#993 Isaiah 31 Handful of Air

 

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

and rely on horses,

who trust in chariots because they are many

and in horsemen because they are very strong,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel

or consult the Lord!

2 And yet he is wise and brings disaster;

he does not call back his words,

but will arise against the house of the evildoers

and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,

and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out his hand,

the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,

and they will all perish together.

4 For thus the Lord said to me,

“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,

and when a band of shepherds is called out against him

he is not terrified by their shouting

or daunted at their noise,

so the Lord of hosts will come down

to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.

5 Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts

will protect Jerusalem;

he will protect and deliver it;

he will spare and rescue it.”

6 Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

8 “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;

and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;

and he shall flee from the sword,

and his young men shall be put to forced labor.

9 His rock shall pass away in terror,

and his officers desert the standard in panic,”

declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion,

and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. Isaiah 31 ESV

Isaiah 31 Woe to those who trust in chariots and horses.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help - Still in this first half of Isaiah, the admonishment against such yoking. We cannot say we were not warned, only that we didn't listen. 

…6Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. 7Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.8They collapse and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.… Psalm 20: 6-8

But do not look to the Holy One of Israel - They would go anywhere else for knowledge, for wisdom, but to the all wise and mighty God. Give me a mission, something to do, a golden fleece to find, a minotaur to battle, let me buy the favor of a great army, a twelve step program, tell me how to have my best life now, but please don't send me to the Holy One.

He does not call back His words - Something the church today has forgotten, God does not misspeak.

The Egyptians are man, and not God - Remember Pharaoh, just like their father the devil, so many rulers think themselves gods. Why go to an inferior source? True wisdom is with the Creator, these others only pretend. God needs no man, no horse, and these Pharaoh's need vast multitudes to keep them in power. They die, they fade away into the realm of legend and myth. Let the dead bury the dead, why attach yourselves to their judgment?

As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey - This time God will not abandon Jerusalem to the Assyrians, but show His fatherly compassion for them, though they would seek help elsewhere.

“As birds flying; which come from above, and so cannot be kept off; which fly swiftly and engage themselves valiantly and resolutely, when they perceive that their young ones are in eminent danger.” (Poole)

ii. “The Lord of Hosts will be strong as the lion that growls over his prey… and He will be sweet and soft and gentle as a mother-bird.” (Meyer)

Go to Him

Turn to Him from Whom people have deeply revolted - It is the picture of repentance, turning to God is turning away from the world and sin. Their actions reveal it in casting away the idols they have so defiantly made.

Not of man - Read the link above.

His rock shall pass away in terror - That which most assured him, the might and number of his violent army, shattered. In the battle against God, you have no weapons here. One of His angels takes 185,000 men. Are you going to come at Him with the things He made?