#992 Isaiah 30 Stubborn Children & Smooth Talkers

 

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,

“who carry out a plan, but not mine,

and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,

that they may add sin to sin;

2 who set out to go down to Egypt,

without asking for my direction,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,

and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

4 For though his officials are at Zoan

and his envoys reach Hanes,

5 everyone comes to shame

through a people that cannot profit them,

that brings neither help nor profit,

but shame and disgrace.”

6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

from where come the lioness and the lion,

the adder and the flying fiery serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

7 Egypt's help is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her

“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.

9 For they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the Lord;

10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things,

prophesy illusions,

11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Because you despise this word

and trust in oppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you

like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

14 and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel

that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a shard is found

with which to take fire from the hearth,

or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,

“No! We will flee upon horses”;

therefore you shall flee away;

and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;

therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

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

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

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,

burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;

his lips are full of fury,

and his tongue is like a devouring fire;

28 his breath is like an overflowing stream

that reaches up to the neck;

to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,

and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

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

Isaiah 30 Don't go down to Egypt

1-7. Ah, stubborn children - God gives direction in the law, and even the wisest among men think they see a better alternative. Solomon broke away from the law unto kings, forbidding them to go back down to Egypt, acquiring horses and chariots. It was a time of massive prosperity, but are riches the proof, do they make unrighteousness turn into righteousness? Sadly, it becomes the new standard, and instead of looking to the word of God, men look to other men for precedent.

It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from others, instead of looking up to God. Nor can we avoid the dreadful consequences of adding sin to sin, but by making the righteousness of Christ our refuge, and seeking for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Men have always been prone to lean to their own understandings, but this will end in their shame and misery. They would not trust in God. They took much pains to gain the Egyptians. The riches so spent turned to a bad account. See what dangers men run into who forsake God to follow their carnal confidences. The Creator is the Rock of ages, the creature a broken reed; we cannot expect too little from man, or too much from God. Our strength is to sit still, in humble dependence upon God and his goodness, and quiet submission to his will. - Matthew Henry

Zoan - A city of Egypt in the eastern Nile delta.

Hanes - A city in Egypt.

Rahab who sits still - Rahab is another name for pride or Egypt, and the caravans of goods Judah takes to her will be a bad investment. They would buy her as protection, like payment to a mercenary, but she will be of no help to them. Rahab-Hem-Shebeth (Rahab sits idle).

“It is all useless, bringing neither help nor advantage. ‘Well, of course!’ Isaiah might have said, for from the feared killer (Assyria) they were seeking help from the proved killer (Egypt)!” (Motyer)

8-14. Write it before them on a tablet - He is not just talking, God wants it written down as evidence. When these things take place then they will know the word is from the Lord, and this will help future generations of those who can hear, who return from Babylon. 

…3For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.” 4For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. 5Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you harmony with one another in Christ Jesus,… Romans 15: 3-5

Children unwilling to hear - They have already taunted Isaiah, and they have the whole book of the law that stands against them, yet they suppress the truth.

Do not prophesy to us what is right - Sticking with God's word and His eternal attributes, that He is always holy, always just and infinitely opposed to sin, these things never sit well. 

17For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.… Romans 1: 17-19

Speak to us smooth things - As if it matters what the prophet decides to say, all that matters is whether it comes from the Lord. Ahab hated the prophets that never spoke anything good on his behalf. Charlatans abound these days, and they always preach to the flesh, tickle the ears with what you want to hear. A real shepherd would expose these things. False prophets and teachers will receive a greater condemnation, but those who give them a platform will be culpable in it and lost for it. Come out of her. 

…5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not be partakers with them.… Ephesians 5: 5-7

…7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.… Colossians 2: 7-9

…2Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.… 2 Timothy 4: 2-4

Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel - Keep this in mind when you tell people the truth about God's just wrath towards sin, that you yourself were a sinner, incapable of salvation, but He graciously opened your eyes, and changed your heart to believe. He gave you new desires, and you were ever so lost as these, so it is not you they hate so much as it is God. 

Trust in oppression and perverseness - Since they would not hear from God, or obey what they already knew from God, but instead put their faith in Egypt (the world's system), they would be destroyed.

15-17. In quietness and trust shall be your strength - He extends His peace, that childlike trust is well established in Him, it is not misplaced, but they refuse. They still want alliances with the world, and they still want their sin.

…3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?… James 4: 3-5

18-33. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you - The patience of God is beyond human comprehension just with myself as the object of the query. I have been the ungrateful servant and must repent. I have been worse than those I have so little patience for, and I must find compassion. 

…25God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. 26He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus. 27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.… Romans 3: 25-27

For the Lord is a God of justice - Where can grace (unmerited mercy) and justice be seen all in one place? At the cross my friend, at the cross.

You will say to them be gone - When they walk in the Spirit sin will become a detestable thing to them, and they will actively fight it when found in their person.

To all true penitents sin becomes very hateful. This is shown daily in the conversion of souls, by the power of Divine grace, to the fear and love of God. Abundant means of grace, with the influences of the Holy Spirit, would be extended to places destitute of them. The effect of this should be comfort and joy to the people of God. Light, that is, knowledge, shall increase. This is the light which the gospel brought into the world, and which proclaims healing to the broken-hearted. - Matthew Henry

For a burning place has long been prepared - Tophet (valley of Hinnom) a place outside Jerusalem where fire constantly burned, a dump.

30For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire— something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.32So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.… Jeremiah 7: 30-32