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?"