Commentaries and Podcasts

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

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

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

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 22: The Justice in Judgment

With our last presentation here, The Burden of Tyre, concluding Isaiah chapter 23 the prophet seems to have finally come to the end of his long list of burdens concerning certain of the people of the ancient world of Israel. So, as we hope to have explained, the burdens of Babylon, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, the Desert of the Sea, Dumah – which much more likely should have been Edom, the burden of Arabia and the burden of Jerusalem in the Valley of Vision, and finally, the burden of Tyre, had all actually been directed at Israelites who had been in the process of being taken into captivity, or in the process of trying to avoid captivity. So even where statements are made concerning Babylonians, Egyptians or Arabians, they were made for the sake of the children of Israel, and not for the sake of those others. The entire Bible was written for the sake of the children of Israel, and the others are of no consequence unless Yahweh uses them to punish Israel. So each of the burdens were ominous warnings for Israel, but Israel was also granted some degree of hope or mercy throughout.

As we closed Isaiah chapter 23, concerning the Tyrians the promise of mercy was quite subtle, where, speaking of the merchandise of ancient Tyre, the Word of Yahweh declared that it would be “for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.” This message of hope for the Israelites of Tyre, those of the Tyrians who dwell before Yahweh, evokes the words of Christ in Luke chapter 12 where He told His disciples, in part: “27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Having food and raiment is enough of a blessing, and it is also probably better than one may expect in a time of judgment. The word for durable is עתיק or athiq (# 6266) and Strong’s defined it as “probably antique, i.e. venerable or splendid” so it is evident that Yahweh would even clothe them well. Likewise, He would also feed them well, as the word for sufficiently is שׂבעה or sobah (# 7654) which is defined as satiety, so that they would be satisfied with their victuals. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 21: The Burden of Tyre 

Since Isaiah chapter 13 and the burden of Babylon, the prophet has announced an entire series of burdens against what may be considered to have been the world of ancient Israel at this time in history, with the death of Ahaz and the first few years after Hezekiah had become king of Judah. In the course of these burdens, there is no mercy for Babylon, nor for the king of Babylon. But there is mercy for the Israel in the burdens of Moab and Damascus. There was also mercy for the Israelites of the “land shadowing with wings”, which are evidently those of the Assyrian deportations who were portrayed as making a future supplication to God. Then there were expressions of hope and mercy for the people of Judah who would flee into Egypt, although they would suffer for having done so, and plausibly also for those who would flee into Arabia. However in the course of those burdens, there was no hope or mercy extended to the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Edomites or Arabians. Then finally, in the Valley of Vision, which was an oracle against Jerusalem, there were continued expressions of hope for the people of Judah in the face of an ominous condemnation, even if that hope is expressed enigmatically in the promise of the Key of David. Now we come to the final burden of the series, and it is the burden of Tyre, and even though Tyre itself is condemned, as Jerusalem had been, there are still messages of hope and mercy for at least a portion of its people, as we shall see here in our discussion of Isaiah chapter 23.

So now, discussing the Burden of Tyre, we must first make an insistence, that the Phoenicians of the Judges and Kingdom periods of ancient Israel certainly had been Israelites, at least for the most part, in spite of the general insistence of modern Jewry that they had been Canaanites. So on most Bible maps which are published today, a land labeled as Phoenicia is demarcated in a manner where it appears to have been separate from the land of the tribes of Israel. But that is not true, and every Bible map which has done so has perpetuated a lie which is contrary to the actual text of Scripture. The evidence of this is seen as early as Judges chapter 5, where in the Song of Deborah the prophetess had lamented that “17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.”

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 20: The Valley of Vision 

Having left off in our last presentation with the burden of The Desert of the Sea in the middle of Isaiah chapter 21, we are coming to the end of a series of prophecies which had begun in Isaiah chapter 13 with the burden of Babylon, and, on the surface, the burdens seem to have been against all of the nations or places surrounding ancient Judah. Yet in the course of our discussion we hope to have demonstrated that even though they seem to be quite enigmatic, many of them are actually relevant to the children of Israel, and many of them are even more relevant to the far vision of the future of Israel, from Isaiah’s time, rather than to the immediate circumstances and events which had befallen them in ancient times. 

So for reasons which we have already explained, the burden of Babylon is apparently more relevant to the future world empires and the entity known as Mystery Babylon in the Revelation, than it was to the short-lived empire of Nebuchadnezzar, and the burden against the king of Babylon is relevant to all of the rulers of that same long line of empires which had been in Isaiah’s future. The burden of Moab was actually directed towards the Israelites who had dwelt east of the River Jordan, the burden of Damascus towards the Israelites who dwelt in Syria, and the oracle for “the land shadowing with wings” was meant for Israelites of the Assyrian captivity, while the burden of Egypt served as a warning to the remaining people of Judah, not to flee to Egypt for refuge from the coming Assyrians. The last of these burdens that we have already discussed is the “burden of the desert of the sea”, which we had described as having represented the general mass of the world’s peoples who, in the near vision, would face the coming rise of the empire of the Persians and the Medes. So in that sense, it was another prophecy against Babylon, and therefore the declaration that Babylon is fallen was made near its end. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 19: The Desert of the Sea

In the King James Version of the Bible, the Hebrew name כושׁ or Kush (# 3568) is usually translated as Ethiopia. Exceptions to this are found only in the genealogy of the sons of Ham, in Genesis chapter 10, and in the copy of that genealogy which is repeated in 1 Chronicles chapter 1, where the personal name Kush is properly transliterated as Cush. This is a cause of confusion, because the Cush of Genesis chapter 10 was certainly the patriarch of the tribe of Cush which had inhabited Mesopotamia and parts of the adjacent land to the west which had later become known as Arabia. Cush also inhabited parts of the lands of east of the Tigris River which eventually became part of later Persia. However in modern times the word Ethiopia is only associated with the land to the south of Egypt in Africa.

Doing this, the King James translators had only followed the same convention which had been used in the much earlier Greek Septuagint translation of Scripture. There, in the genealogies found in Genesis chapter 10 and in 1 Chronicles chapter 1 the name was rendered as Χους or Chous in Greek. But everywhere else in the Septuagint, the name is rendered with some form of the word Αἰθιοπία or Ethiopia. Interestingly, the Greek word χοῦς is a common noun which was either a unit of measure, or it was used to describe dust or soil. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 18: The Burdens of Captivity

In our most recent commentaries for Isaiah, presenting chapters 16 and 17 we had discussed the fact that the burdens which the prophet had for Moab and Damascus had actually addressed the Israelites who were settled in the ancient lands of Moab and Damascus. Then as we had progressed through each of these burdens, it had become more and more apparent that they had actually been for Israelites. 

For example, in Isaiah chapter 16 where there is a promise of mercy, we read: “5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness”, and all of the cities of Moab which had been named in that chapter were cities in Moab that had been occupied by the children of Israel from the days of Moses and Joshua, for roughly 700 years. 

Then, in chapter 17, in verse 10 we read in part: “10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips”, and it is clear that since Yahweh was the God of Israel and was only known by Israel in that sense, the words of the prophet had addressed Israelites in Damascus, and not merely Syrians who never knew Yahweh so that they could have forgotten Him. 

Likewise it shall be here, in Isaiah chapter 18, that the words of the prophet are addressing at least a portion of the Israelites in captivity, and in chapter 19, while Egypt is a subject of the Burden of Egypt prophecy in the immediate sense of the prophet, which is the near vision, in the far vision Egypt stands an allegory for the captivity of Israel, and a portion of Israel is being addressed as Egypt. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 17: The Burden of Damascus

As we hope to have demonstrated discussing the Burden of Moab and Isaiah chapters 15 and 16, the prophecy actually concerns the children of Israel who had dwelt in the land of Moab, the northern portion of the original land of Moab which the Moabites had first lost to the Amorites, and which the children of Israel had later taken for themselves in the days of Moses. This is because all of the cities mentioned in the prophesy were in the lands which were occupied by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, with the possible exceptions of Ar and Kir. However the children of Israel had long held the Moabites themselves as a subject state, and it is plausible that Israelites had also dwelt in those places, after an occupation of nearly 300 years from the time of David. But it is also possible that since Ar and Kir are generic terms, they very likely also applied to Israelite cities in other ways. For example, the Ar mentioned in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 15 is very likely a reference to the city Aroer found on the banks of the river Arnon, a town of Reuben which is mentioned in Joshua chapter 13. While the name Ar simply means city, Aroer means ruins, so it could also be a pejorative for any city. It is used as a pejorative here in a different context in Isaiah chapter 17.

As a digression, this interpretation of the use of the term Moab, which is fully substantiated in Isaiah chapters 15 and 16, also supports our interpretation of the Book of Ruth, and our assertion which is based on several points of evidence within that book, that Ruth was an Israelite in Moab, who was only called a Moabite because of the circumstances of her geographic origin. So if the tribes of Reuben and Gad were called Moab here by the prophet, for reason that they were Israelites dwelling in Moab, then Ruth was also an Israelite dwelling in Moab, as the internal evidence suggests. Certainly Boaz, a pious man, and the elders of Israel with him, portrayed as having been pious men, were also all described as having upheld the law of Moses, so it is not just to imagine that they would transgress that same law of Moses by bringing a racial Moabitess into the congregation, which is contrary to the law. One law cannot force a man to transgress another.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 16: The Burden of… Moab?

Discussing Isaiah, before we move on from the prophecies of the destruction of Babylon and the fall of the king of Babylon which are found in Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, it should be noted that at the end of Isaiah chapter 14, in verse 25, there is a shift in focus from Babylon back to Assyria, the demise of which Isaiah had already prophesied in chapter 10. Then in verse 28 there is an odd break in the context where Isaiah mentioned that this burden, referring to the prophecy of doom of Babylon, had come to him in the year of the death of Ahaz king of Judah. Here it is unclear, as to whether the reference to the death of Ahaz was spoken in relation to the burden against Babylon which had preceded, or to that which would follow, beginning with four verses at the end of the chapter in which Isaiah had warned Palestine of its coming destruction. It is more likely to have been a parenthetical remark, since with all certainty the warning to Palestine here is contextually connected to the mention of Assyria a little earlier in the chapter. By itself, this also seems to suggest that the fate of Babylon is tied to the fate of Assyria, and that association is strengthened as the chapter proceeds.

So immediately following the mention of the death of Ahaz, there are four verses containing the warning for Palestine, and within them there is revealed one significant element of the nature of these empires, where it states in verse 29: “Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.” The “rod of him that smote thee” would be a reference to Assyria, which had reduced and subjected Palestine beginning with the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, who listed Philistia among his tributaries in inscriptions from the 17th year of his reign. [1] As we have also discussed, that is very close to the time when Ahaz had died, and Tiglath-Pileser had met his own end after having ruled for eighteen years.