84. The Snare of Misplaced Trust (4)

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Hymns: RHC 358 What a Friend We Have in Jesus 319 When Peace Like a River 221 When We See Christ

Isaiah 30

18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

The Snare of Misplaced Trust (3)

OUTLINE

  • Confidence in the World (v1-7)
  • Contempt of God’s Word (v8-17)
  • God’s Mercy Still Extended (v18-26)
  • God’s Wrath and His People’s Joy (v27-33)

Continue…

(3) God’s Mercy Still Extended (v18-26)

18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Notwithstanding their sins, and the necessity of punishing them, the LORD would be longsuffering and would yet bring the nation to repentance. 

For the Lord is a God of judgment – He will do what is right. He will spare the nation still; and yet establish among them the true religion, and they shall flourish.

Blessed are all they that wait for Him – This seems to have been recorded to encourage them, when the threatened calamities should come upon them, to put their confidence in God, and to trust that He would yet appear and restore the nation to Himself. [Barnes]

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

The language here is evidently adapted to a return from the captivity. The whole design of v19-26 is to describe a future state of prosperity by images mainly drawn from the idea of temporal enjoyment. The sense is that in some period subsequent to the calamities that would befall them for their improper reliance on the aid of Egypt (v16-17), there would be prosperity, peace, and joy in Jerusalem. 

The order of events, as seen by the prophet in vision, seems to be this. He sees the people threatened with an invasion by Sennacherib. He sees them forget their reliance on God and seek the aid of Egypt. 

He sees, as a consequence of this, a long series of calamities resulting in the downfall of the republic, the destruction of the city, and the captivity at Babylon. Yet he sees, in the distant prospect, prosperity, happiness, security, piety, the blessing of God, and rich and abundant future mercies resting on his people. 

That the blessings under the Messiah constitute a part of this “series” of mercies no one can doubt who attentively considers the language in v25-26. [Barnes]

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity – The bread that is eaten in a time of calamity; that is, He would bring upon them sore distress and want.

The water of affliction [oppression] – That is, water drank in times of affliction and oppression, or in the long and weary days of captivity.

There shall yet be teachers and prophets that will instruct and guide you publicly.

Psalm 74:9 (KJV) We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

Isaiah 43:27 (KJV) Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.

Daniel 12:3 (KJV) And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Amos 8:11-12 (KJV) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

This refers to “all” those who would be the true guides and teachers of the people of God in subsequent times; and relates, therefore, not only to prophets and pious men whom God would raise up under their own dispensation, but also to all whom He would appoint to communicate His will. 

It is a promise that the church of God should never want a pious and devoted ministry qualified to make known His will and defend His truth.

Be removed into a corner – The Babylonians shall no more take away His own glory from the house of His sanctuary. And thy teachers shall no more hide themselves referring to the fact that the wing of a fowl furnishes a hiding-place or shelter. 

This would accord with the general idea that they should not be removed from public view. 

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

The people of God will be guided to walk in the ways of the LORD. 

And thine ears shall hear a word – A command or admonition. You shall not be left without spiritual guides and directors.

The idea, however, seems to be that if they were ignorant of the way, or if they were inclined to err, they should be admonished of the true path which they ought to pursue. 

When ye turn to the right hand – When you shall be in danger of wandering from the direct and straight path. The voice shall recall you and direct you in the way in which you ought to go. 

22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Ye shall defile also – That is, you shall regard them as polluted and abominable. This is language which is often used respecting their treatment of the images and altars of idolatry when they became objects of abomination, and when they were induced to abandon them. 

2 Kings 23:8 (KJV) And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.

2 Kings 23:10 (KJV) And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

2 Kings 23:16 (KJV) And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

It is not improbable that before destroying them they would express their abhorrence of them by some act of polluting or defiling them, as significant of their contempt for the objects of degraded idolatry. 

Isaiah 2:20 (KJV) In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

The sense of the whole passage is that the effect of the judgments which God was about to bring upon the nation would be, to turn them from idolatry, to which as a nation they had been signally prone.

The covering – The images of idols were usually made of wood or clay, and overlaid with gold. 

And the ornament – The golden plates or the covering of the images.

Thou shalt cast them away – This would be in accordance with the express direction of Moses in Deuteronomy 7:25 (KJV) The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

Once the idolatry is removed, God’s blessing once again come to the land. The LORD sends the rain on the seeds sown so that there will be a good harvest to come.

Deuteronomy 28:8 (KJV) The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 28:9 (KJV) The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

Deuteronomy 28:10-11 (KJV) And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

When He promises that the oxen and the asses shall eat abundant and clean provender, this is a repetition and confirmation of what was stated in the preceding verse. This passage is taken from the Law (Deut. 28:11) and is gladly and frequently quoted by the prophets, in order that we may learn to discern in the sickness and death of cattle the indignation of God, and to desire more earnestly to be reconciled to Him, that our houses may be filled with His goodness. [Calvin]

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 

In the day of the great slaughter – When the enemies of the people of God shall have been destroyed – in a time subsequent to the slaughter of the army of the Assyrians.

When the towers fall – The towers of the enemy; perhaps referring here to the towers of Babylon. After they should fall, the Jews would be favored with the time of prosperity to which the prophet here refers. [Barnes]

26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

The light of the moon – Light is in the Scriptures an emblem of purity, intelligence, happiness, prosperity; as darkness is an emblem of ignorance, calamity, and sin. 

The figure of augmenting light to denote the blessings of religion, and especially of the gospel, is often employed by. The sense of this passage is that in those future days the light would shine intensely, and without obscurity; that though they had been walking in the light of the true religion, yet that their light would be greatly augmented, and that they would have much clearer views of the divine character and government. 

This refers to the times of the Messiah there can be little or no room to doubt. It is language such as Isaiah commonly employs to describe those times, and there is a fullness and splendour about it which can suit no other period. [Barnes]

The prophecy of Isaiah stretches to the period of the Millennium when Christ would reign on earth with Israel as the centre of the world. That day is certainly coming to pass.

To be continued…