Isaiah 30:15-33

2. SALVATION

TEXT: Isaiah 30:15-33

15

For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

16

But ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17

One thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

18

And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.

19

For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; he will surely be gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear, he will answer thee.

20

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers;

21

and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22

And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as an unclean thing; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23

And he will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24

The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and the fork.

25

And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26

Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

27

Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire;

28

and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reacheth even unto the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples.

29

Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.

30

And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones.

31

For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he smite him.

32

And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with the sound of tabrets and harps; and in battles with the brandishing of his arm will he fight with them.

33

For a Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is made ready; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

QUERIES

a.

How will they be saved by rest? Isaiah 30:15

b.

When would they cast away their molten images of gold?

c.

What does Assyria (Isaiah 30:31) have to do with this context?

PARAPHRASE

This is what the Holy One of Israel, the One from whom you wish to hear no more, says: In turning again unto Me in humility you will find salvation; in calm trust in Me you will find powerbut you refuse to do so. You actually said, No, we will find our safety in fleeing to Egypt upon fast horses. Our salvation will be in our swiftness. Yes, if it is swiftness you wish to see, you shall see it, but it will be the swiftness of your enemies coming upon you. If it is fleeing you wish to see, you shall see that also. Indeed one thousand of you shall flee at the threat of just a very few of your enemies. There will be so few of you left after the fleeing before your enemies, those few will be like the solitary mast pole of a shipstanding all by itself. So, because of your attitude, the Lord will wait to show mercy to you until He has first completed His work of judgment. The Lord is a Lord of justice, and therefore He must uphold His exalted name in judgment before He can be gracious. All who wait with endurance upon the Lord to fulfill His purposes will find blessedness. Indeed, you who wait upon the Lord will dwell in Zion, even in the Holy City, where My presence is. There shall be an end to your weeping. The Lord will be gracious to you when He hears your cry to Him. As soon as He hears your cry of repentance and turning to Him, He will answer you. Although the Lord is going to give you a diet of adversity and affliction for awhile, the time will soon come when your God-sent teachers will no longer have to hide from threats to their lives. You will once again be able to see and hear true teachers from God calling you back to the true way where God wants you to walk. They will keep you from erring in walking on the wrong way. And in that day you will despise your expensive and precious idols as repulsive things and cast them away, saying, Good riddance, away with you! Then God will make you prosperous. He will bless you with rain at planting time and make what you plant produce abundantly and bring forth broad pastures for your flocks. Your livestock will eat the best kind of feed. In that day, when God defeats your enemies, He will give you refreshment like cool, clear streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. In that day, when the Lord treats the illness of His people and heals them, the glory of God and the abundance of His blessings upon His people will be so magnificent it will be like a sevenfold intensification of the shining of the sun and moon. Behold, the Lord, who before removed Himself because of the sins of His people, will come in the day of their repentance, aflame with wrath, lips filled with fury, consuming His enemies by His word. His wrath will pour out upon them and sweep them away like a flood which drowns; they will be destroyed like chaff from a sieve; they will be led by their errors to their doom as a horse is led by its bridle. But the Lord's people will have a festive song to sing like the songs of their holy feast days. The same kind of gladness of heart exhibited when worshippers go up to the mountain of the Lord playing on their flutes and other instruments will be the gladness that the Lord's people will have at that time. The Covenant-God will cause the majesty of His voice to be heard in the deliverance of His people. He will exhibit the power of His arm to save His people and destroy His enemies. His destruction will be terrible and complete. By the power of the word of God His enemies, the Assyrians, will cease to exist. Every stroke with which the Lord smites His mighty rod of punishment, the Lord's people will rejoice at their deliverance with music and song. In wars of heavenly power God will shake down His enemies to destruction. For ages and ages a cremating of His enemies has been prepared by the Lord. Jehovah has prepared a massive funeral pyre for the ruler of His enemies. Like brimstone which set on fire Sodom and Gomorrah, the breath of the Lord will consume His enemies.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 30:15-22 REPENTANCE: It is interesting to note how often Isaiah uses the phrase, the Holy One of Israel, to henceforth refer to God. It is undoubtedly deliberate on the prophet's part to rebuke and bring to repentance those who earlier (Isaiah 30:10-11) insisted they did not want to hear any more of the Holy One of Israel. The most used Hebrew word for repentance in nahkam but in Isaiah 30:15 the word describing the action involved in repentance, beshoovah or, in turning, is used. The word nahkath which means bring down, or humble is also used but translated rest. Isaiah is really saying that the salvation of this proud and rebelling people is to be found in returning to the Lord in humility and penitence. It is going to take drastic action on their part. Isaiah uses the words sheket, quietness, and batahk, trust, confidence, to inform his people where strength is to be found. The clamness which comes from trust in the Lord is the strength they will need to save their nation from its present corruption and inevitable disintegration and defeat. Judah's rulers are presently in a state of turmoil, indecision, conflict and strife about going to Egypt or not going to Egypt for help against Assyria. Proud and haughty, self-sufficient and carnal-minded, they refuse to trust in the Lord's way because His way demands trial, testing and discipline (cf. Hebrews 3:7-19). Christian discipleship is difficult. Jesus always taught those who would follow Him to count the cost. Few enter because the way is strait. The majority of people in Isaiah's day deliberately chose to reject Godthey would not turn and humble themselves (cf. Jeremiah 6:16-19; Ezekiel 2:1-7; Ezekiel 3:6-11).

Quite the contrary to humbling themselves and turning to the Lord, the majority of people are confident in their preparations to flee from the Assyrians on swift horses. People then put their trust in horses (cf. Genesis 50:9; Exodus 14:6 ff; Exodus 15:1; 2 Chronicles 12:3; Jeremiah 46:4; 2 Kings 18:24; Deuteronomy 17:16) like people today put their trust in military weapons. Isaiah predicts they will see some swift horses, but they will be the swift horses of the Assyrians who pursue them. Isaiah's people will also do some fleeing! Their enemies will be so terrible and awesome it will only take a few of them to put hundreds of Jews to rout. There will be so few people left when the Assyrians come, what remains will be so alone they will look like a lonely signal fire in the nightlike a solitary flag pole on a hill. This probably refers to the days of Hezekiah when the Assyrians had overrun and devastated all of Palestine except the city of Jerusalem and they had laid siege to that!

Isaiah continues to tell his audience what their relationship to the Holy One of Israel ought to berepentance. Jehovah is going to wait awhile before He has mercy upon His people. Jehovah's waiting period will involve an exhibition of His justice in judging the enemies of His people, the bread of adversity and water of affliction for His people, the crying of His people unto Him, their paying heed to their teachers and casting away of their idols. This waiting period of Jehovah is His program to work repentance in His people. His people must be prepared to receive His mercy. In their rebellious, ungodly attitude they do not even desire His mercy. They must see His judgment upon themselves and their enemies, cry to Him, listen to His teachers and purge themselves of false gods. Then they are ready to want and appreciate His mercy. Isaiah 30:21 seems to indicate that the attitude of the people of Isaiah's day toward their teachers was one of malice and hate. The prophets often were obliged to hide lest the people kill them for declaring the word of God. There must be a complete change of attitude toward who God is and what He says through His teachers, before they are ready for God's great blessings.

This section probably refers initially to the captivities of Israel by the Assyrians and Judah by the Babylonians and the restoration under Ezra and Zerubbabel. It is true the Jews learned their lesson about idolatry in the captivity. They never again worshipped images. However, in Jesus-' day the Pharisees had made an idol of their traditions. It is our opinion that the ultimate fulfillment of this passage and the verses that follow is found in the Messiah and His kingdom, the church.

Isaiah 30:23-26 RESTORATION: These verses are figurative hyperbole to describe the great way in which God will prosper His people upon their repentance and turning back to Him. It does not seem to be intended to be understood literally. There are things which, so far as history knows, have never happened literallyand should they happen literally they would bring an end to life on our planet, i.e., the moon becoming as the light of the sun and the sun's light increasing sevenfold! It is even doubtful that animals ever ate as well as they are described to eat in Isaiah 30:24. It is also a matter of record that Palestine has never known literally a time when there were brooks and streams upon every lofty mountain and every high hill! It is apparent that Isaiah is talking in times coloring of the great spiritual blessings that are to come as a result of the repentance of God's covenant people when God binds up the hurt of his people, and heals up the stroke of their wound. It is the binding up and healing that is to come through the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 53:4-6). It is through the Messiah God's people are to prosper (cf. Isaiah 53:10-12).

Isaiah 30:27-33 REJOICING: After repentance and restoration comes rejoicing. The Lord's people are portrayed as rejoicing when they see the all-powerful deliverance given to them by Him. He is coming from His place, burning with His anger and He will destroy His enemies with the word of His mouth. If God can bring the universe into existence by His word, He can destroy His enemies by the word of His mouth. His defeat of His enemies is inevitable and all consuming. Their defeat will be complete. Jehovah is going to bring this judgment upon the goyim (Gentiles, nations). The nations are brought to Him to be judged as beasts compelled by a halter or bridle are led to sacrifice. God will bring His enemies to judgment even against their will to be brought. When this great victory of God occurs it will result in a great deliverance for His people and this will cause His people to sing and rejoice at their redemption. God's people do not rejoice in a malicious attitude at the destruction of othersthey are praising God for His glory and faithfulness. Their deliverance will be like a great feast!

Isaiah 30:30 indicates that the main purpose of judgment and deliverance is to cause God's voice to be heard and His power to be exhibited. The initial focus of this judgment and deliverance will be upon Assyria. God will defeat the Assyrians in a stupendous, miraculous way when they surround Jerusalem in the day of Hezekiah (cf. Isaiah 36-39). But it seems to refer to a much greater and more complete victory of the Lord over the nations and Assyria is its beginning.

The word battles in Isaiah 30:32 is tenoophah which means more precisely, shaking. God is going to shake all the nations. All kingdoms of men oppose God's kingdom. He is going to shake them all down and establish a kingdom that cannot be shaken (cf. Hebrews 12:25-29). God is going to thoroughly destroy His enemies. He is going to bury them. Topheth was located in the valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem and was the place where unbelieving Israelites offered up their sons and daughters to Moloch. Here, too, the refuse of the city was deposited and burned; the fires burned continually. Thus the place came to take on the name Gehenna, i.e., the valley of Hinnom, and was a symbol of the place of eternal destruction.

The point of all this is found in the key words we have used in each section: Repentance, Restoration, Rejoicing. The Hebrew people had decided to find deliverance from their enemies (Assyria) in human governments and earthly programs (Egypt). Isaiah declares that the true people of God find their deliverance in turning to Him, because God is going to completely destroy all the nations, beginning with Assyria. Daniel symbolizes this so clearly in the vision of the great image (Daniel 2) and the vision of the four beasts (Daniel 7). The ultimate fulfillment of all this is accomplished in that great victory of God at Calvary, the Empty Tomb and Pentecost when God defeated man's greatest enemy, Satan, and established His kingdom on earth, the church.

QUIZ

1.

Why does Isaiah begin by mentioning the Holy One of Israel?

2.

Name the four things associated with their salvation?

3.

How had the people decided to save themselves?

4.

Why was Jehovah determined to wait?

5.

Why are Isaiah 30:23-26 probably not literal?

6.

What is the point of all this section?