Isaiah 14:24-32 Messages concerning Assyria and Philistia

by Larry Ferrell | March 9, 2018
Concerning Assyria: This short oracle provides the transition from the general treatment of worldly pomp and power, symbolized by Babylon (13:1-14:23), to the concrete and particular expressions of it in Isaiah’s own day which now follow. First in line, naturally enough is Assyria. In its size, its arrogance, and its oppressive imperialism it was the manifestation of the spirit of Babel in the eighth century BC. In one sense there is nothing new here, since the downfall of Assyria has already been treated at length in 10:5-34. But one feature of the present oracle is particularly noteworthy, namely, the tremendous emphasis that is laid here on the Lord’s sovereign purpose which nothing can annul or frustrate. The plan of the Lord has as its first objective the deliverance of His own people (v. 25), but it also concerns the whole of the world and all nations (v. 26). The destruction of Assyria will simply be one manifestation of it, as will the judgments on other nations announced in the following chapters.

Great care is needed, of course, in moving from a passage like this to the particulars of our own day. The way the rise and fall of specific nations fit into God’s sovereign purposes is not revealed to us with the clarity that it was to Isaiah. But the spirit of Babylon is certainly still with us, and if we take revelation 18 as our cue, will be until the very consummation of history. God’s purposes for His people and for the world are still advancing, and as the reflex to that, His wrath is constantly “being revealed … against all the godlessness and wickedness of men” (see Rom. 1:18). Jesus himself spoke of apparently “natural” events such as war, famine and earthquake as signs of the end (Matt. 24:4-8). So while we lack the kind of detailed knowledge that Isaiah had, we do have warrant to seeing his oracles against the nations as illustrating a general truth about history. Every collapse of a proud, immoral regime in our world too is an interim day of the Lord, in route to the final day.

Concerning Philistia: In contrast to the wise and invincible plan of the Lord are the foolhardy plans concocted by men who refuse to acknowledge the Lord. The attempt to implement one such plan clearly provided the setting for this oracle, which is precisely dated to the year King Ahaz died, 715 BC (v. 28). Assyria was still suffering internal instability following the death of Shalmaneser III in 721 BC, and rebellion was in the air in southern Palestine. Philistia was already party to an anti-Assyrian conspiracy headed by Egypt (see chapter 20), and in 715 BC there was apparently an attempt to involve the new king of Judah, Hezekiah. Isaiah was totally opposed to any participation by Judah, as his words in verse 32b make abundantly clear. The only refuge for the people of Zion was in the Lord. This was his consistent message in crisis after crisis. If God’s people looked to the nations for their salvation instead of to Him they could only come to ruin. Plans which did not spring from faith were recipes for disaster.

Hezekiah appears to have heeded Isaiah’s warning on this occasion, and just as well! It was not long before the Assyrian army moved in strength against Philistia (as predicted in v. 31), which suffered the bitter consequences of its action, as did Egypt. Judah as a non-participant in the rebellion was spared. The very colorful image in verse 29 perhaps refers specifically to the death of Shalmaneser III and the rise, in his place, of Sargon II. Whether this is so or not, the general import of the verse is clear. The weakness of Assyria around 715 BC was not the prelude to its demise, as the conspirators had fondly hoped. In fact it was just about to come to its full strength in Sargon, Sennasherib and Esarhaddon. The poor and needy of verse 30a are the hard-pressed people of Judah (see 32b). They will be kept safe if they look to the Lord. But for Philistia there is no hope at all (v. 30b).

Isaiah 14:24-32 Reflection Questions:
Applying these messages to your personal world, what is the Lord saying to you?
In your daily and major decisions are you relying on others or are you relying on the Lord?
What are you doing to continue building your personal relationship with God?
What are some current examples of the “spirit of Babylon”?

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Isaiah 14:1-23 A Taunt for Babylon’s King

by Larry Ferrell | March 2, 2018
The word taunt is perhaps too precise and strong for the Hebrew word used here, but it does capture accurately the tone of the song which follows. It has the form of a funeral lament, but instead of expressing sorrow it communicates profound satisfaction, even delight. It celebrates, in this ironic fashion, the downfall of arrogance and oppression, represented here by the king of Babylon. It moves from the earth (vv. 4b-8) to Sheol beneath (vv. 9-11), to heaven above (vv. 12-14, momentarily down to Sheol again (v. 15), and finally back to the earth (vv. 16-21. Verses 22-23 confirm, in the form of a straight-forward judgment oracle, that what is anticipated in the song will indeed take place.

The cosmic sweep of the poem led some early interpreters, and many since them, to see here a symbolic description of the fall of Satan. But this reads too much into the text (and I think it does), it is equally misguided to reduce it to a description of the fall of a particular earthly monarch. The king of Babylon here, like Babylon itself in chapter 13, is a representative figure, the embodiment of that worldly arrogance that defies God and tramples on others in its lust for power. It is this which lies at the heart of every evil for which particular nations will be indicted in the following chapters. It also lies at the heart of all the horrendous acts of inhumanity which human beings and nations still commit against one another today. That is why the tone of this song should not cause us any embarrassment. This is no cheap gloating over the downfall of an enemy, but the satisfaction and delight which God’s people rightly feel at his final victory over evil. The same note of celebration is heard at the very end of the Bible (Rev. 18) where, again, Babylon is a cipher for all that opposes God and his purposes.

The pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon (v. 8) represents the peoples of northern Israel and Syria who were particularly exposed to aggressors from beyond the Euphrates and had suffered much at their hands. In verse 9 the shadowy remains of former rulers are pictured as greeting the fallen oppressor with astonishment in Sheol. For all his might he has proved to be no more enduring than themselves! The morning star, son of the dawn (v. 12) is probably the planet Venus, which seems to rival the sun in its early brightness but is soon eclipsed. The mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain (v. 13) is Mount Zaphon, where the Canaanite gods were reputed t meet, like the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. Isaiah boldly uses imagery from this pagan background to point to the essence of human pride: self-deification. The ultimate disgrace of the oppressor, in verses 16-21, is to be deprived of honorable burial, and to have no descendants to perpetuate his name.

Isaiah 14:1-23 Reflection Questions:
Have you ever expressed satisfaction or delight about something bad that happened to an enemy? What does Jesus say we should do?
Have we changed much since Isaiah’s day? What are some examples you see?
Could Isaiah use the same imagery in today’s world concerning the essence of human pride? What does Jesus say about our pride?

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Isaiah 13:1-22 A Message about Babylon

by Larry Ferrell  |  February 23, 2018
As a relatively small nation threatened by great powers, Judah was constantly tempted to look to political and military alliances to save her. Chapters 1-12 began by focusing on Judah and ended with proclamation of the nations. This second major section (chapters 13-27) begins by focusing on the nations and ends with Judah. But the net massage is the same. Salvation is to be found in the Lord alone. While Assyria falls into the background here, it is not forgotten entirely. The nations in view in chapters 13-23 were all threatened by Assyria at one time or other, and were all actual or potential partners with Judah in anti-Assyrian alliances.

Babylon was no newcomer to the world stage. It had a history reaching right back to the tower of Babel, and was therefore a fitting symbol of that arrogant pomp and power of the world that were characteristic of the nations as a whole in their rebellion against God. Babylon had already had one great period of glory in Isaiah’s day, and it was soon to have another before its end came. But come it would; Isaiah was certain of that. The story of Babylon was, for him, the story of all nations that defy God.

This symbolic significance of Babylon becomes more and more apparent as the oracle unfolds. The historical Babylon was not in fact overthrown by the Medes in a violent bloodbath and its site left abandoned, as verses 17-22 would indicate if taken literally. It surrendered without a fight to Cyrus the Persian, who had already achieved ascendancy over the Medes. But in Isaiah’s day the Medes were the barbarians of the ancient Near East, living beyond the eastern fringe of the civilized world and always threatening to overwhelm it. The Lord’s announcement that he will stir up…the Medes (v. 17) is a declaration that he has already settled upon the destruction of Babylon and all that it represents. Isaiah is not so much describing Babylon’s eventual fall as pointing to what that will represent. The fall of Babylon merges, in this oracle, with the final, great day of the Lord, when all human arrogance will be judged in cosmic, larger-than-life terms because of the greater reality that it anticipates and points to: the eventual fall of the whole world system which stands in opposition to God.

Isaiah 13:1-22 Reflection Questions:
Where do you look to first when you are threatened by someone or something (work, school, family)?
Going with Isaiah’s definition of “Babylon,” do you see that playing out in today’s world stage?
Why would today’s “one world order” that many want, in opposition to God?

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Isaiah 12:1-6 The Lord praised in Zion

by Larry Ferrell  |  February 16, 2018
The praise in this chapter is to be in response to the blessings anticipated in chapter 11. The final salvation of God’s people is described at the end of chapter 11 as a second or new exodus. The singing in chapter 12 then follows in the same way that the song of Exodus 15 followed the original exodus. But chapter 12 has a much more wide-ranging function within the book than this. The text to this point has consisted of units which are closely related to one another in a more or less obvious fashion. But the oracle against Babylon in chapter 13 introduces a block of material which is so distinct from what precedes as to indicate that a major new departure in the internal development of the book begins at that point. Chapter 12, then, stands at the end of the first major part of the book, and its content indicates that it is not merely the end but the climax.

These two songs is one of personal thanksgiving. It begins with a declaration of intention (I will praise you), followed by a reason (your anger has turned away and you have comforted me), and it concludes with a confession of faith (God is my salvation). But it’s clear from what immediately precedes (and what follows) that it is not a solitary individual who is in view here, but a collection of individuals: “the remnant of [the Lord’s] people”. The first song (12:1-2) looks forward to the time when final judgment has taken place, and every survivor will have learned at last that salvation is to be found in no-one and nothing else but the Lord, and will thankfully and gladly confess that fact.

The second song (12:4-6) is a communal hymn in which the worshipers exhort one another to give thanks to the Lord, to declare His deeds to the nations, and to praise Him joyfully and loudly. Two reasons are given for the responses that are called for: the Lord’s glorious deeds (v. 5a), and His presence in Zion (v. 6b). The second of these is a consequence of the first. It’s the Lord’s glorious deeds in judgment and salvation that have established His presence in Zion and the great and Holy One. But as chapter 2:1-4 has made clear, the final establishment of the Lord’s rule in Zion will have implications for the nations, and this is why the second song in particular places such stress on worldwide proclamation. The two songs of this chapter celebrate good news which, in the end, cannot be contained. It must be proclaimed far and wide, for only as the nations hear of the Lord’s glorious deeds will they be able to recognize at last that He alone is God, and come to Zion to learn of His ways. Thankfulness and praise overflow, as they always must, into evangelism.

Isaiah 12:1-6 Reflection Questions:
What is the second exodus depicted in chapter 11?
Which gospel do you find verse 3 having relevance?
Does your thankfulness and praise for the Lord overflow into evangelism? How?

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Isaiah 11:1-16 The Glorious Hope

by Larry Ferrell  |  February 9, 2018
Here for the second time, Isaiah extends to the remnant the hope of the royal Messiah. Again, it is specifically a word of assurance for the dark day of the Assyrian threat but contains in itself clear indications that its fulfillment is for time yet to come. Updated hope is a living, ever-present assurance for God’s people, and it is at this point that the passage speaks as much to the church of today as in Isaiah’s time. Clearly the two major sections of this chapter (vv. 1-9, 10-16) belong together. They both concern the rule of the shoot or Root of Jesse (vv. 1 & 10). But what is first presented in general and symbolic terms in verses 1-9 is then reduced to concrete particulars in verses 10-16.

The movement from the overthrow of the human kingdom (represented by Assyria) to the setting up of the kingdom of God (represented by the Messiah) is a natural one theologically, even though it involves a dramatically shortened view of the historical processes involved. Notice also the movement from the felling of a forest at the end of chapter 10 to the emergence of a shoot from a stump at the beginning of this one. However this is only a surface view. The deeper reality involves a sharp contrast. Assyria is felled never to grow again; Judah is felled only to have new life emerge from its stump. This is not the first time in the book that the transition from judgment to salvation has been depicted as the springing up of a plant, but clearly there is a more particular application of that imagery here.

The expression the stump of Jesse indicates his humble origins, bypassing all the luxurious display of the Davidic house. His fitness to rule will consist essentially in his endowment with the spirit, giving him true wisdom, grounded in the fear of the Lord. The fundamental characteristic of his rule will be righteousness, which in practical terms will mean justice for the poor and meek, something which the current kings had failed to bring about. And he will be in a position to execute perfect justice because he will be possessed of perfect knowledge. The effect of his rule will be universal peace, an ideal described here in symbolic language which recalls the paradise of Eden. It’s a picture of the whole of creation put back into joint. The entire earth, not just Jerusalem/Zion, will be the Lord’s holy mountain. In other words, he will be known, and his rule will be experienced everywhere. Here Isaiah looks beyond the disappointments of his own age to the coming of the one who, in the last analysis, can only be God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The opening words of verse 10 make it clear that this unit has the same end-time focus as verses 1-9, and in view of this the many particular nations mentioned must be understood in a figurative rather than literal sense. Collectively they represent the enemies, great and small, of God’s people.

There are three things that should be noted in verses 11-16. First, the remnant in view of these verses comprises, in one sense, simply the survivors, the people of Israel and Judah who will still be alive, although scattered, when the Messiah comes (v. 12). Secondly, because of the end-time focus of the unit as a whole, the gathering of the scattered people of God here cannot be seen as fulfilled in the later return of the exiles from Babylon, even though both are depicted as a second or new exodus. Thirdly, as Christians it is important to recognize that the nationalistic categories of a prophecy like this are transcended in the New Testament’s vision of the end. In New Testament terms the scattered people of God are all those, Jew and Gentile alike, who gladly acknowledge Jesus as the Christ (Messiah). These are the ones who will finally be gathered from every nation to share in Christ’s rule over those who will only reluctantly bow the knee on the final day. As we see, however, this expansion of the remnant concept to include Gentiles as well as believing Jews is already anticipated within the book of Isaiah itself.

Isaiah 11:1-16 Reflection Questions:
How do these verses encourage you as you go through your struggles here on earth?
Where in the New Testament is it said that Christ was endowed with the Holy Spirit?
Where in the New Testament does Isaiah 11:3 come into play?

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Isaiah 10:5-34 The Lord’s Anger Redirected

by Larry Ferrell  |  February 2, 2018
In one sense the unity of this passage is very clear; it deals from beginning to end with the future downfall of Assyria. Its message also is clear: neither fear nor rely on Assyria; she is merely a tool in the Lord’s hand and her time, too, will come.

Verse 12 alerts us to the fact that, while the northern kingdom has not been lost to view entirely, the focus has shifted back to the south and to Jerusalem/Zion in particular. The Assyrian “flood” which overwhelmed the north eventually swept on into Judah as well. It was at Jerusalem that the Lord finished all His work of judging the two kingdoms. It shouldn’t surprise us that the Lord should then, as verse 12 tells us; redirect His anger towards arrogant Assyria. For chapter 2 has already put on record God’s abhorrence of arrogance and His intention to judge it, not only among His own people, but also in the world at large. Of course the judgment on Assyria here, like that on Israel and Judah, is envisioned as taking place within history rather than on the final day, but it is nevertheless entirely in keeping with the character of God as revealed in the earlier chapters. What is surprising is that the Lord should have chosen to use such a proud, pagan nation at all, especially against His own people. But two things are strongly affirmed. First, the Lord did in fact do so (vv. 5-6), and second, this did not absolve Assyria of moral accountability (vv. 7-11, 15). It’s not that Assyria resisted her calling (she was not even aware of it), but that she sinned in the matter in which she fulfilled it (arrogantly, v. 15). The twin truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility are held together in a fine tension here, as they are in Scripture as a whole.

When Assyria is reduced to a remnant (v. 19), the remnant of Israel will no longer lean on her, but will lean upon the Lord (v. 20). Israel in verse 20 is not just the northern kingdom, but the whole twelve tribes, as the repetition of the name Jacob in verses 20 and 21 confirms. The whole land, both north and south, will be devastated, and only then will Assyria herself be dealt with (vv. 25-27).

Essentially, the choice that Isaiah and his compatriots faced was whether to respond to the circumstances that threatened them with calm reliance on God or with a frenzy of self-help, using whatever means the wisdom of the age deemed most likely to succeed. And since the world is always with us, and has the same basic character from age to age, it is an issue which always faces people of God in a multitude of ways small and great. In the book of Isaiah the issues of faith and unbelief are constantly related to the very pressing and practical business of political, national and personal survival, and this has a most important lesson to teach us. Faith is more than a means of justification; it is also a practical approach to the challenges of daily life, just as much for us as it was for those who faced the Assyrian threat. We are not only saved by faith; we are to live by it!

While God may use evil people to accomplish His purposes, this does not in any way diminish their accountability. We are in touch here with something we will not fully understand this side of heaven; it is part of the mysterious interplay between divine sovereignty and human freedom. We should, however, grasp it firmly and be profoundly grateful for it, for it will preserve us from either denying the reality of evil or fearing that it will ultimately triumph. Wicked men served God’s purpose by nailing Jesus to the cross, but the resurrection lays on them, and on all of us, the urgent need for repentance.

Isaiah 10:5-34 Reflection Questions:
What lessons do we learn with how God used Assyria concerning our Christian walk?
How do you respond to any difficult circumstances that threatened you, with calm reliance on God or with a frenzy of self-help?
What does it mean to you “to live by faith?”

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