefield Trust offers them to Bible students, preachers and teachers in order to stimulate further thinking about the book, so that its message may be better understood.

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Study Notes

Preliminary Remarks

The Main Aim of These Seminars

  1. To acquaint ourselves with its major contents and themes.
  2. To try to understand how the material in the book is organized.
  3. To examine whether the book is simply a collection of Isaiah's prophecies, originally spoken at different times and different places, and now put together in no particular order, without any particular connection of thought between one paragraph, or chapter, and the next; or whether the material is deliberately arranged according to dominant themes; and if so, what those themes are.
  4. Every now and again we shall come across a verse, paragraph or chapter that sparkles like a gem with prophetic descriptions of the Lord Jesus, his birth, ministry, death, resurrection, second coming, etc. We shall let our hearts be warmed and provoked to worship by these passages, but we must also consider the order in which they occur throughout the book; for they do not occur in chronological order so that all the references to his birth come first, then all the references to his death in the middle, and all the references to his second coming at the end of the book. Isaiah 2:2–4 refers to the millennium; Isaiah 7 to his birth; Isaiah 34:1–8 to his second coming in judgment (cf. Isa 63:1–6); yet Isaiah 53 refers to his death and Isaiah 55:3 to his resurrection (cf. Acts 13:34). We must therefore endeavour to discover why each of these prophecies comes where it does in the book, and how it fits its particular context.

The Historical Setting of Isaiah's Prophecies

  1. Isaiah (sixty-six chapters), Jeremiah (fifty-two chapters) and Ezekiel (forty-eight chapters) form a large part of the Old Testament. All three are clustered round a catastrophic event in world history: the sack of Jerusalem city, the destruction of the temple, and the suspension of the royal house of David.
    • Isaiah ministered before and after the deportation of the ten tribes of Israel to Assyria. He lived through the unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians. He does not describe the attack of the Babylonians on Jerusalem and the deportation of the two tribes to Babylon; but he foretells God's eventual deliverance of his people from Babylon.
    • Jeremiah lived through and describes the approach of the Babylonian armies, and their eventual capture of Jerusalem and deportation of the people. He also prophesied Israel's restoration.
    • Ezekiel ministered to the exiles now in Babylon. He too prophesied Israel's restoration.
  2. We must first therefore try to understand the historical significance of the exile of the ten tribes, the destruction of Jerusalem, city and temple, and the suspension of the royal house of David. If it was really true that Israel was God's specially chosen nation, raised up by God to witness to the one true Creator God as a protest against the pagan idolatry of all the other nations, how could God allow the pagan nations to destroy Jerusalem city and the temple, and to defeat and dethrone the Davidic kings?

Having First Understood the Significance of Isaiah's Prophecies in the Original Historical Context, We Can Then Enquire:

  1. How far does the God-defying king of Assyria, in his advance on, and siege of, Jerusalem, foreshadow the man of sin (2 Thess 2; cf. Zech 14:1–4)?
  2. How far does God's use of the Assyrians to chastise Israel foreshadow God's discipline of Israel under the beast?
  3. How many, or how much, of Isaiah's prophecies of Israel's eventual deliverance, salvation and return from Babylon refer to:
    • The return from Babylon under Cyrus, Ezra, and Nehemiah?
    • The salvation offered to Israel by the Lord Jesus during his life on earth (e.g. Isa 61:1–2)?
    • The salvation preached by the apostles (e.g. Isa 11:10; 49:6; cf. Acts 13:46–47; Rom 15:8–12)?
    • Israel's conversion at the end of this present age (Isa 59:20; Rom 11:26)?
    • The blessing of the Gentile nations as a result of Israel's restoration (Rom 11:15; cf. Isa 2:2–4)?

Contents of Isaiah's Prophecy

Isaiah 1–35: Prophecy

The Assyrian threat.

The deportation of the ten tribes.

The Assyrian advance and virtual siege of Jerusalem.

The threat turned away: Jerusalem saved.

Isaiah 36–39: History

Hezekiah's valiant stand against the demands of the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah's grave illness and recovery.

Hezekiah's compromise with the king of Babylon.

Isaiah 40–66: Prophecy

The deliverance from exile in Babylon and the restoration of Jerusalem.

Isaiah: Table of Contents

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Structure and Themes in Isaiah 1:1–35:10

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An Overview of Part 1A: God's Response to the Rebellion of his Children

  1. God's denunciation of his people's rebellion (Isa 1:1–31).
  2. A prophecy of millennial glory (Isa 2:1–4).
  3. God's denunciation of his people's sin (Isa 2:5–4:1).
  4. A prophecy of millennial glory (Isa 4:2–6).
  5. God's denunciation of his people's sin (Isa 5:1–30).
  6. A vision of the King and his throne (Isa 6:1–13).

An Overview of Part 1B: God's Response to the Unbelief of the House of David

Perturbations in the House of David (Isa 7:1–8:22)

  1. Isaiah 7: Panic because of the Syro-Ephraimite confederacy against Jerusalem to set up another king; God pleads with Ahaz to believe him: Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign—is given the sign of the virgin birth, and Immanuel: the imminent demise of the two kings brought about by God's bringing on them the king of Assyria; the consequent devastation.
  2. The sign of Maher-shalal-hash-baz, and prediction of the Assyrian despoiling of Damascus and Samaria: Judah's rejection of Shiloah will bring the Assyrian flood up to the neck of Immanuel's land. God's exhortation to the faithful remnant to fear the Lord, not the Assyrians (cf. 1 Pet 3:14–15). The Stone of Stumbling (cf. 1 Pet 2:8). Isaiah and his disciples are the remnant waiting for the Lord (cf. Heb 2:13).
  3. The folly of turning to necromancy.

Prophecy of the Coming King to Fill the Throne of David (Isa 9:1–7)

  1. His tactics: to start in Galilee.
  2. The result: end of all oppression.
  3. Who the king will be.
  4. The increase of his government.

The Lord's Anger (Isa 9:8–10:34)

  1. His anger against Jacob/Israel (Isa 9:8–10:4).
  2. The rod of his anger, Assyria. Assyria's false attitude and eventual punishment.
  3. Israel's repentance: the return of the remnant (cf. Rom 9:27–28); the Lord's people not to be afraid of the Assyrian. A dramatic account of the Assyrian's approach.

Prophecy of the Coming Messiah (Isa 11:1–12:6)

The nature of his government: its results. The second return of the remnant: highway from Assyria. The song of salvation: God's anger turned away.

An Overview of Part 2A: God's Ways with the Nations in Relation to the Anti-God King and God's Foundation of Zion

The Oracle About Babylon (Isa 13:1–14:27)

  1. The overthrow of Babylon out of God's compassion for Israel (Note: 'for the Lord' (Isa 14:1)); Israel's return to the land and their release from oppression.
  2. The downfall of the anti-God king of Babylon according to God's predetermined purpose: 'I will break the Assyrian in my land'(Isa 14:24–27).

The Oracle About Philistia (Isa 14:28–32)

  1. They should not boast in their temporary relief: there will be no escape from the Assyrian attack (Isa 14:29–31).
  2. The only refuge is Zion, founded by the Lord (Isa 14:32).

The Oracle About Moab (Isa 15:1–16:14)

  1. The progressive laying waste of Moab's cities (Isa 15:1–9).
  2. Moab's ambivalent attitude to Zion: it sends lambs to Zion's ruler; it seeks asylum in Zion for its refugees, and protection from the oppressor; but it is too proud to own loyalty to Zion's king (Isa 16:1–5).
  3. Therefore there is no escape from destruction (Isa 16:6–14).

The Oracle About Damascus/Jacob; i.e. The Ten Tribes (Isa 17:1–11)

  1. Syria will be ruined (Isa 17:1–3).
  2. The ten tribes will experience almost total disaster, because 'you have forgotten the God of your salvation' (Isa 17:4–6, 10).
  3. This will lead to repentance from idolatry and a turning to the Creator (Isa 17:7–8).

Two Further Considerations (Isa 17:12–14; 18:1–7)

  1. Only God can disperse the Assyrian armies (Isa 17:12–14).
  2. The uselessness of depending on Ethiopian diplomacy (Isa 18:1–2).
  3. After God's destruction of the enemy, Ethiopia shall bring a present to the Lord: to the place of the name of the lord of hosts, the Mount Zion (Isa 18:3–7).

The Oracle About Egypt (Isa 19:1–25)

  1. The coming of the Lord to Egypt will stultify the wisdom and commerce of Egypt (Isa 19:1–15).
  2. The hand of the Lord and the land of Judah become a terror to Egypt (Isa 19:16–17).
  3. The conversion of Egypt to faith in, and worship of, the Lord (Isa 19:18–22).
  4. The conversion of the Assyrians to the Lord and their reconciliation with Egypt (Isa 19:23).
  5. Israel, Egypt, Assyria, all three at one in faith and worship: 'Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance' (Isa 19:24–25).

An Overview of Part 2B: False Hopes Against the Assyrian Attack

A Preliminary Warning to the Coastal Cities (Isa 20:1–6)

It is useless for these cities to put their trust in the political super powers, Egypt and Ethiopia; for in three years Assyria will defeat both. Then the coastal cities will have no hope of escape.

The Oracle About the Desert by the Sea, i.e. Babylon (Isa 21:1–10)

Jerusalem has put its faith in a coalition, led by 'religious' Babylon, to try to stop the Assyrians. Now they hear the spine-chilling news that Babylon has been utterly destroyed by Sennacherib in 689 bc (not by Cyrus in 539 bc).

The Oracle About Dumah/Edom (Isa 21:11–12)

The watchman anxiously seeks to know: When is the gloom going to be finally relieved? But no answer can be given. They must wait, and enquire again. Beware of false timetabling!

The Oracle Against Arabs (Isa 21:13–17)

Relief agencies do a good work to help refugees from the theatre of war. But that will not stop the inevitable destruction that God has foretold.

The Oracle About the Valley of Vision, i.e. Jerusalem (Isa 22:1–24)

False, worldly, attitudes in the city of David itself:

  1. Inappropriate joy probably at the relief obtained by Hezekiah's attempt to buy off Sennacherib with vast sums of money (Isa 22:1–6; cf. 2 Kgs 18:17ff); The relief was very short lived, many of the rulers had defected, and now the Assyrians were mounting a siege.
  2. Trust in their stock pile of arms, in their water supply engineering, in their demolition of houses to fortify the walls, instead of trust in the Lord (Isa 22:7–11).
  3. Their rejection of God's call to repentance and their adoption of the world's hopeless attitude: Life is short, live it up while you can, for tomorrow we shall die (cf. 1 Cor 15:32). God's response: there can be no purging of this iniquity until you do die (Isa 22:12–14)!
  4. The misuse of the office of high steward in the house of David: Shebna had no higher motive than self-glory, and no larger vision than a magnificent sepulchre! (Isa 22:15–19).
  5. The only proper attitude to this high office: that of Eliakim; awareness of divine appointment, and maintenance in the enormous responsibility of being the chief administrator in the house of David, set up by God for God's age long purposes in the world (Isa 22:20–23; cf. Rev 3:7).
  6. A potential danger in this office: that his family would come to depend on him rather than on the Lord. The Hebrew of Isaiah 22:24 can be translated: 'should they hang on him' (Isa 22:24–25; cf. 1 Cor 1).

The Oracle About Tyre (Isa 23:1–18)

  1. Tyre was an empire built on technology and commerce (Isa 23:1–7).
  2. Its skill, products and artisans made a very useful and distinguished contribution to the temple (1 Kgs 5:1–11; 7:13–46).
  3. But the danger of its very attractive 'goods' was, as now, that these lovely things drew people's hearts away from God.
  4. Tyre's gods were pagan–and cruel; and Jezebel of Tyre introduced these gods to Israel and displaced Jehovah.
  5. Tyre sold to everyone, but was loyal to none. Its beauty was that of a harlot. Like modern commercialism and globalization, its prime motive was profit for its shareholders, not genuine love for God and fellow-man.
  6. Tyre brought on itself the judgment of God (for the purpose behind God's judgment see Isa 23:8–9); and he used the Assyrians to accomplish it (Isa 23:13).
  7. But there was to be restoration for Tyre! Its merchandise would serve the needs of the Lord's people, and that is a holy project. Even the Lord's people need food and durable clothing! Question: Will there be trade and commerce in the millennium (Isa 23:15–18)?

An Overview of Part 3A: The Effect of God's Judgment on Planet Earth and its Cities, and on the Restoration of his People

Key Terms in this Part of Isaiah (Isa 24:1–27:13)

  1. Earth: twenty-five times in Isaiah 24–27.
  2. City: Isaiah 24:10, 12; 25:2–3; 26:1, 5; 27:10.
  3. Mountain: Isaiah 24:23; 25:6–7, 10; 27:13.
  4. The superhuman powers throughout creation: In the heavenlies (Isa 24:21), on the earth (Isa 27:1) and in the sea (Isa 27:1).

Note: It has been said 'God made the country, man made the town'. In much ancient Greek thought, cities are the expression of man's progress and achievement; of organized civilization, as distinct from remaining in small individual units, living in the wild, more like animals. From the time of Nimrod (Gen 10:8–12), however, big cities have often expressed man's independence of, and even hostility to, God. On the other hand, while God began with the garden of Eden, God's ultimate purpose was to have a city: first the earthly Jerusalem, and then the heavenly new Jerusalem.

The Shaking of Planet Earth (Isa 24:1–20)

  1. Turned upside down, physically and socially, with population scattered and emptied (Isa 24:1–6).
  2. The reason for it: man's guilt in polluting the earth (cf. the pollution of the earth by murder and moral perversion in Gen 4:11; Num 35:33; Lev 18:25–30); transgressing the laws, changing the ordinances, breaking the everlasting covenant (Isa 24:5–7; cf. Gen 9:1–17).
  3. Result: the curse, the end of wine and joy, social confusion and desolation, mourning (Isa 24:6–12).
  4. Yet a small 'gleaning' shall repent and glorify the Lord for his majesty (Isa 24:13–15).
  5. Isaiah is appalled at the extent of the utter catastrophe (Isa 24:16–20).

The Reign of Christ (Isa 24:21–23)

  1. The punishment of superhuman principalities and earthly kings (Isa 24:21).
  2. The remand of some in prison until the end of the millennium (Isa 24:22).
  3. The brilliance of the occasion outshining sun and moon (Isa 24:23).
  4. The lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously (Isa 24:23).

The Joy of the Messianic Banquet (Isa 25:1–8)

  1. Praise to God for having fulfilled all his promises (Isa 25:1):
    • In bringing down all hostile opposition (Isa 25:2–3).
    • For having been a stronghold to his people when they were under persecution (Isa 25:4–5).
  2. The banquet for all nations:
    • Sumptuous joy (Isa 25:6).
    • The swallowing up of death and the wiping away of tears, and the removal of the reproach of his people (Isa 25:8).

Two Prospective Responses (Isa 25:9–26:5)

  1. Gladness and rejoicing in God's salvation (Isa 25:9–12):
    • The long years of waiting for God to act are over. Now God has acted for their salvation.
    • Salvation will mean that the hand of the Lord will put a complete end to Moab's prideful hostility.
  2. Song of joy at the awareness of the security of their strong city and the protection of salvation (Isa 26:1–5):
    • Entry into the gates of the city for the righteous that keep truth.
    • A mind at perfect peace through settled trust in the Lord.
    • The awareness of God as an everlasting rock as a result of his dealing with the enemy.

The Spiritual Exercise of the Righteous During the Waiting Period (Isa 26:6–21)

  1. Their awareness that their feet shall one day tread on the defeated enemy (Isa 26:6; cf. Rom 16:20).
  2. But that means that in the meanwhile God who is upright must train and guide his people in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake (Isa 26:7).
  3. They have accepted that this period of training in righteousness has turned the waiting period into a waiting and desire for God, a seeking for his rule and righteousness, all through the night (Isa 26:8–9).
  4. For this is how the inhabitants of the earth learn the righteousness of God (Isa 26:9; cf. 2 Thess 1:4–7).
  5. Granted that the wicked will not learn righteousness this way, even though the kindness of God was meant to lead them to repentance; they will persist in their unrighteousness (Isa 26:10–11; cf. Rom 2:4).
  6. But they will see God's zeal for his people and be ashamed when his fire consumes them (Isa 26:11; cf. 2 Thess 1:6, 8–12).
  7. The certainty that God will ordain peace for his people at that time is based on the fact that it is God who has wrought all their works for them (Isa 26:12; cf. Phil 2:13).
  8. Now the righteous remnant reviews their national history; i.e. their bondage in Egypt and the various captivities in the days of the Judges (Isa 26:13–15). But …
    • By God's help they have retained faith in the one true God (Isa 26:13).
    • Their enemies have perished: God has destroyed them and obliterated the memory of them (Isa 26:14).
    • God has enlarged the nation, extended their borders and glorified himself in so doing (Isa 26:15).
  9. But now they bemoan the fact that during this time of God's chastisement of them, the pain seems all to have been in vain and ineffectual: it has not brought about any deliverance in the world (Isa 26:16–18).
  10. Then comes God's reply (Isa 26:19–21):
    • There will be a bodily resurrection or a spiritual rebirth of Israel (Isa 26:19; cf. Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones, Isa 37).
    • There must first come a time of indignation from which they must hide themselves (Isa 26:20).
    • Then the Lord will come and punish the earth and its inhabitants (Isa 26:21).

Results of the Coming of the Lord (Isa 27:1–13)

  1. The punishment of the principalities and powers, the serpents and the dragon (Isa 27:1).
  2. The re-establishment of Israel as God's vineyard (Isa 27:2–6):
    • To be defended by God from all injury.
    • The effect of Israel as the restored vine: they shall fill the face of the world with fruit (cf. Rom 11:12–24).
  3. A contrast between God's chastisement of Israel and his judgment on the ungodly, unbelieving, and impenitent world (Isa 27:7–11):
    • God's chastisement of Israel, though severe, has not been so severe as his punishment of those who tried to destroy Israel (Isa 27:7–8).
    • God's chastisement of Israel has led to his repentance, the acknowledgement of his sin and unbelief, and the abandonment of all idolatry (Isa 27:9).
    • But with Israel's enemies it is different. Though God is their creator too, their persistence in deliberate, organized, ignorant hostility, not only to Israel but to Israel's God, will result in merciless punishment (Isa 27:10–11).
  4. The ingathering of Israel (Isa 27:12).
  5. The coming of the saved from among the Gentiles to worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem (Isa 27:13; cf. Zech 14:16–21).

An Overview of Part 3B: The Folly of Rejecting God and his Word and Putting One's Faith in Human Wisdom, Religion and Strength Independent of God

Preliminary Remarks

  1. The background to these chapters is still Sennacherib's final attempt to take Jerusalem (see Isa 29:3–8; 30:31–33; 31:8–9).
  2. Emphasis is laid on the folly of going down to Egypt for help, when only the Lord can save (see Isa 30:1–18; 31:1–3).
  3. In several passages reference is made to the defeat of Assyria, and also to the Lord's coming and the setting up of his kingdom. But when we look at the contexts surrounding these passages, we shall have to decide once more whether all the passages in this Part 3B follow each other in chronological order or not.
  4. We must also ask how much of the language used to describe God's deliverance of Jerusalem from the attack of Sennacherib goes beyond this historical event to foreshadow what will happen when the Lord comes to destroy the armies of the beast.
  5. We shall also notice a heavy emphasis on the word of God, the book (scroll), teachers and teaching, and the right and wrong interpretation of Scripture; and on how the rejection of God's truth leads to judicial blindness and inability to make sense of Scripture. To see the relevance of this theme to the serious situation that faced Ephraim and Judah in the time of Sennacherib's invasion of Palestine and siege of Jerusalem, it will be helpful to notice the context of Matthew 23, and of John 12:35–50.

The First Woe (Isa 28:1–29)

Concerning Ephraim (Isa 28:1–13)

  1. The crown of pride of Ephraim's drunkards shall be destroyed by God sending the Assyrians against them.
  2. It shall be replaced by another crown and diadem for the remnant, namely the Lord of Hosts, who will impart a spirit of true judgment to Ephraim's judges, and strength to their defenders (Isa 28:5–6).
  3. The fault of the Ephraimites: alcohol has perverted their senses, their judgment, and their vision (Isa 28:7–8).
  4. Their scornful rejection of the prophet's teaching: 'Whom does he think he's teaching? This is kindergarten stuff!' (Isa 28:9–10).
  5. The prophet's reply (Isa 28:11–13):
    • God will speak to them by letting them hear the barbarous foreign language of their conquerors.
    • Because they have refused the offer of rest to the weary (cf. Matt 11:28–30), God's own word, however simple, will make no sense to them, with the result that they are ensnared and fall (cf. Mark 4:10–12).

Concerning the People of Jerusalem (Isa 28:14–29)

  1. The people of Jerusalem are just as scornful of God's word as the Ephraimites (Isa 28:14).
  2. They have put their faith in a covenant which they have made—the covenant which Hezekiah made with the king of Assyria (2 Kgs 18:13–16)—and they imagine that it will save them when the Assyrian armies come through Judah (Isa 28:15). But …
    • It was a compromise with the forces of evil.
    • It was a pack of lies on the part of the murderous Assyrian.
    • The only sure basis for security is the sure foundation stone, the tried and precious cornerstone, which the Lord God has laid in David's Jerusalem. He who believes will not dash here and there in panic (Isa 28:16; cf. 1 Pet 2:6).
    • God will judge with the plumb line of righteousness, and their covenant with death and hell will prove to be a refuge of lies and no protection; when they get the message it will be sheer terror (Isa 28:17–20).
    • For the Lord will intervene with his divine supernatural power as he did at Baal-perazim for David (2 Sam 5:19–20), and at Gibeon for the besieged Gibeonites and for Joshua (Josh 10:5–14). But it will be a strange act; for this time, when God intervenes with his consummating judgment, he will destroy the very king and army with whom the Jerusalemites have made their agreement. In the hour of God's judgment, then, with whom will the Jerusalemites be found to be bound by covenant? With God's enemy, or with God (Isa 28:21–22)?

A Parable From Agriculture (Isa 28:23–29)

  1. A farmer does not plough and harrow incessantly just for the sake of ploughing and harrowing. He ploughs and harrows so that he can stop both operations and sow the field with seed (Isa 28:24–25).
  2. When he threshes his crops after harvest, he has to use different tools and methods according to the size and nature of the corn (Isa 28:27–28).
  3. The farmer's practical wisdom comes from God his creator; and therefore serves as an insight into the wisdom of God's own ways in chastising his people. God would allow the Assyrians to defeat, capture and deport the ten tribes (Ephraim); but Jerusalem he would rescue at the last moment. But both these methods would be aimed at getting the maximum harvest (Isa 28:29).

The Second Woe (Isa 29:1–14)

God's Announcement of his Chastisement and Then of his Deliverance (Isa 29:1–8)

  1. Addressed to Jerusalem, but here called:
    • Ariel = altar-hearth (see Ezek 43:16), i.e. the place where the fire never went out.
    • The place where David encamped, i.e. David's city.
  2. God announces that at some time in the future he will distress the city and humble it to the dust by bringing upon it the besieging Assyrian armies (Isa 29:2–4).
  3. But then God, who brought the armies to Ariel, will suddenly thunder on them, with earthquake, noise, whirlwind, tempest, flame and fire (Isa 29:5–6).
  4. The result:
    • The armies will be gone like a dream at daybreak (Isa 29:7).
    • And as far as these armies are concerned, the spoil that they thought they were in process of grasping will prove to have been a dream-like illusion (Isa 29:8).

God and Jerusalem's Blindness (Isa 29:9–14)

  1. God's judicial blinding of the people (Isa 29:9–12):
    • The people are indecisive, blind, drunk (but not literally), with self-induced blindness and torpor.
    • The Lord has poured out on the people a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed the people's eyes, i.e. their prophets; and has covered the people's heads, i.e. the seers (cf. Isa 6:9–10 and Acts 28:25–27).
    • The result: this whole vision (i.e. revelation through the prophet) has become like the words of a book which no one can read: the learned, because it is sealed; the unlearned, because he cannot read anyway (Isa 29:11–12).
  2. God's reaction (Isa 29:13–14):
    • This blindness and inability to understand Scripture has been caused by the fact that, while outwardly religious and paying lip service to God, their hearts are far from God; and their so-called fear of, or reverence for, God is in fact nothing but a man-made commandment taught by religious tradition (see Matt 15:7–9).
    • So God will proceed to do a marvellous work and wonder, that will annihilate the so-called wisdom and understanding of their wise men (see 1 Cor 1:19).

The Third Woe (Isa 29:15–24)

The Nonsense of Virtual Atheism (Isa 29:15–16)

  1. It acts as if there were no God who could see them and their behaviour.
  2. It turns the actual facts upside down:
    • They treat God as though he were but matter worked up by man, instead of being the creator of matter and man.
    • They are creatures; they didn't make themselves, yet they claim that no God made them.
    • Being themselves God's creatures, they say that the creator has no intelligence or understanding!

God's Response is to Cite Counter-Evidence (Isa 29:17–21)

  1. The soon coming transformation and glorification of nature (Isa 29:17).
  2. The fact that the spiritually deaf shall hear and understand Scripture, and the blind see after years of darkness (Isa 29:18).
  3. The meek and poor will find their joy in the holy one of Israel increase (i.e. the humble whose faith and hope is in God, 29:19; cf. Matt 5:5; the disciples of Christ, Luke 5:20).
  4. And the reason for this: evil, arrogant, tyrannical, corrupt men, who have perverted justice in the legal system in order to oppress true believers will be cut off (Isa 29:20–21; cf. Luke 11:37–52; Matt 23; the operators at the trial of Christ; the high priests in Acts 4–5; the high priest, Ananias, who manipulated Paul's trial, Acts 23–26).

The Result (Isa 29:22–24)

Abraham and Jacob, the fathers of God's people, shall no longer be ashamed by the behaviour of their progeny; but seeing their children, God's workmanship, they shall sanctify God's name and stand in awe at the holy one of Jacob, the God of Israel. And even the erring and rebel shall come to understand and learn doctrine (Isa 29:22–24).

The Fourth Woe (Isa 30:1–33)

The Embassy to Egypt (Isa 30:1–17)

  1. An act of rebellion against the Lord (Isa 30:1).
  2. The outcome of human scheming, not of God's counsel.
  3. Seeking a protection, but not God's Spirit.
  4. Therefore an addition to their sinning!
  5. Very deliberate determination to go to Egypt, without first consulting God, to gain strength rather from Egypt and to put trust in Egypt's (protecting) shadow (Isa 30:2; contrast 32:2).
  6. All in vain: not only can Egypt not help—but Egypt will be a cause of shame and reproach (Isa 30:3–5).
  7. An oracle concerning the pack-animals of the Negev. Enormous distress and danger and wearisome work carrying the vast amount of treasure necessary to obtain Pharaoh's support: but all a waste of effort and money: Egypt can and will do nothing to help (Isa 30:6–7).

A Lesson to be Inscribed in a Book for the Profit of all Generations to Come (Isa 30:8–17)

  1. The cause of this fatal error: rejection of God's word, law, truth: a demand to hear not what is right, but what is pleasant even if untrue: a rejection of God's prophets, and a demand that the holy one of Israel get out of their way (Isa 30:8–11).
  2. The result of despising God's word in general: the whole scheme shall fall apart from the inside and be shattered (Isa 30:12–14).
  3. The result of rejecting God's particular exhortation in this crisis: that to stay put, to rest, to have confidence in God, is the source of strength; and insisting on fleeing to Egypt for help; the result will be that they shall indeed flee and be decimated by their pursuing enemies (Isa 30:15–17).

God's Plan for the Blessing, Deliverance and Healing of his People (Isa 30:19–26)

  1. Because of their false trust in Egypt rather than in God, God will have to wait. Before he delivers them they must learn the disastrous results of trusting Egypt rather than God (Isa 30:18).
  2. Yet God will hear the cry of his people in Zion and answer them (Isa 30:19).
  3. They will have to endure affliction and adversity; but now they will see their teachers, will hear God's word to guide them, and as a result abandon all their idols (Isa 30:20–22).
  4. The result:
    • Prosperity, supply and satisfaction (Isa 30:23–24).
    • When the towers fall, a more than adequate supply of water on the hills (Isa 30:25).
    • And light above sun and moon when God heals the hurt and wounds of his people (Isa 30:26).

The Means God Will Use to Deal with the Assyrian (Isa 30:27–33)

Noticeable in this passage are the terms used: God's: lips, tongue, (Isa 30:27). voice (Isa 30:30–31). breath (Isa 30:28, 33; cf. 2 Thess 2:8).

God acts to vindicate his name; and his judgments are his speaking, his expression of his character by his holy wrath and indignation (Isa 30:27; cf. Rev 19:13: 'his name is called The Word of God'). This expression of God's character by his speaking emphasizes the folly of those in Jerusalem who had rejected his word, and his speaking through his prophets.

  1. His dealing with the nations: his judgments will act as a sieve of destruction, sorting out the bad; and as a bridle that restrains and controls all people (Isa 30:28).
  2. The effect of this revelation of God's character on his people: festive joy and worship (Isa 30:29 cf. Rev 19:1–6).
  3. God's dealing with the Assyrian: (Isa 30:31–33):
    • God will break him with his voice: he used the rod to smite Israel; now God will break him (Isa 30:31).
    • Each stroke by God, expressing God's righteous character, shall evoke his people's praise (Isa 30:32).
    • The 'funeral pyre' which consumes the king was long ago prepared by God, and God's 'breath' will ignite it (Isa 30:33).

The Fifth Woe (Isa 31:1–9)

Another denunciation of trusting in Egypt to deliver Jerusalem from Assyria.

The Nature of Egypt's Strength (Isa 31:1–3)

  1. The Egyptians are mere men and not God.
  2. Their horses are mere flesh and not spirit.
  3. To trust them instead of trusting God is folly: God has only to stretch out his hand, and those who help and those who are helped fail and fall together.
  4. Mere human strength is not enough to deal with the anti–God Assyrian.

God as the Protector of Zion (Isa 31:4–5)

  1. Like a lion coming down the mountain unafraid of the shepherds, however many they be (Isa 31:4).
  2. Like birds flying, the Lord will pass over Jerusalem (Isa 31:5; cf. the Passover: 'I will pass over you' Exod 12:13).

God's Appeal to the Israelites

To turn from the rebellion against God; for in that day they shall throw their idols away as useless (Isa 31:6–7).

The Defeat of the Assyrian

It will be not by man, but by God (Isa 31:8–9).

The Nature of the Coming King's Rule and the Behaviour of his Subjects (Isa 32:1–20)

The series of 'woes' is here interrupted in order to give a description of the values and the style of behaviour that will obtain in the kingdom of the coming king. The relevance of this in this context is twofold:

  1. Hope of the coming king and his kingdom will strengthen people to trust in, and stand for, God against the Assyrian.
  2. But a realistic understanding of what standards of behaviour the king will demand then will surely imply that those who hope to be in that kingdom will begin to behave like that in the here and now.

The Nature of the King's Rule (Isa 32:1–8)

  1. Both the king and his princes shall rule righteously (Isa 32:1).
  2. A man (the king himself) shall act as a protection from hostile powers; as a source of water in a dry place, and as the refreshing cool of a great rock in a weary land (Isa 32:2).
  3. New ability to understand and to speak forth the truth (Isa 32:3–4).
  4. Complete reversals of the world's values and standards of behaviour (Isa 32:5–8).

Meanwhile, an Appeal to the Women (Isa 32:9–15)

To abandon their self-centred, idle, careless attitude, and to get concerned about the serious state to which the nation's sin has reduced the people, and the disasters that will yet happen, for which there is no cure apart from God's Spirit.

The Prospective Effects of the Pouring Out of the Spirit (Isa 32:16–20)

  1. Justice and righteousness, and as a result peace, quietness, confidence, secure dwellings (Isa 32:16–18).
  2. But the reality of the immediate future at the time when the Assyrian is destroyed: the city of Jerusalem shall be utterly laid low (Isa 32:19).
  3. Nevertheless afterwards: blessing and prosperity in all areas (Isa 32:20).

The Sixth Woe (Isa 33:1–24)

This is the last woe, and it concentrates on the difficulties which Israel will experience in the final days of the Assyrians. Dramatically the prophet describes alternately the outward distress and desolation, and then the remnant's faith and exultation in the Lord.

  1. Confident assertion that the treacherous Assyrian will himself be destroyed (Isa 33:1).
  2. The godly pray night and day for God's grace and preservation in their time of trouble (Isa 33:2).
  3. The nations flee at the falling of God's judgments, and God gathers their spoil (Isa 33:3–4).
  4. The godly in Zion delight to see the Lord exalted, filling Zion with judgment and righteousness, with the resultant stability, abundant salvation, wisdom and knowledge, and the fear of the Lord as their treasure (Isa 33:5–6).

God's Judgments on the Nations (Isa 33:7–12)

  1. First, the bitter shock when Hezekiah's ambassadors in the negotiations with Sennacherib realize that he has deceived them and broken the treaty and has no regard for cities, nor for human life (Isa 33:7–8).
  2. Throughout the country there is complete desolation and no travel (Isa 33:9).
  3. Then the Lord intervenes, to show his power and exalt himself (Isa 33:10–12). Under his judgments:
    • The nations' own purposes and plans are the means of their destruction.
    • God's fire shall destroy them.

The Effect on the Inhabitants of Zion (Isa 33:13–34)

The fiery judgments of God on the Assyrian and the nations, when pondered by far and near, and the realization of the greatness of his power and holiness, have the following effects (Isa 33:13):

  1. At Isaiah 29:1 Jerusalem was called the altar-hearth, on which the fire of God's holy sacrifices never went out. Now the fire of God's holiness has consumed the Assyrians. The sinners in Zion perceive the implication and are afraid: 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire … the everlasting burnings?' (Isa 33:14; cf. Heb 12:28–29).
  2. The answer is given in terms of the character and behaviour required. How that behaviour is produced is not here explained (Isa 33:15; cf. Ps 15).
  3. The blessings of dwelling with the everlasting burnings of God's holy presence:
    • Security, and no more unsatisfied hunger and thirst (Isa 33:16).
    • Seeing the king in his beauty—in a large land with unrestricted vistas (Isa 33:17).
    • The ability to look back without fear, but rather with ever deepening gratitude, on the terror they once experienced but which has now passed away for ever (Isa 33:18–19).
    • The resultant ever increasing enjoyment of the religious feasts and of Jerusalem city, never to be uprooted (Isa 33:20).
    • The constant presence of the Lord in majesty (Isa 33:21).
    • Therefore a place of broad rivers, yet without any danger of providing access for men-of-war battleships or deceitful pirates or traders (Isa 33:21).
    • The Lord is judge, lawgiver, king—but also our Saviour, as is seen by this (Isa 33:22):
      • Jerusalem as a city was a completely disabled ship-of-state, a virtual wreck; yet, through God's power, the spoil of the enemy was given to the lame (Isa 33:23).
      • The inhabitants of Jerusalem will know no sickness; they shall enjoy complete forgiveness (Isa 33:24).

The Coming of the Lord in Power to Execute Judgment on the Nations (Isa 34:1–17)

  1. The woes now give way to the coming of the Lord (just as in the Revelation) amidst cosmic convulsions and the stripping away of the heavens (Isa 34:1–4; cf. Rev 6).
  2. The great blood-shedding and sacrifice in Bozrah is described again in Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19:11–18 (Isa 34:5–7).
  3. It will be the time which settles the centuries-long dispute over Jerusalem, and avenges God's people (Isa 34:8–11; cf. Luke 18:7–8).
  4. The effect of that judgment: the complete and permanent removal of the nobles and princes of Edom: nothing left but desolation and the sinister animals and scavengers (Isa 34:12–15).
  5. The exhortation to read what Isaiah has written by the inspiration of God in his scroll concerning these animals and the desolation of Edom (Isa 34:16–17).
  6. Edom was Israel's inveterate enemy, opposed to God's purposes through Israel. It may well represent all such nations and people that seek to oppose and thwart the purposes of God in the earth.

The Return of the Ransomed to Zion (Isa 35:1–10)

  1. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God in transformed nature (Isa 35:1–2; cf. Rom 8:21–23).
  2. This sure and certain hope gives strength to God's people as they wait for God to avenge them (Isa 35:3–4).
  3. Physical and spiritual limitations shall be a thing of the past; and all barrenness shall be replaced by living streams (Isa 35:5–7).
  4. For the way back to Zion there shall be provided the highway of holiness—even fools will not stray on this road (Isa 35:8).
  5. No ravenous beast shall be on it: but the redeemed shall walk in it (Isa 35:9).
  6. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return to Zion, with singing, gladness and joy, and never again know sorrow and sighing (Isa 35:10).

The Second Movement of Isaiah: Isaiah 36–39

Isaiah 36–37

Part 4: Hezekiah's stand against the Assyrians.

Isaiah 38

Part 5: Hezekiah's illness and recovery, and his writing after he recovered.

Isaiah 39

Part 6: Hezekiah's intrigue with the king of Babylon and his rebuke by Isaiah.

An Overview of Part 4A: Hezekiah's Stand Against the King of Assyria

The First Challenge Issued by 'the Great King, the King of Assyria' to Hezekiah (Isa 36:1–37:7)

  1. The dire situation: Sennacherib had captured all the fortified cities of Judah: only Jerusalem was left (Isa 36:1).
  2. Rabshakeh came with an army and, standing outside the city walls, addressed high officials in the presence of the people and gave them a message from Sennacherib for Hezekiah (Isa 36:2–3):
    • You have rebelled against me, putting your trust in Egypt; but Pharaoh will let you down (Isa 36:4–6).
    • Useless to trust in Jehovah when Hezekiah has taken away his altars and high places and made everyone come to his temple in Jerusalem. As a pagan, Sennacherib would not have understood Hezekiah's reforms (Isa 36:7).
    • An offer of two thousand horses, if Hezekiah will renew his pledge of loyalty to Assyria (Isa 36:8).
    • How can you (without horses) repulse even one of my officers and put your trust in Egypt for horses? (Isa 36:9).
    • The Lord himself has brought me up to destroy your land. Had Sennacherib heard what God had been saying to Judah through Isaiah (Isa 36:10)?
  3. Rabshakeh's appeal to the ordinary citizens:
    • Don't let Hezekiah deceive you: he cannot save you (Isa 36:14).
    • Don't let him make you trust in the Lord (Isa 36:15).
    • Don't listen to Hezekiah; for if you make peace with me, I will allow you to leave the cramped conditions in the city and return to your houses, until I come and take you away to a far better land (Isa 36:16–17).
    • Don't let Hezekiah persuade you that the Lord will deliver you. No other gods of any other country have delivered any city out of my hands. Neither will your God—he is no different from all the other gods (Isa 36:18–20).
    • The people did not reply or try to argue. Hezekiah had wisely forbidden them to do so (Isa 36:21).
  4. Hezekiah's reaction (Isa 37:1–7):
    • In dire consternation Hezekiah went himself into the house of the Lord (Isa 37:1).
    • Then he sent his officials to Isaiah asking him to pray for him and the people in their helplessness, on the ground that (Isa 37:2–5):
      • The king of Assyria had reproached the living God.
      • Therefore God himself might be expected to rebuke the king.
  5. God's reply through Isaiah: 'No need to fear. The king's blasphemies have been noted. I will put a spirit in him: he will hear a rumour and return to his own land; and I will cause him to die by the sword in his own land' (Isa 37:6–7).

An Overview of Part 4B: Hezekiah's Stand Against the King of Assyria

The Second Challenge (Isa 37:8–13)

Issued by 'the great king, the king of Assyria' to Hezekiah when the king had heard a rumour and was obliged to go and meet another enemy (Isa 37:8–9):

  1. Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you (Isa 37:10–11).
  2. None of the other gods of the nations has delivered them from the Assyrians. Your god will prove to be no exception (Isa 37:12–13).

Hezekiah's Response (Isa 37:14–20)

He went to the house of the Lord, spread the letter before the Lord and appealed to God on these grounds (Isa 37:14–15):

  1. God's uniqueness: You are the one and only true God in all the kingdoms of the earth (Isa 37:16).
  2. You are the creator of heaven and earth.
  3. You are the God who sits enthroned upon the cherubim: (you have unlimited executive power).
  4. Regard Sennacherib's blasphemous reproach of the living God (Isa 37:17).
  5. Admittedly the Assyrians have devastated all the other lands and destroyed their gods; but they were no gods, only man-made idols (Isa 37:18–19).
  6. And with that Hezekiah comes to the real issue at stake: 'Save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are lord, even you alone' (Isa 37:20).

God's Answer to Sennacherib Through Isaiah (Isa 37:21–29)

  1. The virgin daughter of Zion (untempted by Sennacherib to yield to his offers and be disloyal to God), has despised you (Isa 37:22).
  2. You have reproached no less than the Holy One of Israel to his face (Isa 37:23).
  3. You have boasted of all your conquests, as if they were owing to your own powers. In fact, I, God, brought it about, and that is why none was able to resist you (Isa 37:24–27).
  4. Because of your arrogant rage against me, I will put my hook in your nose … and turn you back by the way you came. The metaphors God uses of this boasting, God-defying man, treat him as a mere animal (Isa 37:28–29).

God's Word to Hezekiah Through Isaiah (Isa 37:30–35)

  1. A sign to confirm God's promise: though the land outside the city had been devastated by Sennacherib's armies, upon the departure of those armies, the Jerusalemites, leaving the city and returning home, would find enough to eat from self-sown corn for two years running; and then from the third year they would be able to sow and reap, etc. And thus the remnant of Judah would take root again in the countryside. This would be the result of God's zeal for his people (Isa 37:30–32).
  2. The Assyrian would not be allowed into the city, nor to shoot at it, nor to build siege-works. He would have to return the same way he came (Isa 37:33–34).
  3. God would defend Jerusalem for David's sake and the covenant made with David (Isa 37:35; see 2 Sam 7).

The Sequel (Isa 37:36–38)

  1. An angel smote the Assyrian army with a plague, with great loss of life (Isa 37:36).
  2. Sennacherib went back to Nineveh (Isa 37:37).
  3. As he was worshipping in the temple of his god his two sons assassinated him (Isa 37:38).

An Overview of Part 5A: Hezekiah's Nearly Fatal Illness and His Recovery

The Lord's Sentence: Hezekiah Will Die (Isa 38:1)

Hezekiah's Distress and Prayer (Isa 38:2–3)

Note the grounds of his pleas: his perfect devotion and good works. But it was only half-true!

God Answers His Prayer (Isa 38:4–8)

But note the purpose God had in mind: God was the Lord, the God of David, Hezekiah's royal ancestor and founder of David's royal dynasty. True to his covenant with David, God would for David's sake raise up Hezekiah and:

  1. Deliver him and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria.
  2. Defend this city.
  3. A miraculous sign would confirm his promise: the shadow that had gone down on the dial of Ahaz would go back ten steps.

Comment

This was undoubtedly a miracle; (cf. God's command to Ahaz to ask a sign either in the depth or in the height above, Isa 7:11) but it surely also carried a message: Hezekiah, in his stand against Assyria through his faith in God, recovered the royal house of David from the disastrous condition into which king Ahaz had brought it.

An Overview of Part 5B: Hezekiah's Writing After His Recovery

  1. He recalls his distress at the thought of his premature death and all that it would deprive him of (Isa 38:9–12).
  2. He recognized God's hand in his illness (Isa 38:12–13).
  3. In his uncontrollable chatter and mourning, however, he besought the Lord to be his surety, to stand bail for him (Isa 38:14).
  4. That very request was a confession of his sins (very different from his earlier claim on the basis of his devotion and good works). And God answered that plea and acted as his surety. He cast all Hezekiah's sins behind his back—and eventually paid for them at Calvary (Isa 38:17).
  5. Hezekiah's response:
    • Awareness that his recovery was all God's work according to God's promise (Isa 38:15).
    • His bitter experience would work a change of attitude in him for the rest of his life (Isa 38:15).
    • Awareness now that this experience of God, and of his forgiveness, is the very heart and secret of life (Isa 38:16).
    • Recognition that God's chastisement was for his good and led to true peace with God and health (Isa 38:17).
    • New life given leads to praise, and the motive for making known God's truth, which he had personally experienced, to the next generation of his royal house (Isa 38:18–19).
  6. Because the Lord was all for saving him, therefore he would lead others in song to the Lord in his house all the days of his life (Isa 38:20).

Postscript

Though it was the Lord who healed Hezekiah, it was not without the use of the medical cures of the day (Isa 38:21).

An Overview of Part 6A: The Embassy from the King of Babylon to Hezekiah

  1. Ostensibly to give Hezekiah a present and congratulate him on his recovery from his illness.
  2. But Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, was a vassal king under the emperor, the king of Assyria; and he was notorious for fomenting political alliances with the surrounding smaller nations to join him in rebelling against the king of Babylon.
  3. He would therefore have been very pleased to hear that Hezekiah had recovered; and doubtless saw in him a potential ally in the next revolt against Assyria.
  4. Hezekiah showed the ambassadors all the treasures and all the armaments in the storehouses of the royal palace. It was hardly a guided tour round an art-museum. It made the king of Babylon aware of all the resources which he could contribute to supporting a revolt against Assyria.

An Overview of Part 6B: Isaiah's Rebuke of Hezekiah

  1. Obviously Isaiah interpreted Hezekiah's act as a seriously wrong move, and not just part of the normal entertainment of distinguished visitors. Witness the solemn consequences that Isaiah said would eventually follow (Isa 39:3–5):
    • One day all the treasures, which the successive kings of the house of David had laid up in the royal palace, would be carried away to Babylon (Isa 39:6).
    • His royal sons, of David's line, would also be carried captive to Babylon, and become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. There would be no future line of kings from them (Isa 39:7).
  2. Hezekiah's astonishingly complacent reply: 'The word of the Lord through you is good—there will be peace and truth in my days'—and that apparently was all that mattered to Hezekiah: he had little concern for the future of the house of David (Isa 39:8).

Comment

It seems that Hezekiah was entrapped by the kind of thinking that has captured many evangelicals nowadays: that, in the fight against atheism in society, it is good to join in alliances with other churches, so long as they believe in God; never mind how idolatrous they are and how they deny the gospel.

 
David Gooding
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