Isaiah 30

Isaiah 30:1-7

This chapter contains the fun and dysfunction of the Jews. Here is, 1. A just reproof to those who in their distress trusted to the Egyptians for help, ver. 1—7. 2. A terrible threatening against those that lighted the advice which God by his prophets gave them, ver. 8—17. 3. Greatest promises to those who trusted in God, ver. 18—26. 4. A prophecy of the mind vast and vain of the Affection army, which should be an occasion of great joy to God’s people, ver. 27—33.

1. W O to the rebellious children, faith the LORD, ’that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, ’that they may add sin to sin: 2. ‘That walk to go down into Egypt, (and ‘have not asked at my mouth) to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. 3. ‘Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4. For ‘his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5. ‘They were all ashamed of a people ’that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach. 6. The burden of ’the beasts of the South: into ’the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the elyer, and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young allies, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

It was the sin and folly of the Jews to leave the rock of ages to trust on the broken reed of human supports, and they severely smarted for it.

1. A wo is pronounced on the rebellious children of Judah, and the cause of it declared. In the day of danger, instead of applying to God, and seeking his guidance and protection, they placed their confidence in the wisdom of their own measures, and the alliance they fought with Egypt, expecting from them a shelter against the impending harm of the Affections; and thus by sin not only provoked God to chastise them, but also by their disregard of him under their corrections, filled up the measure of their iniquities; his children in protection, but rebels in their practice. Note, (1.) Difficult of God’s providence, is virtually to deny his government of the world, and to turn rebels; nay, atheists. (2.) Rebellion in those who in protection were once his children, is peculiarly provoking. (3.) If afflictions bring us not nearer to God, they will exceedingly harden and drive us farther from him.

2. Their confidence would fail them; whatever cost they were at, whatever difficulties they were put to, in order to obtain the alliance of Egypt, or however fair the promises of Pharaoh to support them. God was near to be consulted and to help them, and required nothing from them but a humble application; yet they rather chose to encounter the dangers of the road that led to Egypt, through deters abounding with lions and serpents; to burden the weary beasts with their choicest riches, as presents to purchase Pharaoh’s aid; so go so far as Hanes and Zoan for help, and though so long and cruelly their house of bondage, to seek relief from thence: justly therefore doth God warn them. The strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust of the shadow of Egypt your confusion; failing and deceiving them, and making them vexed at their own folly, so dearly to purchase an ally, who indeed of help or profit, should be their reproach, chap. xxxvi. 6. Note, (1.) The inflightenous, like these Jews, grudge no expence or trouble in laboring to establish their own rightenschefs, which must prove their ruin, instead of accepting Christ and his rightenschefs, freely offered, and which would never fail them. (2.) When we leave God in our trials to trust on men, we deserve well to rue our folly and sin in shame and disappointment.

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3. The prophet warns them of their only method of safety. Their strength is to be still, instead of finding their ambivalence, or seeking foreign assistance, to keep at home, and patiently expect the salvation of God. Note, If we desire to extricate ourselves from districts, it must not be by the use of undue means, or impatient struggles, but by patient dependance and waiting upon God.

4. ¶ Now go, * write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 9. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10. * Which lay to the beers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophecy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophecy deceits: 11. Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12. Wherefore thus faith the holy One of Israel, Because ye deplete this word, and truth in ye oppression and pervertis, and stay thereon: 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be to you: as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an infant. 14. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter’s vessel, that is broken in pieces, he shall not spare; so that there shall not be found in the bustling of it, a shred to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. 15. For thus faith the Lord God, 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 see upon howles; therefore shall ye see: and we will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 17. One thousand shall fire at the rebuke of one: at the rebuke of five shall ye see, till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

Isaiah 30:8

—17. For a testimony against them, for a warning to others, and to vindicate God’s justice in their punishment, the prophet is commanded to write their sins, and threatened destruction, on a table, that it might be hung up in some conspicuous place, and note it in a book for future times, v. 1. That this is, or because this is a rebellious people: this was either the substance of the writing, or the cause why God would have it recorded; they were rebels against God, lying children; a furious brood, who bore a relation to God in protection, but in practice they denied him; children that will not bore the Son of the Lord, pay no regard to it, but call the word behind their back. Two heavy charges are particularly laid against them, and each hath a terrible threatening annexed thereto.

1. They said unto the beers, See not, as if they wanted them to conceive at their sins, endeavouring to discontinue the freedom of their reproach, or to silence them utterly; and to the prophets, Prophecy not right things; the truths of God’s word, the evil and guilt of their conduct, and the threatened judgments; speed unto us smooth things, prophecy deceits, not the truth words of wrath and damnation, but visions of peace and prosperity: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path; not abducted them in their sinful courses, by remonstrating against their iniquities, nor turn aside with them, and join in their wickedness; cause the holy One of Israel to cease from before us, by no more wiping their awful misery from him, or preaching their threateningness with the view of the character of God, as the jealous and sin-avenging God. Note, (1.) They are in a dangerous way that are disgusted at the fidelity, plainness, and seriousness with which God’s ministers reprove their sins. (2.) Though Men’s ears are offended at the harsh terms, damnation, hell, eternity of torments, and unquenchable fire, the faithful preacher may not please them by softening those terrors with which he is commanded to persuade men. (3.) A zealous minister is a burdensome stone in the sinner’s way, and robs him of the peace he seeks in his delusions. (4.) They who prophecy smooth things, to lull the sinner asleep, and flatter the confidence of the formal, will be indeed highly acceptable to the world, but must expect from God the doom of perfidy and fullhood. (5.) If a prophet can be induced to turn aside, sinners then thereby transgress, countenanced by such an example.

God denounces their doom; that holy One of Israel, whose name was burdensome to them, will execute it, and that word they have disgued, shall rise in judgment against them; because they rejected his warnings, and trusted in oppression and perversion; in their wealth got by such wicked methods, or their allies quenchable thereby. Their destruction should come seldom and terrible, as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, which before the storm rushes suddenly down, and strikes those who fled thither for shelter under its ruins; and irreparable as the potter’s vessel, daffled in pieces by an iron rod, that never

can be reunited. Note, (1.) Whether men will hear, or whether they forbear, we must not cease to warn them solemnly from God. (2.) The confidence of the sinner, and the led-righteous, is like the towering wall; in the day of wrath it will overwhelm them, and their damnation be not only unexpected and terrible, but irrecoverable and eternal.

2. They opposed the plainest and most salutary advice. For thus faith the Lord God, the holy One of Israel, whose burdensome name they could not bear, though his helmets was the great security of his promises, in returning and rest shall ye be saved: this is the path of safety, to return from their evil ways; and instead of trusting on Egypt, to wait patiently on God; in quietness expecting help from above, and confidence in the salvation of God shall be your strength; for thus no enemy could prevail against them; and ye would not; they obstinately refused to leave the matter in God’s hand. But ye said, No; bent on their own devices; but we will see upon Israel, to secure their persons or treasures, or to seek foreign assistance; therefore shall ye see, be left to your own help, and be chased by their toes: and we will ride upon the swift, in hopes to escape, but in vain; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift, and dwell you in your flight. Utterly disputed, our thousand shall fire at the rebuke of one, See Lev. xxvi. 7, 8. at the rebuke of five; before the most inconsiderable number of enemies shall ye see, till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill; scattered and solitary, and almost utterly confounded. Note, (1.) When we truly return to God, we may adducely expect his salvation. (2.) In every trial it should be much more our concern to have our heart brought to quietness and rest in God, than to be anxious about the means of our deliverance. (3.) They who are enabled wholly to place their confidence in Christ, can then do all things, be strengthening them. (4.) They who will not make use of the medicine which never fails to cure, deserve to die of their disease. (5.) When the sinner seeks to fly from God’s vengeance, he will quickly feel how vain is the attempt.

3. ¶ And therefore will the LORD wait that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment; 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 be very gracious unto thee, at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversary, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner 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. Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a mendinous cloth; thou shalt lay unto it, Get thee hence. 23. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed that thou shalt sow the ground withal, and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. 24. The oxen likewise, and the young allies that ear the ground, shall eat clean provender which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers 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 seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

Isaiah 30:18-26

After the former threatening, some consolation is promised to the faithful.

1. In the midst of judgment God would remember mercy: and therefore, or nevertheless, will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you the chosen remnant, whom, as the word signifies, he pants to deliver out of their troubles; and therefore will he be exalted, or will exalt his Son as a prince and saviour in the midst of them, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment, faithful to his promise, as just in his corrections; and therefore shall not all they that wait for him; they will in the issue be made happy in his salvation, and their patient hope be crowned with deliverance. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, safe amidst all the threateningness of Sennacherib: thou shalt weep no more, as they did in the day of their distress; he will be very gracious unto thee, exceeding thy most sanguine hopes, at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee, as he did Hezekiah’s prayer, when he

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Sinner Chord spread their afflicted cats before the Lord. Note, (1.) God waits to be gracious: no sinner does the sinner return, than he is ready to receive him. (2.) Perfevering prayer ever brings an answer of peace. (3.) We shall find every trial a rich khiến to us in the issue, whenever it hath served to exercise our faith, and quicken our application to God.

4. The Lord will provide them with the rich means of grace, to preserve them in the path of duty; afflicted they might be, it is the frequent lot of his people, but never defended. In the times of persecution, probably under Ahua, their faithful teachers were driven into obscurity; but God promises now to relieve them, that they might publically and quietly enjoy the benefit of their ministrations, and to preserve a constant succession of them, v. 20. And they should hear a voice behind them, the Spirit of truth, who should be first to guide them into all truth, joying, This is the way, walk ye in it; directing them to the written word as their rule, and enlightening their minds to see and follow it, when they turned to the right hand or the left, from the first way of God’s commandments. And this is particularly applicable to the times of Christ, when he raised up his faithful servants, and sent his Spirit to direct his people in the way of life and glory, and to bring them to himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Note, (1.) Among the greatest afflictions God’s people lament, and who is worse than a famine of bread and water, is the famine of the word. (2.) Though the church may be under persecution, and faithful ministers especially driven into a corner, yet God will rebuke the storm, and bring them from their concealment again, to the joy of his people. (3.) It becomes us to be attentive to the voice of conscience, and the secret warnings of God, when tempted and in doubt how to act. (4.) Disposed we are continually to turn aside, if the perversion and restraining grace of God did not preserve us.

5. They should then renounce their idolatry, their befitting and most provoking sin. Their idols now, though made of richest metal, nicely engraved, and curiously adorned, with absorbance should be cast away, as polluted and murderous, v. 22. And this was fulfilled on their deliverance from Sennacherib, for a King’s avid. 4. 2 Chron. xxxix. 16. and after the Babylonists’ captivity, this evil was radically cured. Note, (1.) Nothing engages the heart so much to God as a sense of his goodness. (2.) True penitents abhor their sins, and put from them as far as possible whatever they have found a means of temptation to them in the time path.

6. Plenty shall be restored to them. Their ground, watered with the dew of heaven, should yield abundant increase, v. 23. See chap. xxxvii. 30. Their cattle fatten in rich pastures, and eat provender winnowed, such plenty being in the land, v. 24. The rain descending as rivers from the hills, should make their vallies fruitful, that they may stand thick with corn, and add to the joy of their deliverance from the Afyrian army, slaughtered by the sword of the destroying angel, v. 25. And this may well be applied to the abundance of gospel grace, that will be dispensed in the latter day, when the high towers of Babylon mythical shall fall, and the earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Note, The minister, like the husbandman, may lose the seed, but it is God alone that giveth the increase; yet this must not supersede, but quicken our labours.

7. Uncommon light and joy would then be diffused. The light of the moon shall be at the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, in the light of seven days; expressive of their exultation on the destruction of the Afyrians, when their branches made by that army should be repaired, and the wounds of their state healed: and may be referred to the day of Christ at present, when every awakened sinner, brought out of darkness into God’s marvellous light, rejoices with joy unspeakable, and full of glory, at seeing the breach, which sin had made, bound up by the sacrifice of a Redeemer, and experiences the healing of this blessed Saviour’s grace in his soul; and perhaps it looks forward to the expected glorious spread of the gospel; when all afflictions of God’s people are at an end, the nations of the redeemed shall for ever walk in the light of the Lord.

8. ¶ Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. 28. And his breath as an overflowing stream, ‘shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sit the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. 29. Ye shall have a song as in the night, ‘when a holy solemnity is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. 30. And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devour-

ing fire, with scattering, ‘and tempest, ‘and hail-stones. 31. For ’through the voice of the LORD shall the Afyrian be beaten down’ which throes with a rod. 32. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, ‘it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will be fight it with it. 33. For ‘Tophet is ordained of old yea, ‘for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

Isaiah 30:27-33

The happiness of God’s people being intimately connected with the destruction of their toes, the prophet foreths their utter ruin.

4. The great agent in this, is God himself, from heaven sending forth his terrible wrath against the army of Sennacherib, v. 27. ‘wallowing up the hoists of Afyria, as a deluge, and sifting them in the force of vanity; the whole being chief, dispersed with the breath of his displeasure: his bridle in their jaws should cause them to err, turned backwards from their designs of destroying Jerusalem, as a horse is governed by its rider, v. 28. At his voice his minister of flame shall go forth armed with lightning, tequila, and hail-stones; and stretching forth his more than mortals, spread universal destruction around, v. 30. The rod which imuts God’s people, shall now be broken, v. 31. before the grounded staff, the judgment grounded on God’s eternal decrees, and lying to heavy on the Afyrians, that none should be able to withstand it, in that night or terms, v. 32. Prophet, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they encamped, is ordained for their slaughter-house, deep and large; so often defiled with the abominable idolatries of those who pulled their children through the fire to Moloch; rendered abominable, as covered with the blood and corpse of the dam, which the lightning of God scorched; or where the Jews burnt the bodies when they found them dead in the morning. Note, (1.) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (2.) The burning of Tophet represent the eternal punishment of impenitent sinners. Our Saviour calls the place of the damned, Ghenna, in allusion to this valley of Hinnom; there the greatest kings, as well as the meanest slaves, whose guilt provokes the wrath of God, lie down in flames that never can be quenched; and there the multitude of sinners, with the devil and his angels, are tormented day and night in those everlasting burnings, which the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle.

5. As when the smoke of the sinners torment ascended for ever and ever, the faints of God say Hallelujah, Rev. xix. 3. So here the Jews are represented as rejoicing over their proud oppressors fallen, in solemn thanksgiving with tabret and harp, transported at the miraculous interposition, and ascribing to the mighty One of Israel the praise of all his wondrous works. Note, However now the wicked triumph, the time is short, their fall determined, their ruin terrible, and God’s path judgments upon them, will minister matter for his faints everlasting praises.