A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 6: Why Hear the Warnings?

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 6: Why Hear the Warnings?

Here we shall continue our commentary on Isaiah with the later half of chapter 5, where we are still in the second vision that had been recorded in the words of the prophet. As we had explained, this vision runs through four chapters of the book, and now we are nearing its end. In the opening verses of the chapter there is a rather brief song of a vineyard. That the vineyard serves as an allegory for the children of Israel was stated explicitly where we read in verse 5 that “…the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant…” Later in Isaiah, in chapter 18, there is yet another description of a vineyard where we read what seems to have been a rather ominous warning: “5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches.” While we should not get too far ahead of ourselves, for now it may suffice to say that the vineyard in Isaiah chapter 18 is also an allegory for the children of Israel, and as we had already explained in relation to this chapter, it also relates to the Gospel of Christ and the Parable of the Vineyard, as well as the visions of the harvests of the grapes found in chapter 14 of His Revelation.

So, as we have also asserted, it is within this context that we should consider the parable of the vineyard, as well as the parable of the vineyard workers, which are found in the Gospel of Christ. This vineyard is a continuing allegory for the children of Israel, and this is also evident in Jeremiah, as we have already cited chapter 12 (12:10) where Yahweh is portrayed as having lamented that “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard…”

As we hope to exhibit throughout the later portions of Isaiah especially, the words of the prophets of Yahweh were frequently written in a manner in which they had an immediate application, which is made apparent once the relevant ancient history is studied, but those words also frequently contained elements which had not been fulfilled immediately, and which await fulfillment, by which we realize that they were intended to have more than one meaning, or in other words, multiple fulfillments. So many of the prophecies concerning Babylon were written in reference to a figurative Babylon, and Babylon is still a subject of prophecy long after the ancient city itself had been destroyed, which is evident in Mystery Babylon, the system of world commerce and government which is described in Revelation chapters 17 and 18. So it is also with Jerusalem, that the Jerusalem of the prophets is not always a reference to the ancient city, but rather, the ancient city was to be destroyed and never made whole again, as we read in a prophecy found in Jeremiah chapter 19.

The Jerusalem of prophecy often represents the centers of government wherever the children of Israel are found, which is evident in Micah chapter 4 where the Word of Yahweh had declared: “8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Then, in Revelation chapter 21, in a vision given to John, a new Jerusalem is seen descending from Heaven. In this same manner in every prophecy which mentions Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, and Zion the labels represent the same people of God even long after they are far away in captivity, and in those which mention Babylon, Assyria and Egypt, the labels represent captivity itself, and they must all be considered from two perspectives, the near vision and the far vision, until all of the elements of each prophecy are fulfilled.

This we should bear in mind when considering all of the words of the prophets, and therefore in this same manner we should also interpret the words of the prophet Joel. Joel chapter 3 indicates that the prophet wrote after the Assyrian deportations, when much of Judah was already taken into captivity, but before the fall of Jerusalem a hundred and twenty years later. So there in that very chapter we read a prophecy of Jerusalem which contains yet another allegory of the vineyard: “11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen [or nations], and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12 Let the heathen [or nations] be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen [or nations] round about. 13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”

There are elements of that prophecy of Joel which were clearly not fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC, or again in 70 AD, and they are not fulfilled as of yet. Even if the subject of the prophecy in the far vision is ancient Jerusalem, today the site of ancient Jerusalem is filled with strangers still, whereby we know it has not been fulfilled. But the subject is not ancient Jerusalem, and furthermore, while the vineyard is being reaped, that it is the surrounding nations which are being judged, and therefore this prophecy is in harmony with Revelation chapters 14 through 19 and the coming judgment of Christ, in whom Yahweh is indeed the Hope of His people, whereas ancient Jerusalem had no such immediate hope. As Christ had said in His Gospel, the destruction of ancient Jerusalem was an element of His vengeance against His enemies, and that is also prophesied in Daniel chapter 9. But as it is here in Joel, the vineyard parable is relevant to the children of Israel throughout Scripture, in Revelation chapter 14 it contains both parched or bitter grapes and ripe grapes, Yahweh God is the hope and strength of the children of Israel alone, and we cannot imagine that His intentions have changed since He gave His Word to His prophets.

Now, returning to Isaiah chapter 5, following the parable of the vineyard the prophet began to discuss some of the sins which justified the coming destruction of the Jerusalem of that time. The wealthier of the children of Judah had been oppressing the disadvantaged, and Yahweh sought judgment among them, but there was only oppression, as the men were enlarging their own estates at the expense of the less fortunate, their own brethren. So He likened them to wild grapes, and vowed to destroy the vineyard. Now, from the point where we had left off, it commences with a series of woes that further illustrate the nature of their sins:

18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Reading these things, we must bear in mind that Isaiah was writing these words some time before the death of Uzziah king of Judah, or around 743 BC, and although many of the people of Judah went into Assyrian captivity in the days of Hezekiah around 701 BC, Jerusalem would not be destroyed until 586 BC. So although they had been given over a hundred and fifty years from this time, it is evident that the people would still not repent. However if everything in society appears as if there is nothing wrong, or that things will continue on as they have already been, then why hear the warnings? In Isaiah chapter 6, we shall learn why the people could not hear the warnings, and why many could not hear them even if they would have wanted to hear them.

There is a parallelism in text of verse 18, and both phrases refer to the same phenomenon. To draw iniquity with cords of vanity and to sin as it were with a cart rope, the people are not merely caught up in some sin, but rather, they are purposely drawing sin, or iniquity, to themselves, or along with themselves, as an ox draws a cart. But in the reference to vanity Yahweh is describing their efforts as futile, and now they are portrayed as having rebelled even further:

19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

It is not that the people had actually sought to see the Word of God fulfilled, but rather, they are daring it to happen, and taking for granted that it would not happen to them. The words may not have been uttered by any individual, but rather, they represent the general sentiments of the society of Judah at the time. By challenging the words of the prophet, the people are portrayed as challenging Yahweh Himself. They need not have done so explicitly, but the words are meant to characterize the nature of their deeds.

As we have explained, Isaiah must have been publicly announcing these visions as warnings to the people, and the people must have scoffed at his warnings. The books of the prophets are records of their public proclamations to the people. While perhaps they were also made in the synagogues, such public proclamations were usually made in the gates of the cities, especially the heavily travelled gates near the markets, where people would often be concentrated and where it was customary for the judges to conduct the civil business of the population. So later in Isaiah, in chapter 29, Isaiah had warned those who “make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate…” There it is evident that not only had they scoffed at the words of the prophet, but at least some of them may have even desired to do away with him. When there is bread on the table and all appears to be well, why hear the warnings? Where wickedness prevails, the people are vexed by the warnings.

From the very beginning there were scoffers who doubted that punishment for sin would ever come upon them. The lie of the serpent was “ye shall not surely die”, but for their sins Adam and Eve had found death. Even the children of Israel who witnessed for themselves the wonders of the exodus from Egypt had nevertheless sinned repeatedly, in the very presence of the God who had delivered them. In chapter 3 of his second epistle, the apostle Peter wrote similarly where we read: “1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Then, after making an analogy of the flood of Noah and reminding his readers that a day to God is as a thousand years, Peter warned “10 But the day of the Prince shall come as a thief, at which the heavens shall pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements shall dissolve with burning heat and the earth and the works in it shall be discovered.”

So as it was in Isaiah’s time, Peter had warned that it would be once again, that awaiting the judgment of God, sinners would scoff and deny that it would ever come. So while Isaiah’s Jerusalem would not be destroyed for another hundred and fifty years or so, Noah had a hundred and twenty years to build the ark before the world of his time would be destroyed in judgment. On nearly every day he must have seen his neighbors scoff at his effort, as he built an ark on dry land and evidently far away from any sea. But once the judgment came, the sinners died in precisely the manner which Yahweh had promised. Why hear the warnings? Because such judgment is going to happen once again, but sadly once again, most men will never hear the warnings. So as Isaiah now exclaims, they would rather live by their own word, by their own laws:

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

This follows the same pattern for which reason the wicked are portrayed as saying, in chapter 2 of the Wisdom of Solomon that: “11 Our strength must be the law of righteousness, for that which is weak is proved to be useless. 12 We should lie in wait for the righteous because he is intractable to us and opposes our works, and he reproaches us for our transgressions of the law, and imprecates upon us for the transgressions of our training.” This is the so-called phenomenon of “might makes right”, which is absolutely wrong, and the wicked recognize the righteous, so they know what is truly right, but they nevertheless reject it and they scoff, desiring to live by their own right.

The society which rejects God makes its own rules, or its tyrants make its rules, or in a presumed democracy, the largest mob makes its rules but the mob is always influenced by nefarious figures. The laws of Yahweh God are righteous, and sin is transgression of the law, as the apostle John had written in chapter 3 of his first epistle. However the godless society with its own rules is always contrary to the laws of God. So it naturally oppresses the righteous, as Solomon had explained, and that is an underlying theme here in Isaiah as the children of Israel provoke the judgment of God.

We can imagine the state of society in the time of Isaiah in the circumstances which are evident at the time of the reforms of Josiah about a hundred years later, where in 2 Kings chapter 22 it is recorded that the temple of Yahweh had long been neglected, and Josiah had sought to have it renovated. So in the process, a book of the law was discovered in the debris, “8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.” So among the resulting actions of Josiah the king, we read in part in chapter 23: “7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove…. 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.”

So it may be said that in response to reading the law, Josiah had cleansed the land of both Sodomites and full-term abortion clinics. He also closed down the temples of Baal and Asherah, where both Sodomites and fornicators frequently had been “married” at the altars. Much earlier, there had been a reform in the days of Asa king of Judah, a great-grandson of Solomon, who ruled over two hundred years before Josiah. Of him we read in 1 Kings chapter 15: “12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.” So it is evident that many other kings had allowed the sodomites to flourish, but even Asa did not complete the task, and we read of his son, Jehoshaphat, in 1 Kings chapter 22: “46 And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.” Long before the days of Josiah, the Sodomites must have flourished once again, and perhaps even as they do now.

Today, in a godless America, men are permitted to “marry” men, and may even compel the wider society to treat them as women, and the society esteems these sins as “good”. So rather than a Christian nation, we have a nation governed by the worship of Baal. The race-mixing which Yahweh God has forbidden is also promoted throughout our society, and that is considered “good”, as it was in the days of Baal. But those who resist and speak out against Sodomy and fornication, those who are trying to actually do what is good in the eyes of God, are excoriated as being evil by the same society. Those who would do good are demonized by the wicked society which considers good to be evil. It is safe to say that most people in our formerly Christian society now “call evil good, and good evil”, and that same phenomenon had brought the judgment of God upon the ancient children of Israel. For those very sins, their society was destroyed, and the apostles of Christ, who functioned as His prophets, have declared that this would happen once again. Why hear the warnings? Because the sinful society will not mock God forever. Nobody believed Rome would fall, except perhaps the followers of the Christian bishop Irenaeus, who understood that the Revelation prophesied the fall of Rome, and he described his understanding in writing three hundred years before it actually happened.

The woes continue:

22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: 23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

The Septuagint interpreted the grammar in a somewhat different manner, and as Brenton interpreted the Greek, where it has “22 Woe to the strong ones of you that drink wine, and the mighty ones that mingle strong drink.” The Hebrew word for drink is שׁכר or shekar (# 7941), which may be interpreted as beer or more appropriately, liquor or some other strong drink besides wine. While it is not evident that distilled liquors were known in ancient Israel, there were other liquors fermented from dates, figs or honey, which were distinguished from wine. The ancient Greeks called beer οἶνος κρίθινος or barley wine, which they apparently did not make themselves, but which Herodotus described as having been made in Egypt, in Book 2 of his Histories (2.77). But the translators of the Septuagint, and Luke in his account of the Gospel, used the word σίκερα to describe liquor, which is borrowed from the Hebrew word shekar. Either the Greeks had no word for what the Hebrew word שׁכר or shekar had described, or the Septuagint translators were not familiar with it if the did.

So the same sinners who would reverse the perception of good and evil in society, are also portrayed here as having been lovers of pleasure, and as men who would justify the wicked for their own gain, ostensibly so that they may continue in luxury and pleasure. Then, by favoring the wicked, they join in depriving the righteous whose property the wicked seek for themselves. Perhaps doing that, they also “take away the righteousness of the righteous” because their actions and their depravity force the righteous to commit sins, even in order to survive.

Today this is accomplished in part through wealth redistribution programs enforced by the various governments of formerly Christian nations, which now follow along with the same policies of the godless communist nations. But it is also accomplished through laws which favor international corporations, and which have given certain of those corporations full and exclusive control of the currencies of the nations, through a usurious banking system. By controlling the currency, the flow of wealth is in the hands of the wicked, and they alone choose who may own and develop land, or harvest the resources of the earth, or produce goods for trade in merchandise. They also choose who may succeed in distributing information, and therefore, education, to the people whom they hold captive.

The wicked who seek to rule by their own law were portrayed in the Wisdom of Solomon in this same manner, where in chapter 2 we read words attributed to them which say: “5 For our time is a passing of a shadow and there is no step back from our death because it is assured and no one returns. 6 Therefore come and enjoy the existing good things and eagerly use the creation like in youth. 7 We should be filled with costly wine and ointments, and the flower of spring must not pass us by. 8 We should crown ourselves with rosebuds before withering. 9 Not one of us must be without a share of our luxury. Everywhere we should leave behind tokens of our cheerfulness, because that is our portion and this our lot.” This is the fabled “one percent” who rule over the people today, and who ruled over the people of antiquity. However they have unwitting allies in every corner of society, in the people who subscribe to their sin and hope to profit from it for themselves. So many men who cannot hear the warnings happily enforce or uphold the unjust laws by which the wicked have oppressed the righteous. Oppressing the righteous, they live off of “capital” and the usury gained in its employment, but they themselves do not engage in any actual labor.

At the end of that same chapter of Wisdom, Solomon had professed that “21 These things they reckoned, and they were deceived; for their malice had blinded them, 22 and they did not know the mystery of God, nor did they hope for the reward of piety, nor did they discern a gift of honor for unblemished souls.” Now, here in Isaiah, a certain end is declared for men who sin in this manner:

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

It is recorded in John chapters 14 and 15 that Yahshua Christ had admonished His disciples by telling them “If ye love me, keep my commandments”, and “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” So even in Revelation chapter 18, where Mystery Babylon falls, those who do not hear the warnings are destined to suffer the punishments which shall be brought upon the wicked, where we read: “3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”

But in this same manner which we see here in Isaiah, the apostle Peter had written in that same place where he spoke of those who in the last days would scoff at the coming judgment of God, and where he continued he said: “5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: [in the flood of Noah] 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

In Romans chapter 15 the apostle Paul had written “4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” If men today are ignorant of the Scriptures, and do not hear the warnings, then their ignorance is willful, according to Peter. Our hope as Christians should be that Yahweh God brings His judgment upon the world of the wicked, and therefore the proof of our hope, the sign that it will indeed be fulfilled, is found here in Isaiah, as well as in the other prophets, because not long after Isaiah had warned of the imminent destruction of Israel and Judah, his words had come to pass. Many of the people of Judah and Jerusalem were indeed destroyed in this manner, by the Assyrians in 701 BC, and then again the task was completed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. While hundreds of thousands of the people of ancient Israel and Judah survived in captivity, many more were devoured as stubble and consumed like chaff in the fire. It is going happen again.

Yet even if the people suffered the nefarious influence of the wicked, their sin is their own doing, and their partaking in the sins of the wicked is their own fault, and as Isaiah continues:

25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

And once again, as he had done earlier in his prophecy, Isaiah speaks in the past tense, as if what he was prophesying had already been fulfilled, because there was confidence that it would be fullfilled. Where the King James Version has “their carcases were torn”, the New American Standard Bible has “their corpses lay like refuse”, and that agrees with the manner in which the phrase was interpreted in the Septuagint, for which Brenton has “their carcasses were as dung”. The Hebrew word סוחה or cuchah means dung, or manure, but the translators of the King James Version often used English euphemisms, or in examples such as this, even substituted words of a different meaning, which is patently dishonest, and they had done so evidently because their self-righteous Elizabethan prudery would not permit them to portray the Word of God as it was preserved in its original languages. We had encountered another example off that in Isaiah chapter 3, where in verse 17 in the King James Version we read “the LORD will discover their secret parts”, but the phrase actually means to state that “Yahweh will expose their vaginas”. The euphemisms detract from the intended impact of the warnings, and they also help lead men to develop a false sense of morality. But once the true meaning is revealed, it is also seen that the harsh punishment is even more fitting for the sins which had been committed.

Where the anger of Yahweh God for the sins of Israel begins with His people, the apostle Peter had likewise warned, in chapter 1 of his first epistle, “17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” So now there is another ominous warning of destruction for their sins:

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

This describes the coming judgments that were executed upon Israel and Judah by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. As we read in Isaiah chapter 10, the Assyrians were the rod of Yahweh’s anger, whom He had used to punish Israel and Judah for their sins. However later, the Assyrians themselves were destroyed for their arrogance, or haughtiness, as it is in the Septuagint where we read: “12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes.”

So while the Assyrians, and also the later Babylonians, shall be punished for their destruction of Israel, in the meantime, when these armies are used to punish Israel and Judah, as Isaiah describes it here, they shall have no impediment in that process, so they would not even suffer the least of the inconveniences which soldiers may suffer, such as a broken shoe on a long march. In verse 27, the Septuagint has hunger rather than stumble. Now as he continues to describe them, the warning becomes even more ominous:

28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. 30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

The comparisons to lions are meant to underscore both the speed and strength of the enemy armies come to punish Judah for its sins. Perhaps “the light is darkened in the heavens thereof” as a result of the fires rising up from the burning cities and villages and the smoke which would cover the land, although as Brenton has it, the Septuagint reads “…there shall be thick darkness in their perplexity.” This happened in ancient Judah, the subject of this prophecy, where we read in 2 Kings chapter 18: “13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” This happened not much more than forty years after Isaiah had written these words. The number of the cities is learned from Assyrian inscriptions which we hope to describe in detail in relation to latter chapters of Isaiah, where it is stated that before the siege of Jerusalem, Sennacherib had taken 46 fenced cities of Judah, and had removed over 200,000 captives and relocated them in countries far to the north.

We have this record in both the prophetic and historical books of Scripture as an example so that we may learn from the patterns of sin and judgment, and the same patterns are also evident in the history of Israel from the time of the period of the Judges. But history repeats itself because men do not hear the warnings, and dismissing the Word of God, they do not even consider the lessons which it contains. They would rather live by their own laws and righteousness, rather than those which had been decreed by God, ostensibly because they have wicked intentions. So they fall into the same patterns of sin and punishment which bring us to the point which we are at today.

In Revelation chapter 20, there is a very similar prophecy which is being fulfilled before our very eyes, and while Satan, or the Adversary, is credited with the circumstances, even everything that is done by devils can succeed only within the permissive Will of Yahweh God. So there we read: “7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

Although we cannot exposit this completely here at this time, we have done that elsewhere, for example, in our 2015 presentation titled The Camp of the Saints Revisited. Because of an interpolation in verse 5 of Revelation chapter 20 which was made in later manuscripts, men are confused as to when this prophecy may be fulfilled, even if it is happening before our very eyes. Currently, all of the nations which were once known as Christendom are being overrun with aliens, chiefly with males of military age, under the guise of their being “immigrants”, “refugees” or “asylum seekers”, terms by which the adversaries of Christ, embodied primarily in international Jewry, have deceived the world so that they may flood the once Christian but now sinful White nations with tens of millions of their own foot soldiers. This has already been accomplished to a significant degree. There is nothing which may be done about it, and even the police and military protect and serve the aliens while displaying much less regard for their fellow citizens. The resulting punishments of sinners and of those who have rejected God will now be magnified and grow increasingly more severe until the day that the children of Israel repent of their sins and return to Yahweh their God in Yahshua Christ. It is only at that point that Yahweh God will turn away His wrath and come to the defense of His people. All of this is also prophesied in other scriptures, but especially in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, where language precisely similar to that of Revelation chapter 20 was used to describe the same then-future events.

In the time of Isaiah, there must have been at least some men who could hear the warnings, and who had heard them. That is apparent because his writings are preserved for us today, so men obviously took care to preserve them. The veracity of his writings is established by the historical and archaeological records as well as in later Scriptures. So it is also apparent that Isaiah’s words must have been declared in Judah for many years after his own death, which was some time after the death of Hezekiah the king of Judah. Then, once these things were fulfilled, Isaiah was vindicated and proven to have been a true prophet of Yahweh, along with the men who preserved his writings, and they continued to be preserved to this very day. This is how we know that the prophets of God are true, and that we too shall witness these things, because the people of Israel are once again in a state of sin, the same state described here in Isaiah, and therefore it is inevitable that they suffer the same judgment.

Now we have completed our discussion of Isaiah chapter 5, and his second vision, and we shall commence with chapter 6, where in its opening verse we see that the context is broken and Isaiah shall have another vision.

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

While there are problems with the chronology of the kings of Judah, it is apparent that Uzziah had died some time around 740 BC, but Isaiah had supplied us with very few details which may assist us with a better reckoning of the chronology of this period. Except for Hezekiah, only a couple of other kings of Judah and Israel are even mentioned in his writings, in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 7. In any event, while Hosea had also prophesied up to the time of Hezekiah, by this time the ministry of Amos, who seems to have prophesied some time earlier that Isaiah, is certainly completed. Now Jotham, the son of Uzziah, had already had a co-regency with his father for some years, as we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 26 (26:21), and now he will rule alone as king of Judah. In chapter 27 of that same book we are informed that he ruled for 16 years, however it is unclear whether that includes the many years of his co-regency.

Where Isaiah attested that “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne”, this is the third vision recorded in his ministry, and it is described in its entirety here in chapter 6 of his book. So now he describes what he saw above, or in the Septuagint, “round about” the throne of God, whom he had described with the Hebrew phrase אדני or adoni, which is “my lord” or “my master”, a form of the Hebrew term אדנ or adon which is a lord or master with the letter yodh (י) appended as a suffix meaning “of me”.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

The word seraphims is redundant, since שׂרפים or seraphim is a transliteration of the plural form of the Hebrew word שׂרף or seraph (# 8313, 8314). In English Bibles the word appears only here in Isaiah. Primarily Strong’s defined seraph as burning or figuratively, poisonous, and that is true even if it is not literally the meaning of the term. In other parts of speech, the word may mean burning or to be set on fire, definitions which are also offered in Strong’s. In his own lexicon, Gesenius offered a primary definition of the word which is not at all evident in Strong’s, which is “to suck in, to absorb, to drink in, to swallow down”, citing ambiguous peripheral sources including the Hexapla. Then secondarily he has “to absorb with fire, i.e. to burn, to consume… also to burn, and to bake (bricks) by burning” where for that last use he cited Genesis 11:3 where the King James Version has “…let us make brick, and burn them throughly.” [1] The Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew lexicon agrees with the later part of that definition in Gesenius, where it gives the primary definition of the word as burn, as a verb, but also cites examples where in appropriate tenses it apparently also had described the person doing the burning, or even the thing that was burnt. [2]

Where in verse 8 of Numbers chapter 21 Moses had been told to make a “fiery serpent”, as it appears in the King James Version, he was actually only told to make a seraph, and “fiery serpent” is the interpretation of the translators, even when the Hebrew was translated into the Greek of the Septuagint. What Moses had made was indeed a serpent, as the word for serpent does appear in verse 9 of the chapter where we read that “Moses made a serpent of brass”. So it is nevertheless evident that while a seraph may be made in the form of a serpent, a seraph is not necessarily a serpent, and since the word means only burning, a seraph may be made in many other forms.

The same Hebrew word appears as burn of bricks in Genesis 11:3, and as burnt in Genesis 38:4 where before she was vindicated, Judah had unrighteously spoken of Tamar and said “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.” It is strange that some modern lexicons define seraph as “fiery serpent” because by itself the word does not bear such a meaning. Moses was told to make something burning or burnished, and he made something in the form of a serpent, but something burning or burnished could have had any other form, and still have been a seraph. Therefore we should not imagine that these seraphim here in Isaiah were necessarily in the form of serpents. They were merely burning or glittering symbols with faces, feet and wings.

In order to better understand the nature of these seraphim, perhaps a similar but more detailed vision found in Ezekiel chapter 1 may help, where the prophet saw creatures with faces, feet and wings that he described as “living creatures” which “sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.” But in any event, we should not imagine that the seraphim constitute an order of angels or celestial beings which have personalities and consciences of their own. That is an illustration of the idolatry of both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Now Isaiah reacts with an expression of humility:

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

A man of unclean lips: The word for lips, שׂפה or saphah (# 8193) may also mean language or speech, as it is sometimes translated. Every man says something wrong at one time or another, and all men sin, so no man can claim to have clean lips. So for this reason, Isaiah, imagining the vision which he had seen to have been of Yahweh Himself, humbly confesses his unworthiness to have seen such a wonder.

But now Isaiah is granted mercy for his unclean lips:

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Of course, Yahweh alone may forgive sin, but the act of the seraph in this vision serves as a symbol of that forgiveness.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Here Yahweh is described as having desired a prophet, a messenger who would convey His Word to the people, and Isaiah had promptly volunteered, having been eager to serve in such a capacity. The phrase “the Lord” in this verse is once again from the Hebrew phrase אדני or adoni, and should have been translated as “my lord”.

Now the message which Yahweh had given Isaiah to convey is relevant here in relation to Judah, but it is also relevant elsewhere, and in the Gospel it was cited by Yahshua Christ Himself in reference to the things that He would suffer in Jerusalem, nearly eight hundred years after the death of Uzziah:

9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Now we cannot wonder how it is that we can speak to our brethren even until we are blue in the face, expounding the Scriptures, and they hear every word, yet they do not understand what we are saying to them. Here Yahweh informs us as to why that happens, that people will not hear the warnings.

This passage was cited by Christ in Matthew chapter 13, where the tense of the verbs was adjusted to fit the context of His Own time: “14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” A shorter version of the citation is found in Mark chapter 4 (4:12), in his account of this same event, where Christ had preached to the people by the shore of the sea of Galilee. At this event, Christ made this citation in an explanation to His apostles of why He had spoken to the people in parables, rather than in plain language. So in this same context, this passage is paraphrased in Luke chapter 8 (8:10).

Later, in Acts chapter 28 (28:26-27) Paul of Tarsus cited this passage in reference to the Judaeans of Rome who had rejected his account of the Gospel. Likewise, in Romans chapter 11 (11:8) Paul had cited this verse in reference to the disbelieving of Israel among the Judaeans. But finally, in John chapter 12, the apostle reflects back on the ministry of Christ and says “37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” The first citation of Isaiah in that statement is from Isaiah chapter 53, and then John insisted that the same Isaiah had written this prophecy here in Isaiah chapter 6, so once again we see that the same Isaiah had written the entire book which is known to us by that name.

Now before commenting further, Isaiah asks a question concerning this blindness which would come upon the people, and he receives an immediate answer:

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

As Brenton had translated the passage, the Septuagint has verse 12 to read “12 And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.” But the reading of the final clause in the New American Standard Bible says “And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.” With that the Dead Sea Scrolls seem to agree, where it has “and desolate places are multiplied in the midst of the land.” In Hebrew the verb translated as desolate places is a feminine participle, which agrees with the feminine noun for land, and we would assert that it is describing the degree to which the land would be made desolate, and not to any people as it is in the Septuagint.

Here it is apparent, that the original context of this prophecy as it appears in this passage was that the people of Judah would be blinded and that they would not understand the Word of God so that the Word of God which was spoken by the prophets concerning the imminent destruction and captivity of Judah and Jerusalem would be fulfilled. So men were blinded because it was decreed by Yahweh that they suffer this punishment for their sins, and they could not have opened their eyes to the truths of the prophecy even if they had sought to do so. So there are sinners who are awaiting the punishment to which Yahweh God has assigned them, and they will not find repentance, they will not hear the warnings, perhaps at least until the punishment is executed.

But Yahshua Christ had used this prophecy in relation to His Own time, because it was just as true in His situation. It was already prophesied that He would be cut off on behalf of the people, something which was necessary for Him to do in order to free His people from the law of the Husband, as Paul had explained in Romans chapter 7. So if all of His people had understood Him and repented, His passion would very likely have been hindered. So they were all blinded, the wicked and the righteous, so that His Word would be fulfilled.

Then later, Paul of Tarsus cited the same passage in reference to Judaeans who continued to reject the Gospel of Christ even after the resurrection, because Paul also knew that the Judaeans were destined to be destroyed by the Romans, and he expressed that understanding in Romans chapter 16 where in reference to them he wrote: “ 20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly….” Therefore in Romans chapter 11, and later, in Acts chapter 28, Paul was only acknowledging that there were Judaeans who would not be converted to Christ, because they were destined by Yahweh God to suffer punishment in their state of apostasy.

Seeing all this, even today we must understand that many of our own people shall not repent until Babylon falls, and may not even repent then, because on account of their sins Yahweh has destined them to suffer a certain punishment. When men are blinded, it is a judgment from Yahweh. It may only be on account of the fact that His Word must be fulfilled before He opens their eyes, or it may be a result of their sin and their having to experience a certain punishment on account of that sin. In any event, when men are blinded and cannot understand the Scripture or hear the warnings or read the signs of the times, it is the Will of God that they remain blind until His Will is fulfilled.

Now for the final verse of Isaiah chapter 6, where there is a sign of hope:

13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

There is not a translation of this passage with which I am satisfied, and many of them have made elaborations which, in my opinion, offend the sense and meaning of the Hebrew in this context in which it appears. The Septuagint also has a strange interpretation, some of which may be accounted for if we imagine that there may have been differences in the original Hebrew manuscript, where Brenton has it to read “13 And yet there shall be a tenth upon it, and again it shall be for a spoil, as a turpentine tree, and as an acorn when it falls out of its husk.” Brenton’s translation of the Greek word προνομή as burning here is an innovation, as the word generally means foraging.

Here I will repeat Young’s Literal Translation, since at least it has no elaborate additions: “And yet in it a tenth, and it hath turned, And hath been for a burning, As a teil-tree, and as an oak, that in falling, Have substance in them, The holy seed is its substance!'”

That word which Young and others translated as substance, מצבתה or matsabah (# 4678, 5324), is also a pillar, monument or memorial, according to Brown, Driver, Briggs [3]. Strong’s original Concordance primarily defined it as “a monumental stone”. So I would translate this passage to read:

13 Yet a tenth shall return and shall be kindled; like a tree, even like an oak, in order that with its felling is a monument, through which the Holy Seed shall be a monument.

We would assert that this is a prophecy of the return from captivity of the 42,000 men of Judah who had accompanied Zerubbabel in his return from Babylon, as well as the smaller numbers who returned later, in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. These became a monument on account of the fact that it was through them that the Messiah had come, and in their apostasy and resulting destruction the much greater number of the children of Israel spread abroad had ultimately received the promised mercy and reconciliation to God which is found in the words of the prophets. So today, all of the holy seed who are in Christ are indeed a monument to the Truth of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Looking at the condition of the nations formerly known as Christendom today, soon we may also be little but a monument, a memorial to our own stubborn and backsliding nature. But in the end there is a greater promise, that every knee shall bow. That is a subject for the later chapters of Isaiah.

1 Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Baker Books, 1979, p. 795.

2 The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson Publishers, 2021, p. 976.

3 Brown-Driver-Briggs, pp. 662-663.