The apostasy of Judah and its empty rituals are destroying the nation. In the coming darkness, is there hope?
Isaiah 2:1-4, Last days
This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
In the "last days", the temple of God will be visible to all nations. People will flock to it. This temple will rule all things and wars will cease. This passage is similar to the vision of Micah 4. (See also Joel 3:1-3.)
This image was the goal of the Covenant described in Exodus and Deuteronomy. If Israel had obeyed YHWH then, their nation would have begun to look like Eden and would have attracted people from all nations. This is still to happen, says Isaiah. In a far off time, all people -- not just those of Israel! -- will be drawn to a future beautiful City of Jerusalem. (See Revelation 21 for a New Testament description of this event.) Grogan points out the contrast between verse 3 above and the earlier 1:7; there people stream into Israel to plunder it; here people stream into Israel to worship the God of Jacob.
Isaiah 2:5, Come descendants of Jacob
Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
And so Isaiah calls all of Israel to join him in walking in this light.
Isaiah 2:6-9, Embracing pagan customs
You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.
Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled—
do not forgive them.
Instead of YHWH, the people of Israel embrace the customs of those around them -- superstitions, divination, and so on. Immersed in prosperity and riches, they fill the land with idols. Isaiah calls on God to not forgive them but to hold them accountable.
The message in this passage is similar to that of Joel 5:10-14. In both passages idolatry is described as "bow[ing] down to the work of their hands", an accusation that carries with it a certain insult about the silliness of making something with one's hands and then worshiping what one has made!
Isaiah 2:10-11, That terrible day
Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
and human pride brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
Before that glorious Last Day there will be an accounting. The wicked will flee; the arrogant will be humbled.
Isaiah 2:12-18, All the arrogance and pride of man...
The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
and the idols will totally disappear.
Against all the arrogance and pride of mankind -- every lofty thing -- God (on that future Day) will bring that pride low and be exalted above it all.
As elsewhere (eg. 1 Kings 10:22), the Hebrew translated "trading ship" is literally "ship of Tarshish."
Isaiah 2:19-21, Flight
People will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
In that day people will throw away
to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
The catastrophe that occurs in the last days, before the glorious Day of the new Jerusalem, will force people to hide and seek refuge, to give up all their riches and their idols. All of this is because the genuine "presence of the Lord" is a frightening (and splendorous) thing. In this Presence, gold and silver become irrelevant.
Isaiah 2:22, Mere humans
Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?
"Who will you trust?" asks Isaiah. "Humans or YHWH?" The answer should be obvious.
This last verse transitions into the next chapter, where YHWH will rise up to judge the people of Israel, those who one should not hold in esteem.
No comments:
Post a Comment