A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 32: The Controversy of Zion
A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 32: The Controversy of Zion
In our last presentation we discussed The Treachery of the Spoilers, in relation to the reasons for which Jerusalem and Judah had been judged and ultimately destroyed by Yahweh their God through the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. In Isaiah chapter 33, it is evident that there were men within Jerusalem who were spoilers, who had oppressed the people, and especially the poor and vulnerable. That is evident where the people had prayed for grace, as they had been portrayed in the words of the prophet in the first half of the chapter, and then Yahweh had responded to their prayer. As they had prayed, they had been characterized as not having made any admission of sin nor any expression of repentance, and all they wanted were the spoils of their enemies. Then when they were answered, Yahweh had rejected them as hypocrites who would conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble. So they were warned once again, and their character is revealed where the Word of Yahweh had explained to them the nature of those among them who would survive the impending trials, where the Word had described: “15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.”
Where Yahweh had told the people that the survivors would be those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, He is describing men of just judgment as opposed to men of corrupt judgment. Therefore the men whom He called hypocrites must have had corrupt judgment, and they must have also loved the gain of oppressions, they must have taken bribes, they must have conspired in murder, and they must have relished, or at least accepted, evil. However in the time of Isaiah, the advent of such spoilers in government or among the rulers of Judah was not a recent phenomenon in Jerusalem. By then it had existed already for at least two hundred years, and had begun around the same time that the kingdom was divided. This is found in 1 Kings chapter 12, at the time of the death of Solomon: