Isaiah 29
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The Siege of Jerusalem...
The Siege of Jerusalem...
Here we come back to the book of Isaiah after a week off due to the Youth Sports Camp.
This chapter we are coming back to is a woe issued by God, its the second woe we have looked at as of late.
The main idea is the fact that God will judge Judah, the Southern Kingdom for their sin and idolatry. The refused to trust God and because of that, the enemy will besiege the nation.
And God himself will take hold of the city , but suddenly God will destroy Judah’s enemies.. in a instant they will be defeated and the question is, how will the nation act in behalf of God’s love.
Now lets look at the text today Lets look at verse 1
1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
v. 1A. As we open up this verse we see that God using the term Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped…
This refers to the city of Jerusalem that David would establish as the Holy city. David reigned 7 years in Hebron and then 30+ years in Jerusalem.
Now the term Ariel could mean Lion or Lion of God but here it seems to carry the meaning of the Altar hearth or the place of the Altar which would refer to the Temple of God that is established there...
The places where the sacrifices are consumed by fire, as God received these offerings to deal with sin.
V 1B. But the second half of the verse, it begins with the phrase Add year to year… let the feasts run their round.
So what does it mean? Year after year, let the annual worships continue, but this effort to please God through sacrifices will not work..
Does God require and long to have sacrifices? No, The Scriptures tell us he desires obedience..
God is going to let another encamp an army around the city… But why would God allow this.... They were in sin, they chased after other things and gods and sin always has consequences.
Now lets look at verses 2-4 Isa 29:2-4
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
3 And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
God says that He will distress Ariel, Ariel remember stands for Jerusalem.
There will be mourning, lamentations, and great fear, Why? They have never seen the enemy there against the Holy City of God… But God has allowed this...
What will he do? God says he will encamp all around her. This is a big change, in the past God dwelled in her, at the temple. But now he will encamp against her.
Not literally Him, He will allow the Assyrian army to do so...
God says with towers and seige-works… They would literally make these earthen ramps by which they could breech the city.
The result will be devastating. He says the people will speak humbly from the dust of the earth, in defeat their pitiful voices will sound like faint voices, it would be like listening to the dead speak.
Could you imagine how humbling it would be to be defeated?
Oh it would be terrible.... they are close to experiencing that type of defeat...
Now lets move on to verses 5-8 Isa 29:5-8
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
Here the topic changes a bit, with the mention of a “multitude of ruthless people or a horde’ These strangers are enemies, all the people who are fighting against Zion
This large horde of troops, they are threatening to attack, they are compared to a chaff or dust… this is to speak to the size of the army… dust and chaff are to much to count in an area....
All of this will happen suddenly as we see mentioned in verse 5
But with the suddenness of the enemy, God shows up as well verse 6. His presence is seen with Thunder, lightening, the huge storm and a earthquake.
Now verse 7 says all the nations will fight against Ariel. God will show up and deliver his people.
The fight against them will appear almost like a dream, it seemed hopeless, but they woke up and God is seen as their defender, He protected them.
God will intervene and stop the Assyrians from defeating Jerusalem, He will protect them..
But we know God did not choose to always protect Judah and Benjamin, He will allow Babylon to overcome them.
Now verses 9 thru 14 open a new word in this woe to the people. so lets start here with the first two verses...
Lets look at verses 9-10 Isa 29:9-10
9 Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
Even when God gave them promises, the people of Judah, acted as if they were deaf and blind. Unable to see or hear the promises of God.
Those opening words astonish yourselves, blind yourselves and be drunk. The people just cannot see and understand the will of God for their lives. He desires to help them, but they will not be helped.
God responded to their attitude with making their hearts hard, increasing their blindness even deeper.
They are fully responsible for their choices, and they still ignore God and as such God will not allow them to hear from Him.
This is a spiritual state every person and nation must avoid. I almost fear our nation is at this place. Hopefully God’s people here are not there.
Now lets look at verses 11-12 Isa 29:11-12
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
The people cannot understand the meaning of what God is telling them is the jest of this narrative.
The people were resistant to listen or read Isaiah’s word to them from God, so now the words are sealed off from them. They lack the spiritual insight to understand the meaning of God’s words to them.
Verses 13-14 Isa 29:13-14
13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
God speaks to them again. He explains why the people cannot perceive His words to them through the prophet Isaiah
God says “this people” instead of His people.... that there says a lot my friends...
God says the people draw close, they speak all the right things, they say what they think they should say… but their hearts are far from him.
Boom… How can a people mean what they say if their heart is not there.. They cannot!
Worship was supposed to be a time of heart felt praise and joy to be in God’s presence… Listen to David n Psalms 63...
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
Wow, this is not where the people where at this time.. They were a far off.
They people had forgot who God was… But verse 14 says because of their heart and actions… He would act again in a marvelous and astonishing actions.
Instead of judging them here for their sinfulness, God acts in a unexpected way on behalf of this people.
In the midst of their blindness and this punishing seige of the Assyrian army, He promises to do marvelous things.
Now we come to this last section,verses 15 to 24.
Now lets look at verses 15-16, Isa 29:15-16
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
In this last woe, the Prophet Isaiah, is lamenting, mourning if you will that these wise men try to make secret plans and think they can keep it from God.
These royal counselors make plans and they have no heart for God and thus they do not seek God.
How silly, they make plans without seeking the mind of the master planner..
They still do not understand... These wise planners must be the advisors of King Hezekiah who concluded that a political alliance with Egypt could save them from the Assyrian invasion by Sennacherib
Isaiah laments the political plans of the leaders becasue they ignore what God has promised in this plants.
They were to trust God, but they did not, and their sin had separated them from God.
And with verze 16, they pervert everything, You turn everyting upside down… The confused the proper way of thinking..
Can the clay inform the potter, instruct or help? No! They dare think they are as smart a s God.. foolishness
Now lets look at 17-18 Isa 29:17-21
17 Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
Isaiah’s message from God here counters the fears that drive the king’s advisors to make secret plans with Egypt. There was no need to fear the Assyrians, for God had promised in a short time it would all change, it should be on their heart to wait for God.
But they cannot, so they take things into thier own hands, failing to trust that He is not only able, but has already promised deliverance in past words to them.
Sadly, they do not hear
Verss 19-21 predict a spiritual renewal that will impact the social relationships between the week and the strong
The transformation pictures the humble and needy rejoicing and praising God.
Those who ere pious, holy and trusted God will be overjoyed to experience the salvation God provides.
The overwhelming outcome will be that the attitude of the people will change, the wicked, those who accuse falsely, the tyrants and scofferes will cease to exist
Justice will reign in the courts and this will be a new day for the old old moral standards of Judah ( that were evil) will not be followed, People will rejoice in God and follow him.
Now we come to the last 3 verses verses 22-24
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
The logiacal consequences of God’s transformation of Judah is the creation of a new people of Israel.
Just as God called Abraham, and redeemed him, cared for him in his lifetime, he did the same to those after Abraham.
This transformation of the people, cared for and redeemed, all who those who will never fall this way again, they will trust God moving forward and not their own ways.
There is something to be said about saying our ways are good and not depending on God’s it is foolishness
This changed people will live holy lives, they will sanctify and glorify the Lord.
How will this come about? Those who did not hear in the past found instruction.
Where did their instruction begins, by turning back to the Lord.
True peace and happiness begins with desiring to live in a vibrant and personal relationship with God.
God is the potter whose plans determine what will happen to the clay.
As clay, people can choose to trust the Holy Potter and follow his instructions or reject God’s plans.
Those who humbly submit to God and accept his wisdom will one day enjoy the pleasures of a transformed world that God has planned for them.