021. III. Prophecies Of Judgment Upon Judah For The Sins Of The Nation
III PROPHECIES OF JUDGMENT UPON JUDAH FOR THE SINS OF THE NATION 1. Sermons about Jerusalem from Jehovah’s Point of View (2 to 4)
Popular expectations regarding the future glory of Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4). Not long after Jehovah had called me to his service, as I was thinking of his plans for my people there came to my mind the well-known prediction that Mt. Zion, the site of the beautiful temple of Jehovah, will yet become the most conspicuous mountain in the world, so that all nations will eagerly flock thither to be taught true views regarding God and life. Their disputes will then be settled by Jehovah’s just arbitrament. Since all necessity for war will cease, their weapons will be fashioned into implements of agriculture.
Why Jehovah cannot fulfil such pleasing hopes (Isaiah 2:5-9). As I repeated in public this glorious hope, I could but add, “O house of Jacob, does not such a destiny impel us so to serve our God that we may be found worthy to fulfil it? For let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that Jehovah is ready to use us, sinners that we are. He must sorely discipline his beloved people, for they no longer trust in him. Sorcerers and soothsayers and strangers are their friends. They gloat over their accumulating wealth and resources. They have even filled the city with idols made by themselves. Every one of them deserves a humiliating retribution for his forgetfulness of God; they are beyond forgiveness. The “Day of Jehovah,” a day of humiliation for mere earthly pride (Isaiah 2:10-17). You boast, O my people, of what will happen on Jehovah’s day. Alas! his coming in majesty will be a day of terror and humiliation to you. Everything that seems to exalt itself or minister to human pride shall be brought low, for at all costs Jehovah will maintain his supremacy. He alone will be exalted. And a day when idolatry will be overthrown (Isaiah 2:18-21). The idols, so carefully made of costly material, will be cast aside when Jehovah reveals his majestic presence in the earthquake. You will try to hide away from him in the recesses of the rocks. How puny human power will then seem to be; how useless such hand-made gods! The complete collapse of social order in Judah certain (Isaiah 3:1-7). In the year that the boy king, Ahaz, ascended the throne, I made known to Judah the catastrophe to be expected. “Jehovah will remove all who contribute to the order and stability of society. Weak and capricious rulers shall have supreme power. All discipline or government will come to an end. In vain will you entreat the one remaining householder to assume authority over his fellows. You will all be driven to utter despair.”
Because of the just judgment of Jehovah upon her wicked rulers (Isaiah 3:8-12).
He will vindicate the oppressed (Isaiah 3:13-15). The reason for this certain ruin is the flagrant wickedness carried on so openly by those who should be the protectors and exemplars of virtue. They cannot complain if their own evil doings bring evil upon themselves. O my people, your leaders are misleaders; they only make you go astray. When Jehovah calls his people before him for judgment, he will reckon with these cruel and selfish rulers, who neglect all interests but their own. The fate of the haughty and luxurious ladies of Jerusalem (Isaiah 3:16toIsaiah 4:1). At another time Jehovah bade me announce that his righteous judgment would not fail to descend upon the proud and vain ladies of Jerusalem, whose luxuries gave excuse for the exactions of their husbands. Theirs shall be a terrible fate. Those who are now so haughty and coquettish will be stripped of their bewildering attire, exposed to shame, and treated as wretched captives of war, while the holy city will be disconsolate because of the loss of her brave defenders. So few will be spared that the women in that day will crowd around each survivor and plead for marriage, that they may be spared the reproach of childlessness. The Jerusalem in which Jehovah will delight to dwell (Isaiah 4:2-6). [[12]When the desolating judgment has been completed, the land will become abundantly fertile. The few who are left to enjoy it, because predestined to life in the holy city, will be truly holy, for Jehovah himself will thoroughly purify them. Over the city will hover his protecting presence, even as he once manifested himself to his people in the desert He will also protect his favorite dwelling-place from the scorching heat of midday and from the driving storm. His constant presence will make it a paradise.]
[12] It is thought by many scholars that this paragraph formed no part of the spoken message of the prophet at this particular epoch, but was added as a suitable conclusion at the time when the separate sermons of chapters 2 to 4 were gathered into their present literary form.
2. Judah the Unfruitful Vineyard of Jehovah (Isaiah 5:1-24) The song of the vineyard and its application (Isaiah 5:1-7). Determined to bring home to my countrymen their unfaithfulness to God, I offered one day to sing a melodious song about a friend of mine who owned a vineyard : A vineyard belongs to my friend, On a hill that is fruitful and sunny;
He digged it and cleared it of stones, And planted there vines that are choice. A tower he built in the midst, And hewed therein also a wine-vat; And he looked to find grapes that are good.
Alas! it bore grapes that are wild.[13] [13]
I appealed to my auditors: “Ye men of Judah, yourselves judge. Has this vineyard fulfilled my reasonable expectations? Am I not amply justified in laying it waste and giving it no further care?” At their ready assent I exclaimed, “O men of Judah, you have condemned yourselves. You are the plantation on which Jehovah has lavished his affectionate care. He expected you to set an example of justice, but there is nothing to be seen but bloodshed; he looked for righteousness, but he hears the bitter outcry of the oppressed.”[14] [14]
Judah’s wild grapes,—the greed for landed estates (Isaiah 5:8-10). Do you indignantly deny my charge? Then let me show you the evils that are sapping the moral life of this nation. See the cruel greed for vast estates that incites the wealthy to unjustly add to their possessions until a few of them possess the whole land. Woe to them! Jehovah himself hath revealed to me that depopulation and barrenness shall be the sequel.
Excessive drunkenness (Isaiah 5:11-17). Again God’s curse is upon those nobles who spend day and night in reckless dissipation, too engrossed with the pleasures of the table to give attention to Jehovah’s interests. Alas! not these alone, but the many who unthinkingly follow them, will have to suffer the distress of captives. Nay, Sheol shall engulf in oblivion all their pomp and glory. Where once was a beautiful city flocks shall peacefully graze; for at all costs Jehovah will compel his people to recognize him as the righteous and holy One.
Defiant skepticism (Isaiah 5:18-19). Woe again to those who are so deliberate and persistent in doing evil that they even dare to defy Jehovah’s judgment, announced through his servants, until it overtakes them! Their very attachment to their sin is a bond which fetters them for the inevitable judgment.
Sophistry and egoism (Isaiah 5:20-21).
Judicial corruption (Isaiah 5:22-23). Jehovah cannot look with favor upon those who, for their own profit, juggle with moral distinctions that abuses may flourish, nor upon those self-complacent men of influence who will take no heed of prudent counsel. The just God cannot approve of those on thrones of judgment whose only ambition is to be praised for their ability in drinking and their skill in producing drinks, while officially they accept bribes to acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent. The conclusion (Isaiah 5:24). O my people, these sins are ruining our beloved nation. As swiftly as fire devours stubble, or as hay shrivels in the flame, will it lose strength and life; for its citizens will not listen to the warning voice of their King and Lord.
3. Israel’s Ripeness for Judgment, a Warning (Isaiah 9:8 to Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 5:25-30)
Israel’s disregard of divine warnings (Isaiah 9:8-12). Jehovah has often spoken to his people of Samaria by providential dealings which they should have recognized and interpreted as warnings. But in their self-confidence and bravado they simply boast that they can repair all their losses to their own advantage, wholly ignoring Jehovah’s purpose. He it was who stirred up their fierce eastern foes, the Syrians, and their Philistine enemies on the west, so that repeatedly the strength of their land was broken. Yet, since there was no repentance, Jehovah’s menacing attitude had still to be maintained. The sudden calamity which overtook it (Isaiah 9:13-17). Upon these obstinate people Jehovah brought an overwhelming calamity. He suddenly caused the leaders, great and small, true and false, to perish. They amply deserved this fate, for they misled and ruined their people. The whole nation shared in their corruption. God could spare neither the strong nor the helpless. And even then he was forced to continue his judgments. The horrors of internal anarchy (Isaiah 9:18-21). For wickedness, which Jehovah permits to have its way, is as unquenchable and destructive as a forest fire. A condition of anarchy arose at once in Israel. Faction fought with faction, all ties of kindred being forgotten in the mad strife. The only bond of unity was a common hatred of Judah. But not even this has sufficed to open their eyes. A day of reckoning coming for corrupt judges (Isaiah 10:1-4). Woe to those men who use their power to cover, by the forms of justice, the most grievous wrongs against the poor and helpless! What will such do in the day of reckoning, when Jehovah summons the invader from afar? Of what use then will be their ill-gotten wealth? Nothing can they do but burrow for safety beneath the corpses on the battle-field. Even this sweeping judgment will not satisfy Jehovah’s sense of justice. The earthquake (Isaiah 5:25).[15]Nor did the earthquake avail. Jehovah raised his hand, the mountains shook, the dead were like offal in the streets, yet the warning was unheeded.
[15] The proper position of this verse, which seems to he all that is left of a stanza of equal length with the four preceding ones, is a matter of much dispute among scholars.
God’s distant instrument of judgment (Isaiah 5:26-30). So Jehovah will have to signal to a distant but well-known nation, summoning it to be his agent of retribution upon his stubborn people. Tireless and vigilant, perfectly appointed for war, its weapons ready for use, its horses and chariots prepared for action, swiftly will it come, and will take possession of the land as a lion seizes its prey. Its onset will be irresistible, and nothing shall escape its grasp. With the rush and roar of a tidal wave, these dread foes shall sweep over the country, leaving only ruin and distress behind them.