The Book of Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah Chapter 28-35 Chapters 28-33 The Book of Woes Chapters 34-35 The Doom of Edom and the Return of the Redeemed The Book of Isaiah

Jerusalem: City of Peace ?? Isaiah 28: • The name Jerusalem means “city of peace,” • Throughout its history it has been associated more with conflict than with peace. • Today, Jerusalem is still a major focal point for concern in the Middle East. • “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Ps. 122:6). • Why pray for Jerusalem? • Why not pray for London or Moscow or Rome? • When there is true peace in Jerusalem, there will be peace in the whole world. The Book of Isaiah

Storm Clouds Over Jerusalem Isaiah 28: • Chapters 28-31 record a series of five “woes” • (28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:1 31:1) • that focus primarily on Jerusalem. • A sixth “woe” is found in 33:1 • Interspersed among these “woes” of judgment are promises of restoration and glory. • Isaiah is attempting to get the rulers of Judah to stop trusting “power politics” and international treaties and start trusting the Lord. The Book of Isaiah

An oracle against Samaria Isaiah 28:1-6 1 Woe to the crown of pride of Ephraim's drunkards, And to the fading flower of his splendid beauty, Which is at the head of the lush valley, You who are struck down by wine! 2 Behold the LORD has a mighty and strong one, Like a hailstorm, a destroying tempest, He will throw down to the ground with the hand. 3 He will trample them with the feet, The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim. 4 And the fading flower of his splendid beauty, Which is at the head of the lush valley, Shall be like the early ripe fig before summer, Which, whoever sees it, as soon as it is in his palm gulps it down. 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, And for an ornament of beauty to the remnant of this people. 6 A spirit of justice, to him who sits in judgment, A spirit of courage, to them who turn the battle away from the gate. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:1-6 • Isaiah was mainly a prophet to Judah or the Southern Kingdom. • Isaiah loved Jerusalem, the Holy City, the City of David, the place of God’s dwelling (Ps. 122; 137). • Isaiah saw storm clouds gathering over the city and announced that trouble was coming. • It was time for the nation to turn to God in repentance. • He began his message by announcing God’s judgment on Ephraim (Isa. 28:1-6). • If Ephraim fell, surely it would be a warning – a wake up call - to the people of Judah and Jerusalem! • If Assyria conquered Samaria, then Judah was next on the list. The Book of Isaiah

The pride of Ephraim Isaiah 28:1 • 1 Woe to the crown of pride of Ephraim's drunkards, • And to the fading flower of his splendid beauty, • Which is at the head of the lush valley, • You who are struck down by wine! • The northern kingdom was proud of its capital city, Samaria, • It sat like a beautiful crown (or wreath) at the head of a fruitful valley. • Samaria was proud of her beauty, but it was fading like a cut flower. • Samaria reigned in luxury and pleasure and had no fear of her enemies. • Luxury of Samaria: Amos 3:1ff; 4:1; 6:1, 6. • They thought their fortress city was impregnable. • Their pride and arrogance was detestable to God. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:1, 3 • 1 Woe to the crown of pride of Ephraim's drunkards…You who are struck down by wine! • 3 He will trample them with the feet, The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim. • To the Jews, wine was a gift from God and a source of joy (Jdg 9:13; Ps 104:15) • The law did not demand total abstinence, but it did warn against drunkenness (Deut. 21:18-21; Prov. 20:1; 23:20-21, 29-35). • Often we overindulge in something God gives for us to enjoy. • When we change our focus from the giver to the pleasurable gift and to our enjoyment of it, the blessing God intended becomes our downfall. • The prophet Amos denounced the luxurious indulgences of the people in both Judah and Samaria (Amos 6:1-7), • Isaiah also thundered against such godless living (Isa. 5:11-12, 22). • What hope is there for our affluent, pleasure-loving society that gives lip service to religion and ignores the tragic consequences of sin and the judgment that is sure to come? The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 2, 4 • 2 Behold the LORD has a mighty and strong one, • Like a hailstorm, a destroying tempest, • He will throw down to the ground with the hand. • 4 ….Shall be like the early ripe fig before summer, • Which, whoever sees it, as soon as it is in his palm gulps it down. • Samaria could never stand before the coming storm God was sending across the land, • Samaria would be destroyed as if by wind, rain, hail, and flood - by the Assyrian army - as easily as plucking a fig from a tree! • 4] Fig before summer? Fall / late summer fruit. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 2, 4 • 2 Behold the LORD has a mighty and strong one, • Like a hailstorm, a destroying tempest, • He will throw down to the ground with the hand. • 4 ….Shall be like the early ripe fig before summer, • Which, whoever sees it, as soon as it is in his palm gulps it down. • This is a warning to the rulers of Jerusalem. • Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. • This prophecy must have been pronounced shortly before that date. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 5-6 • 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, • And for an ornament of beauty to the remnant of this people. • 6 A spirit of justice, • to him who sits in judgment, • A spirit of courage, to them who turn the battle away from the gate. • Samaria would learn that Jehovah, not Samaria, is the “crown of glory” and “diadem of beauty” (v. 5) and that He is a God of justice (vv. 5-6). • The reference here is to God’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria, even when the enemy was at the very gates (chaps. 36-37). The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 5-6 • 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, • And for an ornament of beauty to the remnant of this people. • 6 A spirit of justice, • to him who sits in judgment, • A spirit of courage, to them who turn the battle away from the gate. • In that day - The Day of the Lord. • This phrase usually indicates the beginning of a new era. • Here it inaugurates the time of Israel's repentance and restoration to God. The Book of Isaiah

Judah, watch Samaria Isaiah 28:5-8 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, And for an ornament of beauty to the remnant of this people. 6 A spirit of justice, to him who sits in judgment, A spirit of courage, to them who turn the battle away from the gate. 7 And these too, are reeling with wine, And stagger from strong drink. Priest and prophet are reeling from strong drink, They are confused with wine, They stagger from strong drink, They reel in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are covered with filthy vomit, There is not a clean place left. Isaiah announces that Judah was guilty of the same sins as Samaria and therefore was in danger of judgment. The Book of Isaiah

Against the drunken priests and prophets Isaiah 28:7-8 7 And these too, are reeling with wine, And stagger from strong drink. Priest and prophet are reeling from strong drink, They are confused with wine, They stagger from strong drink, They reel in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are covered with filthy vomit, There is not a clean place left. Instead of being mediators between the people and their God, instead of teaching them the Word of their God, they are so degraded by their filthy orgies, and so overcome by alcohol that they reel, stagger and mumble, even while performing their prophetic and priestly functions. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:5-8 • The priests and the prophets, who should have been examples to the people, were staggering drunk around the city and carousing at tables covered with vomit. • Their counsel to the people did not come from the Spirit of God but from their own drunken delusions • Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; • They not only swallowed wine, but were “swallowed up on wine” (Isa. 28:7). • Japanese proverb: • “First the man takes a drink, • then the drink takes a drink, and • then the drink takes the man.” The Book of Isaiah

You Talking to Me !?! Isaiah 28:9-10 • 9 "Whom does he teach knowledge? • Whom is he making understand his message? • Babies weaned from milk? • Babies taken from the breast? • 10 With this: 'Tsav, latsav, tsavlatsav. Kay lakav, kaylakavZeir sham, zeir sham'“ • Society and people today are so intoxicated by intellectual pride that they often laugh at the simple message of the gospel presented by humble witnesses (1 Cor. 1:18-31). • The prophet Amos was ejected from the king’s chapel because he was a simple farmer and not a member of the religious elite (Amos 7:10-17). The Book of Isaiah

The Words of Ridicule Isaiah 28:9-10 • 9 "Whom does he teach knowledge? • Whom is he making understand his message? • Babies weaned from milk? • Babies taken from the breast? • 10 With this: 'Tsav, latsav, tsavlatsav. Kay lakav, kaylakavZeir sham, zeir sham'“ • Judah was guilty of mocking God’s prophet and rejecting God’s Word. • Verses 9-10 are the words of the drunken prophets and priests as they ridiculed Isaiah. • “He talks to us as though we were little children. • He keeps saying the same things over and over again • and uses the vocabulary of a child. • There is certainly no need to take anything he says seriously!” The Book of Isaiah

K.I.S.S. Isaiah 28:9 • 9 "Whom does he teach knowledge? • Whom is he making understand his message? • Babies weaned from milk? • Babies taken from the breast? • Milk is for infants; meat for adults. • 1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. • Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. The Book of Isaiah

An oracle against Samaria Isaiah 28:10, 13 10 With this: 'Tsav, latsav, tsavlatsav. [Precept upon precept, precept upon precept] Kay lakav, kaylakav [Line upon line, line upon line] Zeir sham, zeir sham' [Here a little, there a little]. The truth of God is distributed throughout the Scripture. 13 So the word of the LORD shall be to them: "Tsavlatsav, tsavlatsav Kay lakav, kaylakav Zeir sham, zeir sham" So that they may walk and fall backwards and be broken And snared and taken captive. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:11-13 • 11 Verily through stammering lips, and an alien tongue Shall he speak to this nation, • 12 To whom he once said: "Here is rest for the weary, • And this is the refreshing,“ But they would not listen. • 13 So the word of the LORD shall be to them: • "Tsavlatsav, tsavlatsav Kay lakav, kaylakavZeir sham, zeir sham" • So that they may walk and fall backwards and be broken • And snared and taken captive. • Isaiah’s answer to this supercritical crowd of religious drunks was: • “If you will not listen to the clear, simple, repetitive speech God uses, in your own language, God will speak to you with a language you do not understand. He will send the army of Assyria, whose language is foreign to you.” • This happened to both Ephraim and Judah. • The Assyrians destroyed the southern kingdom in 722 BC. • In 701 BC, after devastating the land of Judah, they came to the very gates of Jerusalem. The Book of Isaiah

Against the drunken priests and prophets Isaiah 28:11 11 Verily through stammering lips, and an alien tongue Shall he speak to this nation, Deu 28:49; Jer 5:15 1Co 14:21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Mt 23:37; Acts 17:18 The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Offered Rest Isaiah 28:12 • 12 To whom he once said: "Here is rest for the weary, • And this is the refreshing,“ • But they would not listen. • God offered His people rest (Isa. 7:4; 8:6-8), • but they would not obey (hear) His Word (28:12-20). • Isaiah had given them a plain message that everybody could understand, but they rejected it. • Their faith was in their political alliances and not in God (v 15, 18) • In the days of King Ahaz, they made a secret treaty with Assyria, • In the days of King Hezekiah, they turned to Egypt for help (30:1-5; 31:1). • These “covenants with death and the grave” were destined to fail because God was not in them. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:13 • 13 So the word of the LORD shall be to them: • "Tsavlatsav, tsavlatsav Kay lakav, kaylakavZeir sham, zeir sham" • So that they may walk and fall backwards and be broken And snared and taken captive. • The enemy would come like a flood, a storm, a whip (scourge), and there would be no escape. • Ephraim would be destroyed. • Judah would be saved by the skin of her teeth. • The bed they had made (their alliances) could not give them rest (28:12). • The covering they made (their treaties) would not cover them (31:1). The Book of Isaiah

Against the ungodly rulers of JerusalemIsaiah 28:14 • 14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, You rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem, • Having pronounced the doom of Samaria and of her inebriated rulers, both civil and religious, Isaiah now addresses himself to the scornful men and rulers of Jerusalem. • "Ansheilatzon"- scornful men, is probably derisive play on words for "anshei Zion"- men of Zion. • This would parallel closely the next line, • "You rulers of this people, which is in Jerusalem.” The Book of Isaiah

Against the rulers of Jerusalem Ish 28:15 • 15 Because you have said , • We have made a covenant with death, • And have come to an understanding with Sheol, • When the sweeping scourge shall pass It will not overtake us, • For we have made the lie our shelter, • And falsehood our hiding place. • In their conceit and self-deception they, like Ephraim, are not afraid of death, nor of Sheol, nor of the sweeping scourge. • They rely on lies and duplicity; • While playing their political intrigue with the Egyptian, they pretend loyalty to the Assyrian; • While pretending to be loyal to Jehovah, they flirt with the pagan deities of their neighbors, frequently called by the prophets "a lie," or "falsehood.” • Job 5:23; Hos 2:18; Dan 9:27 (may be same covenant ???) The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:16 • 16 Therefore thus says the Lord God: • Behold I lay a stone in Zion, • A tested stone, a precious and sure corner stone. He who believes shall remain steadfast. • Their only hope was in the tried and true foundation stone. • the “Rock of ages” (26:4; 8:14; 17:10). • This is a clear reference to the Messiah • 1 Peter 2:4-7; Rom. 9:33; Mark 12:10; Ps. 118:22 • If they had faith in Jehovah, they would not be rushing here and there, trying to forge alliances, a practice that only leads to shame and failure Rom.10:11 • A solid rock is better protection than a tissue of lies! The Book of Isaiah

Against the ungodly rulers of JerusalemIsaiah 28:17 17 And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness for a plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the sheltering lies, And the waters shall overflow the hiding place. In the Kingdom of the Messiah justice shall be the measuring line and righteousness the plummet, instruments by which one measures the true and straight line of any structure. The Book of Isaiah

Against the rulers of Jerusalem Isa 28:18-19 • 18 And your covenant with death shall be cancelled, And your agreement with death shall be voided. And when the scourge shall pass It will crush you. • 19 As often as it passes it will sweep you away, • For it will pass morning after morning, • By day and by night, • It shall be sheer terror to understand the message. • Using the same terms used by the scoffers of Jerusalem, Isaiah says that they will become the victims of death and Sheol and of the sweeping scourge (epidemic diseases), the companions of devastating war and they will know the misery of exile. The Book of Isaiah

Against the rulers of Jerusalem Isa 28:19 • 19 As often as it passes it will sweep you away, • For it will pass morning after morning, • By day and by night, • It shall be sheer terror to understand the message. • It shall be sheer terror to understand the meaning of the message, • (in Hebrew "shemua," hearing or report, the same term Isaiah used in 53: 1). • The very report of the disaster will strike terror into the hearts of the believers. The Book of Isaiah

Against the rulers of Jerusalem Isaiah 28:20 • 20 For the bed is too short to stretch in it, • And the blanket too narrow to cover oneself. • God ‘short sheets’ Jerusalem • This is a proverbial description of an impossible situation. The Book of Isaiah

Against the rulers of Jerusalem Isa 28:21 • 21 For the LORD will rise up as in Mount Perazim, He will bestir himself as in the valley of Gibeon, To do the deed, his strange deed, To perform his work, his amazing work. • Isaiah’s final announcement was that their confidence that God would not judge them was a delusion. • “But God defended His people in the past!” they argued. • “What about David’s victory over the Philistines at Mount Perazim [2 Sam. 5:17-21], • or Joshua’s victory over the Amorites at Gibeon [Jos 10:8-14]?” • Joshua and David were godly leaders who trusted Jehovah and obeyed His Word. • Judah’s rulers did not… The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Warns Jerusalem Isaiah 28:21 • 21 For the LORD will rise up as in Mount Perazim, He will bestir himself as in the valley of Gibeon, To do the deed, his strange deed, To perform his work, his amazing work. • Jerusalem watched the northern kingdom fall to the Assyrians, but this judgment did not bring them to repentance. • When we start saying to ourselves, • “It can never happen to me!” • - it is sure to happen! • What Isaiah’s scoffing opponents did not realize was that God would do a “strange work”: • God will do the work that is necessary to bring about His eternal purposes. • He knows just what tool to use and when to use it. The Book of Isaiah

Against the ungodly rulers of JerusalemIsaiah 28:22 • 22 So now, cease your scoffing, • Lest your bonds become even tighter, • For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, • A complete and determined plan of destruction • Upon all the land. • So now, cease your scoffing • Isaiah concludes his address to the haughty rulers of Jerusalem: • "Stop your scoffing, you will only hurt yourselves more. • God is about to devastate the whole land.” • Complete and Determined ... whole earth: • Cf. 10:23; Dan 9:27 The Book of Isaiah

Parable about the plowman Isaiah 28:23-24 • 23 Give ear and hear my voice Attend and listen to my speech: • Does the plowman keep on plowing in order to sow? • Does he [constantly] open up his ground and harrow it? • Isaiah uses a mashal – a parable, to illustrate God's remarkable way of dealing with His people, • He compares God's actions with those of a farmer, whose wisdom is also God-given. • God is the great plowman, • Israel His soil • God breaks up His ground, He furrows it just enough to make it ready to receive the seed, that is the Word and the Wisdom of God. • [Cf. “field” of Mt 13?] The Book of Isaiah

Parable about the plowman Isaiah 28:25 • 25 Is it not so, that when he has leveled its surface, • Does he not scatter the black poppy seed and cummin, • And put in wheat in rows, • And barley in the appointed places, • And spelt in its border? • The farmer plants his grain in its appointed places. • Note Lev 19:19: do not mingle seed... • Affliction matched to needs; not to crush. • The black poppy seed and the cummin are used in oriental cooking and baking, as condiments or spices. • Dill (“fitches”): nigellasatua(aromatic seeds). • Cummin: cuminumstainum; fennel, condiment seeds. • Spelt, rie; cussemeth: poor man’s bread wheat. The Book of Isaiah

Parable about the plowman Isaiah 28:26-28 • 26 He has been instructed aright, • His God has taught him. • 27 For black poppy seed is not threshed with a threshing sledge, • Neither is the cartwheel rolled over the cummin, • For the black poppy seed is beaten with a flail, • And cummin with a rod. • 28 Does one crush breadgrain? • No, he will not forever keep threshing it, • And though the wheels of his wagon and his horses • Roll over it, he will not crush it. • God knows how to cultivate his soil. • He employs the right instruments and methods to accomplish his task. • The Lord God knows how to deal properly with His soil - Israel The Book of Isaiah

Parable about the plowman Isaiah 28:29 • 29 This too comes from the LORD of hosts • Wonderful is his counsel, great is his wisdom. • As the prophet considers the wonderful ways of God, he ends with an exclamation of adoration: • Wonderful is his counsel, • Great is his wisdom! • The word employed by Isaiah for "wisdom' is "tushiah," which is practical wisdom in action. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Humbles Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1-14) • Isaiah looks far down the highway of history to the end times when Jerusalem would be attacked by the armies of the world (vv. 7-8; Zech. 14:1-3). • This is “the battle of Armageddon” • A title not used in Scripture (Rev 14:14-20; 16:13-21) • When it looks as though the city is about to fall and the enemy armies are sure of victory, Jesus Christ will return and deliver His people (Rev 19:11-21). • The enemy victory will vanish. The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:1 • 1 Woe Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, • Add year to year, let the feasts come around! • Second of six woes (28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:4; 31:1; 33:1). • God’s heavy judgment upon Jerusalem. • Ari-El = Lion of God. Used as idiom for Jerusalem. • The lion was a symbol of Assyria, so the prophet may have been saying, • “Assyria is now God’s lion, and Jerusalem is God’s lion in name only.” The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:1 • 1 Woe Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, • Add year to year, let the feasts come around! • The city where David encamped. • Jerusalem was the city which David conquered and fortified, and which was named after him "the City of David." • Here he achieved his great victory over the Jebusites, and laid the foundation of his kingdom. • Add year to year, let the feasts come around. . • Year after year passes and Jerusalem continues to celebrate her perennial feasts without caring about the future. The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:2 • 2 Then will I distress Ariel, • And there shall be moaning and groaning, • And she shall become to me Ariel - a hearth of God. • But the Lord is about to distress Ariel - the altar of God. • Then there shall be moaning and groaning everywhere. • Then Jerusalem will truly become "Ariel" - the altar of God. • Jerusalem is poetically called "Ariel," a compound word which means "the hearth of" (ari) and "God" (El). • It is "the hearth of God" because it was here where the temple stood, the site of the altar of God where sacrifices were brought to Him. The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:2 • 2 Then will I distress Ariel, • And there shall be moaning and groaning, • And she shall become to me Ariel - a hearth of God. • She [Jerusalem] shall be unto me as Ariel [an altar hearth] • The Hebrew word Ariel also means “an altar hearth” where the burnt offerings were sacrificed (Ezek. 43:13-18). “ • It would become a place of slaughter. Instead of their sacrifices being accepted by God, the entire city would become an altar, and God would make His people a sacrifice. The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:3-5 • 3 And I will encamp against thee round about, • And will lay siege against thee with a mound, • And will raise siege against thee. • 4 And brought low, thou shalt speak from the ground, • And from the dust thou shalt mutter thy speech. • And thy voice shall be like that of a ghost from the ground. • And out of the dust shall thou hiss thy speech. • 5 And the multitude of thy foes shall be like fine dust, • And the multitude of the oppressors like the driven chaff, • It shall come to pass in an instant, suddenly. • Isaiah describes the pending siege and humiliation of Jerusalem by a horde of hostile invaders, which will be as thick as fine dust. • God was going to humble the proud city, once so joyful and full of clamor and noise. • Instead of roaring and frightening the enemy, the lion would only whisper from the dust as if it were a habitation of ghosts. The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:6-8 • 6 Thou shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts, • With thunder, with earthquake and with a great roar, • With whirlwind, with tempest and with the flame of a consuming fire. • 7 And it shall be like a dream, like a nightmare, • The horde of nations that war against Ariel, • And that distress her. • 8 And it shall be as when the hungry man dreams that he eats, • But when he wakes up and behold, his soul is empty. • Or when the thirsty man dreams that he drinks • But when he wakes up and behold, his soul is parched with thirst. • So shall the multitude of nations be, • That war against mount Zion. • Just when all appears lost and the proud city about to be violated by the invaders, God will visit Jerusalem with thunder and earthquake. • In the hour of their seeming triumph, the enemies of Zion will wake up as if from a bad dream. • Their expected victory will turn into a nightmare. (Zech 12). The Book of Isaiah

Woe Ariel, Ariel! Isaiah 29:6-8 • God began to “turn up the heat” in 701 BC when Assyria marched triumphantly through Judah and almost took Jerusalem. • God defeated Assyria in an instant (37:36), “suddenly” (29:5), like blowing away dust or chaff (v. 6). • This discipline should have brought Judah back to the Lord, but after the death of Hezekiah, they returned to their sins. • So in 586 BC God sent the Babylonians, who conquered Jerusalem and destroyed it, taking thousands of Jews into captivity. • God did His “strange work” and permitted His own people to be slain by the enemy. • The city indeed was like an altar hearth and thousands were sacrificed to the wrath of the enemy. The Book of Isaiah

The Obtuse people of Jerusalem Isa 29:9-12 • 9 Be amazed and bemused, • Shut your eyes and be blind, • You who are drunk but without wine, • Who stagger, yet without strong drink. • The prophet decries the astounding and willful obtuseness of the people. • They have shut their eyes to the truth and behave like drunkards without actually being drunk. • God’s reason for discipline (Cf. Ezek 36:22ff). The Book of Isaiah

The Obtuse people of Jerusalem Isa 29:10 • 10 For the Lord has poured out upon you • The spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes. • The prophets and your heads, the seers, has he covered. • Isaiah concludes that this state of mind is the result of God's punishment. • He has sent a deep hypnotic sleep upon the prophets and the leaders of Jerusalem. • “Deep sleep”: "tardemah“ Cf. Adam, Abram (Gen 2:21; 15:12, et al.). • The word "seer" is synonymous with "prophet" and is used here for emphasis. • The "heads" are the rulers of the people. The Book of Isaiah

The Obtuse people of Jerusalem Isa 29:11-12 • 11 And the vision of all this has become to you • Like the words of a sealed book, • Which when given to one who is learned, • And he says please read this, he replies, • "I cannot because it is sealed." • 12 Then the book is given to one who is unlettered, • Saying please read this, and he says, • "I cannot because I am not learned.“ • This spiritual blindness has affected both: • The educated man is unwilling to read the signs of the times, • He refuses to break the seal of the book or scroll which the prophet offers him to study, and • The uneducated man is unable to read. • One way or the other both are blind, with a blindness which is either self-imposed or God-inflicted as a punishment for their insincerity and hypocrisy. Rev 1:3; 22:7 (2 Cor 3:15,16) The Book of Isaiah

Superficial and mechanical Piety Isa 29:13-14 • 13 And the LORD said, because this people draw near to Me • with their mouth and honor me with their lips, • But their heart is far removed from me, • And their fear of me is a man-made commandment, • Learned by heart. • 14 Therefore will I do a marvelous work with this • People, wonderfully and wondrously, • And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, • And the insight of their prudent men shall become obscured. • When men willfully blind themselves to God and their worship becomes mere ritual, without heart or soul, He imposes upon them the penalty of their superficiality and insincerity. [2Th 2:11] • Their wisdom ceases to be wisdom and their insight or intelligence (binah) is darkened. • This is the remarkable and astonishing work of God. The Book of Isaiah

The Lord Humbles Jerusalem Isaiah 29:1-14 • Why were the people of Jerusalem so ignorant of what was going on? • Their hearts were far from God (Isa. 29:13). • They went through the outward forms of worship and faithfully kept the annual feasts (v. 1; 1:10 ff), but it was not a true worship of God (Matt. 15:1-9). • Going to the temple was the popular thing to do, but most of the people did not take their worship seriously. • So, God sent a “spiritual blindness” and stupor on His people so that they could not understand their own law. • Such blindness persists today (Rom 11:8; 2 Cor 3:13-18). • If people will not accept the truth, then they must become more and more blind, self deceived, and accept lies. • (John 9:39-41; 2 Thess. 2:1-12.) The Book of Isaiah

The evil counselors shall fail Isa 29:15 • 15 Woe to them that search deep • to conceal their plan from the LORD, • Who work in the dark and say: • "Who sees us and who knows us?" • Woe # 3 of 6 (28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:4; 31:1; 33:1). • Woe to them that seek to conceal their plans from the LORD. • The evil counselors shall fail because of their perversity. • A powerful group, probably closely linked to the political and military leadership of Judah, was apparently pressing king Hezekiah to ally himself with Egypt against the Assyrians. • Aware that Isaiah was strongly opposed to their plans, these leaders sought to arrange the Egyptian alliance in secret. • Isaiah, an the official spokesman of the LORD, considered their plotting an attempt to conceal their plans from the LORD Himself. The Book of Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah