JULY 9

judah after israel's fall

Isaiah Warns About Egypt and Ethiopia____

With Assyria threatening conquest, Judah begins to look for help wherever it can be found. Some are urging an alliance with Egypt, which at present is ruled by Cushites from Ethiopia. Since Egypt's military strength lies in its many horses and chariots, Isaiah is displeased with the thought that God's people also wish to rely on horses and chariots, instead of on God's unlimited power. Therefore Isaiah speaks out in judgment against Egypt and Cush. Not only does Isaiah preach his warnings, but at God's direc­tion—and at what must be great embarrassment to himself—Isaiah actually goes about "naked" for three years. (It may be that Isaiah is only stripped of his outer garments, but even that must surely be an affront to his dignity.) God chooses the occasion of Sargon's attack against Ashdod in 711 B.C. to explain further why his respected prophet has seemingly disgraced himself. The timing is particularly appropriate because Ashdod, a Philistine city, has been allied with Egypt against Assyria.

Word of Isaiah's message apparently reaches even as far as Assyria, because Sennacherib's field commander will refer to it some ten years later when he ridicules Judah both for trusting in God (little as it did) and for rely­ing on Egypt's military strength.

Both Isaiah and this Assyrian officer will be proved correct in their assess­ment of Egypt. In fact, instead of saving Judah from Assyria, Egypt under Pharaoh Neco II will actually become one of Judah's oppressors. Therefore Isaiah's judgments against Egypt are well warranted.

 

JUDGMENT AGAINST CUSH. isa.18:1-7

Woe to the land of whirring wings " b.c.)

along the rivers of Cush, which sends envoys by sea

in papyrus boats over the water.

 

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.

 

All you people of the world,

you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds,

you will hear it. This is what the lord says to me:

"I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling

place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches. They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

 

At that time gifts will be brought to the lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the lord Almighty.

 

JUDGMENT AGAINST EGYPT isa. 19:1-15    .   

An oracle concerning Egypt:

See, the lord rides on a swift cloud

and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

"I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom. The Egyptians will lose heart,

and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists. I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,"

declares the Lord, the lord Almighty.

 

The waters of the river will dry up,

and the riverbed will be parched and dry. The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,

also the plants along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more. The fishermen will groan and lament,

all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water

will pine away. Those who work with combed flax will despair,

the weavers of fine linen will lose hope. The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;

the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise men,

a disciple of the ancient kings"?

 

Where are your wise men now?

Let them show you and make known what the lord Almighty

has planned against Egypt. The officials of Zoan have become fools,

the leaders of Memphis0 are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples

have led Egypt astray. The lord has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit. There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.

JUDAH WILL SUBJUGATE EGYPT. Isa. 19:16-18

In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the lord Almighty raises against them. And the land of Judah will bring ter­ror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terri­fied, because of what the lord Almighty is planning against them.

In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of Destruction

 

EGYPT WILL ACKNOWLEDGE GOD. Isa.19:19-22

In that day there will be an altar to the lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the lord at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. So the lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offer­ings; they will make vows to the lord and keep them. The lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

 

SPIRITUAL RESTORATION. Isa. 19:23-25

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

 

ISAIAH'S NAKEDNESS A SIGN. Isa. 20:1,2

In the year that the supreme com­mander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it—at that time the lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

 

OPPRESSION OF EGYPT AND CUSH. Isa. 20:3-6

Then the lord said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,e so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt's shame. Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame. In that day the people who live on this coast will say, 'See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?'"

 

EGYPT CANNOT SAVE JUDAH. isa. 30:1-7    

"Woe to the obstinate children,"

declares the lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine,

forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt

without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection,

to Egypt's shade for refuge. But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame,

Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace. Though they have officials in Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage,

but only shame and disgrace."

An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev:

Through a land of hardship and distress,

of lions and lionesses,

of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys' backs,

eThat is, the upper Nile region

their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,

to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her

Rahab the Do-Nothing.

 

JUDAH REJECTS TRUTH. isa. 30:8-14

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,

inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come

it may be an everlasting witness. These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to listen to the lord's instruction. They say to the seers,

"See no more visions!" and to the prophets,

"Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things,

prophesy illusions. Leave this way,

get off this path, and stop confronting us

with the Holy One of Israel!"

 

Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

 

"Because you have rejected this message,

relied on oppression

and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you

like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery,

shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found

for taking coals from a hearth

or scooping water out of a cistern."

 

GOD IS STRENGTH.  Isa. 30:15-18

  This is what the Sovereign lord, the Holy One of  Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it. You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'

Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'

Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee

at the threat of one; at the threat of five

you will all flee away, till you are left

like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,

 

like a banner on a hill."

 

Yet the lord longs to be gracious to you;

he rises to show you compassion. For the lord is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him!

 

GOD WILL RESTORE NATION. Isa.30:19-26

O people of Zion, who live in Jerusa­lem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, say­ing, "This is the way; walk in it." Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"

 

He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

 

ASSYRIA WILL BE PUNISHED. Isa.30:27-33

See, the Name of the lord comes from afar,

with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath,

and his tongue is a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent,

rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;

he places in the jaws of the peoples

a bit that leads them astray. And you will sing

as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice

as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the lord,

to the Rock of Israel. The lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice

and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire,

with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail. The voice of the lord will shatter Assyria;

with his scepter he will strike them down. Every stroke the lord lays on them

with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps,

as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.

Topheth has long been prepared;

it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,

with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the lord,

like a stream of burning sulfur,

sets it ablaze.

 

FUTILE RELIANCE ON EGYPT. Isa. 31:1-3

 

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots

and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

or seek help from the lord. Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;

he does not take back his words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked,

against those who help evildoers. But the Egyptians are men and not God;

their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the lord stretches out his hand,

he who helps will stumble,

he who is helped will fall;

both will perish together.

 

GOD WILL PUNISH ASSYRIA. Isa. 31:4-9

   This is what the lord says to me:

"As a lion growls,

a great lion over his prey— and though a whole band of shepherds

is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts

or disturbed by their clamor— so the lord Almighty will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights. Like birds hovering overhead,

the lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it,

he will 'pass over' it and will rescue it."

 

Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sin­ful hands have made.

 

"Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man;

a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword

and their young men will be put to forced labor. Their stronghold will fall because of terror;

at sight of the battle standard their commanders will

panic," declares the lord,

whose fire is in Zion,

whose furnace is in Jerusalem.