Holy Bible

Woe to the rebellious children. Isaiah 30:1-3 A foolish mission Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D. In chapter 30 the negotiations with Egypt are represented as having reached a further stage: an embassy, despatched for the purpose of concluding a treaty, is already on its way to the court of the Pharaohs. Isaiah takes the opportunity of reiterating his sense of the fruitlessness of the mission, and derides the folly of those who expect from it any substantial result. ( Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D. ) The only Counsellor J. C. Hare, M. A. These words contain a most important lesson for all such as have anything to do with managing the affairs of nations: and it would be well for the world if its rulers would give heed to that lesson, and keep guard against the sins on account of which the prophet here denounces woe against the rulers of Judah. They entered into an alliance with Pharaoh, with the view of gaining assistance from him which might enable them to cope with Sennacherib in the field. This is just what a statesman, who plumed himself on his wisdom in these days, would do. Yet it is for doing this very thing that the prophet Isaiah in the text denounces woe against them. Their conduct therefore must have been sinful. Let us try to discover in what their sin lay. 1. They were making use of human means to ward off the danger which threatened them. Not that thins in itself is altogether wrong in God's eyes. On the contrary, we are so placed here on earth, in the midst of so many wants and necessities, and so helpless by ourselves, that we are compelled to be forever making use of human and earthly means. Only, we ought to make use of these means with the conviction that they are merely instruments in the hands of Him who can alone endow them with the power of being of use to us. This is what the rulers of Judah forgot and entirely lost sight of. They trusted in Pharaoh. We are all apt to take counsel of ourselves, of our own understandings, our own wishes, our own convenience, our passions, our interest, our sloth, our purses, our appetites. Or we take counsel of our friends, of our neighbours, of such men as are esteemed to be quick and far-sighted, of every person, and of every thing, except of God. His counsel is the last we seek. Therefore does the prophet's woe fall upon us also. And why is it that we are so loth to take counsel of God? Our unwillingness can only proceed from an evil heart of unbelief; from that unbelief which loses sight of the Ruler and Lawgiver of the world, and which is prone to worship whatever dazzles the senses and flatters our carnal nature. 2. But there was another feature in the conduct of the princes of Judah which deepened their sin. They were not merely putting their trust in an arm of flesh, — they who had been so strongly forbidden to trust in such vanities, and who had the living God to trust in such vanities, and who had the living God to trust in: but the arm they were trusting to was the arm of Egypt. Egypt had from the first been the deadly enemy of the Israelites, and of their God. Egypt was the source from which all manner of idolatrous abominations had flowed in upon them: out of Egypt they had been called; and they were no longer to hold any intercourse with it. Therefore the prophet goes on to cry, "Woe to those who walk to go down into Egypt, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt:" and he declares that, because they do so, "the strength of Pharaoh shall be their shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt their confusion." Nor will it be otherwise with us. If we are guilty of their sin we shall not escape their woe. And alas! how often in moments of fear, of distress, — when some danger starts up suddenly in our path, when the enemy seems to be hard at hand, and just ready to overwhelm us, — do we feel tempted to go down into Egypt, in the hope of strengthening ourselves with the strength of Pharaoh, and of sheltering ourselves with the shadow of Egypt! Satan at such moments is always close at our ear, whispering to us, that, if we will but take counsel of him, and do as he bids us, he will help us out of our difficulty. It should be borne in mind that, every time we sin we weaken our souls, we cripple our good feelings, we blunt our conscience, we drive away the Spirit of God from our hearts. Therefore, instead of our being better able to meet the next temptation, the odds against us are increased. ( J. C. Hare, M. A. ) The Jews' dependence on Egypt W. Reading, M. A. The advantages which the Jews promised themselves from their alliance with Egypt were these — 1. The Egyptians abounded in chariots and horses, which the Jews were destitute of. For Palestine, being a country full of steep hills and narrow difficult ways, was in many places impassable by horses, and therefore their beasts of burden were camels, asses, and mules, which are not apt to start, but tread sure in dangerous ways. These served them very commodiously in times of peace. But when they were invaded by armies of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, who had troops of horse, and multitudes of chariots, they wanted the like forces to oppose them; and such the Egyptians could very well supply them with. 2. Besides, the Assyrians and Chaldeans were at that time the most formidable Powers of the East, ambitious of universal monarchy, and threatening to subdue Egypt as well as other rich kingdoms. On which account the Egyptians were jealous of them, and therefore were most easily prevailed upon, and more cheaply engaged to assist the Jews, or any other people in their wars against them. ( W. Reading, M. A. ) God's prohibition of alliance with Egypt W. Reading, M. A. The reasons why God prohibited His people to confederate with the Egyptians, are these — 1. He had delivered their forefathers out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, stretched out from Heaven, and unassisted by any human means. He had manifested Himself to be far above all their gods, in that He triumphed over them in the ten plagues, and drowned their king and army in the Red Sea. Notwithstanding all which sufficient convictions, the Egyptians still persisted in their gross idolatry; which might justly provoke God to forbid His people any dealing with them. 2. Their applying to Egypt for aid against their enemies, was derogatory to the honour of God, who having anciently demonstrated His ability to save His people, and having promised still to vouchsafe them His protection in proportion to their obedience, these idolaters might be apt to conclude that His former power was now decayed, and .that their gods had gained the ascendant over Him, since they were called in to the protection of His people. 3. An Egyptian had proved fatal to Israel in their happiest state; I mean the daughter of an Egyptian king, who was one of the wives of King Solomon, and helped with other strange women to entice him to idolatry. The immediate consequence of which, by the just judgment of God, was the division of the twelve tribes into two kingdoms, who often waged unnatural wars one with another. 4. God had, in general, forbidden His people to make confederacies with any of the nations round about them, lest they should defile themselves with their idolatrous principles and abominable practices; or lest they should put their trust in man and make flesh their arm, and their heart depart from the Lord. ( W. Reading, M. A. ) "Cover with a covering A. B. Davidson, LL. D., J. Skinner, D. D. Perhaps, "weave a web," hatch a scheme. ( A. B. Davidson, LL. D. ) R.V. marg. gives two translations between which it is difficult to choose. The latter is perhaps preferable, although the noun does not occur elsewhere in the sense of "libation." The allusion would be to drink offerings accompanying the conclusion of a treaty. ( J. Skinner, D. D. ) Adding sin to sin W. Day, M. A. The sin of forsaking God, and trusting in the arm of flesh, to their sin of drunkenness ( Isaiah 28:8 ), and their other sins. ( W. Day, M. A. ) Their strength is to sit still. Isaiah 30:7 A policy in an epigram J. Parker, D. D. Sometimes a policy is summed up in an epigram, or in an easily quotable sentence; and it can be used as a war cry or as an election cry; it can be adapted to political uses of many sorts. Thus it was said of the Bourbons that "they forgot nothing, and remembered nothing." It was said of an illustrious statesman in Europe that his policy was "blood and iron." In relation to many persons we are recommended to use "masterly inactivity" — to be appearing capable of doing miracles, and yet to take infinite care not to attempt the performance of one of them. This is precisely the spirit of the text. The peoples to whom the words were addressed were mocked, and the paraphrase which the spirit of the text would justify is this: — They have great mouths, but say nothing; the hippopotamus cannot make his voice heard; the ox mouth is closed: their energy is inaction; when they are about to come forward to do wonders they shrink back and do nothing. It is a taunt — an exclamation wholly ironical thrown in the face of a detested enemy, or an absconding friend, or one who has great appearance of energy, and yet is unable to move the tiniest of his fingers. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) "Rahab, that sitteth still Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D. So full were Egyptian politics of bluster and big language, that the Hebrews had a nickname for Egypt. They called her Rahab — "Stormy speech," "Blusterer," "Braggart." It was the term also for the crocodile, as being a "monster," so that there was a picturesqueness as well as moral aptness in the name. Ay, says Isaiah, catching at the old name, and putting to it another which describes Egyptian helplessness and inactivity, I call her "Rahab sit-still," "Braggart-that-sitteth-still," "Stormy-speech stay-at-home." Blustering and inactivity, blustering and sitting still, that is her character. "For Egypt helpeth in vain and to no purpose." ( Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D. ) Strength and stillness Homilist. The context reveals two things.(1) A great national danger.(2) A great national sin. Wherein is the truth of the statement, that man's strength is in sitting still? or, rather, what is meant by sitting still? It is not the stillness of indolence. Indolence is weakness — is ruin. Activity is the condition of strength. Industry is essential to progress in all that is great and happy. What, then, is the stillness? It is the stillness of unbounded trust in God. I. STILLNESS OF CONFIDENCE IN RELATION TO GOD'S REDEMPTIVE PROVISION IS STRENGTH. The sacrifice of Christ is all-sufficient. II. STILLNESS OF CONFIDENCE IN RELATION TO YOUR FUTURE HISTORY IS STRENGTH. "Take no thought for the morrow," etc. III. STILLNESS OF CONFIDENCE IN RELATION TO PRESENT PROVIDENTIAL TRIALS IS STRENGTH. The Israelites, with piled mountains on each side of them, the sea rolling before them, and Pharaoh and his host approaching them, were exhorted by their leader to "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Peter slept between two soldiers; and Paul said, "None of these things move me." ( Homilist. ) Strength in sitting still J. Straiten. I. SOME THINGS TO WHICH THE SENTENCE OF THE TEXT WILL NOT APPLY. 1. It will not apply when we have to get our daily bread. We are to be diligent in business, as well as fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Neither do we say so when learning is to be acquired. This is to be sought by application, and earned by incessant toil. Neither is our preaching by sitting still. If any think to enter the ministry that they may sit still, and spend a life of ease, they utterly mistake the office. 3. Nor when any temptation is to be resisted, or any evil overcome. You are to resist the tempter. And you are to maintain that particular virtue, which is in direct defiance of the particular temptation. If you are tempted, there is another thing which you can do. You can flee. Safety is often in flight. Joseph fled. "Flee youthful lusts." 4. Nor does the text apply when duties of any kind are to be done. Idleness is a base condition. Better dig a hole and fall it up again. Better roll a stone up and down a hill, than pass your time in listlessness and languor. There are duties belonging to every state of life. Let them be attended to in promptitude and despatch. 5. Nor is the text applicable when good works are to be undertaken. We have many instructions in Scripture on this subject. "Be not weary in well-doing," etc. "Be steadfast, unmovable," etc. "These things," says St. Paul, "I will that ye affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, may be careful to maintain good works." 6. We do not say it when the heavenly prize of eternal life is to be contended for. II. STATE THE CONDITION OF THINGS TO WHICH THE AXIOM DOES APPLY. 1. It will apply to many important questions concerning the salvation of the soul. It will apply to the expiation of guilt. So respecting regeneration. "Ye must be born again." There must be wrought an inward change. It will be wrought of God. And the Spirit of God works when, how, and where He pleases. 2. There are some matters belonging to our daily and nightly life, in which the principle is likewise of great value and importance. For example, the evening is come. The day's labour is finished. It is time to cease. God says to you, Lie down; go to sleep. And when you sleep, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Be not afraid. God will keep both the city and the watchman. Then, here is God's own day. This is the day when God emphatically says, "Sit still"; and in quietness and rest is your strength. Be not afraid. Commerce will be uninjured, and none the worse for your being quiet on this day. You will return to your occupations with augmented might and vigour on the morrow. 3. Then, again, there are providential conjunctures, in which we can do nothing, in which every effort and interference of ours is of no avail. And now the end of all this is manifest. Man's chief wisdom is —(1) To be active and diligent in all his appointed fields of labour and exertion.(2) To be tranquil, and resigned, and passive in matters over which he has no control.(3) To trust God, and acquiesce in the Divine will in everything. ( J. Straiten. ) Passive hours W. L. Watkinson. I. The ATTITUDE enjoined by the text. What is it to "sit still"? 1. It indicates a condition of silence. Times occur for silence before men — when it is best to refrain from all vindications touching our character and doings. There are seasons for silence before God — times when our lips are neither opened in complaint nor importunity. "Rest in the Lord (be silent to the Lord), and wait patiently for Him." 2. A condition of resting is suggested. We must resign our opinions, anxieties, merit, strength, and resources, looking simply into heaven. 3. It is also the attitude of waiting. "I bide my time," is the motto of one of our noble families, and he who can bide his time, or, to speak more accurately, can bide God's time, is perfect in the sublime art of sitting still. 4. The text also sets forth a condition of expectation. Sir Thomas Lawrence painted the portrait of the Duke of Wellington, and when the portrait was half finished, the Duke was represented as holding a watch in his hand, waiting for the Prussians at Waterloo. When the great soldier understood what the watch was intended to indicate, he observed, "That will never do. I was not waiting for the Prussians at Waterloo. Put a telescope in my hand, if you please, but no watch." The temper here enjoined is very different to stoicism, involving no sacrifice of sensibility; it is distinct from fatalism, because it recognises the good and righteous God freely acting in all the government of the world; and it cannot be confounded with despair, for its inspiration is faith and hope. II. The SEVERAL OCCASIONS when the admonition before us is specially applicable. 1. In the development of our religious life we may sometimes remember the text with advantage. Spiritual life commences in the passive mood. 2. But "justified by faith" "we often forget we must "live by faith," and by pure and simple faith pass into the highest stages of spiritual life. 3. There are two sides to a complete Christian life — the contemplative and enterprising, the hearkening and speaking, the receptive and communicative and it is of prime importance that both sides receive full attention. 4. Distressed by the problems and tribulations of life we may justly rest in the passive mood. Sometimes we are bitterly bereaved. In these days when our eyes are full of heartbreak let us not go down into the Egypt of carnal reason for light or help — only be still. God does not even expect us to say big words in such crises — only to be still. Sometimes we are prostrated by extreme physical suffering. Said a poor afflicted woman, "All that God requires from me now is to lie here and cough." Yes; simple suffering and quiet confidence — that, and nothing more. Sometimes we are defamed. When our reputation is unjustly eclipsed, are we to agitate and worry ourselves? Let us rather exemplify the maxim of Lavater: "I can wait"; let there be no impatience, no fretfulness, no bitterness. In the days of sorrowful surprise, of overwhelming misfortune, of sore dilemma, let us not go down into Egypt for wisdom to explain, or strength to bear, or consolation to soothe, but looking up to the everlasting Love, a whole army of fiery cars and coursers shall shelter and deliver us. 5. The counsel of the text is applicable to us when oppressed by spiritual conflict and darkness. "Who is there among you that feareth the Lord," etc. ( Isaiah 50:10 ). 6. This monition is applicable to us also when we are discouraged in our evangelistic enterprises. The Indian juggler is said to contrive to make a flower grow from a seed to maturity before the eyes of the spectators in a few moments; and thus we expect the truth we sow to spring forth speedily bearing its rich crown of beauty and fruit. But alas! we wait, wait long, and sometimes sink into a state very like despair. Then again, when the triumph of the truth is delayed, workers are tempted to alloy it, with a view to its speedier popularity; hoping that in its debased form it may secure an entrance denied to pure doctrine. And yet once more, when the faith of Christ has not forthwith run and been glorified, the Church has been tempted to form political, artistic, and worldly alliances, which in the end only betray and mock. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is a grand thing for workers to "sit still"; having with both hands toiled for God, calmly and confidently to wait the issue ( James 5:7, 8 ). The difficulty of rendering obedience to this injunction is really great. There is a sitting still easy enough and common enough, but to rest in God with an absolute faith is neither easy nor common. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) Over-solicitude injurious W. L. Watkinson. Our solicitudes, intermeddlings, overdoings ruin us, or, at least, bring us into many and sore distresses. 1. They do in regard to our character. When shall we understand we are clay in the Potter's hand, and our grand business the simple yielding of ourselves to the fashioning of God's sovereign Spirit? How often our overweening care, our intrusive curiosity, our vanity and self-will have spoiled God's grand handiwork, and arrested the growing completeness of our spirit! 2. And so in regard to our circumstances — our safety is in quietness. In days of tempest the helm is safest in charge of the pilot; in moments of alarm the reins are best in the driver's skilful grasp; and if the man overboard will only be still all the Waves of the sea shall not drown him. Oh! when shall we learn the blessedness of resignation, the power of passivity, the victory of faith? ( W. L. Watkinson. ) The secret of spiritual power W. Baxendale. I. REST IN ANOTHER NECESSARILY IMPLIES THAT WE MUST LEARN TO REST IN OURSELVES. No man has a right to say that he is living the Divine life, without faith, without patience, without trust in God, without that spirit of waiting upon God, to which all the Scriptures exhort and encourage us. The patient places himself in the hands of a physician, but he will keep meddling with the physician's prescriptions; he will keep taking nostrums of his own. And the physician says very properly, "Not so; this must not be. I can do nothing for you if it is so." And men who put their salvation into God's hands, as Israel ought to have done, must stand by that — stand by it always. II. As arising from this, WE ARE STRONG IN LIFE JUST AS WE LAY HOLD OF THIS PRINCIPLE and learn to restrain ourselves. ( W. Baxendale. ) The stillness of faith A. L. R. Foote. (with ver. 15): — Does this expression embody a universal principle — one applicable under all possible circumstances? The least consideration will convince us that this cannot be the case. 1. You are naturally, it may be, somewhat apathetic. I fear we all are so in religion — in the concerns of the soul. And this natural indolence is sometimes greatly strengthened by a false theology, a one-sided, overstrained evangeliser, which, by forever insisting on the one point of human inability, has a tendency to lull men asleep. And thus it is that multitudes sit down with folded hands, in an attitude of waiting, as they say, for I know not what mysterious influence from on high to visit their souls. The error is a very grievous one. Scripture bids us awake out of sleep, it bids us flee from the coming wrath, it bids us turn from sin unto God, avoid temptation, resist Satan, restrain our own evil tendencies; it bids us repent, and believe, and pray, and use the means of grace. 2. There is another class, however, who are likely to fall into an opposite error. They are not apathetic, their natural constitution of mind is the very reverse of this. These are your active, bustling, restless people. There is no quietness about them, no repose, no calmness. You read their character in their very look. There is an uneasy air, a feverishness, a fretfulness, characterising them and all their actions, which distinguish them from others, and place them in a class by themselves. When the Gospel comes to one of this class, saying, Cease from all efforts of your own for acceptance; — "your strength is to sit still, to rest in God, to believe in Jesus; in returning and rest thou shalt be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength," — is there no risk that there be a temporary recoil from a system that thus comes so directly into collision with his individualism of character? His first prompting is to something quite different. Let him have his own way, then; it is humbling he needs. It is not necessary we should follow him in his efforts; they are the same as the efforts of those who "go about to establish their own righteousness." We know what the result must be; nor are we mistaken, for by and by we find him by the Cross — he has sunk down there exhausted. Yet there are other occasions on which his natural constitution — strong, because deeply rooted — will rise up, and place itself in antagonism with the dealings of God; and chiefly, perhaps, in these two ways — duty and suffering.(1) Suffering. He is now a child of God, but not on that account exempt from chastisement; nay, rather on that very account exposed to it as part of that salutary discipline by which he is training up for Heaven. Perhaps such a man as he needs a severer discipline than that of a more quiet, subdued, restful disposition, to humble him, and wean him from all vain confidences; and so affliction comes in some shape or other — such as will touch him most acutely. We need not think it strange if he go down to Egypt for help; if he have recourse to false physicians; if, instead of looking to God, he trust in an arm of flesh to deliver him; if he weary under God's chastening hand, and wish it removed ere the end in view has been answered. He finds no rest till he returns to God, and says, He hath put me into the furnace, and here will I lie quietly till He take me out again.(2) Passing now from the sphere of suffering to that of duty, we find him maintaining the same conflict between the Divine authority and his own will. Remember he is essentially active. He loves a conspicuous position. It is not exactly that he is vain or ambitious, but something within him stimulates him to come forward; he feels as if he were formed for a position of usefulness and eminence; and perhaps he is right. Only he must wait God's time for this; he must suffer God to choose for him; and this is what he is rather unwilling to do. ( A. L. R. Foote. ) The strength of the Church in troublous times James Patrick. I. NEGATIVELY. 1. The strength of the Church in troublous times is not in listening to carnal counsel. 2. Nor in trusting in carnal confidences. II. POSITIVELY. 1. The strength of the Church in troublous times is to sit still in the way of seeking and obeying Divine direction. 2. To sit still in the way of exercising a humble dependence upon Divine aid (ver. 15). 3. To sit still in the way of holding fast all her scriptural attainments. 4. To return to the Lord in those respects in which she has departed from Him. 5. To go forward in the performance of whatever work God is laying to her hand. ( James Patrick. ) Strength perfected in weakness W. L. Watkinson. When we sit down, God stands up; when we are silent, He speaks; when we have laid down our reeds, He Himself becomes our shield and salvation. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) Difficulty of spiritual passivity W. L. Watkinson. Theatrical performers affirm that to play at statues, which, of course, require perfect motionlessness, is the hardest trial of human nature; and all who have sat for their photograph know something of this experience. The difficulty of physical stillness may serve to represent the extreme difficulty of spiritual passivity under the truth and discipline of God. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) The albatross a symbol of power W. L. Watkinson. The albatross sailing over the sea with vast unstirring wings is a symbol of power, not of weakness; and the soul which sustains its flight in the empyrean without noise or flutter, does so in the fulness of power, in the perfection of life. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) Waiting may contribute to victory W. L. Watkinson. The Duke at Waterloo ordered certain regiments to form and wait. For many hours this order remained in force, and only late in the day were the obedient warriors led to victory. We may be sure those hours of waiting were the hardest hours in those soldiers' lives. In that space of anxious suspense the Duke was winning the battle for them, but they would much rather have been doing something to the winning of it for themselves. So is it frequently with us in the strife of life. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) Note it in a book. Isaiah 30:8 Keeping a journal S. E. Keeble. (for children): — I. THE JOURNAL YOU MAY KEEP. You may spend your pocket money in a book, pen and ink, and set up a journal. If so — 1. Its nature.(1) Not about self. Do not write much about yourself, your own thoughts and feelings. Let there be but few capital I's.(2) Not a dreary, lifeless chronicle. If you can do no better than the following, day after day, do not keep a journal at all: "Got on all right through the day, went for a walk at night, came home and went to bed at nine," which was the constant entry in the diary of a boy I know.(3) But a record of facts and events. Do as did Doyle and Dickens when lads — record in a journal fresh places seen and persons men — the substance of new books read, things heard new to you, sights and scenes in town and country. 2. Its use.(1) It assists observation and expression. Two most important things to you. Develops faculties of attention, memory, reproduction. Prepares you for science, poetry, writing, and speech.(2) It is helpful in afterlife. Not only from above considerations, but also because it will awaken tender and pleasant memories, evoke gratitude to God, and keep you in touch with boys when a man. II. THE JOURNAL YOU MUST KEEP. 1. For yourself. Your brain is a self-acting journal. In its cell lies hidden, all unknown to you, a register of all your past deeds, words, and thoughts. Sometimes the door of recollection flies open, and you see this record of the past. The record is written in invisible ink, but the fire of memory brings it out. And if sometimes now, how much more at the last! 2. And partly for others. Every day you also write something down in the brain — journals of others, of parents, brothers and sisters, playfellows, teachers. The words and deeds which they hear and see. Be careful to write down for them good and pleasant things — things sweet and helpful. III. THE JOURNAL GOD KEEPS. 1. Instance in the text. Prophet to write that Jews were "lying children — children that will not hear the Word of the Lord" (ver. 9), and to write it "that it may be for the time to come, forever and ever" (ver. 8). A terrible entry in God's journal. May no such entry be written concerning us! 2. God's journal complete. He makes no omissions. He puts all in, good and bad. We make selections to our own advantage. We may deceive ourselves — we may hide much from our friends, but not from Him. "Thou God seest me"; and when at the judgment "God's books are opened," His will be a check diary to supply all our omissions. Therefore, let us wisely number our days, and see that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. ( S. E. Keeble. ) This is a rebellious people. Isaiah 30:9-11 Dislike to ministerial fidelity J. A. James. The Jews have very many followers under the Christian dispensation. I. STATE THE TRUTHS WHICH ARE USUALLY OBNOXIOUS TO SUCH PERSONS. There are many doctrines to which every faithful preacher of God's Word feels bound to give ample room in his stated ministry, that are by no means welcome to many of his hearers; such, for instance, as the spirituality and unbending strictness of the Divine law, the deep depravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of man's conduct, the universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for justification, and the indispensable obligation to a separation from the world. The Scriptures, not only of the Old Testament, but of the New, abound with the most appalling descriptions of the Divine displeasure against sin. It is a striking fact, that He who was love incarnate — who was named Jesus, because He was to be the Saviour of His people — delivered, during the course of His personal ministry, more fearful descriptions of Divine justice and the punishment of the wicked, than are to be found in any other part of the Word of God. No man can fulfil his ministry, therefore, without frequently alluding to the justice of God in the punishment of sin. But such a subject frequently calm up all the enmity of the carnal mind. II. THE CAUSES TO WHICH WE MUST TRACE THIS DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY, and this love of smooth and delusive preaching. 1. In some cases it is occasioned by absolute unbelief. Multitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible, deny it in detail. 2. The refinements of modern society and taste lead many to ask for smooth things. There is no respect of persons with God; before Him the distinctions of society have no place. 3. Wounded pride is with some the cause of a dislike of faithful preaching. They hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and revile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem. 4. But in by far the greater number of instances, this dislike of the truth, and this love of smooth things, is the result of painful forebodings of future misery. III. THE FOLLY, THE SIN, AND THE DANGER OF A DESIRE TO SUPPRESS THE FAITHFUL VOICE OF TRUTH, and to be flattered with the soothing language of deceit. 1. Its folly is apparent from the consideration that no concealment of the situation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God, or change the relation in which he stands to eternity. 2. The sin of this disposition is equal to its folly. It is sinful alike in its origin, its nature, and its consequences. Why does a person wish to have a false representation of his state? For this one reason, that as he is determined to go on in sin, he may be left to sin with less reluctance and remorse. As it is sinful in its origin, it is manifestly so in its nature, for it is the love of falsehood; a desire to confound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all; in aiming to suppress the voice of warning and the note of alarm, he acts

Benson Commentary Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: Isaiah 30:1-5 . Wo to the rebellious children — The Jews, who called themselves God’s children, though they were rebellious ones, as was said Isaiah 1:2 . That take counsel — That consult together, and resolve what to do; but not of me — Not following nor asking my advice, which I encouraged and commanded them to do. And cover with a covering — Seek protection; but not of my Spirit — Not such as by my Spirit, speaking in my word, I have directed and required them to seek; that they may add sin to sin — That unto all their other sins, by which they have deserved and provoked my judgments, they may add distrust of my power and mercy, and put confidence in an arm of flesh. That walk to go down into Egypt — That send ambassadors to Egypt for succour, which the Jews were prone to do upon all occasions, and did now upon the invasion of the king of Assyria, chap. 20:5, 6; and have not asked at my mouth — Either by the priests or prophets, as they were commanded to do in weighty cases. The strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame — Not only unprofitable, but mischievous to you. For his princes — The princes of Judah; were at Zoan — Sent thither by the king, or by their brethren. His ambassadors came to Hanes — An eminent city of Egypt, called more largely Tahapanes. They were all ashamed — Both the messengers and they who sent them; of a people that could not profit them — For, though the Egyptians, in conjunction with the Ethiopians, did so far assist the Jews as to give a diversion to Sennacherib’s forces; yet, being entirely routed, they became rather a burden than a help to the Jews, and are therefore ( Isaiah 36:6 ) compared to a broken reed, which not only fails the hand that leans upon it, but pierces and wounds it. Isaiah 30:2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Isaiah 30:3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. Isaiah 30:4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. Isaiah 30:5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them . Isaiah 30:6-7 . The burden of the beasts of the south — The burden of riches or treasures, carried upon beasts travelling southward. In these verses the prophet has before his eyes “the ambassadors of the Jews, or, as some think, also of Hosea, and the Ephraimites, (see 2 Kings 17:4 ,) bearing their splendid and sumptuous presents on asses and camels into Egypt; and perceiving that they would reap no advantage from this proud and sumptuous embassy, and that the whole would be fruitless, or rather would raise the indignation of the Assyrians, he cannot refrain, but exhibits, to the life, the whole scheme of this imprudence, folly, and incredulity, as it was immediately presented to his prophetic sight, with its shameful and sorrowful event.” Into the land of trouble and anguish — Into Egypt and Ethiopia, for both were joined together in this matter, (see chap. 20.,) whose land seems to be called a land of trouble, &c., prophetically, because they should distress and not help those that applied to and trusted in them, as was said of the Assyrians in the like case, 2 Chronicles 28:20 . Bishop Lowth, who supposes that the deserts are here meant, which the Israelites passed through when they came out of Egypt, renders it, by, or through a land of distress, &c. But it seems more likely, as it certainly was more important, that the land to which, than that through which, they went, should be spoken of. Besides, the direct road from Judea to Egypt was not through such a country as is here described. From whence come the young and old lion, &c. — This may be understood literally, for “Egypt, at this time, joined to Ethiopia, was, of all countries, most fertile of every fierce and wild creature, which the nature of man abhors, both terrestrial and aquatic.” See Boch. Hieroz., p. 2:1. 3. c. 13. The words, however, may have a higher and mystical meaning, and by these wild and savage creatures may be designed the craft and cruelty of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and the danger and injury the Jews, or Israelites, would bring upon themselves by a confederacy with them. Therefore have I cried concerning this — This counsel, or practice; their strength is to sit still — It is safer and better for them to stay quietly at home, seeking to God for help, than to go or send to Egypt for it. Isaiah 30:7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. Isaiah 30:8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: Isaiah 30:8-11 . Now go, write it before them — Write this prophecy and warning, which I have now delivered, in their presence; in a table, and in a book — So it was to be written twice over, once in a table, to be hung up in some public place, that all present might read it; and again in a book, that it might be kept for the use of posterity. That it may be for the time to come — As a witness for me and against them, that I have given them fair warning, and that they have wilfully run upon their own ruin. That they are lying children — Who profess one thing, and practise another; that will not hear the law of the Lord — The commands of God, either contained in the Scriptures, or delivered by the mouth of the prophets, whereby these practices were expressly forbidden them. Which say to the seers, See not, &c. — This they said in effect, in that they were not willing to know and do the will of God. They loved darkness rather than light. Prophesy not unto us right things — The prophets told them of their faults, and warned them of their misery and danger, but they could not bear it. They wanted smooth things to be spoken to them, things that would give them no pain, but please their corrupt minds, and flatter them in their sins. Get ye out of the way — In which you now walk, out of your present course of preaching unpleasing and frightful things; or, out of our way. For the prophets stood in their way, like the angel in Balaam’s road, with the sword of God’s wrath drawn in their hands, so that these sinners could not proceed on in their sinful practices without terror; and this they took heinously. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us — Do not trouble us with harsh and repeated messages from God, as you use to do. Isaiah 30:9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Isaiah 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Isaiah 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Isaiah 30:12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Isaiah 30:12-14 . Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression — In the wealth which you have gotten by oppression, whereby you now think to procure Egyptian succours; and perverseness — In your perverse and rebellious course of sending to Egypt for help. This iniquity shall be to you as a breach, &c. — Like a wall, which is high, and seems to be strong, but, swelling out in some parts, upon the least accident falleth down suddenly to the ground. Such shall be the issue of your high and towering confidence in Egypt. And he shall break it — Namely, God, or the enemy whom God will send against you. Isaiah 30:13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. Isaiah 30:14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. Isaiah 30:15-17 . In returning — From your present purpose of sending to Egypt; or, as the LXX., the Syriac, and Arabic understand it, in returning to God; shall ye be saved — Preserved from the power of your enemies. In quietness and confidence — In a calm and quiet submission to the divine will, and a confidence placed on his mercy, power, and faithfulness; shall be your strength — Your support under your troubles, and your ability to withstand your invaders. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; on the swift — We will have swift horses from Egypt, that, in case of danger, we may escape from our enemies. It is probable many of the richer sort intended to flee, and perhaps did actually flee into Egypt, having sent their treasures thither before them. Therefore shall ye flee — Your sin shall be your punishment: you will flee, and you shall flee. One thousand at the rebuke of one — You shall be so dispirited and enervated by your fears, that, instead of one of you chasing a thousand, as God promised you should do, if you were obedient, a thousand of you shall be chased by one of your enemies. At the rebuke, or assault, of five — Of a comparatively small number; shall ye flee — All of you, however numerous; till ye be left, &c. — Till ye be generally destroyed, and but a few of you left. “The meaning of the whole period is, that if the Jews, in the uncertain state of their affairs, would abstain from all endeavours to defend themselves by foreign aid, and would commit themselves to the care and providence of God, with settled minds, in faith and hope, they should then be safe, and avoid the calamities which threatened them.” But this they would not do; they were determined to seek for preservation or deliverance from the yoke of the Assyrians in the help of the Egyptians, and therefore it is foretold they should meet with the calamities here mentioned; and “should be seized with such a panic fear that, when they came to the point, they should turn their backs on their enemies, and flee with that swiftness wherewith they had thought to make their enemies flee, insomuch that very few of them should escape the common destruction.” Isaiah 30:16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. Isaiah 30:17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. 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. Isaiah 30:18 . And therefore — Because of your great misery: for the misery of God’s people is frequently mentioned in Scripture as a motive to God’s mercy: or, notwithstanding, as ??? may be rendered; will the Lord wait — Patiently expect your repentance, and stop the course of his proceedings against you, that you may have an opportunity of making your peace with him, and of preventing your utter ruin. He will be exalted — He will lift up himself, and exert his power gloriously in your behalf; that he may have mercy upon you — That he may show his mercy in your deliverance. For the Lord is a God of judgment — That is, he is wise and just in all the dispensations of his providence, acting toward his people with equity and moderation. Blessed are all they that wait for him — In the way of their duty, with faith and patience; that will not take any indirect course to extricate themselves out of their straits, but patiently expect God to appear for them in his own way and time: which is a much surer way to safety and happiness than having recourse to mere human aids, and placing confidence in the arm of flesh. Isaiah 30:19 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. Isaiah 30:19 . For, &c. — “The consolatory part of this discourse begins here, which is connected with the preceding part by the last clause of the former verse, Blessed, &c. Here follows, therefore, a series of excellent blessings, to be conferred by God after these judgments. And the prophet hath so ordered his style in setting them forth, that when he seems to promise only temporal blessings to the church, he would be understood mystically under these figurative emblems.” — Vitringa. The people shall dwell in Zion, &c. — This is the first of these blessings, the restoration of their state upon their repentance and earnest prayers: as if he had said, Although the time is coming when the people shall be banished from Jerusalem and carried into captivity; yet after a set time they shall return and have a fixed and comfortable abode in Jerusalem, the seat of their religion, and metropolis of their republic. This was in part fulfilled upon their return from Babylon, “when the tears which they had shed in their banishment were wiped away, and God heard the prayers and vows of his people, after the time of his indignation was expired.” But it was more fully accomplished in the times of the gospel, when many of them were, and the whole body of them shall be, brought into Christ’s church, often called Zion and Jerusalem. Isaiah 30:20 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: Isaiah 30:20-21 . And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity — Although in that time and state of the church you will be subject to many outward straits and afflictions, which was the case with the Jews after their restoration from Babylon, and which was also the lot of the first converts to Christianity; yet shall not thy teachers be removed, &c. — As they have been in former times, both in Israel and Judah, when the godly prophets, and other instructers of the people, were but few, and when they were persecuted and banished by their wicked rulers. The Jews, after their return from Babylon, were blessed with many excellent instructers, as appears from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, at the head of which we must place these two eminent servants of God. In the times of the New Testament, however, God provided still better for his church, sending his Son, the great teacher of his people, into the world; and pouring forth the gifts and graces of the Spirit in abundance, increasing the number of faithful ministers, and promising a continued succession of them to the end of the world. This is the second great benefit predicted by the prophet to follow these judgments. Thine eyes shall see thy teachers — They shall be present in your assemblies, instructing, exhorting, warning, and encouraging you from time to time. The original word, ????? , here used, means ordinary teachers, and not those of an extraordinary kind, such as the prophets or seers were. And thine ears shall hear a word, &c. — As often as need shall require, thou shalt hear the voice of God’s word and Spirit directing thee in thy course: behind thee — A metaphor, borrowed either from shepherds, who used to follow their sheep, and to recall them when they went out of the way; or from travellers, who, if they go out of the right way, are ofttimes admonished of their error, and recalled by some other passenger or person behind them. Isaiah 30:21 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. Isaiah 30:22 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. Isaiah 30:22 . Ye shall also — To show your contempt of it; defile the covering of thy graven images — The leaves or plates, wherewith their wooden images were frequently covered: and the ornament of thy molten images — Or, the coat, or covering; Hebrew, ???? , the ephod, as the word is rendered, Exodus 28:8 ; and Exodus 39:5 ; which was a costly and glorious robe. The images also were of gold: for the idolaters spared no cost in the making and adorning of their idols. Thou shalt cast them away, &c. — Thou shalt so deeply abhor idolatry that thou shalt cast away, with indignation, all the monuments and instruments thereof. This prophecy was fulfilled in some measure even before the Assyrian invasion, as we learn from 2 Chronicles 31:1 ; Hezekiah inciting the people to destroy idolatry out of the land. Probably it was fulfilled still more upon the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s army, which, doubtless, would convince thousands of individuals of the almighty power of Jehovah, of the impotence of idols, and the sin and folly of worshipping them. But it was verified in the whole body of the Jewish nation, at their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they abhorred idols ever after. Add to this, it is accomplished daily in the conversion of souls, by the power of divine grace, from spiritual idolatry, to the fear and love of God. This deliverance from the love and practice of idolatry is the third blessing here represented as being conferred on the people, after the forementioned judgments. In the two following verses we have a fourth. Isaiah 30:23 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. Isaiah 30:23-24 . Then shall he give thee the rain of thy seed — Or rather, to, or for thy seed, namely, when thou hast newly sown it, which was called the former rain; or, such as thy seed requires, which may include both the former and the latter rain. Their sins, the cause of all God’s judgments, being removed by their sincere repentance and God’s gracious pardon, God showers down his blessings upon them. “When he gives them their teachers,” says Henry, “and they give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all other things are added unto them.” And bread of the increase of the earth — Which shall be the fruit of thy own land and labour. And it shall be fat and plenteous — Excellent for quality, which is called fat, Deuteronomy 32:14 , and abundant for quantity. This promise, by the special blessing of God, was remarkably fulfilled after the defeat of Sennacherib, ( Isaiah 37:30 ,) God thus repairing the losses they sustained by that devastation. The oxen likewise, &c., shall eat clean provender — There shall be such plenty of corn that the very beasts, instead of straw, shall eat corn; and that not in the ear, or with the straw, but the pure grain. Vitringa, with some other commentators, thinks it appears plainly, from the next two verses, that the prophet is to be understood in this passage as speaking, not so much literally as figuratively, and that the words contain a splendid promise of pure and abundant spiritual provision, made by the Lord for his people, in the ministry of the word, the spiritual sowing; the effusions of his Spirit, the rain of the seed; and in the due administration of his various ordinances, the large pastures in which his flock feeds. Isaiah 30:24 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. Isaiah 30:25 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. Isaiah 30:25 . On every high mountain, and every high hill — Which are commonly dry and barren; shall be rivers and streams of water — Fertilizing and refreshing blessings, showered down by God upon his church and people. This verse certainly cannot be understood literally, and the mystical meaning, according to Vitringa and some others, is, “that in all the more celebrated places, whether of kingdoms or cities, there should be synagogues, public schools, or oratories, in which the word of God, and the doctrine of pure religion, should be copiously taught, and the waters of sound instruction poured out,” so that the lovers of true wisdom, piety, and virtue, might there quench their thirst. The time in which these benefits should be conferred upon the church is denoted by this character, namely, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers shall fall — That is, when God should take severe vengeance upon the enemies of his people. Perhaps the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple, with the subversion of the Jewish state, and the slaughter of immense multitudes of Jews, events connected with the calling of the Gentiles, and the extensive propagation of the gospel, might be first in the prophet’s view. The words may further refer to the overthrow of the pagan, persecuting Roman empire, and the great slaughter that preceded or accompanied it. But, undoubtedly, the words ultimately refer to the destruction of all the antichristian powers, the subversion of the fortresses and towers of Satan’s kingdom, making way for the universal diffusion of divine truth and spread of true religion. “This shall be remarkably fulfilled,” says Lowth, “at the time when there shall be a terrible destruction of God’s enemies, ( Revelation 14:20 ; Revelation 19:21 ,) and when the great ones of the earth shall fall, denoted here by high towers, or the fortifications of mystical Babylon.” Isaiah 30:26 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. Isaiah 30:26 . The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun — For constancy and brightness, which, as also the following clause, is to be understood metaphorically, of that glorious and happy state of the church which should take place in future times. And the light of the sun seven- fold, as the light of seven days — As if the light of seven days were combined together in one. Its light shall then be transcendently more bright and glorious than ever it was before. Which magnificent expressions seem evidently to be too high for the deliverance of the Jews, either from Sennacherib or out of Babylon; and do much better agree to the times of the gospel, in which the light is far more clear, and the grace of God conferred on his people much more abundant, than ever it was in former times. In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, &c. — When God shall effectually cure the wounds and breaches of his people, first making up the breach between himself and them, then making Israel and Judah to be one, and making Jews and Gentiles to be one fold under one shepherd. Isaiah 30:27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: Isaiah 30:27-28 . Behold, &c. — Here begins the last part of the discourse contained in this chapter, in which the prophet gives an earnest of those greater blessings promised, for times to come, by assuring his people of the approaching destruction of the Assyrian forces. “It is an exquisitely fine and sublime passage, and closely connected with the argument and scope of the whole discourse, in that it teaches that the Jews and Israelites had no need to flee to Egypt for help against the Assyrians, to the neglect of their duty toward God, since God was perfectly sufficient to defend them, and had determined to destroy the Assyrian.” — Vitringa. The name of the Lord is here put for the Lord himself, and he is said to come from far, either as coming unexpectedly, or as having for a long time appeared to withdraw his presence, and withhold his help from his people; burning with anger — Determined to take signal vengeance on his enemies. And the burden thereof is heavy — The punishment which he will inflict will prove very grievous and intolerable. His lips are full of indignation — He hath pronounced a severe sentence against them, and will give command for the execution of it. And his breath — His anger, or rather, the effects thereof; (the expression is borrowed from men’s discovering their anger by strong and vehement breathing; see on Job 4:9 ;) as an overflowing stream — Coming from him as vehemently as a mighty torrent of waters; shall reach to the midst of the neck — Shall bring the Assyrian into a most dangerous condition, as a man, who is in waters which reach to his neck, is in great danger of being drowned; see on Isaiah 8:8 . To sift the nations with the sieve of vanity — To shake and scatter, as it were, with a sieve, the Assyrian army, made up of the people of different nations. “Vanity,” says Lowth, “sometimes signifies destruction: so Isaiah 57:13 . Vanity shall take them, that is, they shall be destroyed. And here the sieve of vanity is such a one as doth not separate the chaff in order to save the corn, but makes an entire riddance, as when chaff is scattered before the wind.” Bishop Lowth translates the clause, To toss the nations with the van of perdition, judging that ??? rather signifies a van than a sieve, and observing from Kimchi, “The use of the van is to cleanse the corn from the chaff and straw: but the van with which God will winnow the nations, will be the van of emptiness or perdition; for nothing useful shall remain behind, but all shall come to nothing, and perish. In like manner a bridle is designed to guide the horse in the right way; but the bridle which God will put in the jaws of the people, shall not direct them aright, but shall make them err, and lead them into destruction.” Isaiah 30:28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. Isaiah 30:29-31 . Ye shall have a song, &c. — You shall have occasion of great joy, and of singing songs of praise for your stupendous deliverance from that formidable enemy; as in the night, &c. — He mentions the night, either because the Jewish feasts began in the evening, and were celebrated with great joy during a part of the night, as well as on the following day; or because he has a particular respect to the solemnity of the passover, in which they spent some considerable part of the night in rejoicing, and singing sacred songs before the Lord. As when one goeth, &c. — Like the joy of one that is going up to the solemn feasts with music. The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard — His thunder, metaphorically taken for a terrible judgment. “This destruction shall be from the immediate hand of God, in which he shall as evidently appear as if he had discomfited the army by a tempest of thunder, and lightning, and hail-stones, as he formerly destroyed the Canaanites and Philistines.” — Lowth. And show the lighting down of his arm — Upon the Assyrian, whom he will smite with a deadly blow in the face of the world; with the indignation of his anger — With great wrath; which is signified by heaping so many words of the same signification together. The Assyrian, who smote with a rod — Who was the rod wherewith God smote his people and other nations: he who used to smite others shall now be smitten himself. Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. Isaiah 30:31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. Isaiah 30:32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. Isaiah 30:32 . Where the grounded staff shall pass — Instead of ???? ????? , the grounded, or founded staff, of which, he says, no one yet has been able to make any tolerable sense. Bishop Lowth, on the authority of two MSS, (one of them ancient,) reads ???? ????? , the staff of correction, which Le Clerc also supposes to be the true reading. The bishop, therefore, translates the clause thus: And it shall be, that wherever shall pass the rod of correction, which Jehovah shall lay heavily upon him, it shall be accompanied with tabrets and harps; that is, as the bishop explains it, “with every demonstration of joy and thanksgiving for the destruction of the enemy in so wonderful a manner: with hymns of praise, accompanied with musical instruments.” And in battles of shaking, &c. — Or, as it may be better rendered, in fierce or tremendous battles shall he, namely, the Lord, fight against them, that is, against the Assyrians. Isaiah 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Isaiah 30:33 . For Tophet is ordained of old — “Tophet is a valley very near to Jerusalem, to the southeast, called also the valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna; where the Canaanites, and afterward the Israelites, sacrificed their children, by making them pass through the fire; that is, by burning them in the fire, to Moloch.” It is supposed to have been called Tophet, from the drums, timbrels, or tabrets, which sounded there, to drown the cries of the children thus inhumanly murdered: see notes on Leviticus 18:21 ; 2 Kings 23:10 ; and Joshua 15:8 . Hence the word “is used for a place of punishment by fire, and by our Saviour in the gospel for hell-fire, as the Jews themselves had applied it.” As the place had been thus polluted by idolatry, Josiah, to render it as despicable and abominable as possible, ordered the filth of the city and dead carcasses to be thrown there, and made it a common burying-place. There also fires were kept continually burning, as the Jews say, to consume dead bodies, bones, and such sordid things. Vitringa justly observes, “that Tophet must be understood here, not in a literal, but in a figurative sense, for the place of punishment to be inflicted upon the Assyrians, by the burning indignation of God; in the same manner as gehenna denotes the place of punishment of the reprobate: that the fire and much wood denote the matter of the punishment destined for the king of Assyria and his army, as well with respect to its nature and effect, as its cause: see Revelation 19:20 . The making the valley deep and large, signifies the same as the pile constructed of much wood; namely, the greatness of the destruction to be spread through the extensive army of the Assyrian; and indeed it was necessary this valley and this pile should be large, to contain one hundred and eighty-five thousand men. The meaning of the phrase, ordained of old, is, that God had absolutely fixed and determined this event. It was prepared for the king; whereby the prophet shows, that his army first, and Sennacherib himself afterward, should become obnoxious to the divine judgment. And the last phrase, the breath of the Lord, &c., alludes to the destroying angel, the executors of his judgment: see Isaiah 10:17 . This is the literal interpretation of the words, wherein the prophet represents the Assyrian destruction as the type of that of all the enemies and persecutors of the church; and further, the

Expositor's Bible Commentary Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: BOOK 3 ORATIONS ON THE EGYPTIAN INTRIGUES AND ORACLES ON FOREIGN NATIONS 705-702 B.C. Isaiah: 29 About 703 30 A little later 31 A little later 32:1-8 Later 32:9-20 Date uncertain ----------------- 14:28-21 736-702 23 About 703 WE now enter the prophecies of Isaiah’s old age, those which he published after 705, when his ministry had lasted for at least thirty-five years. They cover the years between 705, the date of Sennacherib’s accession to the Assyrian throne, and 701, when his army suddenly disappeared from before Jerusalem. They fall into three groups:- 1. Chapters 29-32., dealing with Jewish politics while Sennacherib is still far from Palestine, 704-702, and having Egypt for their chief interest, Assyria lowering in the background. 2. Chapters 14:28-21 and 23, a group of oracles on foreign nations, threatened, like Judah, by Assyria. 3. Chapters 1, 22, and 33, and the historical narrative in 36, and 37., dealing with Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah and siege of Jerusalem in 701; Egypt and every foreign nation now fallen out of sight, and the storm about the Holy City too thick for the prophet to see beyond his immediate neighbourhood. The first and second of these groups-orations on the intrigues with Egypt and oracles on the foreign nations-delivered while Sennacherib was still far from Syria, form the subject of this Third Book of our exposition. The prophecies on the siege of Jerusalem are sufficiently numerous and distinctive to be put by themselves, along with their appendix (38, 39), in our Fourth Book. CHAPTER XIII POLITICS AND FAITH ABOUT 720 B.C. Isaiah 30:1-33 THIS prophecy of Isaiah rises out of circumstances a little more developed than those in which chapter 29 was composed. Sennacherib is still engaged with Babylon, and it seems that it will yet be long before he marches his armies upon Syria. But Isaiah’s warning has at last roused the politicians of Judah from their carelessness. We need not suppose that they believed all that Isaiah predicted about the dire siege which Jerusalem should shortly undergo and her sudden deliverance at the hand of the Lord. Without the two strong religious convictions, in the strength of which, as we have seen, he made the prediction, it was impossible to believe that this siege and deliverance must certainly happen. But the politicians were at least startled into doing something. They did not betake themselves to God, to whom it had been the purpose of Isaiah’s last oration to shut them up. They only flung themselves with more haste into their intrigues with Egypt. But in truth haste and business were all that was in their politics: these were devoid both of intelligence and faith. Where the sole motive of conduct is fear, whether uneasiness or panic, force may be displayed, but neither sagacity nor any moral quality. This was the case with Judah’s Egyptian policy, and Isaiah now spends two chapters in denouncing it. His condemnation is twofold. The negotiations with Egypt, he says, are bad politics and bad religion; but the bad religion is the root and source of the other. Yet while he vents all his scorn on the politics, he uses pity and sweet persuasiveness when he comes to speak of the eternal significance of the religion. The two chapters are also instructive, beyond most others of the Old Testament, in the light they cast on revelation-its scope and methods. Isaiah begins with the bad politics. In order to understand how bad they were, we must turn for a little to this Egypt, with whom Judah was now seeking an alliance. In our late campaign on the Upper Nile we heard a great deal of the Mudir of Dongola. His province covers part of the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia; and in Meirawi, the village whose name appeared in so many telegrams, we can still discover Meroe, the capital of Ethiopia. Now in Isaiah’s day the king of Ethiopia was what the Mudir of Dongola was at the time of our war, an ambitious person of no small energy; and the ruler of Egypt proper was, what the Khedive was, a person of little influence or resource. Consequently there happened what might have happened a few years ago but for the presence of the British army in Egypt. The Ethiopian came down the Nile, defeated Pharaoh and burned him alive. But he died, and his son died after him; and before their successor could also come down the Nile, the legitimate heir to Pharaoh had regained part of his power. Some years ensued of uncertainty as to who was the real ruler of Egypt. It was in this time of unsettlement that Judah sought Egypt’s help. The ignorance of the policy was manifest to all who were not blinded by fear of Assyria or party feeling. To Isaiah the Egyptian alliance is a folly and fatality that deserve all his scorn ( Isaiah 30:1-8 ). "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, executing a policy, but it is not from Me; and weaving a web, but not of My spirit, that they may heap sin upon sin; who set themselves on the way to go down to Egypt, and at My mouth they have not inquired, to flee to the refuge of Pharaoh, and to hide themselves in the shadow of Egypt. But the refuge of Pharaoh shall be unto you for shame, and the hiding in the shadow of Egypt for confusion!" How can a broken Egypt help you? "When his princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors are come to Hanes, they shall all be ashamed of a people that cannot profit them, that are not for help nor for profit, but for shame, and also for reproach." Then Isaiah pictures the useless caravan which Judah has sent with tribute to Egypt, strings of asses and camels struggling through the desert, "land of trouble and anguish" amid lions and serpents, and all for "a people that shall not profit them" ( Isaiah 30:6 ). What tempted Judah to this profitless expenditure of time and money? Egypt had a great reputation, and was a mighty promiser. Her brilliant antiquity had given her a habit of generous promise, and dazzled other nations into trusting her. Indeed, so full were Egyptian politics of bluster and big language, that the Hebrews had a nickname for Egypt. They called her Rahab -Stormy-speech, Blusterer, Braggart. It was the term also for the crocodile, as being a monster, so that there was a picturesqueness as well as moral aptness in the name. Ay, says Isaiah, catching at the old name and putting to it another which describes Egyptian helplessness and inactivity, I call her Rahab Sit-still , Braggart-that-sitteth-still, Stormy-speech Stay-at-home. "Blustering and inactivity, blustering and sitting still," that is her character; "for Egypt helpeth in vain and to no purpose." Knowing how sometimes the fate of a government is affected by a happy speech or epigram, we can understand the effect of this cry upon the politicians of Jerusalem. But that he might impress it on the popular imagination and memory as well, Isaiah wrote his epigram on a tablet, and put it in a book. We must remind ourselves here of chapter 20, and remember how it tells us that Isaiah had already some years before this endeavoured to impress the popular imagination with the folly of an Egyptian alliance, "walking unfrocked and barefoot three years for a sign and a portent upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia." So that already Isaiah had appealed from politicians to people on this Egyptian question, just as he appealed thirty years ago from court to market-place on the question of Ephraim and Damascus. { Isaiah 8:1 } It is another instance of that prophetic habit of his, on which we remarked in expounding chapter 8; and we must again emphasise the habit, for chapter 30 here swings round upon it. Whatever be the matter committed to him, Isaiah is not allowed to rest till be brings it home to the popular conscience; and however much he may be able to charge national disaster upon the folly of politicians or the obduracy of a king, it is people whom he holds ultimately responsible. To Isaiah a nation’s politics are not arbitrary; they are not dependent on the will of kings or the management of parties. They are the natural outcome of the nation’s character. What the people are, that will their politics be. If you wish to reform the politics, you must first regenerate the people; and it is no use to inveigh against a senseless policy, like this Egyptian one, unless you go farther and expose the national temper which has made it possible. A people’s own morals have greater influence on their destinies than their despots or legislators. Statesmen are what the state makes them. No Government will attempt a policy for which the nation behind it has not a conscience; and for the greater number of errors committed by their rulers, the blame must be laid on the people’s own want of character or intelligence. This is what Isaiah now drives home. { Isaiah 30:9 ff.} He tracks the bad politics to their source in bad religion, the Egyptian policy to its roots in the prevailing tempers of the people. The Egyptian policy was doubly stamped. It was disobedience to the word of God; it was satisfaction with falsehood. The statesmen of Judah shut their ears to God’s spoken word; they allowed themselves to be duped by the Egyptian Pretence. But these, says Isaiah, are precisely the characteristics of the whole Jewish people. "For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the revelation of the Lord." It was these national failings-the want of virtues which are the very substance of a nation: truth and reverence or obedience-that had culminated in the senseless and suicidal alliance with Egypt. Isaiah fastens on their falsehood first: "Which say to the seers, Ye shall not see, and to the prophets, Ye shall not prophesy unto us right things; speak to us smooth things: prophesy deceits." No wonder such a character had been fascinated by " Rahab "! It was a natural nemesis, that a people who desired from their teachers fair speech rather than true vision should be betrayed by the confidence their statesmen placed in the Blusterer, "that blustered and sat still." Truth is what this people first require, and therefore the revelation of the Lord will in the first instance be the revealing of the truth. Men who will strip pretence off the reality of things; men who will call things by their right names, as Isaiah had set himself to do; honest satirists and epigrammatists-these are the bearers of God’s revelation. For it is one of the means of Divine salvation to call things by their right names, and here in God’s revelation also epigrams have their place. So much for truth. But reverence is truth’s other self, for reverence is simply loyalty to the supremest truth. And it is against the truth that the Jews have chiefly sinned. They have shut their eyes to Egypt’s real character, but that was a small sin beside this: that they turned their backs on the greatest reality of all-God Himself. "Get you out of the way," they said to the prophets, "turn out of the oath; keep quiet in our presence about the Holy One of Israel!" Isaiah’s effort rises to its culmination when he seeks to restore the sense of this reality to his people. His spirit is kindled at the words "the Holy One of Israel," and to the end of chapter 31 leaps up in a series of brilliant and sometimes scorching descriptions of the name, the majesty, and the love of God. Isaiah is not content to have used his power of revelation to unveil the political truth about Egypt. He will make God Himself visible to this people. Passionately does he proceed to enforce upon the Jews what God thinks about their own condition ( Isaiah 30:12-14 ), then to persuade them to rely upon Him alone, and wait for the working of His reasonable laws ( Isaiah 30:15-18 ). Rising higher, he purges with pity their eyes to see God’s very presence, their ears to hear His voice, their wounds to feel His touch ( Isaiah 30:19-26 ). Then he remembers the cloud of invasion on the horizon, and bids them spell, in its uncouth masses, the articulate name of the Lord ( Isaiah 30:27-33 ). And he closes with another series of figures by which God’s wisdom, and His jealousy and His tenderness are made very bright to them (chapter 31). These brilliant prophecies may not have been given all at the same time: each is complete in itself. They do not all mention the negotiations with Egypt, but they are all dark with the shadow of Assyria. Isaiah 30:19-26 almost seem to have been written in a time of actual siege; but Isaiah 30:27-33 represent Assyria still upon the horizon. In this, however, these passages are fitly strung together: that they equally strain to impress a blind and hardened people with the will, the majesty, and the love of God their Saviour. I. THE BULGING WALL ( Isaiah 30:12-14 ) Starting from their unwillingness to listen to the voice of the Lord in their Egyptian policy, Isaiah tells the people that if they refused to hear His word for guidance, they must now listen to it for judgment. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because ye look down on this word, and trust in perverseness and crookedness, and lean thereon, therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, bulging out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. "This iniquity," of course, is the embassy to Egypt. But that, as we have seen, is only the people’s own evil character coming to a head; and by the breaking of the wall, we are therefore to suppose that the prophet means the collapse not only of this Egyptian policy, but of the whole estate and substance of the Jewish people. It will not be your enemy that will cause a breach in the nation, but your teeming iniquity shall cause the breach-to wit, this Egyptian folly. Judah will burst her bulwarks from the inside. You may build the strongest form of government round a people, you may buttress it with foreign alliances, but these shall simply prove occasions for the internal wickedness to break forth. Your supposed buttresses will prove real breaches; and of all your social structures there will not be left as much as will make the fragments of a single home, not "a sherd" big enough "to carry fire from the hearth, or to hold water from the cistern." II. NOT ALLIANCES, BUT RELIANCE ( Isaiah 30:15-18 ) At this point, either Isaiah was stung by the demands of the politicians for an alternative to their restless Egyptian policy which he condemned, or more likely he rose, unaided by external influence, on the prophet’s native instinct to find some purely religious ground on which to base his political advice. The result is one of the grandest of all his oracles. "For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. But ye said, No, for upon horses will we flee; wherefore ye shall flee: and upon the swift will we ride; wherefore swift shall be they that pursue you! One thousand at the rebuke of one-at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a bare pole on the top of a mountain, and as a standard on a hill. And therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He hold aloof that He may have mercy upon you, for a God of judgment is the Lord; blessed are all they that wait for Him." The words of this passage are their own interpretation and enforcement, all but one; and as this one is obscure in its English guise, and the passage really swings from it, we may devote a paragraph to its meaning. "A God of judgment is the Lord" is an unfortunately ambiguous translation. We must not take judgment here in our familiar sense of the word. It is not a sudden deed of doom, but a long process of law. It means manner, method, design, order, system, the ideas, in short, which we sum up under the word "law." Just as we say of a man, "He is a man of judgment," and mean thereby not that by office he is a doomster, but that by character he is a man of discernment and prudence, so simply does Isaiah say here that "Jehovah is a God of Judgment," and mean thereby not that He is one whose habit is sudden and awful deeds of penalty or salvation, but, on the contrary, that, having laid down His lines according to righteousness and established His laws in wisdom, He remains in His dealings with men consistent with these. Now it is a great truth that the All-mighty and All-merciful is the All-methodical too; and no religion is complete in its creed or healthy in its influence, which does not insist equally on all these. It was just the want of this third article of faith which perverted the souls of the Jews in Isaiah’s day, which (as we have seen under chapter 1) allowed them to make their worship so mechanical and material-for how could they have been satisfied with mere forms if they had but once conceived of God as having even ordinary intelligence?-and which turned their political life into such a mass of intrigue, conceit, and falsehood, for how could they have dared to suppose that they would get their own way, or have been so sure of their own cleverness, if only they had had a glimpse of the perception, that God, the Ruler of the world, had also His policy regarding them? They believed He was the Mighty, they believed He was the Merciful, but because they forgot that He was the Wise and the Worker by law, their faith in His might too often turned into superstitious terror, their faith in His mercy oscillated between the sleepy satisfaction that He was an indulgent God and the fretful impatience that He was an indifferent one. Therefore Isaiah persisted from first to last in this: that God worked by law; that He had His plan for Judah, as well as these politicians; and, as we shall shortly find him reminding them when intoxicated with their own cleverness "that He also is wise". { Isaiah 31:2 } Here by the same thought he bids them be at peace, and upon the rushing tides of politics, drawing them to that or the other mad venture, to swing by this anchor: that God has His own law and time for everything. No man could bring the charge of fatalism against such a policy of quietness. For it thrilled with intelligent appreciation of the Divine method. When Isaiah said, "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength," he did not ask his restless countrymen to yield sullenly to an infinite force or to bow in stupidity beneath the inscrutable will of an arbitrary despot, but to bring their conduct into harmony with a reasonable and gracious plan, which might be read in the historical events of the time, and was vindicated by the loftiest religious convictions. Isaiah preached no submission to fate, but reverence for an all-wise Ruler, whose method was plain to every clear-sighted observer of the fortunes of the nations of the world, and whose purpose could only be love and peace to His own people. III. GOD’S TABLE IN THE MIDST OF THE ENEMIES ( Isaiah 30:19-26 ) This patient purpose of God Isaiah now proceeds to describe in its details. Every line of his description has its loveliness, and is to be separately appreciated. There is perhaps no fairer prospect from our prophet’s many windows. It is not argument nor a programme, but a series of rapid glimpses, struck out by language which often wants logical connection, but never fails to make us see. To begin with, one thing is sure: the continuance of the national existence. Isaiah is true to his original vision-the survival of a remnant. "For a people in Zion-there shall be abiding in Jerusalem." So the brief essential is flashed forth. "Thou shalt surely weep no more; surely He will be gracious unto thee at the voice of thy crying; with His hearing of thee He will answer thee." Thus much of general promise had been already given. Now upon the vagueness of the Lord’s delay Isaiah paints realistic details, only, however, that he may make more vivid the real presence of the Lord. The siege shall surely come, with its sorely concrete privations, but the Lord will be there, equally distinct. "And though the Lord give you the bread of penury and the water of tribuation" (perhaps the technical name for siege rations), "yet shall not thy Teacher hide Himself any more, but thine eyes shall ever be seeing thy Teacher; 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 or when ye turn to the left." Real, concrete sorrows, these are they that make the heavenly Teacher real! It is linguistically possible, and more in harmony with the rest of the passage, to turn "teachers," as the English version has it, into the singular, and to render it by "Revealer." The word is an active participle, "Moreh," from the same verb as the noun "Torah," which is constantly translated "Law" in our version, but is, in the Prophets at least, more nearly equivalent to "instruction," or to our modern term "revelation" (cf. Isaiah 30:9 ). Looking thus to the One Revealer, and hearkening to the One Voice, "the lying and rebellious children" shall at last be restored to that capacity for truth and obedience the loss of which has been their ruin. Devoted to the Holy One of Israel, they shall scatter their idols as loathsome ( Isaiah 30:22 ). But thereupon a wonder is to happen. As the besieged people, conscious of the One Great Presence in the midst of their encompassed city, cast their idols through the gates and over the walls, a marvellous vision of space and light and fulness of fresh food bursts upon their starved and straitened souls ( Isaiah 30:23 ). Promise more sympathetic was never uttered to a besieged and famished city. Mark that all down the passage there is no mention of the noise or instruments of battle. The prophet has not spoken of the besiegers, who they may be, how they may come, nor of the fashion of their war, but only of the effects of the siege on those within: confinement, scant and bitter rations. And now he is almost wholly silent about the breaking up of the investing army and the trail of their slaughter. No battle breaks this siege, but a vision of openness and plenty dawns noiselessly over its famine and closeness. It is not vengeance or blood that an exhausted and penitent people thirst after. But as they have been caged in a fortress, narrow, dark, and stony, so they thirst for the sight of the sower, and the drop of the rain on the broken, brown earth, and the juicy corn, and the meadow for their cribbed cattle, and the noise of brooks and waterfalls, and above and about it all fulness of light. "And He shall give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal, and bread, even the increase of the ground, and it shall be juicy and fat; thy cattle shall feed that day in a broad meadow. And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savoury provender, winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. And there shall be upon every lofty mountain and upon every lifted hill rivers, streams of water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. And 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 hurt of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound." It is one of Isaiah’s fairest visions, and he is very much to be blamed who forces its beauty of nature into an allegory of spiritual things. Here literally God spreads His people a table in the midst of their enemies. IV. THE NAME OF THE LORD ( Isaiah 30:27-33 ) But Isaiah lays down "the oaten pipe" and lifts again a brazen trumpet to his lips. Between him and that sunny landscape of the future, of whose pastoral details he has so sweetly sung, roll up now the uncouth masses of the Assyrian invasion, not yet fully gathered, far less broken. We are back in the present again, and the whole horizon is clouded. The passage does not look like one from which comfort or edification can be derived, but it is of extreme interest. The first two verses, for instance, only require a little analysis to open a most instructive glimpse into the prophet’s inner thoughts about the Assyrian progress, and show us how they work towards the expression of its full meaning. "Behold, the Name of Jehovah cometh from afar-burning His anger and awful the uplifting smoke; His lips are full of wrath, and His tongue as fire that devoureth; and His breath is as an overflowing torrent-even unto the neck it reacheth-to shake the nations in a sieve of destruction, and a bridle that leadeth astray on the jaws of the peoples." "The Name of Jehovah" is the phrase the prophets use when they wish to tell us of the personal presence of God. When we hear a name cried out, we understand immediately that a person is there. So when the prophet calls, "Behold, the Name of Jehovah," in face of the prodigious advance of Assyria, we understand that he has caught some intuition of God’s presence in that uplifting of the nations of the north at the word of the great King and their resistless sweep southward upon Palestine. In that movement God is personally present. The Divine presence Isaiah then describes in curiously mingled metaphor, which proves how gradually it was that he struggled to a knowledge of its purpose there. First of all he describes the advance of Assyria as a thunderstorm, heavy clouds and darting, devouring fire. His imagination pictures a great face of wrath. The thick curtains of cloud as they roll over one another suggest the heavy lips, and the lightnings the fiery tongue. Then the figure passes from heaven to earth. The thunderstorm has burst, and becomes the "mountain torrent" which speedily "reaches the necks" of those who are caught in its bed. But then the prophet’s conscience suggests something more than sudden and sheer force in this invasion, and the "tossing" of the torrent naturally leads him to express this new element in the figure of "a sieve." His thought about the Assyrian flood thus passes from one of simple force and rush to one of judgment and being well kept in hand. He sees its ultimate check at Jerusalem, and so his last figure of it is the figure of "a bridle," or "lasso," such as is thrown upon the jaws of a wild animal when you wish to catch and tame him. This gradual progress from the sense of sheer wild force, through that of personal wrath, to discipline and sparing is very interesting. Vague and chaotic that disaster rolled up the horizon upon Judah. "It cometh from afar." The politicians fled from it to their refuge behind the Egyptian Pretence. But Isaiah bids them face it. The longer they look, the more will conscience tell them that the unavoidable wrath of God is in it; no blustering Rahab will be able to hide them from the anger of the face that lowers there. But let them look longer still, and the unrelieved features of destruction will change to a hand that sifts and checks, the torrent will become a sieve, and the disaster show itself well held in by the power of their own God. So wildly and impersonally still do the storms of sorrow and disaster roll up the horizon on men’s eyes, and we fly in vague terror from them to our Egyptian refuges. So still does conscience tell us it is futile to flee from the anger of God, and we crouch hopeless beneath the rush of imaginations of unchecked wrath, blackening the heavens and turning every path of life to a tossing torrent. May it then be granted us to have some prophet at our side to bid us face our disaster once more, and see the discipline and judgment of the Lord, the tossing only of His careful sieve, in the wild and cruel waves! We may not be poets like Isaiah nor able to put the processes of our faith into such splendid metaphors as he, but faith is given us to follow the same course as his thoughts did, and to struggle till she arrives at the consciousness of God in the most uncouth judgments that darken her horizon-the consciousness of God present not only to smite, but to sift, and in the end to spare. Of the angel who led Israel to the land of promise, God said, "My Name is in him." Our faith is not perfect till we can, like Isaiah, feel the same of the blackest angel, the heaviest disaster, God can send us, and be able to spell it out articulately: "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." For delivery, says Isaiah, shall come to the people of God in the crisis, as sudden and as startling into song as the delivery from Egypt was. "Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord; to the Rock of Israel." After this interval of solemn gladness, the storm and fire break out afresh, and rage again through the passage. But their direction is reversed, and whereas they had been shown rolling up the horizon as towards Judah, they are now shown rolling down the horizon in pursuit of the baffled Assyrian. The music of the verses is crashing. "And the Lord shall cause the peal of His voice to be heard, and the lighting down of His arm to be seen in the fury of anger, yea flame of devouring fire-bursting and torrent and hailstones. For from the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be scattered when He shall smite with the rod. And every passage of the rod of fate which the Lord bringeth down upon him shall be with tabrets and harps, and in battles of waving shall he be fought against." The meaning is obscure but palpable. Probably the verse describes the ritual of the sacrifice to Moloch, to which there is no doubt the next verse alludes. To sympathise with the prophet’s figure, we need of course an amount of information about the details of that ritual which we are very far from possessing. But Isaiah’s meaning is evidently this: The destruction of the Assyrian host will be liker a holocaust than a battle, like one of those fatal sacrifices to Moloch which are directed by the solemn waving of a staff, and accompanied by the music, not of war, but of festival. "Battles of waving" is a very obscure phrase, but the word translated "waving" is the technical term for the waving of the victim before the sacrifice to signify its dedication to the deity; "and these ‘battles of waving’ may perhaps have taken place in the fashion in which single victims were thrown from one spear to another till death ensued." At all events, it is evident that Isaiah means to suggest that the Assyrian dispersion is a religious act, a solemn holocaust rather than one of this earth’s ordinary battles, and directed by Jehovah Himself from heaven. This becomes clear enough in the next verse: "For a Topheth hath been set in order beforehand; yea, for Moloch is it arranged; He hath made it deep and broad; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, shall kindle it." So the Assyrian power was in the end to go up in flame. We postpone remarks on Isaiah’s sense of the fierceness of the Divine righteousness till we reach his even finer expression of it in chapter 33. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.