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

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.

This issue is pivotal to understanding the entirety of Scripture, since it not only helps serve to explain the origins of the historical Britons, Irish, Iberians and others as Israelites and why they had become Christians, but it also explains a large portion of the fulfillment of the promises to the Biblical patriarchs, as they had been promised that their seed would become many nations and inherit the earth, and it is evident that such a promise could not be contained to Palestine, where they had failed and had been driven out to become the so-called “lost sheep” of Israel. Yet as we progress through these forty-two remaining chapters in Isaiah, we hope to exhibit how the prophet himself demonstrates the fact that they were really anything but “lost”, as if Yahweh God could possibly lose track of His own people.

Then on the other hand, this issue concerning the truth of the identity of the Phoenicians also completely exposes the fraud of the Jews who claim for themselves to be the ancient Israelites. Later in Isaiah, the Word of Yahweh shall call this the “controversy of Zion”. In truth, the origin of the Jewish People is found in the subsumption of the Edomites by the sinful high priests of Judaea in the late 2nd century BC, whereby the nature of the Roman province of Judaea in the time of Christ had left the remnant of true Israelites as little but a powerless minority. That is something which Jews hope to do throughout the entire Christian world of today, and the root of their success is found in all of their lies about the Bible and its history. Breaking through the lies, the children of Israel can find true liberation in Christ. So there is much more wonder in seeing than we can even discuss in one evening.

Isaiah chapter 34 speaks of this controversy of Zion in the context of a prophesy of the fulfillment of the wrath of Yahweh against Idumea: “5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. 7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. 8 For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. 9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.” So in Romans chapter 9 Paul of Tarsus had explained that those who had rejected Christ were of Idumea, and not of Israel, and modern denominational Christians still cannot see it, mostly because they have sought to learn the Scriptures from Jews, which is also a wonder but Christ Himself had described that very thing as the blind leading the blind.

Returning to our discussion of Isaiah chapter 24, within the context of Isaiah’s prophecy, and with Tyre still having been its primary subject, as the Word of Yahweh was addressing “Israel in the isles of the sea” He had said something upon which we should elaborate further: “21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.”

This does not mean that the princes of the earth and the kings of the nations would be going to some earthly prison to languish for many years. Rather, as it was described earlier in the chapter, the master and the servant, the priest and the people, would all receive the same punishment for their sins, regardless of their worldly status as men. So just a few verses earlier in chapter 24 it was said that “17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.” Ostensibly, this also describes the prison where even the principal men and the kings would find themselves, along with the common men, and women, of all of Israel. However further on in Isaiah, in chapter 28, there is a promise, in a later part of this same prophecy, that even though the people, on account of their sin, had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, where Yahweh had nevertheless told them that “… your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand” (28:15, 18).

So here we may see a phenomenon which both explains, and is explained by, the words of the apostle Peter written in chapter 3 of his first epistle, nearly eight hundred years later, where he said: “18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” A little further on in his epistle, Peter explained that statement further, in chapter 4 where he had referred to Christ as “Him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead”, and had attested that “6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” The promise of the visitation of the princes and kings of ancient Tyre, and all of ancient Israel, would also have been fulfilled at that point, and that is where the covenants they had made with hell and death would have been disannulled. This further demonstrates that the Phoenicians were of Israel, and not of Canaan, since we read in Zechariah chapter 14, in the final words of the later prophet, that “… in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.” However Peter was speaking even of those Adamic souls which had passed on in the flood of Noah.

As we have often explained in our commentaries on Scripture, the chapter breaks are not conducive to understanding the context of Scripture. Rather, they are often even an obstruction, because many casual readers of Scripture, which includes most modern so-called theologians or pastors, are prone to begin reading at the opening verse of a chapter, or finish reading at the end of a particular chapter, and often imagine the verses which they have read in some other context than that in which they were presented. However much more often than not, the next chapter, or the previous one, are quite integral to any true understanding of the passage at hand. Here in Isaiah the context has not broken since these burdens had begun in chapter 13, and especially not since the burden of Tyre in chapter 23, and the overall context is not interrupted until the completion of the woes which Isaiah has for Israel beginning with chapter 29, and which end with chapter 35. Therefore reading any of these passages, Isaiah is not starting from scratch with the beginning of each or any of these chapters, and if the reader does not comprehend the overall context of what had preceded, he is sure to lack some understanding of what he has read if he starts at some random chapter. Here, for at least 22 chapters in this portion of Isaiah, there is one context and one narrative, which illustrates the overarching plan of Yahweh God for the children of Israel as they are taken off into punishment for their sins from some time shortly before Isaiah began to write these things, just around time of the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians. In this plan, their redemption and the means of redemption are also explained, or at least alluded to throughout.

Here in the burden of Tyre, the chapter divisions have certainly split statements which belong together. As we have said, in chapter 24 the context seems to have widened beyond the Israelites of Tyre to the greater sequence of burdens which concerned all of the Israelites in the region of Palestine in Isaiah’s time. Nevertheless, Tyre seems to now serve as a prophetic type for a far vision prophecy which transcends the immediate circumstances of Israel, as the focus shifts from the destroyed city to the overarching battle between Yahweh and His enemies, and the ultimate redemption of His people. In that manner, as we commence with Isaiah chapter 25, the destroyed city here seems to presage and even to evoke descriptions of the fallen Mystery Babylon of the Revelation. (This will be even more significant when we discuss Isaiah chapter 26.)

So the final verse of Isaiah chapter 24 continues from where we had read that the principal men and the kings of the nations would be gathered into the prison, which is ostensibly the dwelling-place of their departed Adamic spirits, if indeed they were of Adam, and then we read: “23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” Summarizing what we have already said, when Christ rules as King, the earthly governments and their agents shall all be ashamed and confounded. Now as chapter 25 begins, Isaiah portrays himself as having reacted to that vision:

1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. 

Since Isaiah is portraying himself as having sung these praises to Yahweh, the prophet is using himself as a type in order to portray just how it should be that the people should glorify God when they see that these things finally come to pass. Where he says “thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth”, this burden of Tyre was pronounced by the prophet some time in the first fourteen years of the reign of Hezekiah, but the city would not be destroyed, as it was prophesied here, for at least another hundred and twenty years. So once again, Isaiah is using the present and past tenses prophetically, and his method serves to explain that once the people finally do see the fulfillment of these words, they should know that Yahweh God is true, and glorify Him in this manner. But of course, a hundred and twenty years later, from that time in which Tyre was destroyed and after, only those who had access to Scripture and who had understood the history subsequent to Isaiah would have this understanding, so only they would even know to glorify God in this manner. That is also the wonder of seeing, and therefore glorifying God for this understanding is our Christian responsibility, because we have the Scriptures and understand the history. But the enemies of God have sought to obscure this history and the wonder of His prophets, so that they could perpetuate their own lies in its place. 

The phrase palace of strangers is translated from the Hebrew words ארמון or armown, which is a citadel (# 759) and זרים or zurim, which is a foreigner (# 2114), as they appear in the Masoretic Text. However as it is noted at this passage of Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, the Dead Sea Scroll known as 1QIsaiah^a as well as at least some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text have זדים or zedim (# 2086), which means arrogant ones, rather than zurim or strangers, and therefore we would translate the phrase as “citadel of the proud”. This is also the manner in which the word was read by the translators of the Greek Septuagint, which Brenton had translated into English as “the city of ungodly men”, where we would have written impious men. Because the Tyrians were clearly of Israel, as Isaiah himself had portrayed them throughout the burden of Tyre, we would prefer the alternate reading, “citadel of the proud”, rather than “palace of strangers” as it appears here in the King James Version. 

This same reading should also be considered in verse 5, although it is not necessary in that context. As we have already said, while there is a near-vision interpretation which may be applied to this prophecy, Tyre is also a prophetic type for a far-vision interpretation which may be correlated to the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation. It is evident in both Scripture and in history, that every cosmopolitan mercantile city becomes a “palace of strangers” of sorts, just as Mystery Babylon is described as a city which “… is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2), but the people of Yahweh were also called to come out from it (18:4). 

While this is conjectural, perhaps it is also the provenance of Yahweh, that each of these readings be considered, even if doing so seems rather whimsical on the surface. However we would prefer to follow the context and for that reason we prefer the manuscripts which have zedim rather than zurim here, and we would read proud in both of these verses, rather than strangers. 

But context alone is not the only reason for following the Septuagint in this manner. While the Septuagint translators had often made errors in interpretation, and especially by following a Hellenistic perspective and associating certain ancient names with contemporary populations who did not merit the association, it was nevertheless closer to the original Hebrew alphabet, which is often called paleo-Hebrew, in which there was little chance for the confusion of letters such as daleth (ד), vav (ו) or resh (ר). These letters are confused easily and often in the more recent supposedly Hebrew block-letter alphabet. Other letters, such as vav (ו) and yodh (י), or even heth (ח) and tav (ת), were also sometimes confused by either scribes or translators. These letters are very close to one another in print, and perhaps even more so in the handwriting of any particular scribe. 

So while we can only guess as to when the scribes of Judaea had begun the process of adopting the modern block-Hebrew and had ceased to use the paleo-Hebrew alphabet, the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls were indeed familiar with the older alphabet to a great extent, and the older alphabet was not completely discarded until some time after the ministry of Christ. As for the evidence, first, many of the Dead Sea Scrolls which had been written primarily in block-Hebrew letters had continued to use paleo-Hebrew letters for the Name of Yahweh or other titles for God [1] wherever they appeared in certain scrolls and second, even scrolls containing copies of Genesis [2] and Leviticus [3] which had been written entirely in paleo-Hebrew had existed among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and survive in fragments. 

So while there are Jewish claims for a much earlier adoption of the block-Hebrew alphabet, and even some absurd Talmudic claims that the block-Hebrew was the original alphabet. Our opinion is that the block-Hebrew characters, the earliest examples of which are said to have been found at Elephantine and in Samaria, and which date to no earlier than the 5th century BC, although it seems that the documentation is poor [4], had only slowly been adopted in Judaea, and the use of the original paleo-Hebrew alphabet still predominated when the Septuagint was translated. In any event, it is apparent that its adoption was gradual, and speaking of an older Aramaic script, an article at Wikipedia admits that the block-Hebrew alphabet was a variant which had “evolved directly out of this by about the 3rd century BCE although some letter shapes did not become standard until the 1st century.” [5] With this we may conjecture once again: this all sounds as if the confusion over letters may have been actually been engineered by the rabbis. The late and gradual use of the block-Hebrew script is further evident in the coins minted by the high priests of the Hasmoneans in the 2nd century BC. According to Wikipedia, “The vast majority of the Hasmonean coinage, as well as the coins of the First Jewish–Roman War and Bar Kokhba's revolt, bears Paleo-Hebrew legends.” [6] 

So the Septuagint translators must have been familiar with Isaiah in paleo-Hebrew letters, and therefore they would not have mistakenly read zurim where Isaiah had written zedim, a reading which even the Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text also contain. So for all of these reasons, we would stand by reading “citadel of the proud”, and not “palace of strangers”. The Septuagint also has cities in verse 2, rather than just city, however the reading would still be true, considering Samaria and the other cities of Israel which had recently also been destroyed, although the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible also has city, affirming the reading in the Masoretic Text. 

Where it says that Tyre “shall never be built” at the end of verse 2, ancient Tyre was rebuilt by the Romans, but it was not the same city as the original city even if it occupied roughly the same space. So today it is still in use, and the causeway from the mainland to the island is many times wider than the one which had been built by Alexander, which was only about two hundred feet wide, and it is now about 1,800 feet wide at its most narrow point. The island is partially built with hotels, houses and other buildings, and partially with the ruins of not-so-ancient Roman Tyre, where some columns, wall sections and gates still stand. However Tyre as it was in the time of Isaiah, an ancient mercantile hub and seemingly unconquerable fortress surrounded by seemingly insurmountable walls both on land and in the sea, was never rebuilt.

3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 

The Hebrew words קיר or qir (7024) and קרת or qeret (# 7176) both describe a city. However here, according to its listing in Strong’s Concordance, the word is in a feminine form, קריה of qiriah (# 7151), where at least some manuscripts have קרית or qiriath here instead, for which the Brown, Driver Briggs lexicon merely sends its readers to the foregoing word. That lexicon also attests that these longer forms are merely poetical variations of qir. However the confusion seems deeper, since the ות or vav-tav ending represents a feminine plural, but the ית or yodh-tav ending does not. Here this is mentioned because while the King James Version has the singular city, both the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible and the New American Standard Bible have cities, and both read the phrase in which it appears in verse 3 as “cities of ruthless nations”. 

Here we should prefer that plural rendering of the word, and we would assert that it is sometimes just as easy to confuse the vav for a yodh in block-Hebrew manuscripts as it is to confuse the daleth and the resh. In that manner, the word would be cities, and it better fits the context, that seeing how the God of Israel had forewarned of the destruction of Tyre, a mighty city, that when it came to pass, the “cities of ruthless nations” should also be in fear of Him. The word translated as wall at the end of verse 5 is also קיר or qir (7024), which may certainly describe a wall in certain contexts. 

The “strong people” described here in verse 3 are not strong of their own accord, nor are they strong politically, economically or militarily. Rather, it is evident in verse 4 that the “strong people” are strong because they have the favor of Yahweh, and therefore He is their strength. So it is apparently on their behalf that in these words uttered by the prophet, we next read:

5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. 

Once again, the Septuagint translators had evidently read זדים or zedim rather than זרים or zurim, and wrote the words ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἀσεβῶν or from ungodly men, as Brenton has it, where we see strangers here in the King James Version as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. We would assert that these readings better fit the immediate, near-vision context of this prophecy, as this seems once again to be a reference to Tyre, and therefore they are the appropriate readings, as well as the plausibly original readings of a paleo-Hebrew manuscript. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible reads the first clause of this verse as part of verse 4: “4 … For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like the heat in a dry place….” This certainly seems to be a better reading of the Hebrew text, although the King James Version transposes the location of the clause. Then we would read the balance of verse 5, as we would translate it, to say: “…. You shall humble the uproar of the proud, like dryness in the shadow of a cloud the din of the ruthless is cast down.” 

The “din of the ruthless” is a Hebrew parallelism for the “uproar of the proud”, where once again the reading of zedim seems to prevail over zurim as being the better reading in this context. In contrast to the proud, or ruthless, the people being protected by Yahweh and for whose sake the city is prophesied to be destroyed here are described as the poor and needy, so in that context proud is also a better reading than strangers, especially since the Tyrians themselves, as well as their principal men and their kings, have been described as having been of Israel, and they would be gathered into a pit to be revisited in the latter days. In chapter 23 we read: “8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth? 9 The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” So here Yahweh shall “stain all pride of all glory” by humbling “the uproar of the proud”. Therefore, as it also stands that the people of Tyre had been described as Israelites throughout these chapters, and not as aliens, that these verses in chapter 25 are describing their pride, and we should read zedim rather than zurim.

In words attributed to Mariam, the mother of the Christ child, as they are recorded in Luke chapter 1, we read: “ 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.” This seems to be a very similar situation to that which Mary had also described, and later, in Isaiah chapter 28, we read: “1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!”

Up to this point the prophet has glorified Yahweh God for what things He had done with the sinful world of Israel, and now he presents another prophecy of what would follow:

6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 

The words “in this mountain may seem to be ambiguous, but they are not, because Isaiah is setting this in contrast to the fate of Tyre, and at the end of chapter 24 there was a reference to the day “… when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” So we would assert that the mountain described here is also a reference to Zion in Jerusalem.

7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 

All of the promises of Yahweh God, and all of these burdens throughout Isaiah, were for the benefit of the children of Israel, and therefore we would interpret the words “all people” and “all nations” to refer to all of the people and nations of the children of Israel at the time when the prophecy was fulfilled. In the Hebrew text, the word for people is the phrase, העמים or ha-amim, and being accompanied with a definite article it is properly “all the people”, and likewise הגוים or ha-goyim is properly “all the nations”. The use of the article with a noun in Hebrew has a purpose, and Gesenius says that it is affixed “to nouns which denote objects and classes of things which are known to all” and then “it is needless to state that there is no noun, which has the article, which both cannot and even ought not to be taken definitely.” [7] So the use of the article specifies a definite class of people and nations, and not just any people or any nations.

The Septuagint reading of this verse is quite peculiar. Brenton translates it to read: “7 they shall anoint themselves with ointment in this mountain. Impart thou all these things to the nations; for this is God's counsel upon all the nations.” But Brenton’s translation of the final clause is also peculiar, since the Greek has no word for God, and a feminine pronoun, where we would read the clause to say “… for her counsel is upon all nations.” But there is no context which offers support for this reading, so we should not venture to conjecture any further meaning. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible supports the reading from the Masoretic Text. 

Before commenting further on this passage,we shall read verse 8:

8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 

This is a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy of Yahshua Christ. Paul of Tarsus cited this verse in reference to Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: “52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

Furthermore, once it is realized that this is a Messianic prophecy, after having read verses 7 and 8, then it becomes evident that verse 6 should also be interpreted in reference to Christ, where we read that “in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things…” He is the Bread of Life, but the Marriage Supper of the Lamb shall also be prepared in Zion, and in an allegorical manner since Zion also represents His people and not just the mountain in Jerusalem.

As we have said, the entire book of Isaiah, while it includes certain near-vision prophecies, is more of a presentation of the far-vision, the long-range plans which Yahweh had for His people Israel from the time of their captivity until the time of their ultimate reconciliation, which in the later chapters here is more clearly promised in relation to the redemption which is in Christ. It is through Christ that Yahweh God has swallowed up death in victory, and it is through Christ that the vail which was spread over all of the people and nations of the children of Israel is removed. This was also explained by Paul of Tarsus, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. In that chapter, Paul compared the Sinai Covenant to a “ministration of condemnation”, and the New Covenant promised in Christ to a “ministration of righteousness”, and then he went on to explain further, as it is in our own translation, that: “12 Therefore having such expectations we use much openness, 13 and not as Moses placed a veil upon his face, for the sons of Israel not to gaze into the fulfillment of that which is being left unemployed [the Sinai or ‘old’ covenant]. 14 Yet their minds were hardened; even to this day today the same veil remains upon the reading of the old covenant, which not being uncovered is left unemployed in Christ. 15 Then until this day, whenever Moses is read a veil lies upon their hearts. 16 But when perhaps you should turn to the Prince, the veil is taken away.”

So according to Paul of Tarsus, the Old Testament is a Christian book, since one may only understand it through Christ, by whom the veil of blindness over the nations and people of Israel had been not only lifted, but even destroyed, according to this prophecy of Isaiah. However those who do not accept Christ remain in blindness, as Paul also explained in that passage, and as Christ Himself had spoken of His adversaries, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 15, where we read: “12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? 13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Such is the end of the Judaized Christians who seek to learn Scripture from Jews.

This too is the wonder of seeing. Men see what Yahweh God wants them to see, and they only see in this age if they acknowledge Him, in the person of Yahshua Christ, and therefore only those of His sheep who choose to follow Him can truly have the ability to see anything at all. Those whom Yahweh did not plant, meaning those who are not of Adam, whom Yahweh did not create, shall be rooted up, and those of His sheep who are invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb described in Revelation chapter 19 shall have that privilege, and that shall also be a wonder to see.

Now there is an even stronger affirmation that this is a Messianic prophecy:

9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 

When the angel appeared to Mariam, or Mary, the mother of Yahshua Christ, he had announced to her that she would conceive through the Holy Spirit, and as we read in Matthew chapter 1: “21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS [or Yahshua]: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Then, as he presented this account, Matthew had explained: “22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” So Matthew equated this to a far-vision fulfillment of a prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 7 (7:14). While we would interpret the name Iesous, or Jesus, to be a Greek form of Joshua, or Yahshua, Emmanuel in Hebrew does mean God is with us, as Matthew had explained. Strong’s defines the term as “with us (is) God” (# 6005). So we see that while Mary was to call her child Yahshua, since Yahweh is Salvation, the people would say of Him that “God is with us”, and those two names are also a precise representation of what is seen here in this passage of Isaiah. Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God, come as a man to save His people. He is both the Father and the Son, although He came to die as a man, and therefore with the exception of a few things which Christ Himself had said to His disciples, there is no full revelation that He is God incarnate until after His resurrection. 

Christians should lay aside all of the compromises and contrivances of the Jews, and believe the Word of Yahweh here in Isaiah, as the Christians of first century Judaea had understood that Yahshua Christ is indeed God incarnate, and here Isaiah professes that same understanding. So in Isaiah chapter 44 we read: “6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Then in Revelation chapter 22, in words attributed to Christ: “12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” The only way that both Isaiah and the Revelation could be true, is if Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God Incarnate. 

Then later in that same 44th chapter of Isaiah we read: “24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.” Then in Ephesians chapter 3 we read: “9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Then in Colossians chapter 1: “12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Once again, the only way that all of these statements may be true is if Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God Incarnate. 

Christ Himself had explained, as it is in Mark chapter 12, that “29… The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.” So Christ is not a second God, and neither is He a separate portion of a so-called “godhead”, a word which is not found in Scripture. Rather, Paul had written in Colossians chapter 2, as we translate the verse: “8 Watch that there be no one captivating you through philosophy and vain deceit, in accordance with the tradition of men, in accordance with the elements of the Society, and not in accordance with Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily”. Earlier in the epistle, in chapter 1, Paul wrote of Christ “15 Who is the likeness of the invisible God, first born of all the creation.” Likewise, Christ Himself had said to Philip, as it is recorded in John chapter 14: “9 … Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Before the Comforter, the advent of the Holy Spirit of Christ within His people which He described in John chapter 14, no man could have justly stated that the Father, meaning Yahweh, was within him. Yet Christ did say that, and ostensibly, that is because Christ is “the fulness of the Divinity bodily” as well as the “likeness of the invisible God”, as Paul had attested. Then, referring to the promise of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 14, the Spirit of Truth, Christ had promised His disciples that “18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” and also that “20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” So at that day, after His resurrection, when Thomas saw Him and was convinced that it was Him, we read in John chapter 20: “28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” So for what was Thomas commended, but for his realization that Christ is God after He was resurrected? And Israel still had only One God. So Thomas was commended for recognizing Yahshua Christ as his Lord and as God, while Israel has only one Lord and one God. Paul later explained, in Ephesians chapter 4, that there is “5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

The only way that all of these statements are true is to understand that Yahshua Christ is indeed Yahweh God Incarnate, as Paul and the other apostles had explained in many other ways, and Isaiah will continue to elucidate the promises that prophesy that fact throughout the remainder of his book, so we shall have several opportunities to discuss this further as we progress throughout Isaiah. Understanding this is certainly also an aspect of the wonder of seeing.

Now there seems to be a more immediate, near-vision aspect of this prophecy:

10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. 12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. 

It seems to be a peculiar use in Isaiah, that Moab was used to describe the Israelites of the land of Moab, for which we had seen sufficient evidence in Isaiah chapters 15 and 16 where we had discussed the burden of Moab as a judgment upon the Israelites who had dwelt east of the River Jordan. But there is no apparent reason in the context here to suppose that these three verses, the last mention of Moab in Isaiah, refer to actual Moabites.

So, for example, we read in Isaiah chapter 16 that “6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.” Then, a little further on in that chapter: “14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.” Yet in that burden of Moab, all of the cities mentioned in the judgment were cities of Israel in Moab, and not cities of actual Moabites.

Therefore it seems more likely that this is a reflection of the burden of those of Israel who had dwelt in Moab, now being set alongside the Israelites of Tyre. Since the language here echoes some of the things which were said of the Israelites dwelling in the cities of Moab, that is the interpretation which we would most readily accept. Otherwise, it seems to make no sense here that Moab alone is mentioned out of all of the enemies of Israel, which are numerous at this point in history.

But on the other hand, discussing the burden of The Desert of the Sea in Isaiah chapter 20, there was evidence of historical circumstances which indicate that Samaria has already been destroyed, and that now Isaiah is in the ninth year of the reign of Hezekiah, or possibly a bit later. However since the records are so scant, it is difficult to know whether all of the Israelites east of the Jordan had already been taken into captivity by this time, of those who would go into captivity. But we were able to show from the inscriptions that the Moabites themselves had remained loyal to Assyria throughout the entire time of their empire.

Later, after the time of the Assyrians, there are further prophecies of Moab in a context which actually refers to Moabites, along with Ammonites, Edomites and others, especially in Jeremiah chapters 9, 25, 40 and 48. Those prophecies, referring to the Moabites as the people of Chemosh, the idol of Moab, certainly do refer to actual Moabites. One further aspect of this situation, which we had also already discussed, is the fact that the actual Moabites seem to have magnified themselves as allies of the Assyrians, and by the time of Jeremiah they had reoccupied the lands which had been held by the Israelites who had gone into captivity. So perhaps they were the first of the enemies of Israel to have magnified themselves in the plight of Israel, and for that reason they are mentioned here. The actual history of this time and this context is poorly recorded, so while we may experience the wonder of seeing, at least in many ways, as Paul of Tarsus had also attested, we may only “see through a glass darkly”, as it is in the King James Version in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 (13:12).

This concludes our commentary on Isaiah through chapter 25.

Footnotes:

1 Paleo-Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls, http://www.paleohebrewdss.com/database/letters-by-scroll/divine-names/, accessed February 20th, 2025. 

2 paleoGenesis-Exodus, https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q11-1?locale=en_US, accessed February 20th, 2025.

3 paleoExodus, https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q22-1?locale=en_US, accessed February 20th, 2025. 

4 Which alphabet were the original Torah scrolls in?, https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/ 15420/which-alphabet-were-the-original-torah-scrolls-in, accessed February 20th, 2025. 

5 Ktav Ashuri, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ktav_Ashuri, accessed February 20th, 2025. 

6 Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet, accessed February 20th, 2025. 

7 Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Baker Books, 1979, p. 212.