ISAIAH 31-32: “Woe To Those Who Go Down To
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study we looked
at a couple more of the ‘woes’ which Isaiah pronounced, ‘woes’ which have to do
with principles that are enacted for God’s people whenever they rebel against
Him
1.1.1.
‘Woe’ to those who make and
execute plans without seeking the Lord’s counsel
1.1.2.
‘Woe’ to the beasts of
burden which are carrying the tribute riches to
1.2.
Today we are going to look
in chapter 31 at the ‘woe’ Isaiah pronounces for those who go down to Egypt for
help and rely on horses, and then in chapter 32 at the reign of the righteous
king
1.2.1.
This ‘woe’ pronounced in
chapter 31 is the last ‘woe’ which Isaiah pronounces against the nation of
Judea, and it is also a reiteration of previous ‘woes’ and warnings which he
has already given
1.2.2.
The ‘righteous’ King who
will reign is the Messiah Himself, and the reign will be His Millennial Reign
upon the earth
2.
VS 31:1-2 - “1 Woe to those who go down to
Egypt for help, And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are
many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the
Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! 2
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of the
workers of iniquity.” - Isaiah pronounces a ‘woe’ upon those who go
down to
2.1.
This ‘woe’ is really a continuation of the
previous ‘woe’ against those who make their plans without consulting the Lord,
and a repetition of the message that Isaiah has been giving to the people of
Judea and Jerusalem to not rely upon the arm of the flesh for their help but
rather to look to the Lord and to Him only.
2.1.1.
This ‘woe’ is example of the type of
instruction that Isaiah had previously told the people of
2.2.
2.2.1.
Exod. 14:6,9: “6 So he made his chariot
ready and took his people with him;9 Then the Egyptians chased after them with
all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they
overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.”
2.3.
We have mentioned already that the Lord had
long before told the nation that their kings were not to accumulate horses nor
to put their trust in horses, and, that they were never to go down to Egypt for
help:
2.3.1.
When Moses was giving the children of Israel
the law in the wilderness, He told them in Deut. 17:14-17
about how that when they received a king from the Lord that the king was not to
accumulate either horses, wives, or riches for himself, “14 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you,
and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like
all the nations who are around me,’15 you shall surely set a king over you whom
the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king
over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your
countryman.16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he
cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said
to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’17 “Neither shall he multiply
wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase
silver and gold for himself.” Yet,
we know also that the kings of
2.3.1.1.David
accumulated wives when he was king.
2.3.1.2.Solomon
followed in his father’s footsteps in accumulating wives, but then he also
accumulated both horses and also riches for himself.
2.3.1.2.1.In
1 Kings 4:26 we read about the 40,000
horses that Solomon had collected, “26 And Solomon had
40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.”
2.3.1.3.Etc.,
etc., etc.
2.4.
Foolishly, the children of
2.4.1.
However, to depend upon any arm of the flesh
was very foolish for the Lord alone would be able to deliver any nation.
2.4.2.
He is and will be in the process of bringing
down any nation that exalts itself against Him as He is in the process of
establishing His kingdom over the earth.
2.5.
The ‘house of evildoers’ mentioned in this
verse is Judah who was placing her hope in something other than the Lord
Himself.
2.6.
The ‘workers of iniquity’ mentioned in this
verse is
2.6.1.
2.6.1.1.The
world promises a false peace, a false hope, a false security that it will never
be able to deliver.
2.6.1.2.For
anyone to place their hope in the world and the things of this world is the
greatest of foolishness.
2.7.
We see in these verses the importance of
looking to the Lord and obeying Him in our lives. He must be our refuge and our God in all that
we do.
3.
VS 31:3-5 - “3 Now the Egyptians are men, and
not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the Lord will stretch out His hand, And he
who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will
come to an end together. 4 For thus says
the Lord to me, “As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against
which a band of shepherds is called out, Will not be terrified at their voice,
nor disturbed at their noise, So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war
on Mount Zion and on its hill.” 5 Like
flying birds so the Lord of hosts will protect
3.1.
It is an enigma why some people who believe
that there is a God who created this world and who sits upon His throne over
this world would think that they can thwart the Lord and His plans for their
lives and this world.
3.1.1.
Many people believe that though there is a
God that He just created this world but then really doesn’t have anything to do
with the world. They believe that He is
possibly:
3.1.1.1.Concerned
about other things and therefore too busy to be concerned about this world.
3.1.1.2.Not
doing anything or has no power at this time.
3.1.1.3.He
is just totally dispassionate towards the lives of people in this world or the
events going on in this world. He is not
a personal God.
3.1.1.4.He
created this world in it’s raw form and that now the processes of evolution and
physics are determining it’s fate day to day.
3.2.
In these verses we see that Isaiah is telling
us that the Lord is very much in control in this world that He has created, and
though people might not be able to see Him, none-the-less behind the scenes He
is aligning the nations and carrying out His plans in this world as He
establishes His future kingdom over all of the world.
3.3.
Isaiah tells us that because the Lord is
going to ‘stretch out His hand’ in judgment against
3.3.1.
Judea’s fall will be followed by her
restoration, for we see continually throughout the book of Isaiah that the Lord
disciplines
3.3.1.1.After
70 years of captivity in Babylon Judea will again come back to the city of
3.3.1.2.After
many years when the Lord sends Israel her Messiah and she rejects Him and the
nation is judged and overthrown and destroyed by the Romans in 70A.D., the Lord
eventually begins to restore the nation in preparation of His coming Messianic
Kingdom, and we have seen the beginning of this occurring in our day when
Israel again became a nation in 1948.
3.4.
In these verses, Isaiah gives us two
interesting illustrations concerning Judah and her enemies:
3.4.1.
The Lord is planning to judge
3.4.1.1.This
is an illustration of a lion who has taken down a sheep amongst the fold and
who is crouching over his captured pray, and as the shepherds over that flock
begin to circle around the lion he is not the least worried or concerned about
their threat or presence.
3.4.1.1.1.The
Lord is going to come down upon
3.4.2.
The
Lord is planning to protect the nation of
3.4.2.1.This
is an illustration of flying birds who fly over
3.4.2.1.1.The
fulfillment of this illustration is two-fold:
3.4.2.1.1.1.The
Lord would deliver
3.4.2.1.1.2.The
Lord will one day miraculously deliver
4.
VS 31:6-9 - “6 Return to Him from whom you
have deeply defected, O sons of
4.1.
You see, it was their idolatry that had from
the beginning caused the nation to fall.
Under Joshua and those who followed him they had not removed all of the
idolatrous nations from the land as the Lord had commanded them to do, and as a
result the nations who had remained in their land had continually caused them
to be led astray into idolatry.
4.2.
The deep defection from the Lord was a
defection to place idols above the living God, and to worship those creations
made of silver and gold which were formed by the hands of men, instead of
worshipping the Lord the creator of all.
4.3.
Verse 8 prophetically foretells that event
that occurred, which 2 Kings 19:35-37
tells us about, when Assyria besieged Jerusalem and Hezekiah came and prayed to
the Lord for their help and the Lord slew 185,000 of the Assyrian army, “35 Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out,
and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the
morning, behold, all of them were dead.36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria
departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh.37 And it came about as he was
worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer
killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And
Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”
4.3.1.
Since 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 are identical
chapters, this event is also found word for word in Isaiah 37:36-38.
4.4.
God promises that He Himself will remove the
idolatry from Judea, and this was fulfilled when the Babylonians took
4.5.
God is to be the ‘rock’ of protection and
refuge for His people, however the Lord tells the Assyrians that He will remove
the ‘rock’ which they were looking to for protection and refuge.
5.
VS 32:1-5 - “1 Behold, a king will reign
righteously, And princes will rule justly.
2 And each will be like a refuge from the wind, And a shelter from the
storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in
a parched land. 3 Then the eyes of those
who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 And the mind of the hasty will discern the
truth, And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.5 No
longer will the fool be called noble, Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.” - Isaiah begins to tell us
about the reign of the righteous King who will reign during the restoration of
the nation
5.1.
We see in this chapter that the king that is
mentioned could only be the Messiah, Jesus, and that it is Him of whom this
chapter is about:
5.1.1.
In verse 1 He is called ‘a’ king, in verse 17
He is called ‘the’ king, and in verse 22 He is called ‘our’ king.
5.1.2.
He is called the ‘righteous’ king which from 2 Sam. 23:3 we see is a prophesy of the coming Messiah, “3 “The God of
5.2.
Jesus’ kingdom will be a righteous kingdom for
He is the righteous king walking always uprightly in holiness.
5.3.
Jesus’ people in His kingdom will also walk
uprightly and do justice, and they will reign with Him upon the earth during
His Millennial Reign. Jesus’ people will
be like:
5.3.1.
A
refuge from the wind.
5.3.2.
A shelter from the storm.
5.3.3.
Streams of water in a dry country.
5.3.4.
The shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
5.4.
We Christians must realize that we have a
Savior whose calling is to bind up the broken hearted and to not bruise the
tender reeds of God’s children, and that we ourselves are called to be like
Christ to the people of this world.
5.4.1.
For some reason, Christians sometimes get the
notion that though they have received incredible mercy and grace from the Lord
that they are for some reason supposed to be tyrannical and cruel to others
themselves. However, we are called to
emulate Jesus in His gentleness and kindness, both of which are fruits of the
Spirit by the way (Gal. 5:22-23).
5.4.2.
God has called us, the church, to be a
hospital for those who are hurting and wounded.
We are to take them in, bind up their wounds, and restore them to the
Lord. One of the things that I love
about the Calvary Chapels is that they are filled with people who have been
through a literal hell in their lives before God began to put their lives
together. I hope that this is a
tradition that will continue, otherwise we will have stopped being the hospital
for this world that God has called the church to be.
5.5.
The Lord is going to make whole the weakest
of His people when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom upon the earth. Eyes will no longer be blinded, ears will
hear and heed God’s word, minds will understand spiritual truth, people will
only longer stammer with ignorance of God but rather will use their tongues to
glorify the Lord. Though in this world
fools and rogues are often looked up to and considered noble and generous, they
will on that day be known as fools and rogues.
6.
VS 32:6-8 - “6 For a fool speaks nonsense, And
his heart inclines toward wickedness, To practice ungodliness and to speak
error against the Lord, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold
drink from the thirsty. 7 As for a
rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises
wicked schemes To destroy the afflicted with slander, Even though the needy one
speaks what is right. 8 But the noble
man devises noble plans; And by noble
plans he stands.” - In these verses, Isaiah describes for us a
‘fool’, a ‘rogue’ and a truly ‘noble’ man
6.1.
The Fool:
6.1.1.
J. Alec Motyer
describes what this Hebrew word for ‘fool’ means, “Fool
(nabal) is the one who lives without acknowledgement of moral or spiritual
obligations.”
6.1.2.
This person ‘speaks nonsense’ and is inclined
thusly:
6.1.2.1.‘Toward
wickedness.
6.1.2.2.To
practice ungodliness.
6.1.2.3.To
speak error against the Lord.
6.1.2.4.To
keep the hungry person hungry and the thirsty person thirsty.
6.2.
The Rogue:
6.2.1.
J. Alec Motyer
describes what this Hebrew word for ‘rogue’ means, “Scoundrel
(kilay) and its cognate (kelay) are found only here. If they derive from Vnakal the idea is
deception, devious working for self-advantage and the hurt of others (Gn.
37:18; Nu. 25:18; Ps. 105:25).”
6.2.2.
This person has weapons which are evil, and
he is inclined thusly:
6.2.2.1.Devises
wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander.
6.2.2.2.He
destroys the afflicted and needy one who is speaking and doing what is right
before the Lord.
6.3.
The Noble man:
6.3.1.
This man devises noble plans and stands by
them, for he is not given to change.
7.
VS 32:9-14 - “9 Rise up you women who are at
ease, And hear my voice; Give ear to my
word, You complacent daughters. 10
Within a year and a few days, You will be troubled, O complacent
daughters; For the vintage is ended, And
the fruit gathering will not come. 11
Tremble, you women who are at ease; Be
troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist, 12 Beat your breasts
for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13 For the land of my people in
which thorns and briars shall come up;
Yea, for all the joyful houses, and for the jubilant city. 14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the
populated city forsaken. Hill and
watch-tower have become caves forever, A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture
for flocks;” - Isaiah tells of the judgment that is coming
against the women of
7.1.
In Isaiah 3:16-17,
we saw that Isaiah had already pronounced a ‘woe’ upon the daughters of
Jerusalem for their various vain fleshly attitudes, “16 Moreover,
the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud, And walk with heads
held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps, And tinkle the
bangles on their feet, 17 Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the
daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.””
7.1.1.
When we went through that chapter we talked
about how women can have such a tremendous influence in a marriage, a home, a
family, a church, a community, etc., however an influence for either good or
bad, depending upon whether or not they walk in the fear and admonition of the
Lord.
7.1.2.
Godly women are so valuable in straightening
out husbands, children, churches, etc.
However, in
7.2.
In these verses we see that the Lord is
speaking to Isaiah that the women of
7.3.
Isaiah tells them to change into the clothing
of mourning because of the curses and judgments that would be coming upon the
7.3.1.
Isaiah tells the women to tremble, be
troubled, and to beat their breasts in mourning as at the loss of a family
member.
7.3.2.
The land would be cursed with thorns and
thistles and the cities forsaken by people when the Lord will one day bring the
nation of
8.
VS 32:15-18 - “15 Until the Spirit is poured
out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field And the
fertile field is considered as a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness will
abide in the fertile field. 17 And the
work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness,
quietness and confidence forever. 18
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and
in undisturbed resting places;” - Isaiah tells us that the restoration of the
land will occur when the ‘Spirit is poured out’ upon God’s people from on high
8.1.
We know that the prophesy of Joel 2:28-29 tells us, just as these verses do, that the
Holy Spirit was to be poured out upon the Lord’s people, the Israelites, and
yet we see that a partial fulfillment of that prophesy occurred upon the Day of
Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell, “28 “And it
will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29 “And even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
8.1.1.
Acts 2:17-18 quotes these verses from Joel as
an explanation for what was happening when the Holy Spirit fell upon the church
in the upper room in
8.2.
There will be a more complete fulfillment of
these verses however when the nation of
8.3.
At this time of the restoration of the earth
during the establishment of Christ’s
8.4.
When Christ’s Kingdom is established on earth
we see that since Satan, sin, and sinners have been removed from the earth, in
the earth will be justice, peace, righteousness, and, the people will dwell in
‘quietness and confidence’ before the Lord forever.
8.4.1.
At that time, the Lord will cause every place
upon the earth to be a ‘peaceful habitation’, a ‘secure dwelling’, and an
‘undisturbed resting place’.
9.
VS 32:19-20 - “19 And it will hail when the
forest comes down, And the city will be utterly laid low. 20 How blessed will you be, you who sow
beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.” - Isaiah tells us of the
destruction coming to Judea and
9.1.
We have already seen that the destruction
that is coming from the Lord will be like a horrendous storm of hail, thunder,
and lightening, and here we see Isaiah repeating this theme.
9.2.
Isaiah is seeking to install the importance
of having an eternal perspective in these verses. The one who will be blessed is the one who
will sow God’s word everywhere (beside all waters), and who allows the Lord to
have free reign in all that he does (letting out freely the ox and the
donkey). From the perspective of
eternity these are the things that will be looked at as most important.