IN OUR EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH we have now come to a new section, chapters 28-35. The oracles contained in this portion of the book were spoken during the reign of King Hezekiah of Jerusalem and reflect the conditions of the first part of his reign--before the fall of Samaria. Chapters 36-39 came out of the events of the fatal fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign and faithfully reflect the conditions of the kingdom from that time to the close. Thus chapters 28-39 echo the situation in Israel during the reign of Hezekiah, as chapters 7-12 (the Book of Immanuel) do in regard to the times of Ahaz, when those early oracles were spoken.

Isaiah, chapters 28-35, has been properly called the "Book of Woes," because each of the oracles, with the exception of chapters 34 and 35, begin with this ominous word. Chapters 28-33 consist of separate oracles directed at Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom, and Nineveh, the royal city of the great Assyrian empire, which was in Isaiah's time threatening the security of Israel. Chapter 34, as we shall learn, deals with the world situation in the end-time and singles out Edom, an inveterate enemy of Israel, as a typical nation upon whom God's judgments will fall. In contrast with these world judgments is the prediction of chapter 35 which deals with the great Kingdom Age when the curse will be lifted and the glory of God will encircle the globe.

In each of these oracles the prophet dealt with the situation which was confronting him and the nation at that time and then blended these predictions with prophecies regarding the world-wide situation of Israel during the final Tribulation from which she will eventually be delivered. We have in these chapters, as we find throughout the prophetic word, applications of the "law of double reference," which enabled the prophet to blend predictions and descriptions of both the immediate and remote situations. A failure to recognize this law of the prophetic word throws the pictures of the prophets out of focus, but a proper understanding and a recognition of this law instantly bring their predictions into sharp focus. Micah, as all Bible students know, was a contemporary of Isaiah's, for his ministry fell in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. A close examination of the Book of Micah reveals the fact that there is reflected in it the same situation which we see in Isaiah, chapters 28-35. One who is eager to get a clear understanding of the situation of these chapters would do well in studying the Book of Micah in connection with our study of this portion of Isaiah.

The prophet began his oracle on this occasion by uttering a prediction concerning Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. This is found in 28:1-6. Having dealt with that phase of his subject, he turned to Jerusalem and the leaders of the southern kingdom and hurled his invectives against them, because of their sinfulness (vss. 7-13). He then followed this denunciation by a prediction concerning the fate of the southern kingdom, which finally in the end-time will be gloriously delivered. The oracle concludes with a parable drawn from the vegetable kingdom and which sets forth the great truth that God, under His moral government of the universe, must allow nature to take its course (vss. 23-29).

I have visited the ancient site of Samaria on two occasions. If one will think of a wooden nut bowl which has a central cone, one will have a perfect picture of Samaria as it is located in a great valley which surrounds it. This valley is so very nearly perfect and uniform in its encircling the mountain that it almost looks as if it were artificial. The same thing is true with reference to Lachish, which likewise is located in a circular valley.

On the top of the hill of Samaria the city was located. In the valley surrounding it and on the sloping hills constituting the inside of this bowl-shaped valley were vineyards and orchards, together with vegetable gardens, in the days of Isaiah. The correctness of this statement is reflected in the prophet's description of Samaria and its environs.

In Isaiah 28:2-4 is a prediction that there was a mighty and a strong one who would come against Samaria "as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing." A glance at profane history shows that the one here referred to was none other than Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, with his armed might. This monarch would upon first sight of Samaria do with it as one does when he sees the first ripe fig in the summer--pull it immediately and devour it. When we read the historical account in II Kings, chapters 17 and 18, and glance at the Assyrian monuments, we see that Shalmaneser was the one who started the siege against Samaria and the northern kingdom, but that Sennacherib was the one who actually completed the job. But the prediction is correct in stating that the king of Assyria would grasp this first ripe fig of Samaria and devour it.

In verses 5 and 6 the prophet gave promise that, "In that day will Jehovah of hosts become a crown of glory ... and a spirit of justice to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate." The Lord did not become this to Israel when the northern kingdom fell nor to the southern kingdom when it went down under the sledge-hammer blows of the Babylonians. Since the Word of God will be fulfilled literally as God has spoken and since this portion of the prophecy has not been fulfilled, we can come to no other conclusion than that this is a description of the final siege and distress of Israel in the Tribulation, at the close of which God will, when Israel accepts Him and acknowledges her national sin, restore her to her proper place and become a crown of glory to her. Thus in this initial paragraph we see the first illustration of the "law of double reference" in our present section of Isaiah.

Having set forth the future concerning Samaria, as we have just seen, the prophet then looked at the southern kingdom, especially to the leaders, both political and religious, and directed an oracle against them. In verses 7 and 8 he described the immoral, drunken lives of the corrupt priesthood at Jerusalem. We must take this language literally because there is nothing in the context to indicate otherwise. The clergy therefore in that day was but a group of drunkards who held their positions as the religious leaders, but who had sunk to the very depths of sin.

They resented the prophet's holding before the people the Holy One of Israel and, in a sneering mocking manner, asked the question, "Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?" (vs. 9). The reason for their asking these questions was that Isaiah spoke very plainly and distinctly in order that everyone might get the message; but they assumed that he was endeavoring to instruct them as a teacher would small children. Thus they spoke of his teaching with "precept upon precept ... here a little, there a little" ... the kindergarten method. They considered themselves as full-grown men and able to comprehend anything.

Then the prophet declared in verses 11-13 that, since they did not like his teaching, God would speak to them in an entirely different manner--"by men of strange lips and with another tongue" (vs. 11). The ones here referred to can be none other than the Assyrians, whose language was indeed strange to the Hebrews. Of course this is a play upon words. Isaiah had been talking to them, delivering the oracles of God. They did not like the message thus delivered; therefore the prophet said that God would speak to them in a different manner--by sending this foreign aggressor and dictator with all his armed force against them. Thus the invasion by Sennacherib was God's message delivered in the sternest manner possible.

God was thus going to deal with His people--because of their continuing in sin--although He had promised that He would give them rest in the land of Canaan. Had Israel been faithful to God, He would have fulfilled the promises offered to her in such passages as Leviticus, chapter 26, and Deuteronomy, chapter 28.

Since God was forced to speak to her in such drastic language as that of an invasion by a foreign dictator, the Lord declared that He would have to continue in speaking to her "precept upon precept ... line upon line ... here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (vs. 13).

HAVING dealt with the jeering, mocking taunts of the drunken priests (vss. 7-13), the prophet began to lay before the people the Assyrian invasion, the second coming of Messiah, and the final purging of Israel in the Tribulation. That he was still addressing these scoffers in Jerusalem is evident from verse 14: "Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem ..." When one reads the entire Book of Isaiah, one sees that these leaders refused to take the prophet's message seriously. He kept threatening them with the judgment of God and their going down to Sheol, as may be seen from Isaiah 5:14. Moreover he kept holding the Holy One of Israel up to their gaze, which thing they disdained. Thus in mockery they taunted the prophet by saying that they had made a covenant with death and were in perfect agreement with Sheol. Hence his threat that they would go down to Sheol and suffer the punishment of the lost, they declared, had no force for them. One can see from the latter part of 28:15 an echo of what the prophet had also said to them; namely, that they were simply hiding under a refuge of lies and falsehoods. But these leaders had perverted ideas of truthfulness and the standards of righteousness. Regardless of how the prophet delivered his message, these profane drunken priests would break the force of the divine utterances.

Since they were taking such an attitude toward the truth of God, it was impossible for them to see the correctness of any of God's utterances. Being in this condition they would be utterly, declared the prophet, unable to recognize the Messiah when He would appear. He thus called their attention to the first coming of Messiah in the following words:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste" (vs. 16).

An examination of this prophecy shows that it related to the first coming of our Lord. It was impossible for those mockers who were ruling Jerusalem in Isaiah's day to recognize the Messiah, had He come in their day. Moreover, it was impossible for those of the same character of the first century to recognize the Messiah when He actually did make His appearance. But the one who believed God and who was following the light which he had would not be in haste but would trust the Messiah for his salvation and protection.

In verse 17, however, the prophet went forward in his vision and described the second coming of our Lord in the following words:

"And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place."

In order for one to see the real significance of this verse, he should read II Kings 21:1-15, especially verse 13. In the language of this historical account and this prophecy we see that the line of justice and the plummet of righteousness and their being used refer to God's destructive judgments which He will bring upon the nation in purging all the wicked from Israel. Since verse 16 refers to the events of the first coming of Messiah and verse 17 to those of His return, we know that the entire Christian Dispensation intervenes between the events of verses 16 and 17. The prophet very frequently blended descriptions of the two comings of our Lord into a single picture as he has done here.

The leaders of Israel in the end-time will enter a covenant with death and with Sheol will they be in agreement when they make the covenant with the Antichrist, to which fact the Prophet Daniel referred in Daniel 9:27. But that covenant will not protect the people of Israel of the future. It will be the occasion, on the other hand, of special judgments coming upon those who thus enter such an agreement with this future world dictator.

As often therefore as the scourge will pass through the land of Israel, it will bring desolation to the country. Israel's plight at that time will be indeed pitiable. Her situation is represented by a man who is endeavoring to rest on a bed that is too short and under cover that is too narrow. Thus the bed and the covering of the agreement with the Antichrist will be insufficient for the protection of those relying thereupon.

According to verse 21 God will bring a signal victory for the faithful remnant of Israel as He did in the past, when He intervened in her behalf (see II Sam. 5:17-21; Joshua 10:10-14). When Israel looks to the Messiah and pleads for Him to return, having confessed her national sin, He will come and bring this marvelous deliverance.

That the prophet is looking forward to the time of the Tribulation and God's universal judgments upon the earth is evident from verse 22, in which the prophet declared, "For a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth."

IN VERSES 23-29 the prophet used a parable drawn from the field of agriculture. God has instituted the laws which govern the life of plants and vegetables. There is a time to plow, to harrow, to plant, to cultivate, and to reap. Finally the grain must be ground and cooked. Man has learned God's method of furnishing him with his daily bread. He therefore cooperates with God by planting, cultivating, and harvesting his crops. The God of the harvest is also the God controlling the spiritual and the moral realms. He heads a moral government. He uses spiritual and moral suasion to induce men to do the right thing. The Lord never forces any man's will. If one is determined to pursue his own course, irrespective of all that God says or does, he must reap what he has sowed (Gal. 6:7). The rulers of Israel had sowed the wrong kind of seed. The God of nature, as already stated, is also the God of the spiritual and the moral realms. As nature must take its course in the vegetable kingdom, so the principles operative in these realms must take their course. God has had to deal with Israel according to her life and action throughout the past and will continue to do so. Finally in the Tribulation He will be forced by her action and attitude to deal drastically with her by sending the judgments of the Tribulation, which will purge out all the wicked. He will gather the wheat from His threshing floor into His garner, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. Then those who are represented by the kernels of wheat will be allowed to enter the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world for the righteous. They will shine forth in that kingdom of glory as the stars of the firmament. Thus nature in God's moral and spiritual realm will take its course and bring its full fruition.

Chapter 29 constitutes the second woe. In our translation, however, appears the word "Ho" in the text but "woe" in the footnote. The same word in the original occurs here as appears in the other verses where it is translated "woe." It should be thus rendered here also. Although chapter 29 constitutes this second woe, the same word appears in verse 15 of the chapter, but it is simply a reiteration of the thought and does not start another oracle of judgment.

The Prophet Isaiah declared, "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!" What is the significance of "Ariel?" According to its derivation it means either the hearth of God or the lion of God. It is not likely that it means the lion of God here because city is feminine in the original and according to usage, had Isaiah this idea in mind, he would have said the "lioness" of God--which thing he did not do. It is therefore not likely that he had that comparison in mind.

Since this same word occurs in Ezekiel 43:15 and refers to the top of the great altar in the Millennial Age and since in Isaiah 31:9 Jerusalem is represented as a furnace where the fires of God's wrath will burn, it is most likely that our prophet here thought of Jerusalem as the hearth of God. When the Jew thought of Jerusalem, he thought of the Temple first and of the great altar on which the sacrifices were offered to make atonement for them. Thus in the minds of the Hebrews the fire consuming their offerings stood out in bold relief. The transition from this idea to that of comparing the city to a furnace where the fire burns intensely was very easy. In fact, it is simply a play upon words. The fire upon the altar consumed the offerings, especially the whole burnt offerings. These were authorized by the Lord. With this thought as a background, the prophet's mind easily conceived of Jerusalem as a great altar upon which God would burn and consume the dross of the nation--the wicked--and would refine His people and bring them forth as pure gold. Malachi expressed this thought in 3:1-6.

This hearth of God is the city where David camped and where the feasts of Jehovah were observed. Shiloh was the place where the worship of God was conducted after Israel left the plains of Jericho. Finally in the days of David God selected Jerusalem out of all other places for placing His name there.

The prediction according to verse 2 foretells distress, lamentation, and mourning; but through this period of purging Jerusalem shall come forth and become His real hearth.

How will this be done? According to verse 3 it will be done by God's having it besieged. It is God who does it. How does He do that? An examination of verses 5-8 shows that He brings the nations of the world to fight against it. Micah foretold the same event but used a different figure (Micah 4:11-13). Here the prophet thought of Jerusalem as a threshing floor and the nations as sheaves of wheat which are to be brought there and to be threshed by Israel, the faithful remnant, who will be supported and strengthened by the Almighty. Zechariah also foretold the siege of Jerusalem in the day of Jehovah (Zech. 12:1 ff).

According to Isaiah 29:4 the people of Israel are thought of in terms of their mother city which is crushed into the earth and speaks out of the dust, in sepulchral tones, as if she were utterly crushed and as if the spirit had left the body. To such dire extremity will the nation be reduced during the final siege. The nations will gather in the land of Israel in order to exterminate her from the face of the globe. They will attempt to take the wealth and the riches which she will possess in her own land. They will attack the Jews, especially prompted by this motive, but will not realize that they are unconscious tools in the hand of God as was Sennacherib (see Isa. 10:5-7).

Suddenly the great hosts of the armies of the world, engaged in the mightiest conflict of all the ages, will be utterly destroyed. This prediction is seen in verses 5-8 of the prophecy which we are now studying. The Lord will use the forces of nature in the destruction and overthrow of these nations. This is seen in verse 6:

"She shall be visited of Jehovah of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirl wind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire."

When we study this passage in the light of related ones, we see that this conflict ends with the personal appearance of the Lord Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, appearing in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all who knew not God and who obey not the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus will be destroyed all anti-Semitic nations. Their dream of conquest and loot is represented by a man who dreams that he eats but, when he wakes, he is still hungry.

In verses 9-12 the prophet showed why God must allow these calamities to come upon Israel: "Tarry ye and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink" (vs. 9).

From this verse we see that the people are told to go on in their own way and to take their pleasure because they are blind and unable to appreciate the situation in which they find themselves. They are drunken--senseless; they are blind, because God has poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep; they cannot comprehend the message of God's Holy Word. This is an example of judicial blindness. When men who have had opportunities of knowing the will of God refuse it and prefer something else, He brings spiritual blindness upon them as a judgment and punishment. The same thing is seen in Isaiah, chapter 66, verses 3 and 4:

... Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations: 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted not."

A person cannot afford to refuse the light which God brings to him and to choose his own way. Judicial blindness and judgment for such are inevitable. Regardless of how much education a man may have and how brilliant he may be, unless he has the will to do the will of God he cannot understand the message of the Scriptures nor see their divine origin (John 7:17). On the other hand, if one wills to do the will of God, the Lord will open his eyes and enable him to see the divine origin of the revelation and will enable him also to comprehend its message--sufficiently to accept His salvation and to glorify Him.

According to this prediction Israel as a nation will be utterly blind and will be unable to understand the message of the Word of God. The educated will admit that they do not understand what God has said; the uneducated likewise will confess their inability to grasp the message. While this condition will characterize Israel as a nation, there will be the faithful remnant which desires truth above everything else. To this portion of the nation the light of God will burst in upon their souls.

In verses 13 and 14 the prophet lays bare one of the principal reasons for people's being unable to understand the Word. In the case of Israel, as these verses show, what the people know of God will have been taught them by rote. They draw near to God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. They hold to the ancient faith because they are born Jews and have been taught their religion by rote. They do not take spiritual matters seriously. They hold to a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. What is here said of the Jews of the end-time might also be addressed to many who profess Christianity. All too many people are what they are religiously and believe as they do simply because they have been taught it from childhood and have not made any personal investigation to determine whether or not that which they have been taught is really set forth in the Word. To all such people the working of God in nature and in history--in current events--is hidden. This God declares:

"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid" (Isa. 29:14).

God constantly works and overrules in the affairs of men. In the end of this age and in the Tribulation He will step out, figuratively speaking, into the great arena of human endeavor in a new way and direct affairs to the advancement of His plan. Nevertheless the great bulk of the people will not be able to detect His presence but will go on in their delusions, pursuing their own pleasures. Isaiah was a great statesman and prophet. Assyria, as we have already seen in former articles, was threatening the nation of Israel. There were two political parties among the people--the pro-Assyrian and the pro-Egyptian. The former wanted to placate and appease the Assyrians in order to avoid calamity. The latter wanted to call in Egyptian aid against the aggressor. Isaiah condemned both policies and insisted upon the nation's looking to God for deliverance in the crisis. As we shall see in our next study, the pro-Egyptian party had already sent in a secret manner a deputation with large gifts to Egypt in order to procure military aid. Isaiah shows that he knew of their secret plottings and condemned them (Isa. 29:15,16). In their attempting to solve their national problem this way, they were turning things upside down and were considering God, the great Potter, no more than the clay which is shaped by the potter. People do that very thing today--most unfortunately and tragically.

IN THE next paragraph (vss. 17-21) the prophet looked through the centuries beyond the time of crisis of the Tribulation, through which Israel must pass, and he saw the dawn of the perfect day, the great Millennial Age. In comparison with eternity the time intervening between the prophet's day and that of the great Millennial Age is very short. Hence he asked: "Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?" During the present distresses time drags upon the souls of men. But in comparison with all eternity our little disappointment and sorrows fade into insignificance and time seems to be but a tiny speck of eternity.

When that era comes, the curse will be lifted and men's bodies will be perfect. "And in that day shall the deaf hear ... the eyes of the blind shall see ... the meek also shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel" (29:18,19). At that time all oppression will cease. The "terrible ones" will have been rooted out of the earth and men of little minds and sinister motives will no longer exist.

IN THE final paragraph of our chapter (vss. 22-24) the prophet looked forward to the great Millennial Age and he saw Jacob in the kingdom of God. Surrounding him will be his children, the redeemed Israelites--those who have been saved through the centuries and those who will be living during the Millennial Age--who will be, according to promise, like the stars of heaven for multitude. This passage therefore presupposes the resurrection of the righteous and the increase of the nation according to promise.

Thus Israel in association with the patriarch of old, from whom the race sprang, will be "the work of my [Jehovah's] hands." God is overruling in the lives of all men. We are indeed the clay whereas He is the Divine Potter. If men will yield their hearts and lives to Him, He will make them into vessels of honor fit for the Master's use; if they do not yield completely, He will then make a less honorable vessel out of them; but, if they will not yield to Him at all and accept the salvation which He offers freely through the Lord Jesus Christ, then of course they will be banished from His presence and from the glory of His might forever.

When she is thus saved, according to verses 23 and 24, she--all the saved of Israel--"shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel." In that time they will never err in spirit nor misunderstand any situation. Great will be those days.

According to the signs of the times this present age is drawing rapidly to a close. The storm clouds of the Tribulation Period already are beginning to settle down upon the world. The "day of the Lord" will continue for seven years but will be followed by the marvelous Kingdom Age when the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.