Isaiah 2.4

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21:1-10: Vision of horror

21:11-12, more destruction

13-17, tribes coming with no supplies

Jerusalem committing unforgivable sin (22:14)

Oracle of Tyre

In these chapters here, the Woes to the nations have left clarity of the contemporary situation (oracle concerning Egypt, Moab, etc.) to now much more enigmatic titles like this one in chapter 21: “The Oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.”

Let’s read all of chapter Isaiah 21

Isaiah 21 ESV

1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. 2 A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. 3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. 5 They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield! 6 For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees. 7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.” 8 Then he who saw cried out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. 9 And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.” 10 O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you. 11 The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” 12 The watchman says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”

Once we get to v. 9, we see this is an oracle concerning Babylon. That great enemy of Judah’s, that great stand in for human sin and arrogance. But what strikes me here is not necessarily the prophecy of Babylon falling, but instead the prophet’s reaction to what he sees in his vision.

Look again Isaiah 21:3–4 “3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.”

Isaiah seems to tremble at what he sees, he’s so horrified by this vision of the destruction and judgement that he is doubled-over, he’s having a physical reaction to the prophetic vision. And it occurs to me that this is the prophet showing some sort of empathy to his fellow humans. He’s witnessing such a fall, such destruction, he can hardly stand to think of it. He can’t bear the weight of this vision!

But is this the reaction you’d expect? Babylon is a great enemy of Judah’s, you’d think Isaiah’s reaction would be one of celebration for God is finally dealing with their great enemies. But no, he is horrified. And what I love so much about Isaiah is how he models for us what our attitude should be toward others, especially when we consider that the judgement that others face, and especially our enemies.

Isaiah models an empathy toward others, an empathy even toward his enemies that seems strange and unexpected. But consider this in the wider context of the prophet’s ministry. He’s already spoken at length about the future vision of the nation coming to know the Lord, coming to know YHWH and worship Him at Zion. Surely, this vision would have included Babylon. Isaiah’s hope is in a future day in which a messiah will come and establish His kingdom at Zion and it will be a place for the nations to come.

But now he is witnessing destruction. Though they may be Israel’s enemy, they are still human. This then becomes an invitation for us to consider how we think of our enemies, how we think of those different from us. Do we appropriately lament and grieve the tragic things of this world, even the tragic things of those we perceive as enemies?

We should. Jesus exhorted us to love our enemies. Of course, this is increasingly difficult in the world we live in today.

Let’s move on, look at Isaiah 21:5 “5 They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!”

This scene is understood as referring to King Hezekiah's welcoming of some Babylonian ambassadors around 705 BC, during which a banquet was held to celebrate a treaty with Babylon. Isaiah views this celebratory and self-assured approach to security as agonizing, particularly because he knows Babylon's ultimate fate. The act of "oiling the shields" can be seen as anointing them for a "holy war," reflecting a misplaced trust in human endeavors. It’s an image of invoking oil (spiritual blessing) with a tool of war.

Isaiah sets out as a watchman, a lookout who then reports this vision: Babylon has fallen! All of her images, her idols and false gods are shattered to the ground. Despite its apparent strength and despite its apparent potential as a great ally for Judah, Babylon is doomed!

Again and again we see this: human’s attempt to organize the world without God, a doomed endeavor.

Let’s move on to Isaiah 22:1-14

Isaiah 22:1–14 ESV

1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops, 2 you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle. 3 All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away. 4 Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

  This section is a vision concerning Judah, which is interesting because it comes in this lengthy section we’ve been in the past few weeks, all of these oracles concerning the nations. Isaiah uses this interesting nick name for Jerusalem: the valley of vision. It’s ironic because Jerusalem wasn’t in a valley and, as we read through the passage, this is a people that are definitively lacking in vision.

Isaiah is gripped by a dire vision of Jerusalem’s destruction. That’s v. 4: let me weep bitter tears. I would notice here, his reaction is so similar to his reacion to the vision of Babylon being destroyed. In one instance, it was their great enemy, in another, it was his very people. And in both cases, he is horrified by what he sees. This is a model for us. We should have a practice of lament and grief. NOT revelry and celebration over another’s destruction.

Isaiah 22:1–14 ESV

5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains. 6 And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. 7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. 8 He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago. 12 In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; 13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 14 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah is mourning the vision he has of Jerusalem’s future destruction. Armies will bear down on them; they will look with hope toward weapons; they will break down houses to fortify walls, destroying homes and trusting in themselves and in all this “they did not look to him who did it.” They have taken their eyes off of the LORD who “planted them as a vineyard,” that’s imagery from much earlier in the book of Isaiah. And then look at v. 13—Isaiah is weeping, God is calling for mourning and repentance—and in stark contrast, the people of Jerusalem are depicted in a state of revelry, celebrating with joy and gladness, feasting together! Look at what Isaiah reports Isaiah 22:13 “13 and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.””

Now, obviously, they’re not really saying that; in turning to their fortified walls and reservoirs, they think they have secured themselves from destruction. But Isaiah is reporing their attitudes, their denial of the significance of the spiritual dimension of their lives.

And then we come to v. 14—a terribly solemn verse—God names this as a sin that will not be atoned for and that they will die. One commentary remarked that this is the fulfillment of what was predicted at the outset of Isaiah’s ministry when God told him in Isaiah 6:9 “9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’”

In chapter 6, Isaiah acknowledged His sinful condition and was cleansed! This people have become increasingly turned away from God, increasingly blind and deaf to the warnings of the prophet. We might say this is akin to the unforgivable sin we see Jesus refer to in the new testament. It is here in Isaiah the sin of unbelief—there is no looking to the Lord (saw this in v. 11), there is no repentance or penitence (v. 12) and total reliance on human saving works.

And why place this section here in the midst of the woes to the nations? It’s a seen in which they were jubilant in the midst of inevitable destruction. The leaders (v. 15-25 really function as to case studies of two of Israel’s leaders and their faithlessness.) could not see that YHWH was the better defense, the stronger fortification than any other ally or defense they could mount. The overall sense then is that this people—Judah—they are no better off than the Gentiles around them. Their perspective is the same as the world’s and therefore they will fall under the same judgement as the world.

And this is a vitally important lesson for us. Outside of Christ, we must know that we are no better than anyone else in this world. In our flesh, we are just as deserving of judgement and punishment as the greatest of our enemies. Yet, again and again we will look to lesser things for security, safety, salvation. We’ll look to our own works and we’re revel in them! We’ll party and celebrate ourselves and how good we are, especially compared to those people.

And all the while we fail to find our security and salvation in the Lord. We ought to pray for eyes to see and ears to hear, pray for sight in a world that is lacking any sort of vision.