A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 29: No Reason to Run

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 29: No Reason to Run

In the early portion of Isaiah chapter 30, the people of Judah were portrayed as Fugitives from Justice, seeking either to flee to Egypt or to attain help from the pharaoh in order to stave off the Assyrians in their endeavor to escape from the judgment which Yahweh had decreed as punishment for their sins. But much earlier in Isaiah, in the burden of Egypt in Isaiah chapter 19, the prophet had begun warning the people of Judah against this, and the warnings continued throughout subsequent chapters. So in chapter 20 where the burden of Egypt continues we read in part, where it refers to the children of Judah as well as to the inhabitants of the coastal towns with whom Hezekiah had evidently been in league: “5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 6 And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?” The kings of Ethiopia, or properly Kush, had been in control of most of Egypt at that same time.

Likewise, in Isaiah chapter 21, the burden upon Arabia was also on account of the children of Judah who would flee to the south for refuge, as we read in reference to them that “14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. 15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.” There we had noted in relation to verse 14, that other translations have it to read “Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet the fugitive with bread.” Therefore just like Egypt, Arabia was also portrayed as having harbored the fugitives of Judah who would flee from the wrath of Yahweh, and the children of Judah, those who could not escape by sea, had nowhere to run, but here, as we continue with this 30th chapter of Isaiah, we shall see that they also had no reason to run. 

This chapter had opened with an explicit warning, that being rebellious and going to Egypt, or seeking the strength of the pharaoh for assistance, “3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” Then in verses 9 and 10 they were further admonished for being rebellious, and for demanding that their prophets tell them things that they wanted to hear, “smooth things” and deceits, evidently because in spite of God, unrepentant sinners need to find acceptance and validation for their sins. So we chose to end our last presentation in the middle of a statement which began with an admonishment but that also offers the hope of their only chance at salvation: “15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” If the people had heeded the prophet Isaiah, and if they had complied with the judgment of Yahweh for their captivity and punishment, they would have been saved from the encroaching Assyrians. But if they thought they could instead escape the punishment in flight, they would with all certainty be disappointed, and the outcome for them would be even more grievous.

Therefore in their predicament, not only was there no reason to run, but it was also futile to attempt to flee judgment and face death, rather than to comply with God and have an assurance of life. This lesson has serious implications once again today, as Babylon is about to fall, and countless myriads of sinners also continue to seek validation for their sin rather than turn to repentance. Their pastors tell them “smooth things” and preach deceits, just as it was in Isaiah’s time. So where the prophet continues here in Isaiah chapter 30, in the balance of his statement the people are portrayed once again as having preferred flight to obedience, as their attitudes concerning the offer of salvation is described in a dialog between them and their God:

16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 

This chapter explains the content of the burdens of Egypt and Arabia in more explicit terms, and this statement parallels and underscores verse 6 of this chapter where we read: “The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.” Therefore, those who would choose to flee in this manner would not prosper, and in the words which the prophet attributes to Yahweh, they are now warned that:

17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. 

The Hebrew word for beacon, תרן or toren (# 8650), literally describes a mast or a flagpole, since it describes a mast for ships in both Isaiah 33:23 and Ezekiel chapter 27 (27:5). The word appears only on these three occasions in Scripture. Here, beacon may be appropriate even if it is not literal, since a flagpole is set upon a mountain as a sign for something which can be seen all around. The clause “and as an ensign on a hill” is a Hebrew parallelism, whereby we should understand that use of the word for mast or flagpole here. The word for ensign, נס or nes (# 5251), is a standard or flag, or also a sign. 

Perhaps the reference conveys to the people of Judah the message that if they flee, nothing would be left of them but an example of the folly of attempting to escape the judgment of God. Similarly, we read in the warnings of disobedience in Deuteronomy chapter 28, as it is in the New American Standard Bible: “25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, but you shall flee seven ways before them, and you shall be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.” Perhaps rather than beacon, we may imagine a mast set up to be a grave marker on a mound raised to cover their dead bodies. 

However perhaps there is a more fitting interpretation, warning the people of Judah that if they fled, all that would be left of them would be Jerusalem, which we shall explain further when we come to the close of Isaiah chapter 31. The Assyrians in the days of Sennacherib had taken all of Judah, forty-six fenced cities and all of their villages, and took the survivors into captivity, so that nothing was left except Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was a sign that Yahweh God was there, which had been shown to all the people in the manner by which the city had been preserved. 

This warning reflects the precise opposite which the children of Israel had been promised if they were obedient to God, where we read in Joshua chapter 23: “9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.”

However if they did not love Yahweh their God, they would suffer, and in Deuteronomy chapter 32, just after the curses of disobedience had been given, and just before the Song of Moses is sung, Moses had foreseen the disobedience of Israel and we read in part: “28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. 29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?” So in Deuteronomy, Moses had prophesied of the very predicament which is described here in Isaiah, and which the children of Judah would experience in the years following this prophesy, from the fourteenth year of Hezekiah.

However now, as it is with at least many of the ominous prophecies of judgment for the children of Israel, here there is also a message of hope, and in this, it is even more evident that there was no reason to run:

18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 

While most of Judah was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and while some had escaped to Egypt and elsewhere only to face judgment later, Jerusalem was not taken, and would remain for nearly another hundred and twenty years, when it was destroyed by the Babylonians. That destruction had also already been assured in the words of Isaiah, for example in the parable of the vineyard which is found in Isaiah chapter 5, or the burden of the Valley of Vision found in Isaiah chapter 22. However in spite of those prophecies, throughout that remaining hundred and twenty years Yahweh had continually given the remnant at Jerusalem opportunities for repentance, and they could not repent. This process seems to be a prophetic type illustrating the patience or long-suffering, the forbearance and mercy of Yahweh, who punishes His children for their sins only as a last resort and after many warnings. But while this prophecy has a short-term fulfillment in the time of Hezekiah, and just as notably, that of Josiah, it also has an overarching fulfillment in the purpose of Christ.

So now, in spite of their affliction, they are promised teachers who would teach them in accordance with Yahweh their God. This stands in contrast to the prophets who would tell them “smooth things” and deceits who were mentioned earlier, in verse 10 of this chapter:

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 

The New American Standard Bible has translated the word for teacher here in the singular, implying that it describes Yahweh Himself, or is even a prophecy of Christ. But in the Hebrew manuscripts it is certainly plural, as it also is in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. Here it is evident that there were indeed teachers who had taught correctly in the years of Judah’s apostasy, but they were marginalized, “removed into a corner” by the rulers of the nation, so that they were not accessible by the people. But now, rather than the people going to the teachers, as we continue it is apparent that Yahweh would have these teachers to seek out the people, which certainly evokes the mission of the apostles of Christ:

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 

While we see the far-vision fulfillment of this prophecy in the advent of Christianity, even as European Christianity had come to be practiced in Medieval Europe there was a continuation of idolatry, as the churches which were later established by the empire had perpetuated many of the aspects of Greco-Roman and Mesopotamian paganism. So while the apostles of Christ certainly were teachers of the Way, meaning the way of Yahweh, and while there were some iconclasts among the Christians of the early centuries of those same established churches, the idolaters had eventually prevailed once again, and it wasn’t until the Reformation that any significant portion of European Christianity had in any degree begun to move away from the idolatry of worshipping the creation rather than the Creator. The idolatry of the established churches is nevertheless idolatry even if the idols are worshipped in the name of Christ, which is a much more grievous blasphemy. A statue of a Mary, Patrick or Christopher may just as well be statues of Athena, Zeus and Apollo.

But all of this also has a short-term fulfillment in the later days of Hezekiah. Although Isaiah does not bother to mention Hezekiah by name until the fourteenth year of his reign, outside of his introduction in chapter 1, these reforms in Judah which are prophesied here must have already begun by the time when these words were written. So in the opening of 2 Chronicles chapter 29 we read: “1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. 4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, 5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.”

Further on in the chapter, the Levites complied and we read in part: “15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.” Then in the balance of the chapter the Levites are described as having sanctified and restored the temple, which had evidently fallen into a state of neglect in the days of Ahaz, or perhaps even sooner. Then as 2 Chronicles continues, other things also become evident, such as the presence of a notable remnant of Israel which had up to this point escaped being taken into captivity by the Assyrians. While many of them may have been taken captive later, either by Assyrians or Babylonians, this helps serve to explain how there were Samaritans several centuries later, who in spite of having been despised by the Judaeans, had been accepted by Christ and His apostles. For this same reason, the Samaritan woman at the well, as it is recorded in John chapter 4, had claimed to have been of the children of Jacob, and Christ had apparently accepted her claim.

So we read in the opening verses of 2 Chronicles chapter 30: “1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. 5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. 6 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.” Of course, the Assyrians would be passing through the land again just a few short years later, and may certainly have taken at least some of these Israelites captive in addition to those of Judah, and then in the later time of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, populations had once again been relocated in Samaria and elsewhere in the region of ancient Israel, although it is evident that in the even later time of Josiah some Israelites had continued to remain, which is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 23.

After the remnant of the children of Israel had celebrated the Passover along with Judah, albeit on the wrong date, in 2 Chronicles chapter 31 Hezekiah’s reforms continue to be described and we read, in part: “1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.” Once the rest of Hezekiah’s reforms are described, and how the children of Israel celebrated the remaining feasts throughout that year, it becomes apparent that the reforms were underway as Isaiah was announcing the prophecies of this chapter, because in the opening verse of 2 Chronicles chapter 31 we read in part: “1 After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. 2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, 3 He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.” That same event is recorded here in Isaiah chapter 36, so it is still some short time future to the prophecies and the time in which they are recorded here in this chapter.

However even with this, the near-vision or short-term aspect of this prophecy was fulfilled, since the Assyrian siege failed and Jerusalem remained in spite of the fact that all of the other cities and villages of Judah had been taken into captivity, or had their people scattered or even slaughtered. However the reforms of Hezekiah were short-lived, mostly on account of his wicked son, Manasseh, who ruled Israel for fifty-five years after his father’s death. So we read much later, among other ominous prophecies against Jerusalem which are found in Jeremiah chapter 15: “4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.” So under Hezekiah, the people of Judah in Jerusalem were being given an opportunity for repentance, however they must have fallen short, and therefore they were punished with over half a century under the evil king Manasseh. With that, their destruction was further assured, in spite of the reforms of Josiah, who ruled for 29 years following Manasseh and his son Amon, and whose reforms had equaled or even surpassed those of Hezekiah here, although to a great extent, that had also been quickly undone by his own successors.

Yet on account of the reforms, there would also be a time of plenty, and we read:

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 

While this is merely an observation, it is certainly not a coincidence, that after the Reformation, the peoples of northern Europe who had departed from the Roman Church had blossomed and grown across new continents as they had displaced the indigenous populations, while the nations whose allegiance had remained with the Roman Church could expand only by absorbing and integrating with the indigenous populations in the particular areas where they were able to remain as colonists and maintain any degree of control. So for the most part, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies no longer bear any significant resemblance to the men who had brought them their cultures and languages, while to a great degree, the Northern European colonies grew into nations of people who still have their original European characteristics. Likewise, the new countries which had been founded by northern Europeans have been quite wealthy compared to those which had been founded under the auspices of the Roman Church, which are comparatively quite impoverished. Furthermore, the countries of eastern Europe which remained under the idolatrous Eastern Orthodox Church are also comparatively impoverished.

The promise in this passage of Isaiah accords with the blessings of obedience found in Deuteronomy chapter 28 where we read: “9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.”

However the far-vision or long-term nature of this prophecy now begins to manifest itself more clearly, because the subject of the prophet turns to the destruction of Assyria, although Assyria was not destroyed by Judah. Rather, as the prophecy of its destruction in Isaiah chapter 10 also indicates, Assyria was destroyed by Israelites in captivity, although they had been in league with the Persians, Medes and others. The balance of the text of this chapter also seems to be a digression, since in chapter 31 the prophet will turn back to the subject with which this chapter had begun.

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 

Except in particular circumstances, water does not remain atop mountains and hills, as it tends to run downwards. So the rivers and great streams of waters seem to represent tribes of people, and perhaps even the growth of the children of Israel in captivity, which had enabled them to challenge Assyria within approximately a hundred and thirty years of the earliest deportations of Israelites into Assyria.

While the fall of Assyria is the context of this prophecy, as later verses shall reveal, it also seems to have a greater purpose than that. So the phrase “when the towers fall” could describe the fall of Nineveh and the other great cities of Assyria which had been destroyed around 612 BC, but they also evoke visions of the fall of Babylon, and Mystery Babylon, and therefore stand as a type for the future.

26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. 

The fall of Assyria did not “bind up the breach of His people”, as we read here. Rather, in that time and thereafter it precipitated their having become even further scattered into Asia and Europe. However the coming of Christ did “bind up the breach of his people”, as the breach is the divide between the people and Yahweh their God. Therefore much later in Isaiah, in a series of Messianic prophecies we read, in part, in Isaiah chapter 58, where the children of Israel are being addressed: “11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”

In this same manner, Moses was depicted as having stood in the breach which was between Yahweh and the rebellious people of his own time, as we read in the 106th Psalm, speaking of the events of the Exodus: “19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; 22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea. 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.” So the “repairer of the breach” is one who makes supplication to Yahweh, while chastising the people to obedience as Moses had also done, and that is also the role of Yahshua Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 8:6, 9:15 and 12:24).

So where the light of the sun is seven times as intense, and its reflected light in the moon as intense as the sun is normally, that also seems to be an allegory for the knowledge of Yahweh among His people, which was magnified greatly with the spread and acceptance of the Gospel of Christ, who was also described as the Light come into the world (i.e. John 1:9, 9:5). So His apostles followed after the people, putting the gospel in their ears as we read here in verse 21, and they called their mode of life “the way”, as we also read in that same passage, showing the children of Israel The Way. As Paul of Tarsus had written in 2 Corinthians chapter 4: “5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

So in that same manner, although the fall of Assyria is the explicit subject here, it apparently does serve as a prophetic type for the wrath of Yahweh at the promised coming of Christ, and where Isaiah continues and we read:

27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. 

It seems that this is ominous of the destruction of Assyria and also the other nations of the world at that time, those of the empires which were centered in Mesopotamia. Within about a hundred years Assyria would be destroyed, and with four hundred years, the empires of Babylon and Persia would fall the the Greeks, as the center of civilization moved westward, to nations which had been chiefly founded by descendants of the ancient Israelites. Therefore, speaking to the people of Jerusalem we read:

29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

Here we may be confident that the nations sifted with the sieve of vanity are the nations other than Israel, because here the children of Israel are portrayed as rejoicing at the event, with gladness of heart.

30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. 

The Assyrian was described as the rod of Yahweh’s anger in Isaiah chapter 10: “5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.” Then, as it is written further on in Isaiah chapter 10: “12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” So the Assyrians would be punished by Yahweh some time after they had finished their employment in the punishment of Israel and Judah. Then, on account of the pride of the Assyrians, further on in the chapter we read: “16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.” This was indeed fulfilled in 612 BC, when the Kimmerians and Scythians had joined with Persians, Medes and Babylonian Chaldaeans in the destruction of Nineveh and the other prominent cities of the Assyrians.

Now the next verse in this passage also evokes statements found in the Revelation:

32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. 

Here it seems that “with tabrets and harps” the children of Israel would rejoice in their partaking of the vengeance of Yahweh upon the Assyrians. As for the “grounded staff”, in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible the phrase is translated as the “staff of His foundation”, referring to Yahweh. In Revelation chapter 2 Yahshua Christ makes promises to those who remain faithful to Him which are similar to what we have just seen in Isaiah chapter 10, where it says “the light of Israel shall be for a fire”, and we read: “26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.” Here the Assyrian is prophesied to fight with the grounded staff, and now, for that reason, because it is futile to fight against God we read:

33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. 

This form of the word translated as Tophet. תפתה or tophetah (# 8613), only appears here in Isaiah. Elsewhere it is only found in Jeremiah, where the shorter form תפת or tophet (# 8612) appears on eight occasions in seven verses in chapters 7 and 19, and then once it is translated as Topheth in 2 Kings chapter 23 (23:10). Both the etymology and meaning of the word are debated, and this is alluded to in Gesenius’ lexicon. Strong’s defines it according to what he asserts is the root word (# 8611), which has the same spelling and which means “a smiting, i.e. (figuratively) contempt”. Gesenius defines that form as spittle and therefore, that which is spit upon, giving an example from Job and attributing its use to designate something which is the most based or despised. [1]

But then where Gesenius defines this identically spelled word for Tophet, he offers “place of burning” and says that the word is “commonly taken as properly a place to be spit upon, i.e. abhorred; but this place [referring to the particular Tophet described in Jeremiah as having been in the Valley of Hinnom] appears to have borne this name amongst all, even the idolaters themselves. I prefer therefore (with Noldius … Lorsbach, and others) to take תפת [tophet] as i. q. [idem quod, the same as] תפתה [tophetah] (which see) and as signifying place of burning (the dead), and even place of graves.” There Gesenius referred his readers to the definition of תפתה or tophetah, which he defined as “place of burning, place of burning and burying dead bodies”, a definition which apparently was only derived from its use here in Isaiah, but where Gesenius claimed that this word was “of Assyric-Persian origin” and akin to the Greek word θάπτειν. [1] The Greek word, which certainly seems to be akin to Tophet, is defined by the Intermediate 7th edition of the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon as meaning “to pay the last dues to a corpse, to honour with funeral rites, i.e. in early times by burning the body, Homer: then, simply, to bury, inter, Herodotus, Attic Greek.” The Brown, Driver and Briggs Hebrew lexicon defines both tophet and tophetah as a place of burning, although they state that the etymology of tophet is doubtful. [2]

But the use of tophetah here does indicate that at least colloquially, it had been used to describe a place where bodies were burned and buried, and its use here also reveals the fact that cremation had indeed been used to dispose of the corpses of the dead in the time of Isaiah. However given the literal meaning of the root of the word, which described something held in contempt, perhaps cremation was used only of the bodies of one’s enemies killed in battle, as a sign of one’s contempt for them, in a manner which is not quite the same as the place called Tophet in the valley of Hinnom, a place which should have been despised because the bodies of innocent children were purposely sacrificed and burned there. Here in Isaiah, this use of the term is not describing any ritual sacrifice, but rather it is describing the disposal of the bodies of the king of Assyria and all those who would fight with him in battle, for which reason the place of burning would be made “deep and large”, and furnished with much fire and wood to fuel it. 

In any event, with such wonderful promises of the destruction of their enemies, we may fault the people of Judah for not realizing that it would be better for them to obey the prophet and to trust in Yahweh their God, whereby they may have went into Assyrian captivity peaceably, or may have even been preserved if they had gone into Jerusalem, and either way they would have shared the hope of one day assisting in the destruction of Assyria, as it is found in promises both here and in Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah had certainly sounded this warning in the ears of his contemporaries, who were the very people who would face this judgment. Therefore while they had no reason to run, evidently the people chose not to believe him, and now the prophet turns back to admonish them once again as we now commence with Isaiah chapter 31:

31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! 

This repeats and underscores the similar warnings of Isaiah chapter 30, and since Isaiah had been announcing these prophecies to the people, the repetition would have magnified the urgency of the admonitions. So now there is a further statement illustrating the fact that is was better if they had remained, and that if they had obeyed, that it would be better not to run:

2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 

Here is seems that the “house of the evildoers” is a reference to those of Judah who refuse to repent of their sin, and “the help of them that work iniquity” refers to the Egyptians who would come to the aid of such sinners. It does not really matter that the Egyptians were probably not conscious of the fact that Judah was being judged for its sins by their God. The next verse assures that this interpretation is correct:

3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall [the Egyptians], and he that is holpen shall fall down [those of Judah who seek help or refuge in Egypt], and they all shall fail together. 

So because the men of Judah would run to Egypt for help, both those who fled and those who gave them help, meaning the Egyptians themselves, would all fall. Now there is a more particular prophesy concerning Jerusalem, which also attests to them once again that they had no reason to run:

4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 

Generally, it seems that the lion is focused on and closing in on his prey, that for that reason he has no care or fear of anyone who would raise their voices against him. So against the encroaching Assyrians, Yahweh now promises to defend Jerusalem itself, a promise which evidently did not extend to the rest of Judah, the forty-six fenced cities and many villages which had been taken by the Assyrians:

5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it. 

Many long-time Identity Christians are enamored with British-Israel interpretations which had been purposely contrived in order to support the British-Israel sentiments for the British Empire. So there is a popular old British-Israel book titled As Birds Flying, which was written by one Andrew Adams and which posits the claim that this prophecy was fulfilled when the British general Allenby took Jerusalem from the Ottomans in 1917. But is that what this passage describes, that Jerusalem would be taken from some random enemy? Certainly not! Within the context of this passage, which is evident in verses 8 and 9, this verse is merely a promise that Yahweh would defend Jerusalem against the encroaching Assyrians.

The British-Israel acolytes and all other Identity Christians who have accepted this very deceptive and even childish interpretation seem to have done so simply because Andrew Adams’ antics validate their love for their empire. Nearly eight hundred years after Isaiah, the final words of Christ concerning Jerusalem state that it would be left desolate, as He described it in the Olivet Discourse, which contains His answer to the queries of the apostles concerning the Temple, His return, and the time of the end and which is found in Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21. Jerusalem would remain desolate until the children of Esau returned to rebuild it, according to the prophet Malachi in chapter 1 of his prophecy, after which time Yahweh has promised to destroy it once again. The return of the Jews to Jerusalem after the conquest of Allenby represents the beginning of the fulfillment of Malachi chapter 1, but it has nothing to do with this passage of Isaiah. Now that the British Empire has fallen, such British-Israel interpretations of Scripture should be relegated to the same fires of Tophet for which the king of Assyria was destined.

The actual fulfillment of this verse in the near-vision is recorded in 2 Chronicles chapter 32, where Sennacherib had sent his officers to the walls of the city, and the officers had mocked Yahweh God as if He had been helpless to defend the city. After having done that, we read: “19 And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man. 20 And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. 21 And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. 22 Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.” [This event also exhibits a problem with the chronology, since by the generally accepted reckoning, Sennacherib was not slain for twenty years after the failed siege of Jerusalem, while we would assert that it must have happened at a much closer time.]

Therefore the angel sent from heaven had defended Jerusalem “as birds flying”, and this prophecy has nothing to do with Edmund Allenby’s having taken a Jerusalem which had been desolate for over eighteen hundred years, and which remains desolate in the eyes of Yahweh God. While we shall not rule out a far-vision fulfillment of this prophecy relating to Revelation chapter 20 and the Camp of the Saints, that has yet to be seen. But it would be a defense of an allegorical Jerusalem represented in Christendom, and it would have nothing to do with the cesspit of devils in Palestine which the world supposes to be Jerusalem today.

Because Yahweh had promised to save Jerusalem itself from the Assyrians, Isaiah now makes another plea to the people:

6 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. 

Once the people have cast away their idols and repented and turned to their God, the promise to destroy Assyria shall be fulfilled:

8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. 9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Here, some short time before the siege of the Assyrians had begun, Yahweh God having already known all which would come to pass had Isaiah the prophet warn the people of what to do, and what not to do. If the people resisted, nothing would be left but an ensign, as we had read in verse 17 of chapter 30, and here in verse 9 of this chapter it is evident that Jerusalem itself was that ensign, an immediate sign that God is true as this prophecy unfolded over the few short years to come, from the point when Isaiah had recorded these words. But both the Assyrians, who had vaunted themselves against Yahweh, and the people of Jerusalem, who had seen the salvation of Yahweh in a rather miraculous manner, should have both understood the sign which it had left, that Yahweh God is true, and that Isaiah was truly His prophet.

This completes our commentary on Isaiah through chapter 31.

1 Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Baker Books, 1979, p. 872.

2 The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson Publishers, 2021, p. 1074.