71. The Valley of Vision (3)

Hymns: RHC 380 Close to Thee 243 The Comforter Has Come 246 Open My Eyes, That I May See

Isaiah 22:1-13

¹ The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷ 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. ⁸ And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. ¹¹ 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. ¹² And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: ¹³ And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

The Valley of Vision (3)

OUTLINE

(1) Ironic Weakness (v1-7)

(2) Carnal Means Employed (v8-11)

(3) Contradicting Wanton Pleasures (v12-13)

INTRODUCTION

So long as Israel walked in obedience to and fellowship with the LORD and worshipped Him according to His institutions stipulated in His written law, no prophet was required.

While the life of Israel remained normal there was a place for the teacher, the Levite, and the magistrate; but no room whatever for the prophetic function. But after Israel entered the land of Canaan and Joshua was removed as their head, when the priesthood failed and the people departed from God, He instituted the prophetic order in Israel. Isaiah was in the line of the prophets whom God raised in a time of marked declension and departure of the people from Him.

2 Peter 1:19 (KJV) We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Isaiah was raised at the time of great spiritual declension in Israel, pointing out the sins of the people and urging them to repent before it was too late when God’s judgment comes – Isaiah 1:2-9 (KJV) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

In this valley of visions, Isaiah saw the invasion of the Assyrians against Jerusalem. He has already spoken of the desolations of neighbouring nations. It is to come now upon Jerusalem, Israel’s heart or spiritual centre, where the first Temple Solomon stood.

⁷ 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.

Isaiah envisioned that the enemy were at their doorsteps surrounding the city with chariots and horsemen filling the valley. In the face of adversaries, God’s people should seek the LORD for wisdom and direction through prayer, fasting, and supplication.

(2) Carnal Means Employed (v8-11)

2 Corinthians 10:4 (KJV) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Coming to the LORD and seeking His face must be the way of strength for the people of God.

Psalm 110:2 (KJV) The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Psalm 2:8-9 (KJV) Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Psalm 27:1-6 (KJV) A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

Did not Israel enter the Promised Land with the parting of the Jordan River and the collapse of the walls of Jericho by the power of God. Would God’s people have a different approach to problem solving? There is but one way that is to come to Him.

Psalm 27:11-14 (KJV) Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

This was how Israel was fortified in time past, in the strength of the LORD.

Why did God allow Jerusalem to be threatened? It is because Israel has strayed from God.

The leaders have depended on the strength of their defence rather than being dependent on the LORD (v8-11). The weapons of their warfare have been carnal therefore the strongholds of the enemy shall not be pulled down.

⁸ And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

The house of the forest was an armoury, there were kept their weapons of warfare made from the wood from the forest in Lebanon.  Here Solomon put his two hundred targets, and three hundred shields of beaten gold – 1 Kings 7:2 (KJV) He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

Isaiah 36:1-3 (KJV) Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.

The historical perspective may be seen in the chart below showing the Assyrian kings and the attack on Judah and Jerusalem by the Assyrians. [Carl G Rasmussen – Zondervan Atlas of the Bible pp. 165]

⁹ 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.

The city of David in which is the presence of the LORD, was nevertheless a city whose walls had been allowed to go into decay.

Isaiah uses the designation, the city of David, by which he means the section built upon the hill Ophel, the ancient site of the Jebusite town. Even the City of David itself was allowed to go into disrepair. Here is a violation of the divine command in Psalm 51:18 (KJV) Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

All her bulwarks have been neglected by the inhabitants. Here is not glory but breaches. The walls of God have been allowed to go into disrepair by those who dwell in Zion.

The inhabitants had acted as though that King has nothing to do with this city. They had not turned to Him, but had adopted means of human devising for delivering themselves and repairing the sad condition in which the city found itself.

And ye gathered together … – That is, Hezekiah and the people of the city collected those waters.

At present, the lower pool is without the walls but Hezekiah appears to have extended a temporary wall around it so as to enclose it.

At the time of the siege, water was of extreme importance if the water supply of Jerusalem were cut off, the city would not last.

¹⁰ And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

You have taken an estimate of the number of houses that have to be pulled down to repair the walls or you have made an estimate of the materials needed for repairing the walls which would be furnished by pulling down the houses in Jerusalem.

¹¹ 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.

Between these two walls, the water would be collected to be accessible to the inhabitants of the city in case of a siege.

But ye have not looked – You have not relied on God. You have depended on your own resources; and on the defences which you have been making against the enemy.

(3) Contradicting Wanton Pleasure (v12-13)

¹² And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

God required those who were thus afflicted to weep, and fast, and pray.

The call of God was to weeping and mourning, to confess and mourn over their sins which is the cause of these calamities.

To lament their unhappy case; to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, and, by prayer and supplication, with tears to implore His help and assistance, and grant them deliverance.

This the Lord called them unto by the voice of His Providence, by the afflictive dispensations of it, and also by His prophets, whom he sent unto them, particularly the Prophet Isaiah. [Barnes]

¹³ And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

Instead of mourning, the city was merry-making, of rejoicing when besieged by a powerful army.

The slaying of oxen and killing of sheep was not for sacrifice to make atonement for sins, as is typical of the great sacrifice, but to seat, and not as at ordinary meals, but feasts, as there was great plenty, so luxury and intemperance were indulged.

Like Belshazzar did at the time when Babylon was besieged by the army of the Medes and Persians – Daniel 5:1 (KJV) Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

So the Jews here, having taken the armour out of the treasury, and furnished the soldiers with them, and took care of provisions of bread and water, and having repaired and fortified the walls of the city, thought themselves secure, and gave up themselves to feasting, mirth, and pleasure: saying, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die; which they said, not as believing their case to be desperate.

In the next day, or in a few days, their city would be taken by the Assyrians, and they should be put to the sword, therefore, since they had but a short life to live, they would live a merry one; but rather as not believing it, but scoffing at the prophet, and at the word of the LORD by him, a language of disbelief of impending destruction.

¹⁴ 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.

A word from the LORD which would supersede and overpower the attitude of the people in their unconcern. The word of the LORD is expressed by a conditional sentence lending to the dignity and solemnity of the oath.

To be continued…