Isaiah

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Chapter 21

 

21:1,2 "The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared unto me: the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media: all the sighing thereof have I made to cease."

 

This is the first of four "burdens" which clearly belong to each other: 21:1,11,13; 22:1.

 

The first and second both represent the prophet as a watchman; and the fourth speaks of Jerusalem as the valley of vision.

 

The first describes Elam and Media coming against Jerusalem (as will be shown by and by), and the fourth (22:6) has Kir and Elam involved in the siege of Jerusalem. Similarly 21:7 and 22:6,7 both feature chariots and horsemen in the campaign.

 

Over many years commentators rested satisfied that this burden is a prophecy of the capture of Babylon by Cyrus. C.C.W. in "Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah" says the same. But this is only possible by leaving a number of questions unanswered, such as: Why should Isaiah suddenly, in the midst of a sequence of prophecies with evident contemporary reference, reach forward 170 years or so to the downfall of Belshazzar's Babylon? And why here so much emphasis on misery and fearfulness and the horrors of war regarding one of the most peaceful and easy city captures in all ancient history? And why emphasis on "the desert of the sea" (meaning the wilderness of marshes covering the Euphrates delta) when Cyrus made his invasion from the opposite direction?

 

Recognizing these difficulties, George Smith, a fine Assyriologist, and Boutflower, an excellent expositor, have suggested reference to the capture of Babylon by Sargon. This has more to recommend it. But here the reference to the Euphratean marshes, south of Babylon, is difficult. And there is also the tone of wretchedness in the burden which is difficult of explanation. Why should the prophet of the Lord be so miserable over the downfall of a city with which, up to the time of Sargon, his nation had had no dealings and which at the time had no direct connection with God's people? And why should the prophet say: "Go up, besiege" regarding a Babylon which sat in the middle of a dead flat plain? (But reference to Assyrian approach to Jerusalem, 2,400 feet above sea-level, is easy and obvious). Further, why the connection, already commented on here, between that Babylon and the other burdens concerning Dumah (part of Edom) and Arabia (Kedar is in the same locality) and Jerusalem (22:1ff)?

 

It becomes much easier to make sense of the details here when it is realised that, as in ch.14, the Babylon spoken of is Assyria, whose kings, from Sargon onwards, were so proud of their title as "king of Babylon." The ease of the exposition from this beginning proves its superiority over the other mentioned earlier.

 

Chapter 20 has briefly but powerfully spoken of the Assyrian threat against Phoenicia and Egypt and "the inhabitant of this isle" (Jerusalem), leading up to the horrified prospect: "How shall we escape?" Chapter 21 now provides the answer to this question in a vision of the fall of "Babylon", the Assyrian power putting fear into the hearts of all.

 

The experts in linguistics are very emphatic that this burden cannot have been written by Isaiah because of the marked difference in literary style, and on the strength of this they confidently assign this vision to the time of Cyrus — a poor piece of guesswork which goes no way towards solving their problems.

 

It is better to agree with their first conclusion about a different author, but then to find the explanation in 20:3 which uses the third person about Isaiah. Earlier it was suggested that there is here another hint of certain parts of "Isaiah" being written by the prophetess (8:3).

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"The desert of the sea" is a phrase capable of reference in more than one way — (a) the wilderness between Jerusalem and the sea-plain of the Shephelah; (b) the Negeb stretching down to the Red Sea; (c.) the coast road into Egypt; (d) the wild country between Jerusalem and Dead Sea. It is difficult to be sure which of these is meant with reference to the tide of Assyrian invasion. The first or fourth of these is the most likely as having reference to Assyrian advance on Jerusalem. A reason for the use of this almost unique phrase will be advanced by and by.

 

The phrase "as whirlwinds in the south" finds its natural basis in the fact that any hurricanes that come into Judaea necessarily follow a path northward from the Red Sea, a route covering "a terrible land." But here unquestionably naturalistic language is used for the frightening and devastating phenomenon of the theophany called in Scripture "the whirlwind of the Lord" (Job 38:1; Zech. 9:14). Compare the language used in two places about the divine mode of destruction of Sennacherib's army: "with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the Lord will the Assyrian be broken down" (30:30,31). "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet" (Nah. 1:3; see context; e.g. v.8,9.).

 

It is "a grievous vision" of an irresistible invasion by "a treacherous dealer who deals treacherously." This is precisely how Sennacherib honoured his treaties. "Bought off" by the massive tribute sent to him by the princes of Judah (2 Kgs. 18:14; seeH.Gt., ch.9), he yet came on against Jerusalem as aggressively as ever (24:16; 33:1).

 

The mention of Elam and Media presents no difficulty. These were mercenaries in the Assyrian army, drawn from important parts of the Assyrian empire; compare the reference to Elam and Kir (22:6) in the same capacity.

 

The exhortation to "Go up, O Elam" was doubtless spoken in irony, for immediately there is a comforting assurance given to the intended victim: "All the sighing thereof have I made to cease." No more need to worry about what has seemed to be an inevitable fate.

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21:3,4,5 "Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield."

 

There is here a piling-up of intensely poetic phrases, all descriptive of the impact made upon the prophet by the dire character of what he has seen in vision. The phrasing is reminiscent of the language of intensive sympathy expressed for Moab at the prospect of its being overrun by the same hated Assyrians (15:5; 16:9,11). But, on the other hand, it is difficult to see why this prophet of Zion should be so mightily concerned if the present vision is about the overthrow of Babylon.

 

"The night of my pleasure" is an allusion to the Passover being observed in Jerusalem at the time of the Assyrian siege. Passover was the only holy observance kept at night-time. Several later references make it clear that these events coincided (31:5; 30:29; 29:1; 26:20; 33:20; 52:12; see the commentary at these places).

 

This is the place to bring together other Passover allusions in this context. "Prepare the table...eat, drink..." (v.5) refers to the Passover meal. Also, the mention of chariots (v.7) and the desert of the sea (v.1) seems to be a deliberate echo of Israel's experience at the Exodus when the people found themselves trapped in the desert of the sea, and hotly pursued by Egyptian chariots (Ex. 13:18).

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21:6-9a "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what the seeth. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, i stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen."

 

The watchmen of Israel were the prophets (52:8; 56:10; 62:6; Ez. 3:17; Mic. 7:4). Remarkably enough, here one prophet is bidden to appoint another as God's watchman, particularly to be on the alert for further revelation. Probably the one assigned to this duty was Habakkuk, who was certainly a contemporary of Isaiah and whose language chimes in with the words here: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower...Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables" (Hab. 2:1,2).

 

But there may be here another Passover allusion, for that feast was to be "a night of watching unto the Lord" (Ex. 12:42 RV), that is, watching for deliverance from oppressors — the very theme of the present vision.

 

In harmony with this is the instruction to "anoint the shield" (v.5). This phrase, as it stands, is meaningless; but LXX: "doorposts" is readily seen to be an allusion to the smearing of the blood of the lamb on the door frame (Ex. 12:22).

 

Also, "I am set in my ward all the night" (a strange expression) makes more sense when read as an intensive plural: "all the Night," that is, the night of the Passover feast. This is supported by the word "ward" which always refers to temple service.

 

The exhortation: "Arise, ye princes," is an appropriate apostrophe to Hezekiah's "cabinet", men who schemed to bring national salvation by their own devious methods, but who instead brought on total ruin. Here they are bidden lean upon the God of Passover deliverance rather than their own scheming.

 

The prophet sees a strange mixed-up vision. First, a couple of horsemen (the Assyrian cavalry are always represented in the bas-reliefs in pairs); this conveys the idea of a sorry remnant of a great army. And chariots of asses and camels (who ever harnessed either animal to a chariot?) — it suggests a pathetic and utterly dislocated baggage train trailing disconsolately back to Nineveh, the remnants of a mighty military machine smashed at Jerusalem by the angel of the Lord and his hurricane.

 

The reading: "And he cried, A lion" seems quite out of place. The Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll reads one letter different, thus repeating the word for "see" (v.7,8): "And he who saw cried out, O Lord (v.6 s.w.) I stand continually...". This is much more in­telligible. But remarkably, the apostle John seems to have read his Isaiah according to the Received Text, for he has the rainbowed angel of Rev. 10:3 "crying with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." Yet that chapter has nothing about the fall of "Babylon" — that comes in 14:8.

 

LXX of verse 8 is both perplexing and intriguing: "Hearken with hearkening (s.w. Jas. 1:22,23), and call Urijah (8:2) to the watchtower;" or: "and cry out, Prosperity to the watchmen" (i.e. good news for Israel). If the former reading, the worthless high-priest who had collaborated with Ahaz's apostasy (2 Kgs. 16:10), was pulled in to be a witness, against his will, to the power and truth of the word of prophecy.

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21:9b,10 "And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you."

 

The fall of "Babylon" looked forward to here was, in the first instance, the devastation of the Assyrian camp outside Jerusalem, a retribution which was to culminate in the sack and ruin of Nineveh by Nebuchadnezzar's father.

 

The contemptuous mention of the smashing of graven images is another large-size obstacle in the way of applying this burden to Cyrus' capture of Babylon, for as a matter of policy he praised and glorified the idols of all the nations he conquered. The idols mentioned here were the gods of Nineveh whose power Sennacherib had gloried in at the holy city of Jehovah (36:18-20), idols whose impotence Isaiah was to castigate in later prophecies loaded with sarcasm (40:19ff; 44:9ff; 46).

 

This detail about the shaming of pagan gods provides yet another link with Passover, for the last of the ten plagues is the final exposure of the futility of Egypt's deities (Ex. 12:12).

 

"Broken unto the ground" is perhaps hardly the best rendering of I'aretz. "In the Land (of Israel)" or "by reason of the Land" would be nearer to the right idea. Despite to God's Land must bring inevitable retribution.

 

Proud overbearing Gentiles who vaunt their might against Jerusalem must remember that Zion was originally a threshing-floor (2 Sam. 24:18,24); now centuries later the angel of the Lord was ready to rise up and thresh the vainglorious enemies of Israel.

 

Contemporary Micah used exactly the same figure: "Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion...thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord" (Mic. 4:13).

 

This burden had begun with: "A grievous vision is declared unto me." It ends with: "That which I have heard of the Lord of hosts...have I declared unto you" (cp. 1 Jn. 1:3). The reader is left wondering in what way the voice came to the prophet. But there was also vision: "And he saw..." Here was heaven's television outmatching the technical expertise of the twentieth century.

 

The New Testament links with this prophecy are difficult, yet some effort must be made to see a coherent meaning in them.

 

First, it is worth noting that Isaiah's threshing-floor reference is picked up in Daniel's exposition of Nebuchadnezzar's image-dream. The Stone grinds the Gentile metals to powder, and they are blown away as chaff of the threshing floor. All these power-hungry nations who have oppressed Israel in their own land will eventually suffer judgment from the King who rules in Zion.

 

Appropriate to this theme is the apocalyptic cry: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (Rev. 14:8; 18:2). This will be the fate of the power which, in the last days, oppresses God's New Israel.

 

Rev. 14:8 is one of the seven thunders, each of which is introduced by "an angel with a loud voice." That series of judgments is itself introduced by an angel who "cries with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth" (10:3). This is readily recognizable as Isaiah's language (21:8). John repeats and expands Isaiah's message of doom. And herein, as in Isaiah's day, so also in the last time the angel of the Lord goes into action, vindicating a Messiah who rules in Zion.

 

However, in Isaiah's time the agony of God's people was intense until the time when sudden dramatic deliverance came — by an angel. "Pangs took hold of them, as pangs of a woman that travaileth." The nation was unworthy (apart from its faithful remnant), hence first their long drawn-out travail in Hezekiah's reign, followed by an overnight act of divine rescue. In 1 Thes. 5:3 Paul uses the identical figure of a woman in travail to describe the experience of the unworthy in the New Israel who persuade themselves that they are at peace and in safety. Instead, they endure sudden destruction, but again the situation will be dramatically saved by the coming of the Lord of Glory with his holy angels.

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21:11,12 "The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come."

 

Three separate identifications of Dumah are proposed:

 

a. An oasis in the middle of the North Arabian desert.

 

b. A town in the South Judaean wilderness, towards the southern end of the Dead Sea (Josh. 15:52).

 

c. Idumea, Edom.

 

Of these, a and b are really too unimportant to be considered; and the mention of Seir makes c almost certain, for Seir was part of the territory of Edom (Gen. 36:8). LXX version actually reads 'Edom' here.

 

The name Idumea is shortened here to the nickname Dumah, silence, suggesting the silence of death (Ps. 115:17; 94:17), the night that is soon to descend on Edom.

 

There is every reason in the world why a prophet of God should pronounce a doom against Edom, for these "brethren" of Israel, descended from Esau, were always bitter enemies glad of any opportunity to score over the kings reigning in Jerusalem. In Psalm 83 Edom is the leader of an Arab confederacy against Judah in the time of Hezekiah (not possibly Jehoshaphat, as is often surmised). And Thirtle has made a strong case for reading Psalm 137 with reference to the Assyrian Babylon and to Edomites gladly reinforcing the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem: "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof" (v.7). So a sardonic unsympathetic pronouncement from Isaiah is to be expected. Along with this short burden the dooms in ch 34 and 63:1-6 should be compared. Both of them are judgments against a brother who has proved to be a faithless bitter enemy.

 

The repeated cry: "Watchman, what of the night?", in effect asks: 'What are the prospects for us in Edom?'

 

The answer is, at first, cheering: "The morning cometh" — a time of relief and Peacefulness after the destruction of Sennacherib's army.

 

But then — "also the night cometh." It can be readily inferred from ch.34: "the controversy of Zion" (v.8), and from 63:1-6 (see commentary on this), that when Hezekiah moved suddenly into an era of prosperity and strength, a punitive expedi­tion went out against Edom — the "night" had returned. This episode is referred to in 1 Chr. 4:39-43.

 

Yet this burden ends using these Edomites to "enquire (of the God of Israel), turn (to Him), come to worship Him at Jerusalem." Just as the prophecy of a comparable judgment on Moab had concentrated on an exhortation to put faith in Jehovah and His king in Zion (16:4,5 RVm), so also with these Edomites. But there was little hope that this wisdom would be heeded. Edom's age-long hostility was too deeply ingrained. So the prophet's urging is curt and cool. He knows that he speaks in vain.

 

It is easy to see how there may yet be a further fulfilment of this short prophecy in the last days. The impending desolation of the state of Israel will seem to mean the dawn of a long-wished for "morning" for the Arab enemy. But the coming of Messiah at that time will bring Zion's glad morning and the pall of night for Edom. From this fate the only possible escape will be through enquiring, turning, coming to the true Light. But the evidence of Isaiah 34 suggests that even Edom will be stubbornly unrepentant.

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21:13-15 "The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war."

 

It is not certain that this should be regarded as a separate burden. LXX does not give a separate heading. And the place-names — Dedan, Tema (Teman), Kedar — are all associated with Edom and its eastern desert.

 

The words present a picture of travelling caravans having their progress seriously interrupted by invasion of this territory and the consequent flight of the communities which would normally have welcomed them. Instead they have to improvise camping places in the "forest", that is, the rough scrub or bush land on the edge of the desert.

 

There is a picture of fleeing Arabians coming home, and being met by their fellows with food and drink (what a contrast with the inhospitable treatment accorded to Israel centuries earlier; (Dt. 23:4; Num. 20:17-19).

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21:16-17 "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it."

 

In this doom spoken against the Arabian peoples there is no sign of sympathy, as to fellow-sufferers — in this respect a marked contrast with the Moab prophecies in ch.15,16.

 

The reason for this is obscurely alluded to in Psalm 120, one of Hezekiah's Songs of Degrees: "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar" inscription about his Judaean campaign: "The Arabs and his (Hezekiah's) trusty warriors whom he had brought in to strengthen Jerusalem took leave (i.e. deserted)." The idea of a man of such faith as Hezekiah's depending for defence on mercenary soldiers is a big pill to swallow. Most probably this military aid was brought in by the princes of Judah (Shebna & Co.) who ran the country in their sordid political fashion during Hezekiah's desperate illness.

 

The psalm speaks of the sick beleaguered king having to endure the "deceitful tongue" of Rabshakeh, at the same time aware that the hired troops from Kedar were on the point of turning traitor. Evidently when they did, they blithely joined the army of the enemy, for Josephus refers to Sennacherib as "King of the Arabians and Assyrians" (Ant. 10.1.4). And a contemporary reproach in Obadiah 10 has this: "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever" (this last phrase anticipating God's final judgment against "brethren" who change from friend to foe.

 

No wonder the retribution now foretold is to fall "within a year, according to the years of a hireling," that is, for not a day longer will it be withheld. There is something savagely sarcastic about the use of that word "hireling" with reference to those helpers who had shown such a mercenary and undependable spirit.

 

And the Lord God of Israel took this stab in the back of His people as though perpetrated against Himself, hence the rigour and certainty of the retribution. It is known that Sennacherib devastated all the eastern peoples on the fringe of the desert. So presumably whilst his Judaean campaign was in progress, he also had cavalry making a wide sweep on the far side of Jordan.

 

What sort of reference can this burden have to the last days? This is difficult. But it is useful to remember that there are plenty of West Bank Arabs co-operating with Israel — in local government, army, and police — who will one day be ready enough, in the time of Israel's adversity, to switch to helping their Arab brethren with whom they inevitably have much secret sympathy. And then the Arab situation of Hezekiah's day will be repeated. At the time of writing (Feb. 1988), this is already easily seen to be politically certain.

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Chapter 22

 

The first half of this chapter resolves itself into four paragraphs:

 

a. v.1-3: "Peace" celebrations.

 

b. v.4-7: A picture of the coming siege of Jerusalem.

 

c. v.8-11: Frantic preparations for defence.

 

d. v.12-14: Isaiah's condemnation of the optimistic celebrations.

 

Clearly, these are not in chronological order. It will simplify the exposition if they are taken in this order instead: c, a, d, b.

 

But first, the identification of "the valley of vision" (v.1). Evidently it was so called as being part of Jerusalem where Isaiah the prophet lived. Maybe there was a college of prophets there (see 2 Kgs. 22:14). Moriah, the temple site, means "the vision of Jehovah."

 

The valley must be identified as being either the Tyropoean running north to south down the middle of the city, or the Kidron down the eastern side of the city. Isaiah 7:3 appears to be fairly decisive in favour of the latter, for it was the Pool of the Virgin where the prophet was to go forth and meet king Ahaz as he came thither full of concern about "the conduit".

 

22:8-11 "And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest. Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago."

 

Here are described the early stages of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, and the panic defence measures which were hastily adopted.

 

"The covering of Judah" was the line of fortresses across the northern and western border of Hezekiah's kingdom. "Covering" describes the curtain or veil of temple or tabernacle, marking off the holiest part of the sanctuary from approach by ordinary men. Here the word is used for the defences of the state, designed to protect the holy city from military threat or defilement.

 

These fortresses, maintained in fine condition in the time of Uzziah (2 Chr. 26:8,13-15), had degenerated into a state of disrepair in the decadent reign of Ahaz, so that Sennacherib's troops were able to capture them like plucking apples from a tree. That boastful monarch's own inscription on the Taylor prism says:

 

"Forty-six of his strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages...I besieged and conquered."

 

Isaiah's comment on this is the same: "The forts and towers are for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses" (32:14).

 

Hosea also had foretold that this would come to pass: "Judah hath multiplied fenced cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof" (8:14).

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Micah also (1:8-16) has a long and highly-coloured lamentation regarding the easy and hopeless fate of one city after another.

 

The measures taken to cope with this Assyrian threat were now frantic.

 

First, a deputation was sent off to the camp of the Assyrian to ascertain what sort of payment of tribute would buy him off.

 

And, meantime, there was feverish activity in Jerusalem to make it defensible.

 

The great armoury of the nation was the house of the forest of Lebanon. Built by Solomon as an important element in the complex of his palace buildings, it was so called because of its main architectural feature — four rows of magnificent cedar pillars imported from Lebanon. (1 Kgs. 7:2; 10:17).

 

Also, there was rueful inspection of the deplorable state of disrepair of the city walls: "the breaches of the city of David were many" (shiftless Ahaz, again!). Hezekiah "built up all the wall that was broken (it had suffered badly in the earth­quake in Uzziah's reign), and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without (part way down the eastern slope down to the Kidron, or possibly to seal off the southern end of the Tyropoean), and repaired Millo in the city of David (this was a "filling" to reinforce the inside of the wall where the ground fell away)" (2 Chr. 32:5).

 

Also, an ambitious engineering project was pushed through at high speed to seal off the waters of the Virgin's Fountain, "the upper pool" (2 Kgs. 18:17), and bring them through the hill to the "lower pool" at Siloam:

 

"There was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains and the brook (Kidron) that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?" (2 Chr. 32:4).

 

Such a scheme as this had not been practicable until the mighty earthquake in Uzziah's reign drastically altered the configuration of the Kidron valley. Ahaz had begun it (7:3) and then had fecklessly broken off.

 

Now the Virgin's Fountain (the upper pool; 7:3 36:2) was sealed off so as to be inaccessible to besieging forces. Instead, a winding and beautifully graded conduit was hewn for 1700 feet through the solid rock, to lead the Kidron waters to Siloam (the lower pool) inside the south-west corner of the city, between the two walls (Jer. 39:4). The detailed study of this conduit and its history is quite fascinating, but cannot be pursued here.

 

A further preparation for defence was the conscription of houses on or near the city wall that might be incorporated in the fortifications. Other houses were ruthlessly demolished to provide a quick supply of material for building up the breaches in the city wall.

 

Most valuable of all was the stout exhortation addressed by the king himself to all those involved in these anxious activities: "Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor be dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh: but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles" (2 Chr. 32:7,8).

 

It must have been about this time that Hezekiah was struck down by his dire sickness, for there came a sudden drastic change of attitude in his people, so as to merit Isaiah's withering rebuke: "Ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago."

 

The same theme was developed also into a mighty slap in the face for Sennacherib at the height of his propaganda war against Jerusalem: "Hast thou not heard long ago, how I (Jehovah) have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps" (37:26; cp. also 43:7).

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22:1-3 "The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city; thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far."

 

Here is an amazing picture of holy Jerusalem gone delirious with delight. And why? Because the invading Assyrians have been bought off (2 Kgs. 18:14-16). So the entire population is given over to celebration and self-indulgence — on the housetops elaborate parties and the enjoyment of the spectacle of people dancing in the streets. Those who were expected to be slain in battle are not slain after all. Those who expected to be reported dead at the hands of the enemy are still alive, and getting drunk on the strength of it.

 

But all this gaiety was premature. Things were not going to turn out as well as this optimism seemed to warrant.

 

Verse 3, in the AV., is quite baffling. LXX has an interesting and more intelligible variation (it assumes one letter different in the Hebrew text): "All thy princes have fled, and they that are taken have been cruelly bound; and the strong men in thee are fled far away."

 

There is a suggestion here that some of the more far-sighted and better-informed, realising that trouble was bound to come, were hoping to find safety in flight. But the Arabian archers, deserting to the enemy (see on 21:15), sought to please their new masters by handing these fugitives over, bound as prisoners, to the Assyrians.

 

This suggestion, possible though not certain, goes some way towards making sense of a difficult passage.

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22:12-14 "And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourn­ing, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts."

 

The prophet resumed his censure of the wild empty-headed self-indulgence by which the people were, for the most part, expressing their relief at being assured of "peace in our time" (like London in Sept. 1938).

 

Instead, there should have been a spirit of deep contrition for the national waywardness which had brought such a crisis upon them.

 

Yet they choose to signify their appreciation of the "cleverness" of their politicians with hedonism and debauchery, as though celebrating a mighty victory, when they ought rather to be prostrating themselves in shame before God.

 

"Let us eat and drink (they said), for tomorrow (and not today, as we feared) we shall die."

 

The words seem to imply a lurking uncertainty as to whether the empire-building Assyrian had been bought off for good, or only for a time.

 

Either way, the philosophy was pathetic and threadbare. Writing to his Corinthian converts Paul was to quote the words in biting tones and with a different emphasis. "If there be no resurrection of the dead...let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (and that is the end of us)" (1 Cor. 15:32). Yet he rounds off the same argument with the opposite truth (from Is. 25:8): "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54).

 

But, for these faithless men in Jerusalem indulging themselves to the top of their bent, there was another special revelation spoken in the prophet's ear: "Tomorrow they die? It is true. All their impending experiences of inevitable Assyrian frightfulness will not purge their sin. And in the end they die."

[Resource Manager]

22:4-7 "Therefore said I, Look away from me: I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir un­covered the shield. And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate."

 

In sharp contrast with the pictures of wild celebration because the peace of Jerusalem was 'assured', there was now a series of vivid snapshots of what the reality would turn out to be, and right soon, too!

 

"Trouble...treading down...perplexity" — in the Hebrew there is a violent play on words here quite characteristic of Isaiah's style. Choice gardens outside the city are trampled flat by jack-booted warriors and their horses and chariots. In the valley of vision (Isaiah's home by the Kidron) there has been vigorous dismantling of houses to provide ready-made material for the building of new walls of defence. And "the daughter of my people," eloquently represented by Isaiah's wife saying farewell to her well-loved home, weeps bitterly; and cries of despairing appeal go up towards Mount Zion that the God of Israel, whose House has gone untouched will yet vouchsafe help and relief from the misery of war. All this is set out in vigorous prophetic pictures.

 

Elam had been overrun by Sargon earlier, and now these Elamites, specialists in archery, were recruited into the Assyrian forces. So also other mercenaries from Kir (not identified with any certainty) were similarly part of Sennacherib's army — just as David had enrolled defeated Philistines into his palace guard (2 Sam. 15:19). Evidently one of the frequent switches of population, which were an important feature of Assyrian empire-building, had involved Kir and Syria (Am. 1:5; 9:7). This was the best way to keep restless conquered peoples quiet.

 

The peculiar phrase "chariots of men" readily becomes (by the smallest change imaginable) "Syrian chariots", that is, those that had been captured in an earlier campaign and were soon to be displayed in force against the panicky population of Judaea: "horsemen in array at the gate of the city." When there had been such a proud display of force at Dothan for the apprehension of Elisha the prophet, his courageous exhortation had been: "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kgs. 6:16). And in this situation Hezekiah, before he was struck down by his vile disease, boldly quoted the same words (2 Chr. 32:7) to stiffen the resolution of his people; and in due time he was vindicated, for only one angel of the Lord was necessary, and the Assyrian scourge was swept away.

 

But first, without the faith of Hezekiah to inoculate the entire city against the microbes of terror, all was given up for lost.

[Resource Manager]

22:15-19 "Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down."

 

This very unusual section of Isaiah's prophecy is also one of the most difficult, through the reader's lack of knowledge of the background situation. Use has to be made of every little detail and every smallest inference, and even so a fair degree of uncertainty of interpretation exists.

 

The introductory phrase: "Thus saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts" is identical with verse 14. This uncommon combination of divine names links the two halves of this chapter. They both concern the early days of the Assyrian invasion.

 

Shebna's name is possibly, but not certainly, Aramaic — linking with a word for "sit" (i.e. in dignity, not stand in servitude), but also suggesting "go into captivity" (cp. v.17; "a mighty captivity," and v.18: "toss thee into a large country, and there thou shalt die").

 

The rather contemptuous phrases: "this Shebna" and "What hast thou here?" support the idea of a foreigner, brought in (may it be surmised?) by faithless Ahaz, with his craze for foreign religions (2 Kgs. 16:10-16).

 

It is also remarkable that in ch.36:3, when Shebna is mentioned along with Eliakim and Joah, he is the only one of the three whose family is not mentioned.

 

Fairly recently a seal of the Isaiah period, inscribed "Shebna, son of Shahur," was found at Ramat-Rachel between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

 

Several of the details about Shebna employ priestly terms:

 

a. "Over the house" must mean "over the palace" or "over the temple" (1 Kgs. 9:1,10; 2 Chr. 26:21).

 

b. "Thy robe...thy girdle" are both priestly terms, the latter being used exclusively about the high priest.

 

c. "The glory...vessels, cups, flagons" all suggest association with the sanctuary of the Lord.

 

d. "The chariots of thy glory" especially suggest allusion to the cherubim-chariots of the Lord (as in Ezekiel 1).

 

e. "A nail in a sure place." The Hebrew word refers, in scores of passages, to a holy place, an altar, or a sanctuary.

 

Yet at the same time quite a few phrases are regal in tone:

 

a. "This treasurer" is really "this official, or administrator" (but LXX has the same word as in Lk. 12:21).

 

b. "Government...a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah."

 

c. "The key of the house of David...upon his shoulder".

[Resource Manager]

It is not difficult to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies. It is not unlikely that Shebna was brought in from Syria (or even from Assyria?) by worthless Ahaz. And when wholesale alterations were made in the temple administration (see on chapters 8 and 28: "The Stone of Stumbling"), he was exalted to office as high priest. That particular dignity would be lost on the accession of godly Hezekiah, but evidently he still retained considerable influence among the princes of Judah.

 

When Hezekiah was afflicted with leprosy, just at the time of the Assyrian in­vasion, the running of the nation's affairs would be in the hands of the princes, and evidently among them Shebna achieved a leading role as Regent (as Jotham was Regent in the time of his father's leprosy; 2 Chr. 26:21). Thus, both priestly and kingly terms were quite suitable in the prophet's exposure of his ambitions. If indeed he had come from the north, it is conceivable that he led the pro-Assyria party in Judah, and was optimistically hoping that when Judah was overrun he would be appointed their puppet king in Jerusalem.

 

The word for "treasurer" (v.15) was perhaps an assumed title to help boost his own reputation: "The Intelligent; the Knowing One" (cp. use of the same root in Ps. 139:3; Job 22:21).

 

The instruction to Isaiah: "Go, get thee" unto this upstart fellow, the triple use of "here" and the caustic description of his ambitious project all serve to express the Almighty's intense indignation with this eager seeker for power.

 

The most recent and most nauseating symptom was his new resolution to prepare for himself a superb sepulchre in the city of David in the very area reserved for the burial of the kings of Judah (1 Kgs. 2:10; 2 Chr. 32:33). In the LXX version the Greek for "on high" is identical with that used for the burial of Hezekiah. What a contrast with Joseph of Arimathea graciously lending his new tomb as a resting place for the crucified Jesus!

 

The very word that was used for "a habitation in the rock" describes the "dwelling places to all generations" which are the foolish pride of the selfish rich pilloried in Psalm 49. Like all the other Sons-of-Korah psalms, this also belongs to the reign of Hezekiah. It is hard to resist the conclusion that the main part of this psalm has Shebna specifically in mind, for he was a "man that understandeth not and like the beasts that perish," And there are several verses in Psalm 146 which suggest a contrast between Shebna and Hezekiah.

 

"He graveth an habitation in the rock" is specially incisive, for here is a double meaning word: "he makes himself a governor."

 

There are several marked divergences between the Hebrew and LXX texts, and it is difficult to be sure which is the more dependable. In verse 18 the Hebrew is very striking: "He (the Lord) will roll thee, rolling thee up into a roll." It is a contemptuous picture of this great man not being laid reverently to rest in a great sepulchre with any amount of pomp and ceremony, but instead his corpse is roughly rolled up in any piece of material available, and stowed away with complete lack of concern. So much for thee, Shebna, "thou shame of thy lord's house."

 

And the prelude to this fate was to be degradation from office, and this in an obvious public fashion (v. 19).

 

Psalm 82 is demonstrably another psalm of the reign of Hezekiah, and there verse 7, otherwise rather bewildering, is a clear allusion to Shebna: "Ye shall fall like one of the princes," that is, the demotion he has experienced will be yours also.

 

The strange thing is that apparently this shameful dismissal did not happen. For some time later (within a year, surely) when the Assyrians were at the gates of Jerusalem, and Hezekiah only just recovered from his fatal illness, Shebna was one of the three dignitaries who represented the king in negotiations with Rabshakeh (36:3,22). True, he was no longer "over the house," but instead was filling a more ordinary role as secretary.

 

It is not out of the question that Isaiah's fierce denunciation made such an impression on Shebna that there was immediate repentance, but how can one be sure? "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," Jonah proclaimed. Yet it was clearly a hundred and forty years before that overthrow came — because its king and its people repented, for a while. (For other examples of this, see Rev., p.264ff).

[Resource Manager]

22:20-24 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the in­habitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the off­spring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

 

With one consent the commentators read the rest of this chapter as a prophecy about a virtually unknown Eliakim who was to replace Shebna as steward of the palace or as high priest, or both — and thus a most eloquent and powerful Messianic prophecy gets lost in misdirection and obfuscation.

 

Strange that it seems to have gone unobserved that the Hebrew phrasing: w'qarathi I'avdi I'Elyaqim ben-Hilqiyahu can be read equally well (or even better): "And I will call my Servant to Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah." The only comparable instance of a repeated prepositional prefix I' is in 1 Kgs. 1:32: "Call me Zadok the priest" (q'ru li I'tzadoq ...). This clearly supports the reading just suggested.

 

The context also requires this. For such phrases as "government, throne, girdle, shoulder, father, house of David" so obviously allude to one who sits on the throne of David. And since, right through Isaiah, from chapter 7 through to chapter 66 the prototype of Messiah is Hezekiah (development of this theme being the main theme and purpose of this commentary), it is to be expected that here again, in chapter 22 (which the New Testament says is Messianic) the prototype shall be not a virtually unknown Eliakim but the king who is unquestionably one of the finest fore­shadowings of Messiah to be found anywhere in Holy Scripture. "Father" is an honorific title applied in the Old Testament to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and Messiah. Does Eliakim deserve to rank with these great men? Hezekiah certainly does.

 

All through Isaiah "my Servant" (in the singular) is Hezekiah, as prototype of the Messiah. And there is a very good reason why he, the Suffering Servant, should be called to Eliakim the new high priest. It is this:

 

The word for Hezekiah's "boil" (38:21 — obviously something vastly more serious than an ordinary boil) is used more than fifty times for leprosy, the incurable sin-disease. And the Law of Moses laid down that "in the day of the leper's cleansing, he shall be brought unto the priest."

 

One further detail: "I will strengthen him" (v.21) uses the very verb which is the foundation of Hezekiah's name: "strengthened by Jehovah."

 

Thus, from every angle it is clear that the present prophecy is to be read with reference to Hezekiah and not to Eliakim. The latter, worthy man that he was, was only an auxiliary in a greater scene with an incomparably greater prophetic meaning.

 

The intermingling of priestly and kingly terminology, impossible of application to any save Melchizedek, David and Christ, has been shown to have a certain spurious reference to Shebna, but of course the real point of it is in the Messianic reference, as will be seen by and by.

 

"The key of the house of David" belongs much more obviously to the king who sits on David's throne than to any steward. And the reference to opening and shutting is readily seen to refer to the royal house, for it was Ahaz who "shut up the doors of the house of the Lord" (2 Chr. 28:24; 29:7), and it was Hezekiah who "opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them" (29:3), thus foreshadowing the fulfilment of Isaiah's later prophecy that Jerusalem's gates of holiness "shall be opened continually" (60:11).

[Resource Manager]

At the beginning of this verse (22), LXX has a significant addition: "And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him" (as Rabshakeh did, in very rough fashion; 36:4ff).

 

The figure of "a nail in a sure place" is almost unique in Scripture. It is essentially a priestly metaphor, for "place" is Hebrew maqom the normal meaning of which is a "holy place." Ezra (9:7,8) gives it this meaning, but concerning both kings and priests! And "sure" is really the word 'true", with reference to the utter dependability of the promises of God.

 

On this nail there is to be sufficient support for large and small, for cups of gold (Ex. 24:6) and flagons of earthen ware (so Paul interprets: "vessels of gold and of silver, also of wood and of earth" (2 Tim. 2:20), yet all purged and "sanctified, and meet for the Master's use."

 

Thus "they shall hang upon him all the glory (Hebrew=also 'weight') of his father's house."

 

In a variety of details the way has been already prepared for a more complete fulfilment of this prophecy in Christ. Some of the ideas could do with further emphasis.

 

The "Shebna" to be cast out of office is the Mosaic priesthood which was not on|y inadequate in itself but also utterly corrupt and full of pride. "Carried away with a mighty captivity" is a phrase needing no explanation. But the hint elsewhere of repentance and continued favour (on a lower level; 36:3) may well pre-figure Jewry's change of heart and re-acceptance in the days to come.

 

The restoration of Hezekiah from his sin-disease has its ready counterpart in the suffering and resurrection of a Christ pronounced "clean" before God.

 

The swing between priestly and royal terminology is absolutely right for One who sits as both king and priest upon his throne (Zech. 6:13). ' Tokens of divine authority are vested in One who "liveth and was dead...and has the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:18). And He, in turn, commits them to men who continue His work — the keys of the kingdom, with power to bind and to loose (Mt 16:19): "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (Jn. 20:23).

 

The letter to Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7) is full of interpretative allusions to this prophecy:

 

"These things saith he that is holy, he that is true (two indirect references to "a sure place"), he that hath the key of David, he that openeth (the temple of God. 2 Chr. 29:3), and no man shutteth; and shutteth (in the Day of Judgment; Mt. 25:41), and no man openeth...I have set before thee an open door (the re-sanctified temple)...thou hast a little strength (cp. the name Hezekiah)...the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews (as did Shebna) and are not, but do lie: behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet (Shebna's — and Israel's — repentance)...the hour of temptation (like the Assyrian invasion)...that no man take thy crown (22:21 LXX: I will grant him thy crown with power; Rev. 19:12)...Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God (22:23 LXX, Cod. B: I do make him as a pillar, as a ruler)."

 

All this is possible because He is "an high priest over the house of God" (Heb. 10:21) and "upon him shall every one trust (this is faith), from the least to the greatest" (22:24 LXX).

[Resource Manager]

22:25 "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it."

 

At first sight this verse seems to contradict by its tone what has just been said about the Servant of the Lord. The identical switch of emphasis comes in another prophecy of the Suffering Servant:

 

"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, and shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high" (52:13) "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great..." (53:12). Yet in the same prophecy there is this:

 

"A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief...The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed...The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (53:3,5,6).

It is for completeness' sake that these two aspects of Hezekiah as Servant of the Lord — the suffering and the glory — need to be mentioned in the Shebna prophecy.

 

The fact that this present picture of seeming failure comes in at the end is surely to remind Isaiah's readers that what happened in those days was only a foreshadowing of an impressive fulness of fulfilment yet to be seen in the suffering and glory of a greater Servant of the Lord.

[Resource Manager]

Chapter 23

 

23:1-5 "The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins. As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre."

 

Tyre and Zidon, the two cities of the Phoenician seaboard, were both great mercantile centres. With their development and extension of sea trading, for cen­turies they dominated all international commerce except that which necessarily depended on the land routes.

 

Zidon was the older city, called "great" even in the time of Joshua. But a few centuries later Tyre surpassed it in development and enterprise.

 

Because of their tremendous mercantile prosperity, these cities became the target of a long series of greedy expansionist Assyrian kings. Time and again inscriptions mention "the tribute of the ships of Tyre and Zidon." When these in­vasions came, the usual Tyrian policy was to buy off the aggressor. It had to be this because their small country did not have the man-power to match the might and the mercenaries of Nineveh. But the heavy payments exacted by the Assyrians could always be re-couped in the form of increased charges to their international customers. To this very day the shopkeeper does the same thing.

 

The extent of the prosperity of Tyre may be judged from the fact that whereas Shalmanezer V records his extortion of ten talents of gold from Hoshea, king of the ten tribes of Israel, from tiny Phoenicia he squeezed 150 talents of gold.

 

Almost certainly Isaiah's "burden of Tyre" belongs to Sennacherib's famous campaign, the third against the land of Canaan. His inscription mentions success against Zidon, but Tyre is omitted, perhaps because of lack of success against the developing island-Tyre, but it may be taken that the mainland city was plundered.

 

The identification of Tarshish is a problem which has never been completely settled. Equation with Phoenician Carthage can be ruled out, for there are several mentions of Tarshish before even Carthage was founded. There are four possibilities:

 

a. Tarshish was the name of island-Tyre (cp. Ps. 72:10).

 

b. Tarsus. One authority claims that Gen. 10:4 is decisive in favour of this.

 

c. Tartessus in southern Spain. The tarshish stone is chrysolite, and this is known to be found in Spain.

 

d. Cornwall. It is very, very doubtful whether the Tyrians came to England at such an early date as this prophecy. And in any case, the metallic leads in Ez. 27:12 are better satisfied by Tartessus.

 

The most probable solution is that Tarshish was island-Tyre ("ships of Tarshish" meaning, quite simply, ships that sail from Tarshish). But of course all colonising nations have taken homeland names with them overseas: New York, Boston, Plymouth, Perth — nearly every English and Scottish place name is duplicated somewhere round the globe — and this phenomenon would explain the evidence for more than one Tarshish, especially in the far east (cp. 2 Chr. 20:36,37; Jer. 10:9) The opening words of this burden present a dramatic picture of Phoenician ships on their way home from a long voyage learning with dismay when they touch at Kittim (Kition, Cyprus) that their home harbour is now in enemy hands.

 

Similarly (v.5) the ill news has reached Egypt, referred to here also as Sihor (black), with reference to the black silt of the Nile. Tyre was the carrier of the massive corn harvests of Egypt. The two countries were considerably inter­dependent. When the judgments of God shattered Egypt in the time of Moses, "sorrow took hold of the inhabitants of Palestina" (Ex. 15:14). And now there is consternation in Egypt at the ill-fortune befalling Tyre.

[Resource Manager]

23:6-9 "Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth? The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth."

 

Archaeological evidence suggests that although Sennacherib overran Phoenicia and subjugated Zidon, he did not entirely capture Tyre. Doubtless the mainland city became his. Psalm 83:7 points to this, and no doubt the Tyrians sought Assyrian favour by contributing fighting men and naval aid down the coast for the furthering of Sennacherib's campaign against Judah.

 

But until the time of Alexander the Great, island-Tyre was inviolate. "Pass ye over to Tarshish." There have been plenty of parallels to this in history. When Alexander besieged, Tyre's women and children were sent off to Carthage. When Napoleon invaded the Iberian peninsula, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil. In the eighteenth century when French power looked like swamping the Lowlands, Dutch merchants made plans to transfer all their activities to the Dutch East Indies.

 

But the ancient mainland city of Tyre, going far back in history (much farther than Josh. 19:29), though not so long established as Zidon, was bound to suffer when "her own feet carried her far off to sojourn" — it is a picture of captives being led away to a distant land (to use their ship-building skills on the Euphrates?).

 

And such a fate as this is in store for proud Tyre, called here "the crowning city" because of its many overseas colonies each having its ruler appointed from the mother city. Hence Jeremiah's phrase: "all the kings of Tyre" (25:22). Such was its wealth that lesser kings in not a few countries were on its pay-roll, selling mercantile privileges to these men of Phoenicia. "Merchant princes" was a phrase first put to use by Isaiah. The word for "traffickers" is really "Canaanites"; the connection sprang first from Zidon being the son of Canaan, Noah's grandson (Gen. 10:15) and became established in later generations when the traders of Tyre became the best-known internationally of all the peoples of Canaan (Zech. 14:21).

 

Besides the materialistic self-sufficiency of Tyre, God also abhorred its religion: The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to profane (RV) the pride of all glory." The worship of Melkart (=king of the city) was modelled on that of Jehovah — as a direct consequence of the close friendship between Solomon and Hiram. Hence is explained the remarkable language of Ezekiel 28:12ff concerning the "king" of Tyre. Over the centuries the pattern of worship had continued the same, but the religious character of it was greatly debased, and in this evil form had been exported back to the people of God in the time of Jezebel. Tyre deserved judgment as much as does modern London.

[Resource Manager]

23:10-14 "Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength. He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof. And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon, arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest. Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste."

 

Just as "the daughter of Zidon" (v. 12) means Zidon, so also "the daughter of Tarshish" means Tarshish-Tyre. The opening phrase describes the rush of a river to the sea. It is a figure appropriate enough to the Phoenicians abandoning their small but very fertile and prosperous plain in order to crowd on to ships that will take them away to safety (as they hope). The girdle ("strength") of defences on the landward side can do nothing to fend off the invader. The divine decree has gone forth against "the merchant city" (Hebrew: "Canaan"). Zidon had hitherto gone unravaged by war, for although before this there had been several Assyrian invasions, the pay­ment of tribute had bought off the plunderer. But now Sennacherib, the latest of these marauders, would work his will on "the oppressed virgin daughter of Zidon."

 

Even flight across the sea to colonies in Cyprus was to provide no lasting comfort. It is not certain whether Sennacherib was able to achieve a sea-borne invasion of that island, but his successor Esarhaddon certainly did.

 

In the received text, verse 13 is full of difficulty, but the reading in the LXX is perfectly straightforward: "And if you depart (being led away captive) to the land of the Chaldeans (i.e. to Babylon), this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for their wall is fallen."

 

About the same time that Sennacherib overran all the territory from Assyria southward to Judah he also had a very successful campaign against Babylon, and promptly led off thither many of his captives from "the western land." There would be no joy for his Tyrian prisoners there.

 

So this burden ends, as it began, in misery: "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish."

[Resource Manager]

23:15-18 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing."

 

Because of the repeated emphasis elsewhere on Israel's seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11; 29:10; Dan. 9:2; 2 Chr. 36:21; Zech. 1:12; 7:5) there is a general inclination among commentators to apply this prophecy to the same seventy years. But this is irrelevant. Isaiah prophesies about his own times and about the Messiah, as foreshadowed in his own times. This principle of interpretation must dominate.

 

Again, the fact has to be faced that neither in Isaiah's day nor in the time of the Babylonian captivity was Tyre "forgotten" for a period of seventy years. It was not until long after the Christian era that Tyre dwindled away from its high commercial status.

 

But when this passage is read as a reminder of how for a period of seventy years the long-standing alliance between Tyre and Jerusalem lapsed or was interrupted, it has immediate relevance to all that the prophet has to say in these burdens. That period would come to an end "in the days of a certain great king" (reading B for K, a common confusion; and taking echad in its frequent idiomatic sense, as in Ex. 11:1; Gen. 48:22; 2 Sam. 7:23 etc.), and then "the Lord will visit Tyre (in blessing)" and the old alliance be resumed, with all the finest of that city's resources being again available for the temple service (v. 18).

 

The king referred to is, of course, Sennacherib who swamped all the Levant in his imperious conquest. Yet as a direct result of the cataclysmic destruction of his army at Jerusalem, Tyre, who had paid tribute and supplied mercenaries for the Assyrian campaign (Ps. 83:7), was now happy to return to its former close connection with Jerusalem (Ps. 87:4; 45:12; 2 Chr. 32:23).

 

The language of harlotry, so unseemly in the modern ear, is the prophet's very apt figure for the eager Tyrian emphasis on trade. As the harlot's way of life combines pleasure and profit, so also did the international commerce of Tyre's big business. Nahum (3:4) uses the same figure about Nineveh. In verse 17, LXX interprets the figure: "she shall be a market for all the kingdoms." The hire of a harlot was not to be brought into the sanctuary of the Lord (Dt. 23:18), but when Tyre turned in reverence to the God of Israel, then this other "harlotry" could be tolerated (cp. Lk. 7:37).

 

It remains to consider what further fulfilment this Tyre prophecy might have in the last days. Such a reference seems to be called for by the sweeping assertion that "thou shalt no more rejoice" (v. 12) — that is, in the self-indulgence and self-glorification of a harlot's trade. Yet the prophecy does conclude on a very different note.

 

The days have gone when it was possible to speculate that in a last-day sense "Tyre" is Britain (although the 70 year period from 1917 is tempting). And in this connection why the marked disinclination to apply Ezekiel 26-28 to Britain?

 

On the other hand, the Book of Revelation interweaves allusions to Tyre with caustic references to both Babylon and Jerusalem (Rev., pp.208ff). "Harlotry" with the kings of the earth (v.8 = Rev. 18:23; v.17 = 17:2) is followed by a time when she is ravaged by a great king (v.15=17:10). Yet the unexpected outcome is a Jerusalem adorned as a bride for her husband, precisely as happened in Hezekiah's day.

 

It is remarkable that whereas certain of the Arab powers seem to be marked out for hard discipline or even utter destruction in the time of the end (e.g. Is. 34; Obadiah), there is to be a willingness on the part of others to acknowledge God's King in Jerusalem. Is it relevant that there are more (nominal) Christians among the Arabs in Lebanon than in any other part of the Arab world?

 

Then, although there has been no friendship in Lebanon for the new state of Israel, perhaps this seventy-year estrangement is due to be replaced with a new spirit of amity and service.

[Resource Manager]

Chapter 24

 

24:1-3 "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer' so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word."

 

There can be little doubt that throughout this chapter the word eretz should read Land (16 times). Certainly in its primary reference it is the Land of Israel whose misery is being foretold (in future tenses, in Hebrew). But, significantly, Jerusalem itself is not mentioned — appropriately enough, for it was the only city in Judah not to suffer directly in the Assyrian campaign.

 

"Turning upside down" describes the cleaning and setting aside of a dirty dish. In a later reign (2 Kgs. 21:13) the same graphic figure is used again, this time about Jerusalem, for then its turn to endure judgment was inevitable (cp. also the familiar words of Ezekiel: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it..."; 21:27).

 

The scattering of the inhabitants of Judah, as they sought refuge from rapine and captivity, by the flight to any near-by country that would have them, was only the first taste of what was to come on Jewry, and is yet to come on them, for their faithlessness (Dt. 28:64).

 

The long catalogue of all segments of society all brought to a common level of misery is a highly effective characteristic of Isaiah's writing; cp. 2:12-16; 3:1-3,18-24. Land and people will experience the same wretchedness. Con­temporary Hosea has a similar description: 4:3,6,9. It is all in close accordance with the curses of Leviticus 26. Now the fulfilment is inescapable: "The Lord hath spoken this word."

[Resource Manager]

24:4-9 "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it."

 

There can be little doubt that the triad in verse 4 is about the Land of Israel and its Jewish "world" (there are similar verbs in 3:26). "Fade away" and "languish" link the phrases together. It is a depressing picture, with the nobility suffering as much as the rest. God's Holy Land is defiled by violence and by heedless transgression of God's laws (Lev. 26:46), by gross neglect of His Passover ordinance (s.w. Ex. 12:14,17,24) and a callous disregard of the covenant made between Jehovah and Israel at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24). The most obvious token of this was the shutting of the temple by Hezekiah's evil father. Not a few commentators take this 'everlasting covenant' to be God's promise (Gen. 9:16) when the Flood was over. But that can hardly be correct, for the covenant with Noah was God's one-sided undertaking. How can "broken the everlasting covenant" apply to that? Also, all the context here in Isaiah 24 concerns the Land of Israel and the people in it (compare how the decay of the nation is exposed in contemporary Micah 2,3).

 

In retribution the curse (of Dt. 28) was to go forth over all the Land. The dross of its guilt was to be burned out (1:31; 5:24; 9:18,19; 10:16,17). Isaiah's repetition of this figure was a grim anticipation of how Assyrian invaders would ruthlessly fire towns and villages. Columns ("palm trees"; Jl. 2:30 Heb.) of smoke would be seen going up to heaven from all parts of the Land.

 

And the population would be decimated. Sennacherib had 200,000 of them marched off to Babylon. At least as many more would be slain. And a comparable number would flee to any neighbouring country they could reach.

 

The emphatic mention of harvest festival song and celebration (Jl. 1:10,12) replaced by misery and silence might perhaps be a prophetic hint that the invaders would come into the Land at that time of the year — October. Other indications are that it was to be six months later, at Passover, before deliverance could come.

[Resource Manager]

24:10-12 "The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction."

 

Even in the city of Jerusalem there is to be over all a pall of wretchedness, for apparently the situation will be past saving. The word "confusion" is tohu, as in Genesis 1:2: "the earth was without form." Before the Genesis creation began, a former ordered world was apparently brought to ruin. And now the prophet en­visages that the ordered world of God's nation will similarly come to confusion and desolation (cp. 50:3,9; 51:6).

 

In the city all strong houses were barricaded up against the time when "the gate is smitten with destruction" and the ravaging troops of an invading army roam the streets in search of plunder. And people lament because wine and all the other good things of life seem to be gone for ever, as the ordered pattern of existence crumbles into ruin. (Yet by and by Isaiah goes on to paint a very different, heart­warming picture; 25:6,8,9; ch.35).

 

In actual fact, when Sennacherib's men did besiege the city they never succeeded in storming it; but in the present passage all the worst fears of the people are pictured as apparently inevitable. Not so, however, thanks to the staunch faith of Hezekiah and the godly remnant who shared his loyalty to Jehovah.

 

Years later Ezekiel, describing God's new order when a repentant people are restored to Him (Ez. 48:35) makes a delightful play with Shammah, a double-meaning word — instead of "in the city desolation" (Is. 24:12), the name of that same city is: Jehovah-shammah, the Lord has gone thither.

 

24:13 "When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done."

 

The valid alternative: "For thus it shall be..." gives a tidier meaning. It is the theme which is never far away throughout Isaiah's copious prophesying, that amidst national decay there will be a faithful remnant, so that amidst national overthrow there will be, for their sakes, a divine salvation, Isaiah's own son Shear-jashub (10:21,22) was a prophecy of how this would work out — and himself probably one of the multitude of captives who were dragged away to labour and suffer and die but who miraculously were back home again within the year.

 

The figure of the precious gleaning of grapes and olives after the main crop has been destroyed comes again and again at this period: "The glory of Jacob shall be made thin...yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the utmost bough, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches thereof" (17:4-6). "The Lord shall beat off (the fruit), from the channel of the River (Euphrates) unto the streams of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel" (27:12; cp. Mic. 7:1,2).

 

All this is to come about "in the midst of the land, among the peoples (amim, the tribes of Israel)." Everything in Hezekiah's reign shows that he was the mainstay of his people's faith. Apart from his unflagging lead (except when he was laid aside stricken with disease), Isaiah and his school of prophets would have achieved almost nothing.