Isaiah 22:1-14

Jerusalem's Inexcusable Frivolity. The prophecy apparently belongs to the time of Sennacherib's invasion. Its menacing tone contrasts with that of some other prophecies of the time. The people had provoked Isaiah's sternest anger by giving themselves up to festivity. Probably this was after the siege had been raised, either temporarily or when Sennacherib's army had been withdrawn after the disaster recorded in Isaiah 37:36. In the reaction caused by this relief the inhabitants recklessly surrendered themselves to riotous merriment, recognising (Isaiah 22:13) that they might still be doomed to die. The valley of vision cannot be Jerusalem itself, for it was no valley, but must be some valley in the neighbourhood. It seems to mean the valley concerning which the vision was seen.

The prophet is amazed at the manifestations of festivity. The people are on the house-tops, perhaps watching the retreat of the Assyrians or some spectacle in the streets. But another vision passes before the prophet's inward eye in strange contrast to their riotous exultation. Her slain have met no honourable death in battle, her rulers have fled before the Assyrians and been made prisoners by the archers. The slain have been killed in flight or executed. The prophet therefore cannot share in the mirth of the citizens and refuses to be comforted, for Yahweh has sent a day of crushing defeat: in the valley of vision they are shattering the walls, and a cry of distress goes up to the mountains. Elam (Jeremiah 49:34 *) sent a contingent of archers with chariots and horsemen, and Kir (Amos 9:7 *) took the shields from the cases in preparation for battle. The valleys were crowded with chariots, and the cavalry were set in array to assault the gates. Then the defencelessness of the city was laid bare, and the Jews made hasty attempts to atone for their former blindness by putting it in a state of defence. They examined the armour in the arsenal (1 Kings 10:17), found the walls of Zion in a ruinous condition; they retained the waters of the lower pool (situation unknown) in the city by stopping the outlets, to secure an adequate water supply during the siege. They numbered the houses to see which furnished the most suitable material, and could most easily be spared. They used these to mend and strengthen the walls. They stored the water of the old pool in a reservoir. But in all these preparations they had left God out of their reckoning. Yet all that had occurred was but the working out of His long-premeditated scheme, but they had not the insight to see His hand in history. Yahweh had called to mourning and humiliation, but they had given themselves to mirth and feasting, probably on the sacrifices of thank-offering for deliverance But in their festivity there was a tragic undertone; they may well have realised that their position might soon be desperate again, and have drowned in reckless gaiety all care for the uncertain future. Sins so heinous must be punished by death.

Isaiah 22:5. Remove the semi-colon from vision to hosts.

Isaiah 22:6. The Elamites were famous archers. Omit of men.

Isaiah 22:9 b - Isaiah 22:11 a. Possibly a prosaic interpolation: if omitted, we get a finer connexion between Isaiah 22:9 a and Isaiah 22:11 b you looked to the breaches of the city, but you did not look to Yahweh.

Isaiah 22:11. the old pool: perhaps the pool of Siloam.

Isaiah 22:12. baldness: shaving of the head in token of sorrow.