Isaiah 30 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 30

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

30:1   “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD,
  “who carry out a plan, but not mine,
  and who make an alliance,¹ but not of my Spirit,
    that they may add sin to sin;
2   who set out to go down to Egypt,
    without asking for my direction,
  to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
    and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3   Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
    and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4   For though his officials are at Zoan
    and his envoys reach Hanes,
5   everyone comes to shame
    through a people that cannot profit them,
  that brings neither help nor profit,
    but shame and disgrace.”

6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

  Through a land of trouble and anguish,
    from where come the lioness and the lion,
    the adder and the flying fiery serpent,
  they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
    and their treasures on the humps of camels,
    to a people that cannot profit them.
7   Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
    therefore I have called her
    “Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

8   And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
    and inscribe it in a book,
  that it may be for the time to come
    as a witness forever.²
9   For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
  children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the LORD;
10   who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
  speak to us smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
11   leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12   Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
  “Because you despise this word
    and trust in oppression and perverseness
    and rely on them,
13   therefore this iniquity shall be to you
    like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14   and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
    that is smashed so ruthlessly
  that among its fragments not a shard is found
    with which to take fire from the hearth,
    or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15   For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
  “In returning³ and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
  But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
  “No! We will flee upon horses”;
    therefore you shall flee away;
  and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
    therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17   A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
    at the threat of five you shall flee,
  till you are left
    like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
    like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18   Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
  For the LORD is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27   Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,
    burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;⁴
  his lips are full of fury,
    and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28   his breath is like an overflowing stream
    that reaches up to the neck;
  to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
    and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place⁵ has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Footnotes

[1] 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web
[2] 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
[3] 30:15 Or repentance
[4] 30:27 Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds
[5] 30:33 Or For Topheth

Commentary

v1: Those who trust in Egypt are obstinate, rebellious; they do not believe in God, and they rely upon human strength. They add sin to sin, for trusting in Egypt does not make us obedient, but it justifies sins.

v2: They ignored God's wisdom, preferring their own.

v3: See also 31.1-3; their trust in Egypt brought them shame and disgrace. There was a partial fulfilment when the remnant of the people fled to Egypt, Jer 42-44.

v4-5: The pomp and authority of Egypt is useless, and even the Assyrians knew this, see 36.6.

v6-7: They carry their riches to Egypt, but again, a useless journey. The name for Egypt, Rahab the do nothing, indicating Egypt's impotence. Egypt could not benefit the people.

v8: The witness of their folly, as they rejected the testimony of God.

v9: They are unwilling to listen now; their words are recorded for when they turn back to God.

v10: They wanted their ears tickled; they did not endure sound doctrine.

v11: They did not want the Holy One of Israel, refused to heed His words, wanting to remain in their sins. So many want the blessing of God, without showing commitment to God.

v12-14: They trusted in oppression and deceit, by which they despised the word of God. This hope is tested and found wanting. The judgment would come suddenly and completely.

v15: The blessings of God upon the repentant, "But you would have none of it," as in Matt 23.37. They were unwilling to seek the blessings of God.

v16-17: Fleeing to escape the avenging enemy, but caught and defeated; their plans would come to nothing, and few would escape.

v18: The prophet looks forward, seeing God's future blessings upon His people. The Lord's mercy towards His people is not inconsistent with His hatred of sin. He will not treat the righteous like the wicked. The Lord is set on blessing His people. The section is v19-22 echoes the Beatitudes (Matt 5.3-11); there is reference to comfort for those who mourn, hungering and thirsting, the pure seeing God.

v19: Future restoration, a people dwelling in Zion; constantly enjoying God's blessings. He will be gracious, granting immediate answers, compare Matt 6.8.

v20: Renewed desire for spiritual truth; through the time of adversity, their character is moulded.

v21: Sensitivity to God's guidance; no more famine of the word of God, for He will speak again to His people.

v22: Rejection of idolatry and corruption; for this is once more a holy people.

v23-24: Future fruitfulness, as plants and animals produce plenty for Israel.

v25: A great slaughter amongst those who attack Israel.

v26: For His people, bruises bound up, wound healed; even under Josiah there was a partial fulfilment; but the greater and final fulfilment has yet to be.

At the time of judgment, sun and moon are darkened, Joel 2.31, but here their light is increased beyond what it had been.

v27-28: Judgment upon the nations, leading them astray, 2 Thess 2.11, for they prefer error and falsehood. It is God who has such power to bring judgment.

v29-33: Joy in Jerusalem, as Assyria and other nations are destroyed; the prayer of Rev 6.10 is answered. God's judgment is prepared for those who reject His ways.