Isaiah - Lesson 8

Dr. John Oswalt

Isaiah

ot650-08

Trust God not Human Leaders

Lesson Transcript

We're continuing our study of the lessons in trust. And the first section of that subdivision, which is oracles against the nations, we're looking today at chapter 21, which is of all of them, the one with the most obscurities in it. And we begin with the very first obscurity. A prophecy against the wilderness or the desert by the sea. What is that? And in fact, the Hebrew is a little more obscure than that. The wilderness of the sea. What are we talking about here? It looks like you've got an oxymoron. The desert of the sea. The wilderness of the sea. Oh, what's happening here? When we go further into the first verse, like the whirlwinds sweeping through the south land, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. A dire vision has been shown to me. The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam Attack Media Lay siege. As I said earlier, Ilam refers to Persia, the land to the southeast of the delta of the Euphrates and the Tigris and to Persia or modern Iraq. It is Persia and the Medes here referred to as media, Persia and the Medes, which destroyed Babylon. So it appears that these first verses of Chapter 21 are a reference to Babylon, especially the historic Babylon. I argued that chapters 13 and 14 are primarily talking about Babylon as a representative, a representative of the glory of the nations. But here with these references to Elam and media, and particularly to the attack. It seems as though we're talking about historic Babylon. Why call Babylon the desert of the sea or the wilderness of the sea? I suspect that it is, in fact, a kind of sarcasm. The marvelous city by the sea. The great civilization by the sea.

Now the wilderness by the sea. This nation is of no more significance, no more power than the wilderness. So I suspect that that's what's going on, that it is a kind of a sarcastic oxymoron. We're going to see another of those in a moment. A further indication of the Babylonian reference is found in verse five. They set the tables. They spread the rugs. They eat. They drink. Get up, you officers. All the shields. If you remember, in the Book of Daniel. The Regent at the end of Babylon's existence in 539 was a man named Belshazzar. The actual king was Nabonidus. Nabonidus had gone out into the desert to an oasis, had taken the gods of this city with him and was living out there in exile or as a recluse, and he had put Belshazzar as second in charge. That's interesting because when Belshazzar, who saw the handwriting on the wall, asked Daniel what it meant, he said, I'll make you third in the kingdom. Well, I mean, if he's king, why did you make him second in the king? Because he himself is second in the kingdom. And that's an interesting thing in biblical criticism, because for many years, in the early days of biblical criticism, it was said, oh, here's another indication that Daniel is some fictional thing written later. His third in the kingdom when he should be second. Oh, no. Daniel is precisely historically correct. Well, remember that what happened that night was a great banquet, a great feast. Set the tables, spread the rugs. They eat. They drink. And the hand wrote on the wall. You've been weighed and measured and found wanting. And the text says that very night. The Persians and the medians broke in. Get up, you officers.

Oil the shields. So that verse looks like a very intriguing reference to what happened. The Persians, in fact, had dammed up the river Euphrates and came in under the wall and took the city in a single night. So we see here this picture of the fall of Babylon. Now, again, we ask the question, why is Babylon dealt with twice? I think the point is. In the beginning. In chapter 13, Babylon was representative. Here it is, the nation. Once again, you're talking about something 150 years in the future. What's the significance of that? There again. God is preparing his people for what is to come. You don't need to trust them, but neither do you need to fear them. God is in charge of the nations. But I think there's more going on in the chapter than merely that reference to Babylon's future Fall. Notice how it goes on. Go post to look out. Have him report what he sees when he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels. Let him be alert and the lookout shouted day after day. My lord, I stand on the watchtower. Every day I stay at my post. Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses, and he gives back the answer. Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground. My people who are crushed on the threshing floor. I tell you what I've heard from the Lord Almighty, from the God of Israel. Well. The English here is actually smoother than the Hebrew. The Hebrew is rather broken. It's there's a sense of urgency, of immediacy. And what's this business of the lookout? And the lookout is reporting a message that he hears.

From this man in the chariot. Hmm. What's going on here? Well, the first answer is we don't know for sure, but. Let's go on. Look at chapter 11. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Verse 11. A prophecy against Duma. That's almost certainly Edam. And it's just they've reversed the letters, I think, probably on purpose. Edam is not looked on with favor in the Bible. Someone calls to me from Seer, and that is an item. Watchman, what's left of the night. Watchman What's left of the night. The watchman replies. Morning is coming, but also night. If you would ask, then ask and come back yet again. To which we say, Huh? Well, what is being said here again? Notice the watchman, the lookout. Look at the next one. Verse 13, A prophecy against Arabia. You caravans of D-Day Knights who camp in the thickets of Arabia bring water for the thirsty you who live in Timor bring food for the fugitives. They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bow, from the heat of battle. I suggest that what we're seeing here is the trade route leading from Babylon across the desert through the oasis of Tamar, where Nabonidus was on through other oases to eat them. This was a difficult route, but it was a camel caravan route so that you have from Babylon through Arabia to Edam, this route with the watchman posted along it, the lookouts posted along it, and the word comes. Oh my goodness. Babylon has fallen. What does this mean for our trade in Arabia? What does this mean for these fugitives who are escaping across the desert from Babylon? So what we see here then is the commercial connections of Babylon through Arabia to Edam. And once again.

It is of no value. All this commerce, all this trade. Don't trust it. It is under condemnation and it will not stand. Now notice verse 16 and 17. This is what the Lord says to me. Within one year as a servant, bound by a contract would count it. All the splendor of Keita will come to an end. The survivors of the Archers, the Warriors of Kedar, will be few. The Lord, the God of Israel has spoken again. What? Within a year. Within one year? One year Form from when it's spoken. Within one year from Babylon's Fall within. And again. It was probably clear to Isaiah, but it's not clear to us. But the point again is. Predictive prophecy. God has said this is going to happen. Within one year as carefully as literally a hired hand would count it. Counting his days of servitude. It will happen. So that the very fact that it's here is a testimony. Yes. That in fact, is what took place. Cheder is a place in Arabia. One more of these oases. So again. This is going to happen. You can count on it. I think within one year of Babylon's fall is the significance of the statement. But again, the importance is God is committing himself before the fact. This is going to happen and you can count on it. So if I were to say, of all these oracles, which is the most difficult to interpret, I'd say without a doubt. Chapter 21. It has the most obscurities, it has the most difficulties in it. And yet I would still argue the basic sense is clear. Babylon has fallen. The fugitives are coming across the desert. The lookouts. See? The fugitives coming. They hear the messengers. Babylon has fallen and the word finally reaches.

To even Edam. Watchmen. What's left of the night. The morning is coming. But also the night. Hmm. Yes. The news is arriving, but it's not good news. It's the news that our commercial connections across the desert are cut off. And we're in trouble. Don't trust the nations. Then, as I said earlier, we come to chapter 22. One of the most surprising. And here is another of these sarcastic oxymorons. A prophecy against the Valley of Vision. You don't see things in valleys. You see things on mountaintops in the valley. Your vision is obscured. So what in the world is this? Valley of Vision. I think here the sarcasm is very clear. This is a people who think they see, but in fact see nothing. Why is Judah included here in this list of nations that you don't trust? And in a real sense, the message is don't trust due either. Why? Because. They don't trust your way. They trust the religion of your way. And there's a major, major difference between those two. Notice how it begins. What's exciting you now that you've all gone up on the roofs you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry. Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle. All your leaders have fled together. They've been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away. Therefore, I said, Isaiah, turn away from me. Let me weep bitterly. Don't try to console me over the destruction of my people. The Lord, the Lord of Heaven's armies has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the valley of vision, a day of battering down walls.

Of crying out to the mountains. A lot of discussion among commentators over what's being referred to. Here are people on the rooftops. They're excited. Some are partying. Some are shouting. There's tumult. Well, one option is that we're talking about the final. Capture of Jerusalem by Babylon. Remember that after the siege had proceeded for almost 18 months. The king. Zedekiah saw what was happening and he and his bodyguard tried to escape. And the Babylonians caught them down near Jericho, and the bodyguard all fled. So perhaps that's what's being talked about when it says all your leaders have fled together and they've been captured without the bow. So that's one possibility that we're talking about. The final capture of Judah. Don't trust Judah. Judah is not going to survive, even though they may have survived Assyria. They're not going to survive Babylon. Another option, though, is that it is a literary kind of thing. What's the previous oracle against Babylon? Ah, Babylon has fallen. That's wonderful. That's good news. No, it's not. Because ultimately, once again, your hope is not in whether Babylon rises or falls. Your hope is in Yahweh. That's the second option. A third option. And the one that I think is probably most likely is that. Hezekiah when Sennacherib, the Assyrian emperor, attacked him in 701. All the fortified cities have been captured. And Lachish The last of the great fortifications is about to fall. Sennacherib has sent a messenger to say, You better surrender. We're told in the Book of Kings that Hezekiah sent him a huge amount of money trying to persuade him to withdraw and let Hezekiah go and Jerusalem as well. I suspect that this is talking about that. Wow. Have you heard have you heard the news? Hezekiah has broken the Royal Treasury, too, to get Sennacherib to go home.

It's going to be okay. Everything's fine. We're relieved. It's well. Well, I'm not so sure. It's. Well. Tumult. Partying. Upset. And of course, since Acker took the money and stayed. So I think that's what we're talking about here. And it's that that Isaiah is saying, don't believe it. He may have shelled out a lot of money. He may have broken the bank, but it's not going to do you any good. All this tumult and shouting and partying. No, no, it's over. Your Severn. Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates. Hmm. The Lord has stripped away the defenses of Judah. And you looked in that day to the weapons in the palace of the forest. You saw that the walls of the city of David were broken through in many places. You stored up water in the lower pool. Isaiah. Takes a very moderate view of Hezekiah. It's quite interesting. And the you being referred to here is almost certainly Hezekiah. You stored up water in the lower pool, as you probably know. The main spring for Jerusalem is on the east side of the city, in the in the wall of the Kidron Valley. But the city walls were historically up on the top of the ridge there that's running between the Kidron and the Hingham Valley to the south so that the spring is outside the walls. That's not going to do you much good in a siege. So, Hezekiah. Dug a tunnel from the guy on spring all the way under the city of David, down to a pool, just inside the walls, down at the point where the Kidron and the Hingham Valleys join. So that's a pretty clear reference. You stored up water in the lower pool? Verse 11 You built a reservoir between the two pools for the water of the old pool.

So. Hezekiah. You looked through the defenses. You looked to the walls. You repaired the walls. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem. One of the characteristics of these ancient cities is you had the walls of the city. They were a double wall with rubble in between them. This rubble then would. Take on the shock from a battering ram on the outer wall and the walls were more likely to stand than if you had a single stone wall and the shock would be translated right through the wall and the stones on the inside would come shooting out. The other factor, though, with this double wall is you not only in many cases those inner spaces were empty and you used them for storerooms until battle came. Then the houses that had been built up against the inside of the wall were torn down and their rubble used to fill those spaces in the walls. So again, you counted you saw that the walls of the city of David were broken through in many places. You stored up water in the lower pool. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. So this looks very much as though this is a statement to Hezekiah. So far, so good. But now look at verse 11, the latter part of it. But you did not look to the one who made it or have regard for the one who planned it long ago. Oh, my. Oh, my. Good king and effective administrator. A man of faith. Yes. But Ezekiel says in the end. You were not depending on the Lord, You are not depending on the Lord as you ought to be. Mm hmm. It's a very realistic view of humanity and of human nature.

Hezekiah, in the end, believed. And his belief was counted, Jim, as righteousness. If we can go back to Abraham. But that doesn't mean that he was necessarily believing all the way along. And that is the issue that the book is dealing with. What will motivate us? What will enable us to trust him as a way of life, not just a one shot thing. Not just here or there or the other. The Lord. This is verse 12. The Lord, the Lord Almighty called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there's joy in revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine. Let's eat and drink, you say. For tomorrow we die. Hmm. Again, I think this fits into this period when Judah was facing Sennacherib's attack. Okay. Hey, maybe we're going to get out of this. Maybe he'll take Hezekiah's money and go home. Maybe. Maybe not. Oh, well, who cares? Let's just enjoy today. That's all we got. It's all we can count on. So we can plan on. First 14, The Lord of Heaven's Armies has revealed this in my hearing. Till your dying day, this sin will not be atoned for, says the Lord. The Lord of Heaven's armies. Wow. The unpardonable sin. What are we talking about here? Once again, I think we're talking in Semitic hyperbole. But again, it is this picture of you are really good at handling the human issues, the human resources. But you have not genuinely trusted God. If you will not in the end, trust him, then that sin indeed won't be atone for. Whatever may have been. The path on which you have walked. If in the end you don't trust him, there's no hope.

That's a hard word, but it is the final word. Can sin be atone for? Oh, yes. If we repent and believe and trust him. Yes, but if we won't know, it will never be atoned for. None of our religion, none of our other activities, none of it will do anything unless we're willing to trust him with our lives, to trust our eternal destiny in his hands. There is no possibility. So the Valley of Vision. You're looking to your defenses. But you're not looking to the one who made it. You did not have regard for the one who planned it long ago. Wrong focus. Valley of Vision. Now look what comes next. This, again, is. Is very, very graphic. This is what Yahweh, Yahweh of Heaven's Army says. Go and say to this steward, to Chevron, to the Palace administrator. What are you doing here? And who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here? Hewing your grave on the height, chiseling your resting place in the rock. Beware. The Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man Hills roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. And there you will die. And there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master's house. I'll depose you from your office and you'll be ousted from your position. On the Mount of Olives. Across the Kidron Valley from the city of Jerusalem. Art today, thousands of graves, some of them very, very ornate. I see the picture here. Of the Prime Minister. I think that's who this is. The Hebrew text says of these persons, the one who was over the house. And so naive, says palace administrator.

I think he's the top official in the kingdom under David. He's the one who's over the house. And I think you can you can see other places in the Hebrew text where it looks very much as though the person who's over the house has a whole lot more responsibility than merely the palace. I think this is the prime Minister. So here he comes in his chariot. Matched horses. To see how the work is coming on his tomb. And as he arrives, who does he see? But Isaiah. What are you doing here? Who gave you permission to carve out a grave for yourself? You're hewing your grave on the height, chiseling your resting place in the rock. Hmm. Hmm. You're supposed to be looking for the best for the nation. You're supposed to be leading the nation in its trust in you. And what are you doing? Queuing out your grave. Instead of looking to life, you're looking to death. I'm going to depose you from your office and you will be ousted from your position. Later on in chapter 36 when the embassy comes out to meet with the Assyrian officer. Shobna is there. He's no longer over the house. He's now the secretary and somebody else is over the house. In fact, Eliakim the person that Isaiah mentions in verse 20. So indeed, it does look exactly as though this prophecy was fulfilled. And it may well be again, speculation may well be Hezekiah didn't know how much money Schaffner was putting into his doom. And when he found out indeed that was the cause of his being deposed, we don't know. But again, here's the Valley of Vision. Should be looking to leading the nation into trust in Yahweh. And instead he's just repairing his own tomb.

And Isaiah says, You're not going to die here. You're not going to die in this country. You're going to die somewhere else. And all the money you spent on this tomb, it will have been wasted. Oh, again. This speaks to us today. Jesus said it. Here. Your treasures will rust here. Your treasures will be eaten by moors. But treasure in heaven. Is for all eternity. Where are you and I laying up our treasures. Are we putting them in tombs here? Tombs we will never use. Or are we putting them? Where it counts. In that day, I'll summon my servant eliakim son of he'll kyr I'll close him with your robe and fastened your sash around him and hand over your authority to him. He'll be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I'll place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. When he opens. No one can shut what he shuts. No one can open. Were you aware that Jesus was quoting Isaiah when he spoke to Peter about the keys to the Kingdom? He's saying to Peter, You're going to be all over the house. You're going to be over the house of God and the keys will be yours. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place. He'll become a seat of honor for the house of his father. Would you like to have those things said about you? All the glory of his family will hang on him. It's offspring's that offshoots all its lesser vessels from the bowls to all the jars. But now look at verse 25. In that day, declares the Lord Almighty. The peg driven into a firm place will give way. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Once again, as I said before, we have this horrible habit of expecting a human leader to be divine, expecting a human leader to do for us things that only God can do. So he's saying Eliakim is going to break under the strain. Because you expect of him things that only Yahweh can do. He'll not be able to carry it. What a what a frightening thought. And over and over again, we see ourselves doing this to people. I think. Of the epidemic of adultery that has overtaken the Protestant ministry in recent years. We as lay members of the church. Have a great responsibility in that. So often we have demanded so much of our pastors. We have put them on such a pedestal. We have demanded things of them they cannot do. And in their loneliness. They are prey to a lonely woman who finds in her pastor a caring voice that she's never heard. Now, some of it, of course, is not so easily explained. In some cases, we have predators in the pulpit, and that's another tragedy. But some some of the failure of our pastors has been precisely because we have demanded of them more than is humanly possible. So after the obscurity of Chapter 21, Chapter 22 is, in my view. Tragically, tragically clear the failure of Hezekiah. The king who has looked to the defenses but has not as a way of thinking, looked to God. The failure of Schaffner, who has looked to his tomb rather than to his living responsibilities, and the final failure of Eliakim of whom more is demanded than is humanly possible to give. The Valley of Vision. That brings us then to the final chapter in the Oracles Against the Nation. Chapter 23 As I suggested to you at the outset, I think there a book ending here.

Babylon The Glory of the Nations on the East Tire, The Wealth of the Nations on the West. So that there's everything in between is covered by these two. As I said, Lebanon. Is backed by the Lebanon mountains, making East-West travel very difficult. Also, the Lebanon mountains go right down into the sea with the fingers of the mountains out into the sea. So you have these. Harbors all the way along so that everything is designed to face Tire and its sister city, Sidon, to the west. And. In the year 600 B.C., 100 years after Isaiah. The Egyptians hired the Phoenicians to circumnavigate the continent of Africa. We have no more evidence that they actually did it. Then the report, the contract was written. But it's not at all out of the question. They were not gifted at sailing out of sight of land, but they were quite capable of sailing around Africa. Who knows? In any case, here is Tiger. And the picture that we have in this chapter is of the trading ships coming back from the West. Notice verse one, whale, you ships of Tarshish. Tarshish refers to Spain. So here come these. And a ship of Tarshish is a heavy cargo ship. So here come these ships from Tarshish back across the Mediterranean. Typically, they would sail from, say, Malta to perhaps the toe of Italy or the heel of Italy to Rhodes or to Crete. Here they come. And what's the word? Tire is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus, the word has come to them. So it's reached them from Ireland to Ireland. From harbor to harbor. Tire has gone. Be silent, you people of the island. Again, this is a that has done his homework.

The city of tire was on the shore, but there was a citadel on an island offshore. So whenever tire was attacked, the people just picked up and went out to the island and said, Then and then? Then again and again. That happened. It happened to Nebuchadnezzar. It happened to the Assyrians. Finally, Alexander the Great tore down the city on the land, threw it into the ocean and made a causeway out to the island and finally captured it. But here it is. Be silent, you people of the island, you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched on the great waters, came the grain of the sheep or. Yes. Right into New Testament times. Egypt was the breadbasket of the coast of the Mediterranean, and the Phoenicians were the sailors who took that grain from Egypt and then bartered it to the various cities around the coast. And you remember that Paul embarked on a grain ship from Alexandria, headed to Rome. But what? Be ashamed, sighed in a new fortress of the sea. For the sea of spoken. I have neither been in labor nor given birth. I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters. When word comes to Egypt, there will be anguish at the report from Tire. So not only do the ships of Tarshish say, What are we going to do? The port has been destroyed, that we're headed for, Egypt says, What are we going to do? The people that have been carrying our grain. They're gone. And so you have this picture of the wailing that is all around the Mediterranean world because of what's happened to this great city. Now, notice verse eight, who planned this against tire, the store of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? Yeah.

Tire has done all these things for the peoples of the world. But who is behind tire? The Lord Almighty planned it to bring down her pride. Here it is again. Pride, arrogance, Human exaltation. To bring down her pride in all her splendor to humble all who are renowned on the earth. And so we go on through the chapter. Until finally we come to verse 14 Whale You ships of Tarshish, your fortress is destroyed. Now the remainder of the chapter. It's filled with interest partly because it raises some questions that are difficult to answer. At that time, tire will be forgotten for 70 years. What time are the time when. Alexander destroyed it. Or the time when Nebuchadnezzar captured the city on the land and sharply reduced tire's income for a while. Is, is that it? The span of a king's life. Nebuchadnezzar. His life. Maybe at the end of these 70 years it will happen to tire as in the Song of the Prostitute. Evidently a well-known song Take up a harp, walk through the city. You forgotten prostitute. Play the harp Well, sing many a song so that you'll be remembered. Hmm. Now we need to remember that sometimes commerce is referred to as prostitution. Not to. Be little commerce. But to say that when you are engaged in commerce, you are really selling yourself. You are selling your wares, your selling your capacities, your capabilities. So that in that sense, a commercial city is a prostitute. Not that it's a bad thing necessarily. But simply using that as an image, and that's some of what's going on here. Taia was engaged in prostitution. Look at verse 17 At the end of 70 years, the Lord will deal with fire. She will return to her lucrative prostitution, will pry her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

Yet her profits and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord for abundant food and fine clothes. 70 years. Are we talking about a literal, specific period of time? Are we talking about round numbers? Seven times ten? Significant biblical numbers. I can't answer the question. We don't see any time period specifically during ancient times when this 70 years works out in some calendar recall sense. And the whole idea of the wages of prostitution being given to the Lord can be troubling from one point of view. But the point is, and I think this is the significant point. Why would you trust Tiger? In the end, she is subject to the plans of your God who will destroy her in his own time and in his own plan. And. She will, in the end, serve your God, much as we saw with Egypt. This is. This is where it's going to end. And again, we see even today in Lebanon, a very significant Christian population. So that. I think we should not spend a lot of time trying to sort out exactly what these are referring to. But the point is, don't trust taia. Don't trust the wealth of the nations. In the end, it is all for God. Your God. Why would you trust the nations? So we can look then. At the sum total of these oracles against the nations. Chapters 13 and 14. The Glory of the Nations. What's it amount to? Zero. Chapters 14, 15, 16 and the first part of 17. What is the power, the pride, the political scheming of the nations amount to? Zero. The remainder of Chapters 17 and 18.

What does the raging of the nations amount to? Nothing. Chapters 19 and 20. What do the ancient resources of the nations as Egypt amount to zero? Chapter 21. What does the commerce of the nations amount to? Zero? Chapter 22. What does the religion of the nations amount to? Zero. What does the wealth of the nations amount to zero? Conclusion. Don't trust the nations. So that point is driven home in 11 chapters. Don't trust the nations. Ahaz. You were foolish to trust Assyria. Hezekiah. If you don't trust your way, you will be foolish. Don't trust the nations.