Commentaries and Podcasts

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 38: The Beginning of Encouragement

As we had discussed introducing our last presentation of Isaiah, the commentary on chapter 40 which was titled The Comfort in Judgement, that chapter serves as a bridge to this exclusively prophetic portion of Isaiah which has a different perspective than the first thirty-nine historical chapters, and it also serves as a conclusion to those historical chapters. While there are many significant prophecies in those historical chapters which would not be fulfilled until long after Isaiah’s own time, they were interspersed with prophecies and records of events which had occurred in his own time, events which are now all transpired. Examples of those prophecies which have not yet transpired at this point in the life of Isaiah are the still-future fall of Assyria, which happened around 612 BC, and the rise and fall of Babylon as an empire, which began around 605 BC and lasted until about 530 BC. Those events were both prophesied by Isaiah in chapters 10 through 14. Then there was the prophesied destruction of Tyre, which would not be completed until 330 BC, in Isaiah chapters 23 through 25.

Speaking of ancient Tyre, we shall take a brief digression. The mainland city of Tyre was called Ushu by the Assyrians and Uzu by the Egyptians. It was evidently destroyed by the Babylonians (Ezekiel chapter 29) but the island city was not destroyed until the time of Alexander of Macedon around 330 BC. However much earlier, in the time of Ashurbanipal, in his ninth campaign, which must have been some time around 660 BC, we read: “On my return march [from Arabia] I captured the city of Ushu, which is located on the shore of the sea. The people of Ushu, who had not cowered before their governor(s), and had not paid their tribute, their yearly gifts, I slew. Among (those) insubmissive people I applied the rod(?). Their gods, their people, I carried off to Assyria. The insubmissive people of Akkû (Acre) I slaughtered. Their corpses I hung on stakes, surrounding the city (with them). Those who were left I carried away to Assyria, joined them to (my) military organization, adding them to the many troops which Assur had given me.” Therefore it is evident that Israelites continued to be taken into captivity, or slaughtered by the Assyrians, long after the destruction of Samaria by Sargon II. The fulfillments of many prophecies often occur in processes extended over many years, or even centuries.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 37: The Comfort in Judgement

As we had explained in our last presentation of Isaiah, which was titled Pride and Humility in reference to the character and experiences of king Hezekiah of Judah, this 40th chapter of Isaiah concludes the mainly historical portion of his prophesy, which is the portion that coincides with events that had occurred during Isaiah’s own lifetime. But only because at this time, Jerusalem still stands, and its inhabitants are destined to continue for another hundred and fifteen or so years, and therefore the prophecy of this chapter has an immediate or near-vision fulfillment as well as an over-arching far-vision fulfillment, would I even count the message of comfort in this chapter with that historical aspect of Isaiah which we have seen thus far. 

In that manner, this chapter also serves as a bridge to the prophetic portion of Isaiah which we shall encounter in the final twenty-six chapters of the book. While there are many far-vision prophecies interspersed among the historic events of these first forty chapters of Isaiah, the last twenty-six chapters are entirely prophetic of from Isaiah’s future, addressing Israel and Judah in captivity as well as containing many promises of their preservation, and their future redemption and reconciliation to Yahweh their God. So while there are also references to things which had already occurred, there are no further descriptions of any other historical events subsequent to what we have already seen here at this point in Isaiah. There are no further mentions of Isaiah himself, or of Hezekiah, or any other historical figure of Judah who had lived in that time, which is now about 700 BC. So if Azariah, or Uzziah, the first king under whom Isaiah had prophesied, had lived until 743 BC, since Isaiah began prophesying while Uzziah was still king, as he attested in the opening verses of this book, then the prophet has already been prophesying for at least 43 years at this point, and he could easily be as old as seventy-five or eighty years.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 36: Pride and Humility

As we proceed with our commentary on Isaiah, it is fitting to note that at this point there are only three chapters left to what we would consider the historical portion of Isaiah, which is that portion which pertains to the events of the prophet’s own time. From Isaiah chapter 41 and through to the end of Isaiah in chapter 66, the entire purpose of the prophet is to relate the will of God concerning the children of Israel in captivity, and their future preservation, along with their redemption and ultimate salvation in the coming of their Messiah, who is indeed revealed as the incarnation of Yahweh God Himself in the words of the prophet. But for now, the first two of these last three chapters describe events in the life of Hezekiah had apparently occurred both during and after the failed siege, and then chapter 40 contains a message of comfort for the remaining inhabitants of Judah in Jerusalem. 

In our last commentary on Isaiah, where we had left off at the end of chapter 37, Yahweh had defended Jerusalem As Birds Flying, as He had promised in a prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 31, a promise which had been uttered no more than a few years earlier than the failed Assyrian siege. Now we are at Isaiah chapter 38, and Hezekiah is described as having been deathly ill “in those days”, which also seems to be a reference to the time of the Assyrian siege, and as the chapter progresses it becomes evident that this chapter actually contains an account which is parallel to chapter 37, that it describes events which had transpired at the same time as the events of the later portion of chapter 37. However while the people of Jerusalem had every reason for the celebration and praise of Yahweh their God, having been threatened by and delivered from the hand of the Assyrians, the narrative following the last verses of both 2 Kings chapter 19 and Isaiah chapter 37, where Sennacherib was described as returning to Assyria, only focuses on Hezekiah’s concurrent illness. There is nothing recorded of the mood in Jerusalem following the lifting of the siege and the withdrawal of Sennacherib, and nothing concerning the attitude of Hezekiah immediately after the delivery of Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrians. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 35: As Birds Flying 

In 2 Samuel chapter 24, a census ordered by David had been conducted by Joab, and Joab had counted eight hundred thousand men of fighting age in Israel, and five hundred thousand in Judah. But it seems that the numbers of the children of Israel who had remained within the bounds of the kingdom had been diminished during the period of the Davidic Kingdom, and there may have been several reasons for that. So only two generations later, after the dividing of the kingdom, Rehoboam raised only a hundred and eighty thousand men out of Judah to fight against Israel, as it is described in 1 Kings chapter 12. However in the time of David, Israel had subjected all of the lands from the River of Egypt which was south of Judah and northwards as far as the “entering in of Hamath”, which is evident in the description of the feast of Solomon that is found in the closing verses of 1 Kings chapter 8.

During his time of conquest, David placed garrisons of troops all throughout the subjected neighboring territories, which would have been necessary to maintain control. So, for example, in 2 Samuel chapter 8 we read “6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.” Then a little further on in the same chapter: “14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.” In subsequent chapters of the books of Kings and Chronicles, very little is said about these garrisons, but they must have remained so long as Judah maintained control over those subject nations, and there must have been many other garrisons throughout the lands which he had subjected or he would not have been able to keep those lands. That would be one factor affecting the ability of Rehoboam to raise troops from Judah, because many of them had evidently been relocated to garrisons throughout the subject states.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 34: The Assyrian Captivity of Judah 

As we hope to have illustrated in our last two presentations of Isaiah, discussing chapters 34 and 35, the wrath of Yahweh shall come upon Edom on account of the controversy of Zion, and the consequences of that controversy today are reflected in the fact that for the last 2,000 years and longer, the children of Edom have been masquerading as the children of God, pretending to be Judah, or even Israel, when they certainly are not of Judah or Israel. So now, for the most part, the prophecies against Judah and Israel which had warned them of the coming Assyrian captivities are completed, and Isaiah becomes more historical in nature, in chapters 36 through 39. These chapters contain Isaiah’s record of the Assyrian captivity of Judah and the siege of Jerusalem, which failed because Yahweh had promised to defend Jerusalem “as birds flying” in an earlier prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 31. These chapters also record some of the prophet Isaiah’s personal interactions with Hezekiah the king, and in the course of those interactions Isaiah makes a prophecy of the future captivity of the remnant of Judah in Babylon, something which happened about a hundred and fifteen years later. So there were two captivities of Judah, or actually three, because the later captivity is also divided, and this is only the first of them, but it is often overlooked, that a significant portion of Judah had been taken by the Assyrians, and therefore never went to Babylon.

So Isaiah had lived to record the fulfillment of some of his own prophecies, just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had later spent many years warning the people of Judah concerning the Babylonians, and both prophets had lived to record the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet Isaiah, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, had also prophesied many things which he did not live to see, such as the destruction of Tyre in Isaiah chapters 23 and 24, and the destruction of Assyria in Isaiah chapter 10, or the rise of the empire of the Babylonians, in Isaiah chapter 14, and their taking of Judah into captivity in Isaiah chapter 39. However the subsequent history of the region had also proven the credibility of those prophecies, and his Messianic prophecies had mostly been fulfilled in the first ministry of Christ. While we still await the fulfillment of those which have not yet been fulfilled, they are prophesied again by Christ Himself in the Revelation. Therefore we may rest assured that everything which Isaiah had prophesied which has not yet come to pass, either in history or in our own time, such as the destruction of Edom for the controversy of Zion, certainly shall come to pass at some point in the future. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 33: Consequences of the Controversy of Zion 

Commencing with our Commentary on Isaiah, this evening we are going to do something different. Just last week, May 28th, a prerecorded podcast I had done for Jerm Warfare earlier in the month was published at UKColumn.org, and until now I had not mentioned that here. Yet the interview is very pertinent to this subject which we are discussing at this point in Isaiah because it considers the very consequences of the Controversy of Zion which is first mentioned in prophecy here in Isaiah chapter 34, and while the controversy persists through the time of Christ and down to this very day, in Scripture it is only described by that term here in Isaiah. Therefore we will present our commentary for Isaiah chapter 35, which is still discussing the consequences of the Controversy, and then we shall present the interview, which discusses its historical consequences in our modern world. 

In Isaiah chapter 34, Yahweh is portrayed as having called all nations to Himself, and then announced that on account of His indignation, they are all utterly destroyed. With all certainty, this is a far-vision prophecy, as Israel, or at least much of what remains in Judah, is about to be taken into captivity, and in the later words of Jeremiah the prophet we read, in Jeremiah chapter 30: “11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” In the context of that chapter, the Word of Yahweh speaks of the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, and in the opening verses of Jeremiah chapter 31 it is followed by the promise that “1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” That is a reference to the Assyrian captivities of Israel, because when Jeremiah wrote those words, the Babylonian captivity of the remnant of Judah in Jerusalem had only been about to happen, it had not yet happened.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 32: The Controversy of Zion

In our last presentation we discussed The Treachery of the Spoilers, in relation to the reasons for which Jerusalem and Judah had been judged and ultimately destroyed by Yahweh their God through the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. In Isaiah chapter 33, it is evident that there were men within Jerusalem who were spoilers, who had oppressed the people, and especially the poor and vulnerable. That is evident where the people had prayed for grace, as they had been portrayed in the words of the prophet in the first half of the chapter, and then Yahweh had responded to their prayer. As they had prayed, they had been characterized as not having made any admission of sin nor any expression of repentance, and all they wanted were the spoils of their enemies. Then when they were answered, Yahweh had rejected them as hypocrites who would conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble. So they were warned once again, and their character is revealed where the Word of Yahweh had explained to them the nature of those among them who would survive the impending trials, where the Word had described: “15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.”

Where Yahweh had told the people that the survivors would be those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, He is describing men of just judgment as opposed to men of corrupt judgment. Therefore the men whom He called hypocrites must have had corrupt judgment, and they must have also loved the gain of oppressions, they must have taken bribes, they must have conspired in murder, and they must have relished, or at least accepted, evil. However in the time of Isaiah, the advent of such spoilers in government or among the rulers of Judah was not a recent phenomenon in Jerusalem. By then it had existed already for at least two hundred years, and had begun around the same time that the kingdom was divided. This is found in 1 Kings chapter 12, at the time of the death of Solomon:

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 31: The Treachery of the Spoilers

In Isaiah chapter 32, accompanying a promise of a Righteous Ruler, one who would protect the people and open their eyes to truth and knowledge, there were also messages foreboding punishment for the wicked in Jerusalem, and suffering for the careless women who had lived at ease, but who would be stripped bare and girt with sackcloth. Briers and thorns would overtake the land which had been emptied of its people, and the city would be left desolate “until the spirit be poured upon us from on high … and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation”, all of which compliments the Messianic promise of a Righteous Ruler in the opening verses of the chapter. So we would assert that this chapter follows the same pattern of prophecy which has been observed throughout Isaiah, where there are found repeated ominous warnings of destruction for Israel and Judah, woven together with Messianic promises of a future redemption, salvation and reconciliation for the people. So while the prophecy of Isaiah had contained many messages of tragedy and hope for the people of Israel of his own time, it is much more relevant to Israel over the course of the national punishment which was only just beginning in the time of Isaiah.

As we had come to the end of Isaiah chapter 32, in nearly the same breath in which it is said that “my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation”, it is said in the very next verse that “19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.” This must be a reference to Jerusalem, the future of which had been the subject of this prophecy, and as we had presented it we had discussed a problem with the original reading of the verse, where one manuscript of the surviving portions of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea Scrolls has a very similarly spelled Hebrew word which means wood rather than city, and the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible had asserted that it was more likely to have been the original reading. (Making that discussion, I had hurriedly checked the passage in Origen’s Hexapla but erred in my interpretation of the Latin, so I struck it and repaired it in the notes.) There is no corroboration for the reading of wood in any of the manuscripts employed by Origen. However I may have also discussed the quite different reading found in the Septuagint version of the verse.

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 30: The Righteous Ruler

Only Yahweh God may justly rule over the children of Israel, and only He can truly be a righteous ruler. When Israel had demanded an earthly king, as it is described in 1 Samuel chapter 8, they had actually rejected the rule of Yahweh their God. There we read, in part: “4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” 

Of course, Samuel had not yet died, that his sinful sons might become their judges, so the elders and the people should have instead prayed to God for a righteous judge, and not for a king. They had sought an earthly solution to a problem that only God could have been expected to resolve. However a sinful people have the government that they deserve, and men shall have a tyrannical government when they deserve to be punished, as Paul of Tarsus had explained in Romans chapter 13. This is certainly a signal example of the truth of the adage, Be careful what you ask for, as the descendants of those ancient children of Israel continue to suffer on account of their demands. So today men must come to the realization, that if demanding an earthly king was a national sin, then subjecting oneself to Christ and rejecting all earthly kings, or presidents, or whatever else such a ruler may be called, must be an element of national repentance.

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. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 28: Fugitives from Justice 

Near the beginning of his long series of burdens on the nations, in Isaiah chapters 18 and 19 the prophet had announced the Burdens of Captivity, as we had described his burdens for Egypt and the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, or Kush. Then in Isaiah chapter 20 we read: “3 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia,” or Kush, and in Isaiah’s time kings of Kush had ruled over Egypt, something which they had done for approximately seventy-five years, or by some accounts, nearly as long as ninety years. Having discussed those burdens, we had posited that they had more than one aspect of meaning. The people of Judah at the time of Isaiah had indeed sought help from the Egyptians, in order to fend off the encroaching Assyrians, while many of them had also sought refuge in Egypt, having fled from the Assyrians. But Egypt is also used as an allegory for the Israelites, who had once been in captivity in Egypt, and in that manner also as a prophetic metaphor for Israel in captivity.

The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt is often called the dynasty of “Black Pharaohs”, but that concept is entirely laughable, and the archaeological evidence is contrary, as many ancient statues of Kushite rulers with fine European features have been discovered, and since the Kushites of Africa had several language dialects among them which were clearly derived from the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia, which had also once belonged to the empire of Kush in Mesopotamia. However it is evident that the Kushites in Egypt had been accompanied by Nubians, having had Nubians in their own armies. The ultimate union of Kush and Nubia is described perhaps a hundred years after Isaiah, in Jeremiah chapter 13 where the Word of Yahweh asks a rhetorical question and its says: “23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” This is a Hebrew parallelism, where we see that by Jeremiah’s time the skin of Kush in Africa had become as that of a leopard, mixed with both black and white. (Isaiah chapter 43 also touches on this subject.)

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 27: Instruction from God

Thus far in the course of our discussion of Isaiah chapter 28, we have once again observed that as the children of Israel had been taken off into captivity for punishment for their sins, they were given hope in promises of a future reconciliation. However the terms of that reconciliation had also been expressed along with those promises. So where the prophet had asked “whom shall He teach knowledge?” and “whom shall He make to understand doctrine?”, as those questions had been answered in his prophecy it becomes manifest that doctrine and knowledge as they are taught by the Word of God are prerequisite to entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, as we discussed those answers, we noticed that Paul of Tarsus had cited this very passage in Isaiah where he wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that “21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.” There Paul had purposely omitted the reference to the rest of Yahweh which is found in that same statement he had cited from Isaiah 28:11-12. However writing in (what we now know as) Hebrews chapter 4, Paul spoke of the necessity of hearing the Word of Yahweh in order to enter into His rest, where he had said in part: “7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”

Here in Isaiah, hearing the voice of Yahweh is described as learning His knowledge and understanding His doctrine, so Paul of Tarsus was essentially teaching the same things which the prophet Isaiah had also declared, even if it was from a somewhat different perspective. The hardening of hearts is the rejection of the Word of God, as Paul wrote earlier in that same epistle, in chapter 3, “15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” This is explained in Proverbs chapter 28 where we read “13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.” There, hardening the heart is a rejection of the Word of God, and concealment of sin leads to evil, or, as the Hebrew word may also mean, distress, injury, misery or calamity. That is what happened to the children of Israel, they just kept sinning, and justified themselves for their sins. So the evil which resulted was the destruction of their kingdom, and their calamity was their going into captivity. 

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 26: Terms of Reconciliation

Here we must attest once again, that the main purpose of Isaiah was not so much for his own time as it was for his distant future, and that the purpose of the prophet was not only to warn the children of Israel of their impending captivity, but also to describe both what would become of them in captivity, and how they should ultimately be redeemed from captivity and reconciled to Yahweh their God. Therefore in Isaiah, the reasons for the punishment of Israel are described, the taking of Israel into captivity is described, and the terms of reconciliation for Israel is described, along with allusions to the dismal alternatives if Israel could somehow refuse those terms, some of which we shall see here in Isaiah chapter 28. Along the way, it is made evident in the words of the prophet that in the course of events future to his time, the things which Yahweh God has purposed for the world are all for the benefit of the children of Israel, whether they be for their punishment or for their edification.

Therefore, throughout the past few chapters of Isaiah, we have discussed The Burden of Tyre which had begun in Isaiah chapter 23, and then, where Tyre had been used as a type for the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation, as it had been a great mercantile city, in chapter 26. There we also discussed The City of God for which Jerusalem had been used as a type, and the two cities were set in contrast to one another. Then, presenting our commentary for the closing verses of Isaiah chapter 26 along with chapter 27, we discussed the Triumph of the Righteous and prophecies of the resurrection of the dead, and we also began to exhibit from later chapters in Isaiah that in the end, all of the children of Israel shall be justified by God in Yahshua Christ.