Day #198

Sermon - Audio
Isaiah 13-17 - Audio
Isaiah 13-17 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

Chapters 13 and 14 are actually talking about Assyria, both as an instrument of God’s punishment of many nations and being punished for going beyond God’s desired punishment. The reason the passage speaks of Babylon is because the kings of Assyria referred to themselves as the king of Babylon—the most important city in the Assyrian empire.

• 13.1 Oracle: the Hebrew word means to lift up, so an oracle is the lifting up of ones voice with words from God—usually words of doom.
• 13.5: Assyria and then Babylon are God’s weapon to punish many nations. In some ways, the armies of these empires represent a small flood (cf. Genesis 6), that brings punishment, but not complete destruction, on the then known world.
• 13.16 reflects the sheer terror of war. The idea was to make sure no children could grow up to be soldiers or grow up and live again in a destroyed town. Women were captured and forced into becoming prostitutes. Although Assyria is later punished (13.17ff) for overstepping God’s desired retribution one can not help but see in this terror a small taste of what hell must be like.
• 13.17ff: Assyria is punished for her sin by the Medes, even as Assyria has been God’s instrument to punish the nations.
• 13.20: Babylon was completely destroyed in the 7th century A.D.
• 14.4ff: words that mock the king of Assyria who thought he was so great and powerful, but ends up dead and disgraced.
• 14.8: The Assyrian kings bragged about all the trees they had cut down. Now the trees rejoice for they are safe—it might be a hint of God’s concern for his non-human creation (cf. God’s covenant with all creation after the flood).
• 14.9: All the kings that were killed by the king of Assyria now welcome him with mocking tones as he descends into the realm of the dead. All of his pretensions to power are gone and the other kings are vastly enjoying his down fall. (Psalm 146: “Do not put your trust in princes…when their spirit departs, they return to the ground, on that day their plans come to nothing.”)
• 14.12-15: the king’s aspirations to god-like status are mocked
• 14.12-15: This passage connects with a picture of mythology of the day of an overreaching god being expelled from heaven. The Assyrian king, who claimed to have a throne in the heavenly realms, is expelled from his supposed lofty place and send to the realm of the dead.
• 14.16-21: The king of Assyria is not given a proper burial. People in the culture of the Ancient Near East believed that to be denied a proper burial meant you were destined for a terrible afterlife. Because the king is denied burial he is condemned to the nastiest of fates in the underworld in contrast with his opulence and pride in this world.
• 14.28-32: Assyria would punish the Philistines. When under attack the Philistines would send envoys to Judah to form an alliance. The people of Israel, in spite of their fear, needed to trust God to protect them from the Assyrians, not an alliance with the Philistines.

Isaiah 15-16 outlines the downfall of Moab. Moab’s “founder” was Lot and it was from this nation that Ruth came. A few interesting things to note while you are reading.

Isaiah feels a deep sorrow for the nation of Moab and it’s destruction 15.5; 16.9; 16.11. This sorrow comes in spite of the fact that God has decreed the destruction of Moab.

• 16.6-8: The words of these verse contrast sharply with Isaiah’s lament. These words reflect the response of the people of Judah to Moab’s plight. As you read them, read them as one people gloating over the defeat of an enemy that has hounded them for years. Also, when you read 16.6, remember that God brings some of these very same accusations against Judah. The pot is calling the kettle black.

It is very likely that in Isaiah 16.9, that it is not Isaiah who is lamenting, but God himself over his destruction of Moab.

• Isaiah 15.6 and 16.9-10: God’s curse includes a curse on the natural bounties of Moab
• 16.1ff: A desperate Moabite people turn to Judah for assistance and shelter.
• 16.7: see NIV text note, “men” should be translated “raisin cakes” which are a food of celebration.
• 16.10: the sounds of joy at harvest are silenced.
• 16.14: “three years” i.e. destruction is close at hand.

Isaiah 17

As we make our way through this section of Isaiah it seems clear that God is cleaning house by destroying many nations as he did when Israel first came to the promised land. Although the text does not explicitly state it, it seems that their iniquity is full and the time of their punishment has come.

• 17.1: Damascus has long been an enemy of Israel.
• 17.4-11: God’s attention turns back to Israel and judgment on her.
• 17.7-8: God’s intervening in political events ends with many people putting their trust in him. It would seem that punishment drives them for their gods to the one true God.
• 17.10-11: God rebukes the people of Israel for trusting the Arameans rather than trusting in him.
• 17.10: the verse reflects a garden planted in honor of a pagan deity, each year the god would die for a time and then come back to life. The people of Israel continue to abandon Yahweh in favor of gods who die.
• 17.11: incurable pain—caused by invading armies.
• 17.12: raging waters is propaganda language used by Assyria to describe their armies and so terrify their enemies. It may have connections with the fear of ancient peoples of water and the chaos associated with it.