A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 26: Terms of Reconciliation

Here we must attest once again, that the main purpose of Isaiah was not so much for his own time as it was for his distant future, and that the purpose of the prophet was not only to warn the children of Israel of their impending captivity, but also to describe both what would become of them in captivity, and how they should ultimately be redeemed from captivity and reconciled to Yahweh their God. Therefore in Isaiah, the reasons for the punishment of Israel are described, the taking of Israel into captivity is described, and the terms of reconciliation for Israel is described, along with allusions to the dismal alternatives if Israel could somehow refuse those terms, some of which we shall see here in Isaiah chapter 28. Along the way, it is made evident in the words of the prophet that in the course of events future to his time, the things which Yahweh God has purposed for the world are all for the benefit of the children of Israel, whether they be for their punishment or for their edification.

Therefore, throughout the past few chapters of Isaiah, we have discussed The Burden of Tyre which had begun in Isaiah chapter 23, and then, where Tyre had been used as a type for the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation, as it had been a great mercantile city, in chapter 26. There we also discussed The City of God for which Jerusalem had been used as a type, and the two cities were set in contrast to one another. Then, presenting our commentary for the closing verses of Isaiah chapter 26 along with chapter 27, we discussed the Triumph of the Righteous and prophecies of the resurrection of the dead, and we also began to exhibit from later chapters in Isaiah that in the end, all of the children of Israel shall be justified by God in Yahshua Christ.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 25: Triumph of the Righteous

In our last presentation, The City of God, we hope to have demonstrated that in these chapters of Isaiah, ancient Tyre is a prophetic type for the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation, and Jerusalem is a type for the City of God which is ultimately described in the final chapters of the Revelation. So in the course of this description of Jerusalem, the strong city in the land of Judah, the people are portrayed as fixing their minds on God and trusting in Him, as emulating the path of the just, and as desiring and awaiting the judgment of God. With that, the high and lofty city, corresponding to Mystery Babylon, is tread down by the feet of the poor and needy. This evokes the words of the 37th Psalm: “10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. 13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. 16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.” Now here at the end of this chapter of Isaiah, and throughout the following chapter, there is another promise of the destruction of the wicked, and the triumph of the righteous. 

As for the correlation of the righteous with the poor and needy, which is an element of that psalm, while some of the men whom Christ had justified during the course of His earthly ministry had been wealthy, such as Joseph of Arimathaea and Zacchaeus the chief publican, this would not be the case for most of the righteous who would follow Christ. Even today, many righteous Christians are oppressed by the wealthy, and most of them are not even aware of their oppression. However a wealthy man may live a humble life, and even the room where the disciples of Christ had prepared the feast on the day before His trials had been owned by a man of substance who must have also been righteous. So while a wealthy man may certainly have a place in the Kingdom of God, as we read in the words of Christ in Luke chapter 6: “20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.” Having made enemies with the wicked society for the sake of Christ, whether wealthy or poor a man certainly shall be humble. Joseph of Arimathaea was secretly a disciple of Christ, as John had explained in his Gospel (John 19:38). But through his wealth he was able to fill a significant role in the quite significant events of the final days of His earthly ministry. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 24: The City of God

Describing the words of the prophet in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 25 as we had discussed them in our last presentation, The Wonder of Seeing, the prophet had explained that when the people saw the destruction of the city, which continues to be a reference to the burden of Tyre that had begun in Isaiah chapter 23, that they would know that God is true, speaking in reference to those who had His Word in the first place. Therefore upon seeing the prophesied judgment, they should exalt God and praise His Name. This evokes the words of the 64th Psalm, attributed to David, where he wrote of men who witness the judgment of God and said: “9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. 10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.” So the righteous should be glad when they see, or even understand, the judgment of Yahweh whenever it is executed in the earth. Here in Isaiah chapter 26, the then-future destruction of Tyre remains in view, from Isaiah’s perspective, and now it shall be set in contrast to Jerusalem. However the Jerusalem portrayed here is not necessarily the Jerusalem of Isaiah’s time.

The destruction of ancient Jerusalem had already been prophesied in earlier chapters of Isaiah, and especially in chapters 3 through 5 and chapter 10, but as recently as chapter 22 and the burden of The Valley of Vision. While Yahweh had explicitly protected Jerusalem from the siege of the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, which we shall also see here in later chapters of Isaiah, there are also further prophecies of its ultimate destruction. However before that destruction was fulfilled, there were even later promises that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, and that it would remain at least until the coming of the Messiah, which is evident in Daniel chapter 9, whereas here it was stated that Tyre would not be rebuilt. As we have asserted, while there may have been structures at the site of ancient Tyre in later times, it was certainly not the same as the ancient city, simply because the land was occupied once again.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 23: The Wonder of Seeing

Having discussed the Burden of Tyre and the Justice in Judgment in Isaiah chapters 23 and 24, we hope to have elucidated the history of the Phoenicians in relation to Scripture to the extent that the identity of the Phoenicians as a portion of the ancient children of Israel cannot be rationally denied. Although the context of chapter 24 is widened to include all of the children of Israel under these burdens, the city of Tyre is still the subject of the discourse where in chapter 24 there is a lamentation that “the city of confusion is broken down … the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction” (24:10-12). Then we read a little further on in the chapter, on account of the prophesied destruction of Tyre, a plea of encouragement which was an exhortation for the people who escaped that destruction: “15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.” The Tyrians had remained the subjects of the prophet’s discourse throughout both chapters, and those Tyrians who were described as having departed on the ships of Tarshish in chapter 23 (23:6 ff.) were indeed among the Israelites in the “isles of the sea” mentioned in chapter 24 (24:15). Later in this next chapter of Isaiah, chapter 25, Isaiah shall explain in further detail just why the destruction of one’s home city should bring one to glorify God, and that is the wonder of seeing.

The so-called “golden age” of Phoenicia is generally dated from about 1200 to 332 BC. This is from the middle of the period of the Judges to the time when Alexander of Macedon had conquered the island city of Tyre. While our assertion that the Phoenicians of this period were of Israel is absolutely contrary to the general narrative found among mainstream academic historians and theologians, in spite of their narrative, it is absolutely agreeable to all of the testimony in Scripture, both in the historical books and in the writings of the prophets. Here in Isaiah, our assertion concerning the identity of the ancient Phoenicians as Israel is incontrovertibly supported, and the views of the academics are refuted. Isaiah was a prophet of Yahweh, elucidating the Word of God for the children of Israel in his own time, and not only recording them for posterity but also announcing his prophecies as he himself had traveled throughout the land, and he was not simply fabricating lies in order to be fashionable. As we had seen in the early chapters of Isaiah, the prophet was a man of renown in Judah, who had access to kings and to the priests and other officers of the temple, and he even had them do his bidding when it was necessary, something which is fully revealed in the circumstances of the conception and birth of his son, Mahershalalhashbaz. The prophet Isaiah was an eye-witness to the glory of the Tyrians, and here he identified them as Israel, and that is also the wonder of seeing.