Isaiah 2:5-9

THE VIOLENCE OF CORRUPTION AND JUDGMENT Isaiah 2:5-22

a. LIGHT UPON THE DARKNESS

TEXT: Isaiah 2:5-9

5

O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

6

For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7

And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

8

Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

9

And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not.

QUERIES

a.

What is wrong with the customs of the east?

b.

What is striking hands?

c. Who is the mean man?

PARAPHRASE

If the nations are going to seek to walk in His ways, O house of Jacob, then, come, let us walk in the light of Jehovah also! But, thou O Jehovah, hast withdrawn thy mercy from the house of Jacob because they are filled with the superstition and idolatry of the eastern peoples and God's sons have become like a nation of uncircumcised Philistines; they reject their own godly heritage to fraternize with foreign unbelievers and their pagan life. They have become money mad and filled the land with the machinery of war. More heinous than that, however, is their inordinate, insatiable hunger to practice idolatrythe land is filled with idols. The common men and the great men all bow down before things they have invented with their own hands. Do not forgive them, O lord!

COMMENTS

Isaiah 2:5 THE APPEAL TO WALK IN THE LIGHT: In view of the vision which has just preceded this of the Gentiles voluntarily coming to walk in the ways of Jehovah, Isaiah attempts to provoke the house of Jacob to seek His ways. To walk in the light of Jehovah they would have to give up all their materialism and idolatry.

Isaiah 2:6 GOD HAS FORSAKEN THEM: This does not mean God would not turn and heal them should they repent, but it means He must forsake them as long as they forsake Him. If they will not have Him, He cannot have them. They are granted the freedom to choose whom they will servethey chose the pagan superstition and idolatry of their eastern neighbors (Syrians, Assyrians, Ammonites, Babylonians, etc.) Striking hands (literally, to clap hands with) means to fraternize with, approve or associate with to the extent of cooperation, indulgence appropriation. It is not wrong in itself to be found in the midst of foreigners or sinners, but to participate in their sin is what the house of Jacob was doing and this is a rejection of Him. Judah was filled with heathen customs of all kinds: animism, sexual sins, human sacrifices, divination, etc. (Cf. Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10). It was not that God did not want themthey did not want God!

Isaiah 2:7 MATERIALISM: In the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 17:17) the king was forbidden to multiply silver and gold, for these would tend toward an indulgent and profligate life. Those who possess much silver and gold generally are never satisfied with what they have but always seek to procure more (Cf. 1 Chronicles 29:4; 2 Chronicles 8:18; 2 Chronicles 9:10). It is not the silver and gold in themselves which are condemned, but the filling of the land with themthey were money mad! When God's people are filled with the fullness which the world offers, they are empty toward God (Cf. Luke 12:21). God's people should be filled with those things in which the world is empty (Cf. Ephesians 5:18). They also filled their land with the machinery of warhorses and chariots. A standing army for the purpose of self defense is not wrong and is even advocated specifically in the O.T. and in principle in the N.T. But multiplying a military-industrial complex inevitably leads men to trust more in their own power than in God. The multiplication of horses and chariots was another prohibition of the Mosaic law for kings (Deuteronomy 17:17). The military might of a nation can be made into an idol by proud and vain men (Nazi Germany, Communist Russia and China, Roman Empire, etc.).

Isaiah 2:8 IDOLATRY: Generally speaking, it can be established that there was no national idolatry under Uzziah and Jotham. But by the time of Ahaz, there had been such a wide practice of private idolatry by the people, it had become a national policy. Ahaz promoted it personally. Showing the stupidity of idolatry is one of Isaiah's recurring themes (Cf. Isaiah 40:18-31; Isaiah 41:21-29; Isaiah 44:9-20, etc.). The utter stupidity of bowing down and worshipping and asking help from a figurine which owes its existence to the one bowing down should be manifest to any intelligent being. Then to receive no utterance or oracle from a block of wood or granite should convince the idolator of his folly, (Cf. Acts 17:22-31). But men have continued for nearly as long as the world has existed to prostitute themselves to objects fashioned by their own hands, or the hands of others, and called them gods,

Isaiah 2:9 DEGRADATION: All classes of men are brought low and degraded as a result of Judah's sin, Two Hebrew words for man are used hereadam, the general word or mean word for man (common mankind), and ish, the word for men of importance. All men, high and low, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, are bowing themselves before idols. It is a national disease. Therefore, the prophet commands (imperative), forgive them not. Isaiah asks that his message be vindicatedGod is asked to withhold His forgiveness so long as Judah remains in stubborn rebellion and idolatry. This is what Isaiah proclaimednow God will establish the truth of what Isaiah preached.

QUERIES

1.

Upon what basis does the prophet exhort Jacob to walk in the light of God?

2.

When does God forsake His people?

3.

What is striking of hands?

4.

Why did God forbid the accumulation of silver and gold?

5.

Why did God forbid the accumulation of horses and chariots?

6.

Why is idolatry stupid?

7.

How extensive was idolatry in Judah at this time?