Session 4
Isaiah 2:6-22
Session Purpose:


# Forsaking of the house of Jacob for idolatry and treasures (vv.6-9)
* Isaiah moves from talking to the house of Jacob (that is, the full nation) to talking to God. Note the change in pronouns between vv. 1-5, where God is third-person, to verse 6, where God is second person singular.
* Note the *therefore* and *because* (v. 6). It is not "therefore, because..." which would be redundant and is not typical Hebrew construction.
    * **Therefore** is *backward looking*, because of verses 2-4.
    * **Because** is *forward looking*, because of verses 6-9.
    * I think it is easiest to understand it this way: "*In light of what the LORD is going to do in the future (vv.2-4), the house of Jacob should therefore walk in the light of the LORD.*"
    * Then a new sentence begins: "**thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because...**" Thus verses 6-9 answer *why* God has forsaken Israel.
* Note that the **house of Jacob** is called **thy people**.
    * The term is defined in its first use in Genesis 46:27.
    * Covenant theology has to spiritualize **house of Jacob** to make it fit their broader view of God's people.
* A litany of reasons for God to forsake His people are then announced.
    * **replenished from the east** (v. 6) - presumably rather than trusting in the Lord.
    * **soothsayers like the Philistines** (v. 6) - turning to pagan divination instead of God's word.
    * **please themselves in the children of strangers** (v. 6) - joining themselves to foreign ways and alliances.
    * **land is full of silver and gold** (v. 7) - material abundance can foster self-sufficiency and pride.
    * **there is no end of their treasures** (v. 7) - their wealth has become excessive and spiritually dangerous.
    * **land is full of horses** (v. 7) - trusting in military strength rather than in the Lord.
    * **there is no end of their chariots** (v. 7) - multiplying instruments of war shows misplaced confidence.
    * **land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made** (v. 8) - they are making idols and then worshiping what they made.
    * **the mean man boweth down** (v. 9) - idolatry has spread through the common people.
    * **the great man humbleth himself** (v. 9) - idolatry has also captured the leaders and mighty.

# The humbling of the lofty and exaltation of the LORD alone (vv.10-17)
* Now Isaiah switches pronouns again, and the second-person singular is Israel.
* Verse 10 - an encouragement / warning to **Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust** because they are about to encounter the glory and majesty of the LORD.
    * Compare Revelation 6:15–17
* Verses 11-17 display the "target audience" of **the day of the LORD** (v. 12). These include:
    * The *lofty and haughty* (v. 11) and *proud* (v. 12) **shall be brought low** (v. 12).
    * **the cedars of Lebanon** (v. 13) - {the great and majestic}
    * **the oaks of Bashan** (v. 13) - {the strong and established}
    * **all the high mountains** (v. 14) - {exalted powers}
    * **all the hills that are lifted up** (v. 14) - {lesser but still proud powers}
    * **every high tower** (v. 15) - {human defenses}
    * **every fenced wall** (v. 15) - {trusted fortifications}
    * **all the ships of Tarshish** (v. 16) - {commerce and wealth}
    * **all pleasant pictures** (v. 16) - {objects of human delight and glory}
* The result is that **the loftiness of man shall be bowed down** and **the haughtiness of men shall be made low** (v. 17), and **the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day** (v. 17).

# Abolishing idols and fear of the LORD causing hiding (vv.18-21)
* The idol worshipers (v. 8) ultimately lose when the Day of the LORD arrives.
* The idols **he shall utterly abolish** (v. 18).
* Verses 19-21 describe the activity of the idol worshipers on that day:
    * **they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth** (v. 19)
    * they do this **for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty** (v. 19)
    * they respond when **he ariseth to shake terribly the earth** (v. 19)
    * **a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold... to the moles and to the bats** (v. 20)
    * **they shall go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks** (v. 21)
    * they do this **for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty** (v. 21)
    * they respond when **he ariseth to shake terribly the earth** (v. 21)
* The statement **when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth** (v. 21) is a frightening description of the coming Day of the LORD.

# Ceasing from man whose breath is in his nostrils (v.22)
* The instruction is to the **house of Jacob** (v. 5), and it instructs them to **cease ye from man**.
* That is:
    * stop trusting man
    * stop esteeming man
    * stop structuring life around human strength, wealth, idols, systems
* Man's **breath *is* in his nostrils** - that is, he is a created being, thus owes allegiance to his Creator.
    * Genesis 2:7 - God **breathed into his nostrils the breath of life**
    * Job 27:3 - implication of the frailty and weakness of man
* The question "**wherein is he to be accounted of?**" means "by what means would he be considered of value?"