Scriptures for the Whole House of Israel
CHAPTER 31
1. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are numerous or in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek out YHWH!
A letter from Akizzi, prince of Qatna, Syria around 1350 B.C.E., says to the Pharaoh of his day, “I am your servant, and, my master, you must not let me go from your hand… I have put my trust in my master, his troops, and in his chariots.” Though this was probably a common formula for “buttering up” one’s suzerain, that the letter was apparently unanswered and the city was destroyed by Babylon. (Archaeology magazine, Jan./Feb. 2007) goes to prove Yeshayahu’s point. Go down: Relying on anything less than YHWH is a descent. Hagar, Sarai's servant, went down to Egypt for help, but YHWH turned her back to the household where she now belonged. (Gen. 16) In the same way, YHWH's congregations have turned back to the Babylonian-Egyptian-Roman system, because there is power in numbers. When confronted with what Scripture really says, many say, "Let me ask my pastor about this." But pastors are often swayed by what will keep more sheep in the fold; it is YHWH whom we must seek instead. We must not even trust in any Israelite organizations, but only YHWH Himself.
2. He, too, is shrewd, and will bring what is disagreeable, and has not retracted His words, but has taken His stand against the house of evildoers and against the one who helps those who do mischief.
LXX, "Therefore He is wise in bringing evils upon them, and His word will not be frustrated."
3. Moreover, Egypt is human and not divine, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. When YHWH stretches out His hand, both the helper will stumble and the one who is helped will fall down, and they will all come to an end together,
Flesh and not spirit: This is the story of Yishmael, the child born when Avram tried to fulfill a vision YHWH had given, but by his own natural ingenuity. (Gen. 16)
4. because this is what YHWH has said: "Just as the lion or young lion growls against its prey, and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, will not be discouraged by their voice or slowed down by the noise they [make], likewise YHWH of Armies will descend to wage war on account of Mount Tzion and its hill.
"Why do the nations rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing?" (Psalm 2) Band: literally, "fullness". YHWH's intentions in regard to Israel will be opposed, and it is shepherds (pastors) who try to prevent Israel from being reunited, but that will not deter Him. (See Y'chezq'el/Ezek. 34) But we too, must keep our eye on the prize and ignore the threats. On account of Mount Tzion and its hill: or, "against Mount Tzion and its place of illicit worship".
5. "Like flying birds is how YHWH will bring defensive cover over Yerushalayim. In shielding [it] He will also rescue it, and by passing over it, He will let it escape.
Shielding it: or "hedging it about" or "encompassing it", like a sheepfold. Becoming a dwelling place is our deliverance. Angus Wootten says this verse was in part fulfilled during World War I by British General Allenby, who sent airplanes over Yerushalayim, dropping leaflets in Arabic stating that it was time for the Arabs to surrender the city. It was taken without a battle because in Arabic his name appeared like "Allah's prophet" and there was an Arab prophecy that sais that the Muslims would occupy the city until the waters of Egypt were brought into Palestine. Allenby had done just that through a pipeline from the Gulf of Suez to Beersheva. Let it escape: or "cause it to give birth". Defensive cover: In the war on Afghanistan, it has already become evident that even with modern weaponry, cloud cover is a major deterrent to many military maneuvers, and if Israel is again protected by a cloud and fire as in the wilderness the first time, the unified world's army will be held at bay.
6. "Turn back to Him [against whom] the sons of Israel have made a deep defection!
Defection: or "apostasy", "withdrawal", "revolt"--a deliberate rebellion, not just veering off course.
7. "Because in that Day, each [one] will despise his worthless [images] of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for yourselves--a missing of the target!
Worthless images: or "good-for-nothings", with the sense of not really existing. Modern examples might be things like artificial intelligence, credit cards, or virtual reality. Even our money is no longer really worth anything concrete. Mammon is always deceitful. Missing the target: or "sin", which is defined as breaking YHWH's law, so we might do better to think of it in terms of "crime". But despising the worthless things we have relied on is part of repentance and the road back to being counted guiltless. Of course it is better to never sin at all, but as long as we make the required restitution, Torah is upheld, and we can again, like many in the Hebrew Scriptures, be called "blameless"--and all the more so with the overwhelming atonement provided through Y’shua's blood. (Hebrews 10)
8. "Then will Ashur fall, but not by a man's sword, and a sword not of humanity will devour it, and he will flee to Him from the presence of a sword, and its choice young men will become a gang of forced laborers.
Ashur: or "the Assyrian".
9. "And it will cross over to its cliff [of safety] as a refugee, and its princes have become dismayed at the signal", declares YHWH, whose firelight is in Tzion and whose kindling-place is in Yerushalayim.
As a refugee: or "from terror", but with the sense of sojourning away from home. LXX: "They will be surrounded with rocks as with a trench, and shall be worsted." Signal: "rallying point", "banner", or "miraculous sign". Kindling-place: or "furnace", which finally burns off the dross and purifies us. It also recalls the torch and smoking furnace in Avram's covenant-vision, which was fulfilled in Yerushalayim.
CHAPTER 32
1. Behold, a king will [begin His] reign for what is right, and for princes, they will govern with right ruling[s].
Aramaic: "...and the righteous will be exalted to take a just retribution from the Gentiles."
2. Then a man will become like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like rivulets of water in a dry place, like the shade of a heavy rock in a weary land.
A man: the king, specifically Y’shua. Will become a hiding place: LXX, "will hide his words". A dry place: Heb., Tzion, which is how the LXX takes it. A heavy rock: Such a rock cannot be taken away.
3. And the eyes of those who see will not avert their gaze, and the ears of those who listen will incline [attentively],
LXX: "And they will no longer trust in men..."
4. and the heart of the one who acts rashly will begin to understand how to discern, and the tongue of those who speak inarticulately will be quick to speak clearly.
5. The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be generous,
Be called noble: LXX, "be told to rule". Scoundrel: literally, "one who withholds"; there are numerous proverbs that parallel this. Y’shua also reminded the leaders in His Kingdom not to be like the rulers of the Gentiles who "lord it over" those who call them "benefactors" or "philanthropists". (Luke 22:25-26)
6. because the fool will speak foolishness, and his mind will fashion mischief to carry out profane acts and to speak perverse things against YHWH, [with the effect of] keeping the hungry person's soul empty and cause the drinking vessel of the thirsty one to be lacking.
Foolishness: senselessness, disgrace, profane things. Soul: or appetite. If we twist YHWH's words, though we appear to be feeding someone, it is just "empty calories".
7. The scoundrel's tools are evil; he invents wicked plots to bring the humble to ruin with deceptive promises, even when the needy says what is proper.
Says what is proper: or perhaps, "threatens justice".
8. The generous person, on the other hand, invents noble things, and by his generosity he will be established.
Invents noble things: or "counsels giving". A Hebrew idiom for a generous person is that "He has a good eye." Y’shua said this was the key to one's whole life being full of light. (Luke 11:34) It goes far beyond money; sons of the Kingdom are not taxed. It applies with time, patience, edification, teaching, and giving of ourselves in general. It is a kingdom law to keep giving out what we receive, both so it can flow on to others and so we have room to receive the "more" that He wants to give us. Otherwise, we become like the Dead Sea, having no outlet and no life.
9. Get up, [you] women who rest securely [in your arrogance]! Listen to My voice, complacent daughters; cup your ear to what I utter!
Women: Aramaic, "provinces". Securely: Security is the demon who perhaps receives more acclaim than any other today. But it turns out to be a cruel taskmaster that fattens us up like a calf for slaughter. YHWH has just told us (v. 8) where the real security is. We are free to choose into which our energy and resources will go. Security is no match for YHWH, unless we give it permission to be. Daughters: Aramaic, "fortresses". But Yehudah and Efrayim are also called YHWH's daughters by the prophets. Complacent: confident enough to be careless. What I utter: or "My speech"--an idiom also for the Torah.
10. [For] days on a year will you be disquieted, O confident women, because the vintage has failed; the gathering [of the harvest] will not come.
Days on a year: LXX, "a full year", or possibly "[just a few] days over a year". We may seem to have it made, since if all else fails, the government usually picks up the basics for our survival. But this, too, will ultimately prove unreliable.
11. Tremble, you women who rest securely; be disquieted, you confident women, to [the point of] stripping and lay yourselves bare, but cover your loins of delivery [with sackcloth],
12. mourning over the breasts, over the desirable fields, over the fruitful vine.
Breasts: i.e., that are now unused (v. 11); LXX, "beat on your breasts". Fields: from a word meaning "spread out", possibly alluding to the childbirth process. Vine: perhaps an idiom for the umbilical cord.
13. Thorns and briers will spring up on My people's ground, because [they will be] upon all the houses of rejoicing in the triumphant city,
Thorns and briers: The same curse that followed Adam's sin in Eden.
14. because [the] palace has been abandoned; the city's crowd has been deserted. The towers and lookout stations have instead become dens--[the] joy of wild donkeys, a feeding-place for flocks--for an age,
Palace has been abandoned. For an age: or "perpetually", but a time limit is set (v. 15); literally, "until an age". Wild donkeys: what Yishmael was called, so perhaps this refers to the fact that Yerushalayim was inhabited by his descendants for many centuries.
15. until the spirit from on high will be poured out on us, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful plantation, and the orchard will be counted as a forest.
This curse is thawing out already in our day, as the spring of this spirit of repentance is beginning to come.
16. Then justice will be at home in the wilderness, and righteousness will settle in the fruitful plantation,
Justice will be at home in the wilderness: there will be no more highway robbery, but the word for "justice" also means "a correct system of rulings", so this also refers to the time when both houses of Israel are back together under one king, and He puts in place or confirms a framework that is really viable.
17. and the product of righteousness will be total well-being, and the effect of the righteousness, tranquility and security forever.
18. Then My people will remain in a peaceful home, in secure dwelling places and in quiet rest without a care,
19. though it hails when the forest is felled, and the city in the lowland sinks down.
LXX: "If the hail should come down, it will not come upon you, and they that dwell in the forests will be in confidence, like those in the open country." Aramaic, "Hail will come down and kill the armies of the Gentiles", reminiscent of Y'hoshua chapter 10.
20. You who sow beside any waters are blessed, you who send forth the feet of ox and donkey.
Sow beside waters: compare Psalm 1. Isaiah spent much time in the palace, which was quite close to the Temple, so he was very familiar with many psalms and proverbs, to which he often alludes. Send forth: the Aramaic adds "to gather". When crops are plentiful and abundant, the animals can be allowed to roam the fields and eat, with no substantial loss being felt by their owners. Ox and donkey are also sometimes metaphors for the two houses of Israel.
CHAPTER 33
1. Woe to you who despoil but are not despoiled, and to the one who deals treacherously without himself having been betrayed! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed, and when you complete your betrayal, they will betray you!
Woe...despoiled: LXX, "Woe to those who afflict you; but no one makes you miserable." Aramaic, "Woe to you who come to plunder; will they not plunder you?" When you complete...: LXX, "like a moth on a garment, so shall they be spoiled."
2. O YHWH, look upon us with favor! We have waited expectantly for You! Be their arm in the mornings, our deliverance also when [we are] in straits.
Favor: or "grace"; LXX, "mercy". Arm: i.e., strength. For You: Aramaic, "for your Memra" (living Word). We have waited: compare Yaaqov's prophecy in regard to Dan in Gen. 49:16-18. It appears he is contrasting the Counterfeit Messiah, whom tradition says will come from the tribe of Dan, with the true Messiah, who will come only a short time afterward for those willing to persevere just a little while longer.
3. At the sound of the roaring crowd, the peoples retreated; nations were scattered because You raised Yourself up.
Raised Yourself up: when He bursts forth from the Tabernacle upon the nations who are besieging Israel in the latter days, shocking them with the fact that He is indeed real--and on Israel's side--after all. (26:21)
4. Your plunder will be gathered [like] the caterpillar gathers, running to and fro on it just as locusts run to and fro.
LXX, "...as if one could gather locusts; so shall they mock you." Aramaic, "Israel will gather the possessions of the Gentiles."
5. YHWH is inaccesibly high, because He resides on the elevated place. He has filled Tzion with just rulings and righteousness,
6. and He has become the fixed point of your experiences--a treasure-store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of YHWH is His supply.
Fixed point of your experiences: Aramaic, "That which You promised, You will bring and establish in its time." A treasure-store...supply: LXX, "Salvation is our treasure. There are wisdom and knowledge and piety toward YHWH; these are the treasures of righteousness." The fear of YHWH: See Prov. 9:10.
7. Behold, their valiant heroes are crying for help on the outside; the ambassadors of peace will shed bitter tears.
This is reminiscent of the legends of the people who knocked on the door of Noach's ark, and may be the "outer darkness" to which Y’shua refers. Ambassadors of peace: i.e., they are begging with tears for a truce so that their lives will at least be spared. Also, "peace" is the Counterfeit Messiah's deceitful tactic (Dan. 8:25), and we already see this concept of "peace ambassadors" and "peace-keeping forces". Aram., "Those who went to announce peace return to weeping in soulful bitterness."
8. The highways have become deserted; [people] have stopped travelling the roads. He has violated the covenant. He has despised cities; he regards mortal man as of no account.
Travelling the roads": or "transgressing the way". Violated: Aramaic, "changed" (truly a characteristic of the counterfeit Messiah, Dan. 7:25); LXX: "The covenant with these is taken away, and you shall by no means deem them men." So while the "he" here is probably primarily speaking of the Counterfeit Messiah, the final instance may refer to YHWH. Just as some meats are not considered food for Israelites, when YHWH has decreed a particular group's destruction, they are no longer to be treated as "people".
9. The land has been mourning and growing feeble; Levanon demonstrates shame and has decayed. Sharon is like a sparsely-vegetated plain; Bashan shakes off [its fruit] along with Karmel.
Sharon: the very fruitful coastal plain. Sparsely-vegetated plain: LXX, "marshes". Bashan: the Golan Heights where some of the best rainfall and runoff water is found in Israel. Karmel: a mountain range dividing the Yezreel Valley from the Sharon. I.e., even these have become drought-ridden because those who occupied the Land were earth-worshippers and thus the earth cannot be allowed to respond to them..
10. "Now I will rise up", says YHWH. "Now I will be lifted up; now I will be exalted!
11. "You will conceive dry grass; you will give birth to stubble; your breath, like fire, will devour you.
Dry grass: Aramaic, "wicked conceptions". LXX: "...Now you will see; the strength of your breath will be vain."
12. "The peoples will be the burnings of lime; like thorns that are cut off, they will be burned with fire.
Burnings of lime: Some plaster was made by burning bones.
13. "You who are far off, listen to what I have done! And you who are nearby, acknowledge My mighty deed!"
Aramaic, "Hear, you righteous, who have kept My law from the beginning..., and you who have turned back to the law recently..."
14. The offenders in Tzion have become terrified; trembling has seized the faithless: "Which of us can remain [with] a consuming fire? Which of us can live with them burning all the time?"
Faithless: irreligious, profane, or hypocritical. They no longer consider Yerushalayim a "nice place to live"! Or perhaps, "Who among us can survive this consuming fire...everlasting burning?", with the answer found in the next verse. Therefore these verses, while having primarily a frame of reference in the days still to come, have an immediacy for us now, who need to already be preparing to be those survivors.
15. The one who walks righteously and speaks from uprightnesses, who despises unjust gain gotten through extortion, who signals with his hands that he will not take hold of a bribe, who stops his ears from consenting to bloodshed, who shuts his eyes so he will not see what is evil.
Unjust gain: Aram., "Mammon of deceit". Consenting to bloodshed includes gossip; the rabbis say unjustly bringing blood to one's face is equivalent to murder. (Mat. 5:22; Prov. 18:21; Yaqv./James 3:5-8)
16. He [is the one who] will dwell on the heights; his secure refuge will be strongholds of rocks. His bread will be provided; his waters are guaranteed.
Heights: LXX, "high cave". Rocks: the plural form of the Hebrew name of the Nabatean fortress, Petra. Thus this appears to be the time when Israel is reunited and renews the covenant of "marriage" to YHWH (through His visible Messiah) in the wilderness (v. 17). Bread: Perhaps it will be manna again! Guaranteed: faithful, lasting, confirmed, reliable.
17. Your eyes will behold the King in His pleasant appearance; they will perceive a land of far-off places.
18. Your heart will imagine a terror: "Now where is the one who does the counting? Where is the one who does the weighing out? Where is the one who takes account of the towers?"
Aramaic: "Your mind will reckon up great things... Let them come if they can reckon the number of the slain heads of the armies of the mighty ones." I.e., "towers" is an idiom for great leaders.
19. You will not see a barbarous people--a people of deeper speech than you can understand, of a stammering tongue that there's no telling [what it means].
A barbarous people: Aram., "the mastery of a strong people". Deeper: i.e., unfathomable, unintelligible; Aramaic, "obscure". Stammering...means: or, "a mocking tongue that has no discernment" (as the Aramaic does interpret it). The LXX gives the sense of not counting the growing people with whom no counsel was taken. After YHWH roars forth, those who were provided for in the wilderness will start moving toward their home (v. 20), but will expect to encounter battle on the way, but instead they will find that YHWH has already brought about their defeat, and we only need to carry out the mop-up assignments.
20. Behold Tzion, town of our appointed meetings! Your eyes will see Yerushalayim, a secure home, a tent that will not travel on; not one of its stakes will ever be pulled up, nor any of its cords ever snapped.
Secure home: a place of quietness where one can be at ease; the term "home" can mean "abode of shepherds" or "pasture", so it includes the idea of plentiful provision; LXX, "a rich city". Aramaic, "in its prosperity, in its contentedness". A tent: probably the Tabernacle, which has again been moving throughout the wilderness with His people, but now has reached its final resting-place.
21. But though the majestic YHWH is for us a place of rivers with spacious channels in both directions, no galley with oars will ever travel in it, nor any gallant ship pass through it,
Directions: literally, "hands". Galley with oars: Aramaic, "fisherman's ship". Gallant ship: Aram., "sailboat". Perhaps merchant vessels, since there will no longer be merchants in His house in that Day (Zech. 14:21), or warships, since no one will destroy on His holy mountain anymore. (Yeshayahu 11:9) In any case, Yerushalaym will no longer depend on foreign trade, but will be brought tribute from every nation. (Rev. 21:24)
22. because YHWH is our governing judge, YHWH is the one who enacts our decrees, YHWH is our King; He will give us the victory!
Victory: or "deliverance". (Heb., Yeshuah)
23. Your tacklings have been allowed to go slack; they were too worn out to sustain their mast-pedestal. They could no longer spread out the sail. That is when the spoils of a tremendous plunder will be shared; the lame will seize the booty.
Your: Aramaic, "the Gentiles'". The lame: among the Israelites. (Aram.)
24. No one who lives [there] will say, "I have become sick." The nation that settles there will have the guilt of their perversity forgiven.
Sick: The tree of life, on both sides of the river (v. 21, brings healing to the nations (Rev. 22:2). "Nations" can also mean "tribes", and this seems to fit, since each of the gates to the city is named after one of the tribes of Israel. The Aramaic interpretation of the final sentence says, "The people, the house of Israel, will be gathered and return to their place, forgiven of their sins."
CHAPTER 34
1. Come near, you nations, to listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth and what fills it listen; the civilized world, and all that issues forth from it,
2. because wrath belongs to YHWH; [it] is upon all the nations, and burning rage upon all their army. He has dedicated them to destruction; He has given them over to be slaughtered,
Army (singular): All the nations have become one army by this time, united against YHWH’s last vestige of rule on earth.
3. and their slain will be thrown out, and their stench will rise up from their corpses, until the mountains have melted away from their blood,
4. and the hosts of heaven have been consumed away, and the heavens rolled up like a scroll, and all their hosts will drop down as a leaf falls from a vine, and like what drops off a fig tree.
Hosts: LXX, “powers”; Aramaic, “forces”. Though this may in some sense include the “stars” (i.e., meteorites, etc.), its primary meaning is probably the minions of the “Prince of the Power of the Air”. Rolled up like a scroll: The “book” is closed on them.
5. When My sword has become saturated in the sky, then indeed it will descend upon Edom, that is upon, the people that I have devoted to the execution of justice.
Saturated: or drunken. Edom: Where the unified world army will be besieging Israel at that time.
6. YHWH has a sword; it is filled with blood. It has gorged itself with the choicest—the blood of plump lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, because YHWH has a sacrifice [to offer] in Botzrah, and a massive slaughter in the land of Edom.
Botzrah: its name means “sheepfold”, which fits with all of these clean animals mentioned here. But is also the name of a town north of Petra and south of the Dead Sea, where the world army (v. 1-2) will be assembled for the purpose of capturing Israel for its cause or else destroying it (ch. 16), but YHWH sees them as assembled for more efficient slaughter. The Aramaic targum indeed interprets these (clean) animals as representing kings and rulers (in v. 7 as well).
7. With them the unicorns will descend, along with the bulls and the valiant ones, and their land is drenched with blood and their dust made prosperous with their fat,
Unicorns: or possibly some other extinct animal. Descend: LXX, “fall”. Valiant: or obstinate. Perhaps “prosperous” here means “fertile” due to all this “organic material”, but vv. 9-17 makes it appear that it will not be used for agriculture.
8. because YHWH has a day of vengeance, a year of [complete] compensation for the dispute [over] Tzion.
Aramaic: “to take just retribution for the mortification of Tzion”. These nations, especially the Edomites (Y’chezq’el 36:5) will “divide His land” (Yoel 3:2)—which is not their right to do, this time. We see the incipient stages of this already.
9. Then its rivers will be turned to tar, and its dust into brimstone, and its land will become burning asphalt.
Turned: or “overthrown”, reminiscent of S’dom and Ghamorah. Brimstone: or sulfur.
10. It will not be extinguished night or day; its smoke will ascend for a long time. From generation to generation it will be desolate; for enduring perpetuities no one will pass through it.
This is alluded to in Rev. 14:11 in relation to those who worship the Beast (the Babylonian system).
11. But what will have inherited possession of it are a pelican and a hedgehog; an eared owl and a raven will inhabit it. Then He will hold out over it the measuring line of chaos and the [plummet] stones of emptiness.
Measuring line…plummet stones: contrast those used in Yerushalayim. (28:17) Chaos: Heb., tohu. Emptiness: or “waste”; Heb., bohu. These two terms were used of what the earth became (Gen. 1:2) after a cataclysmic judgment and just before being reconstituted for the use of humanity. Here, the scenario is again one of a complete purging by fire after a great battle so that something new may arise—the Kingdom (v. 12) of Messiah, which is also called “the time of the restoration of all things”—even, dare we say, Eden itself. These animals may represent people inhabited by demons, so what is given to them is fire and brimstone.
12. Its nobles? There are none there! They will summon [them to a] royal office, but all her princes will have been brought to nothing.
Aramaic: “They were saying, ‘We are free’, and did not wish to accept a kingdom over them…”
13.
Rather, what will have come up in its palaces are thorns, and in its strongholds, stinging nettles and bramble-bushes. It will have become an abode of great reptiles, a haunt of daughters of the owl.
Rather, what will have come up in its palaces are thorns, and in its strongholds, stinging nettles and bramble-bushes. It will have become an abode of great reptiles, a haunt of daughters of the owl.Great reptiles: perhaps typical desert lizards, but the word can even mean “dragons”, always an idiom for demonic beings. Daughters of the owl: perhaps an ostrich, but in any case an unclean bird, as are all of the animals listed after verse 7.
14.The wild yelping beasts of the desert will meet up with the howling beasts of the islands, and the shaggy goat will call out to its fellow. The screech owl will also repose there, and find a resting-place for herself.
The wild yelping beasts of the desert will meet up with the howling beasts of the islands, and the shaggy goat will call out to its fellow. The screech owl will also repose there, and find a resting-place for herself.Howling beasts of the islands: Aramaic, “cats”; LXX, “devils”. Shaggy goats: LXX, “satyrs”, another reference to demons (which is exactly how the Aramaic targum translated it.) Screech owl: Heb., Lilith, a term often used for a female goddess known to be a nocturnal demon, to which the owl is analogous; Aramaic, “night hags”. Compare Rev. 16:13-14; 18:2.
15.There the springing arrow snake will make her nest, lay [eggs] and hatch [them], and gather her brood under her [protective] shadow. There the birds of prey will also be assembled, each with her mate.
There the springing arrow snake will make her nest, lay [eggs] and hatch [them], and gather her brood under her [protective] shadow. There the birds of prey will also be assembled, each with her mate.Birds of prey…assembled: Compare Mat. 24:28; Luk. 17:37, especially in the context of v. 3 above. LXX, “deer”.
16.Consult [what is] upon the Book of YHWH, and read: not one of these shall be lacking nor search in vain for her mate, because He has appointed my mouth, and His Spirit is what has assembled them,
Consult [what is] upon the Book of YHWH, and read: not one of these shall be lacking nor search in vain for her mate, because He has appointed my mouth, and His Spirit is what has assembled them,Not one shall be lacking its mate: just as in Genesis 1-2, for this is the time of re-creation, but those who opposed YHWH—and their mates—are placed in a low position because that is what they chose. (33:14ff).
17.and He has made the lot fall to them, and His hand has apportioned it to them with a measuring line. They will possess it until the age; to generation upon generation will they establish their dwelling therein.
and He has made the lot fall to them, and His hand has apportioned it to them with a measuring line. They will possess it until the age; to generation upon generation will they establish their dwelling therein.CHAPTER 35
1. The uninhabited area and the dry land will show themselves glad for them; the Aravah will rejoice and blossom like the meadow saffron.
Aravah: the steppe, a transitional zone of mixed desert and vegetation in the Great Rift Valley.
2. It will break forth into bloom and rejoice—with oh, such joy and [exuberant] singing! The glory of Levanon will be given to her—the splendor of Karmel and Sharon! There they will see the glory of YHWH and the splendor of our Elohim.
Glory of Levanon: At this time, prior to 701 B.C. when there was a 6-degree shift in the earth’s axis, Israel and Levanon had a climate much more like northern California’s, rather than like southern California’s as they do today, so the cedars of Levanon probably grew to be as large and lush as the Redwoods. The Aravah, where not irrigated, just grows small, sparse trees, but Sharon is a major orange-growing area from which large amounts are exported, and is very well-watered.
3. Strengthen the slack hands and firm up the weak knees!
This is quoted in Hebrews 12:12 in relation to YHWH’s discipline. One can respond with gloom and depression,yet never change, or with a resolve to correct the problem He was addressing so we will be what we were meant to be. Here, it is also a message to those in need of encouragement while being besieged, for soon they will have a massive cleanup and revitalization project to carry out, and will need all the energy they can get!
4. Say to the anxious of heart, “Be strong; do not be afraid. Behold, your Elohim will come [with a] vengeance; [with] a full payback He will come and rescue you!
Anxious: impetuous, hurried, hasty, or nervous. The truth will set us free; the facts can make us confident even in threatening situations.
5. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Unstopped: thrown open or let loose. These are all signs of the coming of the Kingdom which Y’shua used to demonstrate his credential.
6. At that time the limping man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will give a resounding shout, when waters have burst forth in the wilderness, and torrents in the Aravah,
Leap like a deer: at first a deer’s legs are wobbly, but within minutes of birth, it can walk with sure-footedness. A lame man who leaped was a sign to those in the Temple that Kefa (Peter) and Yochanan were carrying on Y’shua’s work of proclaiming the Kingdom that many opted to defer (Acts 3:7-8), delaying it until there was another opening in our own day. Interestingly, Acts 3 specifically mentions that the man’s feet and ankle bones were made firm. (Compare v. 3 above.)
7. and the mirage has become a pond, and the parched ground a bubbling fountain of water; in the abode of great reptiles, a place of vegetation where reeds and bulrushes can spread.
Parched: literally, “thirsty”. The desert lizards (34:13) will have to give way to marsh animals.
8. And there will be a high road and a pathway there, and it will be called the “Way of Holiness”, and the defiled will not travel on it, nor shall it be for them. Those who walk on the path, even [if they are] fools, will not go astray.
If “even a fool, if he keeps silent, will be considered wise” (Prov.17:28), then even those of minimal intelligence will stay on track if they stay within the guidelines YHWH has set up in His Torah—the “guard rails” and “lane markers” on this highway.
9. There will be no lion there, nor will any violent beast ascend onto it; not one will be found. Rather, the redeemed will walk there.
10. And those ransomed by YHWH will return and come to Tzion with loud songs of joy, and everlasting cheer upon their heads. Gladness and rejoicing will overtake them, and grief and moaning will disappear.
Ransomed: or rescued, i.e., from all the enemies who only a short while ago were encroaching on them, threatening to destroy every remnant of the holy people. Grief…disappear: or “sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
CHAPTER 36
1. Now in King Hizqiyahu’s fourteenth year, Sennacheriv, King of Ashur, came up against all the fortified cities of Yehudah, and captured them.
Hizqiyahu was the 12th king of Yehudah. Sennacheriv reigned from 705-681 B.C.E. Fortified: i.e., walled off.
2. Then the King of Ashur sent Ravshaqeh, from Lakhish to King Hizqiyahu in Yerushalayim with a massive force while he was standing by the conduit of the upper pool of the launderers' field toward the highway.
Ravshaqeh: sounds like “chief cupbearer” in Hebrew, but may have a different meaning in Assyrian. Conduit: compare 7:3.
3. Then Elyaqim, son of Chilqiyahu, who was over the House, and Shevna the scribe, and Yoach, son of Asaf, the chronicler.
Elyaqim means "Elohim raises [him] up." Chilqiyahu means "YHWH is my portion". Over the House: that is, the Temple. He was a high priest. (22:20; 2 Kings 22:8-10; 2 Chron. 34) Shevna means “growing vigorously”, and Yoach, “Yahweh is a brother”. Asaf means “gatherer”.
4. And Ravshaqeh said to them, “Please tell Hizqiyahu, ‘This is what the great king, the King of Ashur, says: “What is this confidence [with] which you are [so] bold?
5. “’“Is what I have said [in regard to] advisement and strength for battle but words of the lips? On whom are you relying now, since you have revolted against me?
Aramaic: “I say indeed, as speech of lips, with strategy and power I will make war.”
6. “’“You are, after all, relying on the support of this broken stalk—on Egypt—which, if a man leans on it, it will go into his palm and poke a hole in it! That’s what Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is like for all who rely on him!
He assumed that since Chizqiyahu had rebelled against him, he must have been allied with the only other major power in the region. This was not necessarily true, as he would learn. But he was right in saying that Egypt was not ultimately reliable. But Chizqiyahu had a “secret weapon”.
7. “’“But if you tell me, ‘It is YHWH, our Elohim, in whom we trust’, isn’t He the one whose cultic platforms and altars Hizqiyahu has abolished and told Yehudah and Yerushalayim, ‘You must bow down before this altar’?
This sounds very much like the apparent contradiction the world perceives when they hear us say, “We no longer worship ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’”, or “We do not celebrate Christmas.” They may think we are now allied with the “more tolerant” New Age Movement, or are simply atheists. But none of these are true. We, like Hizqiyahu, have simply tightened up our obedience to the one we knew in part but inaccurately. The Ravshaqeh wanted to use Hizqiyahu’s “restrictions of their freedom” to his advantage the way people say we are now “under the Law” in order to keep us from being as set-apart as YHWH desires, for the one-world religion espouses the “mystery of lawlessness” so often warned about in the Renewed Covenant.
8. “’“So now, please make a tradeoff with my master, the King of Ashur: I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to put riders on them!
Make a tradeoff: literally, “exchange pledges”. Aramaic, “a wager”.
9. “’“How could you even repulse the face of a captain—one of the least of my master’s servants—when you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and warhorses?
10. “’“And now is it indeed apart from YHWH that I have come up against this land to destroy it? YHWH [is the very one who] told me to go up against this land and destroy it!”’”
Newly “Christian” Emperor Constantine said the same to the Jews: “[YHWH] is with us now, and He wants me to carry out vengeance upon you!”
11. But Elyaqim, Shevna, and Yoach told Ravshaqeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand [it], and do not speak to us in the language of Yehudah, within earshot of the people on the wall.”
They were concerned that those who were not leaders with the same resolve that they had would be disheartened, and the fear would spread and defeat them before there was even a fight. (Compare Deut. 20:5-7) This is why YHWH is re-establishing authorities in restored Israel today who are not motivated by fear and are strong enough to not let “just anyone” come in the door and start talking to the “sheep”.
12. But Ravshaqeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to yourselves? Isn’t it to the people who are sitting on the wall, [who are doomed] to eat their own feces and drink their own urine along with yourselves?”
Eat…feces and drink…urine: The terms he uses are the most vulgar ones. This is normally what a siege would bring people to do, usually being a last straw that makes them surrender. But this was mere verbal intimidation. The Ravshaqeh had done significant research about the people of Yerushalayim, but he did not have all the facts straight, and thus was overconfident. But he tailored his approach to what he knew would touch a nerve, just as our enemy does not waste his ammunition on our most strongly-defended areas. Nehemyah faced several similar challenges (chapters 3-6), and his responses are very instructive for us.
13. And Ravshaqeh stood up and called out with a loud voice in the language of Yehudah, saying, “Heed the words of the great king, the King of Ashur!
Ravshaqeh was putting words in his master’s mouth, based on his own reactions to the people. But he was authorized to do so by the laws of agency, since he knew it was consistent with the character of his master. Y’shua spoke for YHWH in the same way--knowledgably.
14. “Thus says the king: ‘Don’t let Hizqiyahu deceive you, because he won’t be able to rescue you!
15. “’Don’t let Hizqiyahu make you feel safe, either, saying, “YHWH will certainly rescue us! This city will not be given over into the hand of the King of Ashur.”’
16. “Don’t listen to Hizqiyahu, because this is what the King of Ashur says: ‘Do yourselves a favor and come out to me! Then each of you can eat of his own vine and his own fig tree, and each drink water from his own cistern
Do yourselves a favor: literally, “Deal a blessing.” His offer was a mimicry of what YHWH promised for His Kingdom (Micha 4:4). This is the pattern haSatan used when tempting Y’shua.
17. “‘until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards!
Here the counterfeit shows up again: he offers a “reasonable facsimile” as a substitute. “It’s just like your land!” The problem is, it still isn’t our land. This was a common Assyrian tactic: in order to make his empire more homogeneous, Sennacheriv removed people from their land and thus ostensibly from their gods, assuming each had jurisdiction over only its own limited territory, so they would be easier to mold into people loyal to himself and less distinctive. He did not realize that YHWH had jurisdiction well beyond the Land He specially marked out as His own.
18. “‘Lest Hizqiyahu allure you, saying, “YHWH will rescue us”, [I ask], has the mighty ones of any of the nations rescued his land from the hand of the King of Ashur?
One of the enemy’s most common “divide and conquer” tactics is to make us distrust the leaders YHWH has set in place. (e.g., Numbers chapters 12 and 16.)
19. “‘Where are the mighty ones of Hamath and Arpad [now]? Where are the mighty ones of S’farvaim? And when did they ever deliver Shomron from my hand?
Hamath, Arpad, S’farvaim: other capital cities Sennacheriv had conquered. Shomron: Now he hits close to home, and as much as asks whether even YHWH bothered to spare His other nation from the Assyrians. But they had been captured because of their sin; Hizqiyahu was not deserving of the same end.
20. “‘Who among the migty ones of any of these lands has rescued their land from my hand, that YHWH should deliver Yerushalayim from my hand?’”
21. But they kept silent and did not answer him a word, because the king’s command was, “Do not respond to him.”
22. Then Elyaqim, son of Chilqiyahu, who was over the House, and Shevna the scribe, and Yoach the son of Asaf, the chronicler, came to Hizqiyahu with torn garments to inform him of the words of Ravshaqeh.
Torn garments: a sign of deeply serious concern or mourning.
CHAPTER 37
1. And it turned out that as Hizqiyahu heard [it], he began to tear his clothes, covered himself with burlap, and went into the House of YHWH.
Burlap: or sackcloth: a sign of deep mourning, repentance, or humbling of oneself.
2. And he sent Elyaqim, who was over the House, Shevna the scribe, and the elders among the cohanim, covered with burlap, to Yeshayahu the son of Amotz, the prophet,
3. and they told him, “This is what Hizqiyahu says: ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and an occasion for contempt, because children have come to the place of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth!
An occasion for contempt: Aramaic, “disgrace”. If we rely on our own strength, there is insufficient power. A baby would die quickly if stuck in the birth canal, so this is a matter of desperate urgency. But this is a foreshadowing of the “Birthpangs of the Messiah”, when many antagonistic factors will cast doubt on the viable “birth” of the One New Man, the reunited Israel, the Messianic Kingdom. YHWH will bring us to the point where only He can deliver us, but the darkest backdrop is the place where His ability shines most brightly, just as the new moon comes right after the darkest time. When the baby is born, the pains are forgotten. (Yochanan 16:21)
4. ‘Maybe YHWH your Elohim will listen to the words of [the] Ravshaqeh, the one sent by his master, the King of Ashur, to defy the living Elohim, and may rebuke the words that YHWH your Elohim has heard. So will you lift up a prayer while a remnant can [still] be found?’”
Rebuke: Aramaic, “take retribution for”.
5. So King Hizqiyahu’s servants came to Yeshayahu,
6. and Yeshayahu told them, “This is what you must tell your master: ‘Thus says YHWH: “Do not be afraid because of the presence of the words with which the King of Ashur’s young men have caused Me to be blasphemed.
7. “’I am here [and am] issuing a wind against him. Moreover, he has heard a report and [begun to] return to his own land, and there I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
A wind: LXX, “a blast”. Patten, Hatch, and Steinhauer suggest that it was of cataclysmic proportions, for the planet Mars used to have a different orbit that crossed earth’s every 54 years, and kings would plan wars accordingly, counting on the huge earthquakes and other catastrophic phenomena that would accompany these flybys to do most of the work for them in weakening city walls, etc. Sennacheriv’s astrologers had advised him that plunder would be especially easy in March of 701B.C., but he had to arrive by this particular day or they would miss their opportunity for assistance from Nergal (Mars). The death of Sennacheriv did not take place for another ten years after this, but he did not harass Yehudah anymore. (See also notes on v. 36 and 38:8.)
8. So the Ravshaqeh went back and found the King of Ashur fighting against Livnah, because he had heard that he had moved on from Lakhish.
Livnah…Lakhish: fortress cities in the Sh’felah (foothills) specifically built to defend Yerushalayim from the coastal plain where the Way of the Sea (a trade route from Egypt to Assyria) ran. Sennacheriv had soundly defeated Lakhish since it had become a foot in the door for the same type of idolatry that had been practiced in the Northern Kingdom (Micha 1:13), but only after a three-year siege. Other examples of Assyrian psychological warfare include the fact that they would not just attack one city at a time, but would attack several adjacent cities simultaneously, so that reinforcements could not be called in from neighboring towns. They also impaled those they captured on sharp poles in order to demoralize the others within. Note the other example in 36:12. Most surrendered to them after a short time, but Yehudah would not.
9. Then he had heard it said about Tirchaqah, the king of Kush, “He has come out to make war with you.” When he heard this, he sent messengers to Hizqiyahu, saying,
10. “This is what they should tell Hizqiyahu, King of Yehudah: ‘Do not let your Elohim in whom you are trusting deceive you if He says, “Yerushalayim will not be given over into the hand of the King of Ashur.”
Yehudah: the Aramaic clarifies, “the tribe of the House of Yehudah”, to remind readers that this is not all of Israel.
11. “’You have indeed heard what the kings of Ashur have done to all the lands in order to bring them to destruction. And will you be rescued?
12. “’Have any of the gods of the nations whom my ancestors have laid waste rescued them? Gozan or Charan or Retzef or the sons of Eden who were in Telasar?
13. “’Where is the King of Chamath or the King of Arpad or the King of the City of S’farvayim, or Hena or Iwah?”
14. When Hizqiyahu received the letters from the messengers’ hand and read it, he went up to the House of YHWH, and Hizqiyahu spread it out before YHWH.
15. Then Hizqiyahu prayed to YHWH, saying,
16. “O YHWH of Armies, Elohim of Israel, who inhabits the kh’ruvim, You are the one, the only Elohim to all the realms of the earth! You have made the [very] heavens and earth!
Kh’ruvim: the carved angelic beings flanking the seat atop the Ark of the Covenant.
17. “Incline Your ear [downward], O YHWH, and listen! Open Your eye, O YHWH, and take notice, and listen to all the words of Sennacheriv, which he has sent to blaspheme the Living Elohim!
18. “It is true, O YHWH, that the kings of Ashur have brought every nation and its territory to ruin,
Every nation and its territory: or “all the lands and their land”, “their” being that of the Northern Kingdom in particular, which Sennacheriv had previously included in his catalog of conquered lands.
19. “and have given their mighty ones over to the fire, because they [were] not mighty ones [after all], since [they were only] the work of men’s hands—wood and stones—thus they [could] destroy them.
20. “So now, YHWH our Elohim, let us be delivered from his hand, so that all the dominions of the earth may recognize that You are YHWH in Your uniqueness!”
21. Then Yeshayahu the son of Amotz sent word to Hizqiyahu: “This is what YHWH, Elohim of Israel, says: ‘Inasmuch as you have interceded [for yourselves] to Me in regard to Sennacheriv, King of Ashur,
22. “’this is the word YHWH has spoken about him: “The virgin of the daughter of Tzion has [come to] hold you in contempt and ridicule you; the daughter of Yerushalayim has shaken [her] head behind you.
Virgin daughter: Aramaic, “the kingdom of the congregation”. Daughter: Aram., “the people who are in…”
23. “’”Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? [It is] against the Holy One of Israel!
Lifted up your eyes: an idiom for arrogance. Holy: in this case the emphasis is on His being “the one who is in a class of His own”—not “one of the gods”.
24. “’”Through the hand of your servants you have taunted Adonai and said, ‘With the abundance of my chariots I have ascended the height: mountains of the base of Levanon! And I will cut down the stature of its cedars, the choicest of its stately cypresses, then I will enter the height of its furthermost limit, the forest of His plantation!
Forest of His plantation: or “its thickest forest”.
25. “’”’I have dug for water and drunk it; with the spoons of my footsteps I have dried up the moats of all the siegeworks.’
I have dug for water: LXX, “I have made a bridge.” Siegeworks: the word seems related to the name of Egypt; Aramaic, “deep streams”.
26. “’”Haven’t you heard from far away [that] I made it? Since ancient times, I had preordained it; now I have brought it about, and you have become the one to cause heavily-fortified cities to crash into ruinous heaps [until they] roll away.
Crash into ruinous heaps…: Aramaic, “as a tumult of waves that subside”.
27. “’”So their inhabitants were short of strength and went to pieces, disconcerted. They were grass of the field and green vegetation of a courtyard on the housetops: that is, scorched before it can grow up.
Strength: literally, “hand”.
28. “’”But I am familiar with your sitting down, your going out, and your coming in, as well as your agitating yourself against Me.
29. “’”On account of the fact that your agitating yourself against Me and your complacency has ascended into My ears, I will also put My ring in your nose and My bit within your lips, and I will turn you back by the way that you came into it!
Ring in your nose: or hook, to connect a chain or bridle to. The same is said of Egypt and the Counterfeit Messiah in Y’chezq’el 29:4.
30. “’”Now this will be the token [by which] you [will know I am telling the truth]: this year, eat what grows of itself, and in the second year, the volunteer grain. Then in the third year, sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat of their fruit.
Volunteer grain: what shoots up by itself, from the previous year’s natural seeding—analogous in some ways to manna—YHWH’s special provision. This must have been the 49th year of the agricultural cycle, since there are two fallow years in a row. (Lev. 25:10-11)
31. “’”The fugitives who remain of the house of Yehudah who have escaped will again take root downward and produce fruit upward,
Escaped from Yerushalayim: probably referring to the events of Zech. 13:9. (Compare Rev. 8:12; 9:15, 18.)
32. “’”for something will remain to issue forth from Yerushalayim—indeed, the escaped remnant from Mount Tzion; the jealousy of YHWH of Armies will accomplish this.”
Issue forth: like a shoot growing from a stump, but this also alludes to a siege, from which no one is able to exit the city.
33. “So this is what YHWH says about the King of Ashur: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he point an arrow at it, nor confront it with a shield, nor pour out a siege-mound against it.
34. “’By the way that he entered, he will return, nor will he enter this city’, declares YHWH,
35. “’because I will place a covering over this city in order to liberate it, for the sake of David My servant.’”
36. Then a messenger of YHWH went forth and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When they arose early in the morning, lo and behold, they were all dead bodies!
Messenger: Not necessarily an angel or spiritual being; possibly a thunderbolt (a huge electrical discharge or flux tube) from the planet Mars, which was amazingly close to earth at that time, which would kill via burns, a shock wave radiating out from it, and vaporization. Their iron armor and weaponry would act as a special attraction point for the “thunderbolt”. (Donald Patten’s Catastophism and the Old Testament describes the mechanics in great detail.) Patten writes, “Assyrian cuneiform indicates that Sennacheriv himself survived, though burned.”
37. So Sennacheriv, the King of Ashur, broke camp and departed, and went back and remained at Nin’veh.
Nin’veh: the capital of Ashur.
38. And it turned out that while he was bowing down [in] the house of his god, Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Shar’etzer struck him down with the sword, and they were slipped away into the land of Ararat, and his son Esar-hadon became king in his place.
Adrammelech means “a king is honorable”! Shar’etzer means “prince of fire”. Ararat: where Noach’s ark had run aground. Aramaic, “Kurdistan”. Esar-hadon may mean “Ashur has given a brother”. The archaeological record upholds this. Engraved reliefs usually included bracelets and/or head ornaments bearing identifying seals when depicting kings. Sennacheriv’s name was chiseled off all the reliefs depicting him, and the annals state that his sons did this just prior to killing him, to symbolize that the kingship no longer belonged to him.
CHAPTER 38
1. Now in those days, Hizqiyahu became sick to [the point of] death, and Yeshayahu the son of Amotz, the prophet, came to him and told him, “This is what YHWH says: ‘Give orders concerning your household, because you are dying, and will not recover.’”
2. Then Hizqiyahu turned his face toward the wall and prayed to YHWH [for himself],
Wall: the word specifically means an inner wall of a room or house.
3. and said, “O YHWH, I beg You, please remember how I have walked around before You in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have carried out what was good in Your eyes.” And Hizqiyahu wept bitterly with [loud] intense wailing.
4. Then the word of YHWH came to Yeshayahu, saying,
5. “Go and tell Hizqiyahu, ‘Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of your ancestor David: “I have heard your intercession; I have seen your tears. I am indeed adding fifteen years to your days,
I am adding: Heb., Yosef. Hizqiyahu was 39 years old at this time (2 Chron. 29:1), and this was the 14th year of his reign (2 Kings 18:13).
6. “’“and I will rescue you out of the palm of the King of Ashur, and I will defend this city.
7. “’“Now this will be the sign for you from YHWH that YHWH will carry out this matter [of] which He has spoken:
8. “’“I will make the shadow of the degrees which has declined on the sundial of Akhaz [go in] reverse ten degrees!”’” And the sun went backward ten degrees on the dial which had declined.
This, too, was symbolic of resurrection and YHWH’s restoration—time turned backward. Ten degrees: or ten hand-breadths, or about 7 feet, on the 90-foot-tall obelisk sundial patterned after that of the Egyptians (Patten); literally “ten steps”. For this to happen, the earth either had to reverse its direction, or, far more likely, its polar spin axis had to precess (wobble) at one spot on the globe—specifically this one. (See 24:20.) On Mars’ previous flyby, Nin’veh had experienced YHWH’s reprieve as described in the record of the prophet Yonah, but caused the great earthquake in Uzziyahu’s day, which damaged the Temple. (Amos 1:1; Zech. 14:5) Josephus describes it in more detail (Antiquities, book VIII, chapter 10). This time Mars came so close to earth that it was even closer than the moon (a scant 30,000 miles away), and the magnetic repulsion of the two planets pushed them both into new orbits. All around the world over the course of the next 22 years as Mars settled into its present orbit, there are records of nations struggling to adjust their calendars from 360 days to 365.25 days. As the polar axes shifted, Israel was moved 6 degrees further south of where it had been. This has been confirmed by the fact that Solomon’s Temple faced 6 degrees off the present-day due east, toward which the Second Temple faced. (See notes on 37:7, 36)
9. [This is] what Hizqiyahu, King of Yehudah, wrote when he had been sick and was beginning to recover from his illness:
10. “In the pausing of my days I said, ‘I have begun to depart for the gates of the underworld; I am being made to miss the rest of my years!’
11. “I said, ‘I will not see Yah in the land of the living; I will no longer look upon humanity, along with those who remain at rest.
I will not see: Aramaic, “I will not be seen by”. Land of the living: the Aramaic links it with the Temple and Yerushalayim, the place that adds length of days.
12. “My generation has been pulled up and removed from me lie a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He was [preparing] to sever me like threads from a loom. From day to night You will make an end of me.
Generation: age, period in which he lived. Weaver: or braid; Aramaic, “a banked river”. Sever: Aramaic, “exile”.
13. “I settled down until morning. Like a lion, indeed, He will shatter all my bones from day until night and make an end of me.
LXX: “In that day I was given up as to a lion until the morning.”
14. “Like [the] swooping of a swallow, [that’s] how I chattered; I had begun to moan like a dove. My eyes look weakly to the heights. O YHWH, it is crushing me! Take up my cause!
Swooping of a swallow: or “horse” (and taken so in Aramaic), in which case “chattered” would read “whinnied”. Take up my cause: Or “undertake for me”, “join forces with me”, “intermingle”, i.e., Your power with mine so that I am “guaranteed” or “co-signed with”. I.e., “make a trade”.
15. “What can I say when He speaks to me, and He has acted? I will slowly go over the bitterness of my soul all my years.
Say: or promise, especially in the context of the idea of a tradeoff in v. 14. Aramaic, “What praise can I speak?”
16. “Master, on these [things] they will survive, and for everything in them is [the] reviving of my spirit, so may You restore me to health! Oh, bring me back to life!
These things: LXX, “It was told You concerning this.” The Aramaic gives the sense of him being raised back to life long before the rest of the dead are raised. (See note on v. 19.)
17. “To fulfill [the covenant of peace] was bitter to me—[so] bitter! But You attached [Yourself and pulled] my soul from the sinkhole of being used up; You have thrown all of my sins behind Your back,
Fulfill: make good on it, make full repayment, perhaps to totally surrender to YHWH’s will, giving up all he was hanging onto. Attached: held onto, warmly embraced, in the same sense as in v. 14. LXX, “chose”.
18. “since the grave will not thank You, nor death rave about You; those who are sinking into the pit cannot wait expectantly for You to make them sturdy [again].
For You to make them sturdy: or simply, “for Your truth” or “Your faithfulness”. Psalms that parallel this thought are 6:5; 30:9; 88:11; 115:17. That latter would have been being sung in the Temple while the Passover lambs were being slain at the very time Y’shua hung on the cross. He expressed a similar thought in Luke 20:38. There were signs in the sun and an earthquake on that occasion as well.
19. “The living one! The one who is alive! He is the one who will give thanks to You as I [am doing] today! A father will make Your faithfulness known to his sons!
To his sons: This brings out the parallels between Hizqiyahu and Y’shua clearly. The immediate context of the king spoken of in chapters 7-9 seems to refer to Hizqiyahu (see note on 8:8), though its later, fuller reference is to the Messiah. But as Hizqiyahu seemed to be dying childless, so too did Y’shua, yet He was promised “descendants” that He would see. (53:10; compare the pouring out of His soul with v. 17 above). LXX, “From this day forward I will beget children who will declare Your righteousness!”
20. “YHWH is [the One who served as] deliverer for me! So we will sing my songs of triumph to the tune of stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the House of YHWH!”
Songs of triumph: has the sense of “mocking” or “taunting”, perhaps against the death that could not overpower YHWH. At the House: literally “upon the House”, or perhaps “about” in the sense of it being the subject matter of the songs.
21. Then Yeshayahu said, “Let them carry [in] a cake of [pressed] figs and lay it [as a compress] on the inflammation, and he will recover.”
22. And Hizqiyahu said, “What is an [unmistakable] sign that I should go up to the House of YHWH?”
What is: in Aramaic, it is the same, but the LXX has it in the affirmative, “this is…”
CHAPTER 39
1. At that time Mero’dach-Bal’adan, the son of Bal’adan, King of Bavel, sent letters and a tribute-gift to Hizqiyahu, because he had heard that he had been ill but was beginning to [recover his] strength.
Recover his strength: the same root word as the name Hizqiyahu (and Y’chezq’el/Ezekiel). Bavel: the quintessence of the Counterfeit Kingdom. It was a land of great liberty (including complete religious freedom) and a prosperous, up-and-coming power. Like the United States and Europe, it had a middle class as well—a rare thing in those days.
2. And Hizqiyahu was cheered up because of them, and he let them see his treasury—the silver, the gold, the spices, the pleasant oil, the whole [store] house of his weapons, and all that had been acquired in his supply-houses. There was nothing that Hizqiyahu did not let them see.
Though Hizqiyahu is a clear type of Yeshua, no one who foreshadowed him ever did so perfectly. 2 Chron. 32:27-31 gives more detail about this event, telling us all that he had amassed and that Elohim was testing him by leaving his response up to him to see what was in his heart. Hizqiyahu may have wanted to impress the Babylonians with the fact that he could be a powerful ally to them. Israel’s willingness to do the United States’ bidding today may be a close parallel. Also, in his excitement at being alive and well again, he became overconfident and failed to think long-range, forgetting already that there were threats, and perhaps feeling immortal and invincible since YHWH had come through for him. His recovery seems to have gone to his head, and he may have felt he was worthy of YHWH’s favor and could continue to get whatever he wanted from Him. He may have failed to realize how covetous other nations could be; likewise, Israel today—never the aggressor--reaches out to many nations with offers of peace, when they truly want nothing of the sort. Now that he was still around, he neglected to “give orders concerning his household” (38:1), and “seven more demons” came in to fill the void. Contrast Avraham, who ruled his household well (Gen. 18:19).
3. Then Yeshayahu the prophet came to King Hizqiyahu and said to him, “What did these men say to you? And from where have they come to you?” And Hizqiyahu said, “They came to me from a faraway land—from Bavel!”
A faraway land: i.e., not from among their traditional enemies nearby, but from a place ostensibly too far away to expect to hear much from anytime soon.
4. And he said, “What have they seen in your household?” And Hizqiyahu said, “They have seen everything that is in my household! There was not a thing among my supply-houses that I did not let them see!”
Yeshayahu echoes Yaaqov’s words when, speaking as Israel, the spiritual man, he asked why his sons had given too much information to the Egyptians. (Gen. 43:6) What YHWH has given us is precious, and may be doled out in small portions to those truly in need, but if it the doors are opened too wide, displaying the treasure to evildoers, they will find a way to plunder us.
5. Then Yeshayahu told Hizqiyahu, “Hear the word of YHWH of Armies:
6. “’Behold, days are coming when everything that is in your household—[all] that your ancestors have saved [and stored] up—will be carried off by Bavel.”
Your ancestors: This included the great treasures amassed by King Shlomo. What our natural forefathers have left us—our earthly pedigree—is of little value to YHWH, and sometimes stands in His way. (Yirmiyahu 16:19; Luke 3:8) Carried off by Bavel: In the same way, the church, raving about what Y’shua had done for us, failed to heed His advice about not casting our pearls before swine lest they turn and trample us under their feet (an idiom for festivals in Hebrew). Initially the giddy responses to the Renewed Covenant were tempting some like Hananyah and Safirah to take advantage of YHWH’s grace, but this was cut off when they were struck dead and great fear came upon all the congregation. (Acts 5) But after several centuries of strength through self-sacrifice, we allowed the later version of Bavel (Rome) to co-opt the wonderful promises YHWH made available to the returning House of Israel, as if they were wide open for everyone to see rather than holy gifts to be treasured up and protected. Constantine appropriated them for the use of the other side, and we have had to suffer through another exile because of it.
7. “’And they will take away some of your children who issue forth from you, whom you will father, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the King of Bavel.’”
Some of your children: Not all, in YHWH’s mercy. Bavel usually spared royalty of the lands they captured, but they had to show them who was now in charge, and did not want them to have progeny who might rally loyalty in their former subjects. Eunuchs: often placed over the harem, for while they retained their manly strength, there was no danger of them raping the queen and the king’s concubines.
8. And Hizqiyahu told Yeshayahu, “The word [from] YHWH which you have spoken is agreeable”, and he thought, “because there will be peace and stability in my days.”
Agreeable: literally, “good”; i.e., he was admitting that it was only fair to expect suffering because of his foolish error, though he did not seem to consider it worthy of the same intercession that the threat of his death had produced, for it would not affect him personally.
CHAPTER 40
1. “Comfort, console My people”, says your Elohim.
Aramaic, “Prophets, prophesy consolations to My people…”
2. “Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim, and proclaim to her that the service she has completed [as the consequence for] her iniquity has been accepted, because she has received from YHWH’s hand double on all her sins.
That her need…has been satisfied: Aramaic, “that she is about to be filled with people of her exiles”. So even in Y’shua’s day the expectation of the return was in the forefront of the interpreters’ hearts. Double: from a word for “folding over”, so she has come back to the starting point and can therefore start afresh. This sentence is made clearer in Yirmiyahu 16:18. The LXX says that it is the priests that YHWH is addressing here.
3. “A voice calls out in the uninhabited land, ‘Clear YHWH’s path! Level off a highway for our Elohim in the Aravah!
Of course, there are many figurative ways to interpret this command, but it speaks of a specific place: the Aravah—the deep rift valley including the Yarden River, but extending further south to the Reed Sea, and actually all the way to southern Africa. It needs to be crossed in order for both houses of Israel to return from Mt. Sinai, Sela (Petra), and Botzrah to Yerushalayim, according to further details given in chapter 63. Such a highway is reportedly in the planning.
4. “’Every valley must be lifted up, and every mountain and hill humbled. The steep places must be made level, and the impasses broken through.
Steep places: Aram., “uneven ground”, The escarpments on both sides of the Aravah have much steep and rough terrain. This is also an allegory of the proud being brought low and the humble exalted. Yochanan the Immerser was one instance of the Messenger YHWH sent before Y’shua’s face (Mal. 3:1). The Aravah (v. 3) is exactly where he preached repentance (Mat. 3:1-3), and this is the first step in repairing the road worthy of the return of the King. Immersion pictures dying to self, which allows us to see the next steps more clearly. He came “in the spirit and power of Eliyahu”. But there is a spirit of Eliyahu that precedes Messiah’s second coming, and its purpose and message are the same. The more paganism (which in essence is selfish religion) we clear away, the more quickly we can restore the original building materials and reopen the ancient pathways by which the messengers of Elohim can ascend and descend.
5. “’Then YHWH’s authority will be revealed, and all flesh will see it, [joined] together, because YHWH’s mouth has spoken.’”
Together: from the word for "one". “Flesh” typically emphasizes our mortality or natural human strength. “All flesh in union” may refer to those who have chosen the fleshly path, who at the end of this age will unify against the Messiah. They are already beginning to think they are immortal and gods in their own right. The following prophecy is tailored to them:
6. A voice is saying, “Proclaim!” But he said, “What should I proclaim?”
“All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like a flower of the field.
The context is comfort (v. 1), and so far this sounds comforting: together we are like a field of beautiful flowers.
7. “Grass dries up; a flower droops when the breath of YHWH blows on it. Truly the people is grass!
Breath: or Spirit. Wait a minute! This does not sound so comforting anymore. People’s beards grow gray and their hair falls out; this is not news. It sounds like the same old thing we hear everywhere else. Our time on earth is limited. Compared to the ages, our 70 or 80 years on earth, on average, do not seem to amount to anything at all. It is downright discomforting to think that someone we love might be gone before we see him or her again. But this is not the comforting part; it is a backdrop to set us up for the contrast:
8. “Grass dries up; a flower droops, but the word of our Elohim will be established forever.
This does still not sound too comforting: The word of YHWH gets to live on, but we do not? Yes, though you use all the world’s wisdom to extend your life, you cannot last forever. You cannot control the fact that you will die one day. But you can line up with what is eternal and keep passing that on to those who will follow you. The water bear is a microscopic animal that can survive the most difficult circumstances; even after being dehydrated for long periods, it can be revived when touched by a mere drop of water. 10% of those found on grains found in King Tut’s tomb were “resurrected”! People may belittle the words of YHWH spoken 3,400 years ago at Sinai, but though they are misconstrued, mistranslated, or misapplied, no matter how long they are ignored, over and over they are restored when people take them seriously and examine them in the proper light—not as a religion as such, but as manual for how to treat our neighbors—they are restored and shown to be very relevant, flexible, and applicable to every aspect of life. The When we live out the Torah together, it becomes even more firmly established, and although people may not remember your name 3,000 years from now, if you have found yourself in this manual by participating in the way of life it teaches, you become part of what does last forever. And not only that, you bring back to life everyone who has been part of the chain of passing it on to you. You give their lives additional meaning each time you “give back” to them in this way, because their lives are not in vain. We are part of the return on their investment. There is a finite amount of carbon in the world, but even the withering grass and flowers do not cease to exist, but continue on by becoming part of the soil that nourishes the plants that come after them. And better yet, they leave behind seeds. When we plant Torah seeds in our children or students, they will come back—sometimes even generations later. When practiced as a people, there is something about it that can overcome the withering and fading. And that is comforting! The other side of this allegory is that when YHWH’s Spirit moves, the fleshly (corrupt) part of us is killed off. When grass is green, it is not very strong, but when it dies it takes on strength that, when woven together with other pieces, can make a useful vessel for the Master’s use, which in the long run is much more beneficial than a handful of grass. “He who loses His life for My sake will find it.” (Mat. 10:39) But grass woven while still green will warp and buckle when it dries. This is why we need to “die” to self before a people fit for YHWH can be built.
9. “Get yourself up onto a high mountain, O Tzion, bearer of good news! Raise your voice powerfully, you who bring good news to Yerushalayim! Raise it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Yehudah, ‘[Look!] Here is your Elohim!’”
Here is your Elohim: Aramaic, “The Kingdom of your Elohim is revealed!”
10. Indeed, the Master YHWH will come with strength, and His Arm will exercise dominion for Him. His wage is with Him, and His compensation is in front of His face.
His Arm: often seen as an idiom for the Messiah, who visibly enforces YHWH's rules.
11. He will lead His flock to pasture like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs together with His Arm and support them in His lap, and those who are nursing young He will lead [little by little to a place of rest where there is water].
Like a shepherd: compare Y’hezq’el 34. Gather: compare 11:12; Micha 2:12; Yirmiyahu 23:3; 31:10; Hoshea 8:10. Little by little: Yaaqov also said he would let his family travel at the pace of the smallest ones. (Gen. 33:13-14)
12. Who has measured out the waters in the hollow of His hand, adjusted out the sky with a hand-breadth, contained the dust of the earth in a third-measure, weighed out the mountains in the balance, and the hills with scales?
13. Who has meted out the Spirit of YHWH, or made anything known to Him as a counselor?
14. With whom has He consulted, and who can begin to understand His mind and train Him in the path of justice, teach Him a skill, or make known to Him the way of understanding?
15. Indeed, nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as fine dust from a scale. Even islands are like a trifle for Him to pick up.
16. Even Levanon is not enough to burn, nor its living creatures adequate for an ascending [offering].
Levanon: its trees, at that time, were huge and plentiful, like a redwood forest.
17. Before Him, all the nations are as if they did not exist; they are counted as if they had [already] been brought to an end and laid waste.
18. So to whom will you compare El? Or what will you bring forward as resembling Him?
Aramaic: “Why are you planning to contend before El?” I.e., do you think you can find someone else in His class who could make it an even match? The next verses are their response:
19. A craftsman casts the molded image, and a smelter overlays it with gold, then refines the silver chains.
These idols are the only contender brought forward. The modern equivalent would not be so crude, but it is the same in YHWH’s eyes. The “image of the Beast” represents its final smoke-and-mirrors attempt to conceal the fact that there is really nothing to it. Silver chains: to hang the image around one’s neck? If so, what could it be but a crucifix? How dare we call that YHWH? In typical pagan fashion, a deity is reduced to an image so that human beings can control it. YHWH is showing here that He is much bigger than that, and much bigger than the contender is.
20. One who is [too] poor [to bring such] a contribution picks out a tree that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to prepare for him a carved image that will not totter.
Tree that will not rot: often an evergreen. When do we see evergreens cut from a forest (Yirmiyahu 10) and stabilized in stands so they will not fall over?
21. Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Hasn’t it been reported to you from the beginning? Didn’t you explain the decrees that founded the earth?
YHWH is being sarcastic toward the ones who claim to have belief systems that actually rival His Torah, which does demonstrate a deep understanding of the foundational principles on which not only successful individual life can be built, but, more importantly, by which all of us can work in harmony and community without destroying one another.
22. [It is] He who sits over the circle of the earth, while its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a thin curtain, and will spread them out like a tent to dwell in,
Circle of the earth: This shows a scientific knowledge that took others millennia to catch up with. He drew this over the surface of the scene of disaster at Creation, as in using a compass to redesign something that was destroyed. (Prov. 8:27) Grasshoppers: i.e., tiny in comparison.
23. who assigns weighty potentates to inconsequential [positions]; the judges of the earth He appoints to a wasteland.
Judges of the earth: “world-class judges” who were over the “world court”?
24. They’re hardly even established! They’re barely even sown; their stem has scarcely taken root in the earth, so as soon as He has blown on them, they will dry up. The whirlwind will carry them away like stubble.
Such forces are beyond our control; could a mere chunk of clay or gold create even something like this?
25. “So to whom will you compare Me, or make My equal?”, says the Holy One.
26. Lift your eyes [to the] heights and look: who has created these? [Who is] the one who brings out their host according to their number? By the abundance of His generative vigor and the strength of His power, He summons them all by name, and not one is left missing.
These: i.e., the heavenly bodies, the constellations. He can even muster them to battle on His side, as it was specifically said that He did once before: “They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” (Judges 5:20) Not one: literally, “not a man”. So this may have a secondary meaning. (Compare Amos 9:9.) In summary of this section, we have no control over the unseen realms, but if we stay connected to the Source (which we can only know through Torah), we will be in the safest place and be able to deal effectively with what is given to us to do. The moment we start wanting to know about the invisible realms, there will always be shysters ready to sell us “answers”. We cannot see the wind, but we can see a shepherd and sheep, and understand that kind of relationship, so that is how He relates to us. (v. 11)
27. O Yaaqov, why do you think, and Israel, why do you say, “My way is hidden from YHWH, and I have been passed over by my Elohim in regard to justice”?
28. Haven’t you known? Or haven’t you heard? The eternal Elohim, the creator of the earth—all the way to its farthest edges—is YHWH. He will never faint or grow weary; His intelligence can never be thoroughly searched out!
29. He gives power to the weary, and to those who have no physical strength, He will increase firmness.
30. Even young people may faint and grow weary, and choice young men may stumble [to the point of] tottering,
31. but those who pin their expectation [on] YHWH will trade in their power for a fresh supply. They will take flight upward like eagles. They will run without being weary; they will walk and not faint!
Aramaic, “Those who wait for the salvation of YHWH will be gathered from among their exiles.” So this is specifically referring to the scattered tribes of Israel.
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah)
Introduction:
Yeshayahu means "YHWH is salvation"--the same meaning as Yehoshua, but with the phrasing in the reverse order. Yeshayahu was probably from the tribe of Yehudah. A contemporary of Micha and Hoshea, he prophesied more than 200 years after the division of Israel, beginning c. 740 B.C.E. (Just prior to King Uzziyahu's death in 739), or about 18 years prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom. But he mainly addresses the southern kingdom of Yehudah, which was now in decline as well, following the same pattern of apostasy that Israel had taken. Since he records the death of Sennakheriv, it is estimated that he continued to prophesy for some 60 years, until about 680B.C.E., when by tradition he was executed by being sawn in two. As with all the prophets, his main theme is, "Come back to the Torah!"
PART 4: Chapters 31-40
40:27-41:16 is a haftarah (companion passage) to
Torah Portion Lekh L'kha
