Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 10

Verses 1-14

XII

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 4

Isaiah 7:1-10:14

In the outline the section, Isaiah 7-13, is called the book of Immanuel, because the name, "Immanuel," occurs in it twice and it is largely messianic. There are four main divisions of this section preceded by a historical introduction, as follows: Historical introduction (Isaiah 7:1-2)

I. Two interviews with Ahaz and their messages (Isaiah 7:3-25)

II. Desolating judgments followed by salvation (Isaiah 8:1-9:7)

III. Jehovah’s hand of judgments (Isaiah 9:8-10:4)

IV. The debasement of the Assyrians and the salvation of true Israel (Isaiah 10:5-12:6)

There are certain items of information in the historical introduction, as follows:

1. That the date of this section is the "days of Ahaz," king of Judah.

2. That, during this reign, Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, attempted to take Jerusalem but failed.

3. That the confederacy between Syria and Ephraim caused great fear in Judah on the part of both the king and the people. By the command of Jehovah Isaiah, with his son, Shearjashub, went forth to meet Ahaz, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller’s field to quiet his fear respecting the confederacy of Rezin and Pekah, assuring him that their proposed capture of Jerusalem and enthronement of Tabeel, an Assyrian, should not come to pass because Damascus and Samaria had only human heads, while Jerusalem had a divine head who was able to and would destroy their confederacy within sixty-five years, which included the work of Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser IV, Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon. The last named completed the destruction of the power of the ten tribes by placing heathen colonists in the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezekiel 4:2). Then the prophet rested Ahaz’s case on his faith in Jehovah’s word and promise. This challenge of faith to Ahaz is beautifully expressed by the poet, thus: Happiest they of human race To whom our God has granted grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray; To lift the latch and force the way.

It seems that Ahaz silently rejected Jehovah’s proposition of faith. So Jehovah, to give him another chance and to leave him without excuse, offers, through his prophet, to strengthen Ahaz’s faith by means of a sign, allowing him to name the sign to be given. But Ahaz made "a pious dodge" because of his contemplated alliance with Assyria, saying that he would not tempt Jehovah. Then the prophet upbraids the house of David for trying the patience of Jehovah and announces that Jehovah will give a sign anyway, which was the child to be born of a virgin, after which he goes on to show that the whole land shall be made desolate. Jehovah will summons the nations to devastate the land. Then he gives four pictures of its desolation as follows: (1) Flies and bees; (2) the hired razor; (3) one cow and two sheep; (4) briers and thorns.

Signs were of various kinds. They might be actual miracles performed to attest a divine commission (Exodus 4:3-9), or judgments of God, significant of his power of justice (Exodus 10:2), or memorials of something in the past (Exodus 13:9; Exodus 13:16), or pledges of something still future, such as are found in Judges 6:36-40; 2 Kings 20:8-11 et al. The sign here was a pledge of God’s promise to Ahaz of the destruction of Damascus, and Samaria and comes under the last named class. But as to its fulfilment there is much discussion, the most of which we may brush aside as altogether unprofitable. The radical critics contend that Isaiah expected a remarkable deliverer to arise in connection with the Assyrian war and deny that this refers at all to our Lord Jesus Christ. There seems to be no certain or common ground for mediating and conservative critics themselves. There are two main views held: (1) That a child was to be born in the days of Isaiah who was to be a type of the great Immanuel. They say that verses 15-16 favor this view. Now if the birth was to be natural, it seems to have a double sense, or else a very poor type. If there were a miraculous conception of a type of Christ in those days all records have been lost. At least, it is impossible to locate definitely the wonderful person who was to prefigure the real Immanuel. (2) That the reference is solely to the birth of Jesus Christ. But how could this be a sign unto Ahaz? Here we note the fact that this language respecting the sign is addressed to the "house of David" and therefore becomes a sign to the nation rather than to Ahaz alone. The time element of the prophecy hinges on the word, "before." It is literally true that before this child grew to discern good and evil, the land of Damascus and the land of Israel had been laid waste. The text does not say how long before but the word, "before," is used to express the order of events, rather than time immediately before. A good paraphrase of the prophecy would be, “O house of David, I will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, but before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, Syria and Israel shall be forsaken and Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, days unlike any that have come since Ephraim rebelled in the days of Jeroboam." All this took place before the child was born who was to be the sign unto all people, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the idea of Genesis 3:15: "The seed of the woman [not of the man] shall bruise the serpent’s head," and forecasts the doctrine of the incarnation, a doctrine essential to the redemption of the world. Of one thing we may be assured, viz: Never was this prophecy fulfilled until Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary. Of him old Simeon said, "He shall be set for a sign which is spoken against." So we can plant ourselves squarely on Matthew 1:23 and say, "Here is the fulfilment of Isaiah 7:14."

The significance of "the fly," "the bee," "the razor," "the cow and two sheep," and "briers and thorns" is important. The fly is here used to designate the Egyptian army which was loosely organized, something like the looseness with which flies swarm. The bee refers to Assyria whose armies were much better and more compactly organized than the Egyptian army, something like the order with which bees work. The hired razor refers to the king of Assyria, who had been hired, as it were, by Samaria to help them, meaning that this was to be the power by which Jehovah was going to accomplish his work of destruction upon Samaria and Damascus. The "cow and two sheep" signifies the scanty supply of animals left in the land after this desolation which was so clearly foretold. The "briers and thorns" represent the deserted condition of the country, in which the lands that were once tilled and valuable, would then become overgrown with briers and thorns.

There are three subdivisions of the section, Isaiah 8:1-9:7, as follows:

1. The twofold sign of the punishment about to fall upon Damascus and Samaria.

2. The invasion of Judah.

3. Jehovah’s light dispels the darkness.

The twofold sign was the sign of the great tablet and the child’s name, which was intended especially for the doubters and unbelievers in the nation, as the sign, in the preceding chapter, of Immanuel, "God with us," was sufficient for the reassurance of the faithful. This was a sign that would be verified in two or three years and at once placed the king and people on probation, forcing them to raise the question, "Shall we continue to look to Assyria for help, or shall we trust the prophet’s word about Assyria, Rezin, and Pekah?" The writing on the tablet and the child’s name were identical, meaning "Plunder speedeth, spoil hasteth," from which sign and the obligations involved in its verification there was no escape. It was fulfilled in three or four years when Pekah was assassinated and Rezin slain by the king of Assyria.

The prophet describes this invasion as the waters of the Euphrates coming first against Damascus and Samaria because they looked to Rezin and Pekah rather than to Jehovah’s resources for relief, and bursting through them, who had been the breakwater for Judah against this flood, it would sweep on into Judah and overflow it.

Then the prophet (Isaiah 8:9-10) invites the people of the East to make an uproar and to devise all means possible for the destruction of Judah, but it would all come to nought, for God was with his people. Immanuel was their hope and is our hope. As Paul says in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who is against us?"

As shown in Isaiah 8:11-15, their real danger was not in invading armies, but in unbelief. Jehovah was to be their dread. He would be their sanctuary, their refuge, if they only believed on him. If not, he became a stone of stumbling or a snare unto them. This thought is amplified in the New Testament in many places (see Luke 2:34; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8, et al). The meaning of Isaiah 8:16-18, "Bind thou up the testimony, etc.," is Jehovah’s order to Israel to write the prophecy and to tie it up in the roll for the generations of his people to follow. Isaiah then expresses his abiding confidence in his and his children’s mission in being signs in Israel, looking to him for his favor.

The warning and exhortation (Isaiah 8:19-22) were given them in view of their coming troublous times when they would be tempted to turn to other sources of information rather than God’s revelations, which would lead them into greater darkness and confusion. A case of its violation is that of King Saul. When God refused to hear him because of his sin, he sought the witch of Endor, which in the light of this passage illustrates the operations of modern spiritualists.

Across the horrible background of Isaiah 8 the prophet sketches, in startling strokes of light, the image of a coming Redeemer, who brought light, liberty, peace, and joy to his subjects. The New Testament in Matthew 4:15-16, tells us that the light, liberty, peace, and joy of the prophecy were fulfilled in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali when Jesus and his disciples came among the people dwelling around the Sea of Galilee and preached his gospel and healed their sick and delivered their demoniacs. That his gospel was light, a great light. All knowledge is light. Whatsoever maketh manifest is light. And this gospel brought the knowledge of salvation in the remission of their sins. It revealed their relations toward God. It revealed God himself in the face of Jesus Christ. It discovered their sins and brought contrition and repentance. It revealed a sin-cleansing and sin-pardoning Saviour. Its reception brought peace by justification and brought liberty by dispossession of Satan. And with light, liberty, and peace came joy unspeakable.

The central text of this passage is, "For unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given." The "for" refers to the preceding context, which tells us that she who was under gloom shall have no more anguish. That the people who walk in darkness behold a great light. That the land of Zebulun and Naphtali on which divine contempt had been poured is now overflowed with blessings. That with light has come liberty, and with liberty peace, and with peace joy – and the joy of harvest and of victory, for this child is born. The coming of this child is assigned as the reason or cause for all this light, this liberty, this peace, this joy. Marvelous child to be the author of such blessings. Humanity is unquestionably here. It is a child, born of an earthly mother. But mere humanity cannot account for such glorious and eternal results. A mere child could not bear up under the government of the world and establish a kingdom of whose increase there should be no end.

The names ascribed to our Lord in Isaiah 9:6 cannot be Alexander, Caesar, or Bonaparte. Their kingdoms were not of peace, light, joy, and liberty. Their kingdoms perished with themselves. But what is this child’s name? It staggers us to call it: His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace! If this be not divinity, words cannot express it. And if it be divinity as certainly as a "child born" expresses humanity, then well may his name be "Wonderful," for he is God-man. Earth, indeed, furnished his mother, but heaven furnished the sire. And if doubt inquire, how can these things be, it must be literally true as revealed and fulfilled later: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore, also the Holy One who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

In particular these names give us the following ideas of him:

1. "Wonderful, Counsellor" indicates the matchless wisdom with which he taught and lived among men. In all that concerns the glory of Jehovah and the welfare of his people, we may rely implicitly on the purposes and plans of this Deliverer.

2. "Mighty God" means the living and true God and refers to his omnipotence in carrying out his plans and purposes. He is not only God, but he is Almighty God, at whose command were the powers of the universe, "head over all things unto the church," making "all things work together for good to them that love God."

3. "Everlasting Father" means "Father of eternity" and refers to his divinity, whose "goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."

4. "Prince of Peace" refers to his mission in the nature of his kingdom. He is not only a mighty hero but his kingdom is a kingdom of peace.

The promise here concerning his kingdom is that it is to be an everlasting kingdom, administered in peace and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6).

The title of section Isaiah 9:8-10:4 is "Jehovah’s hand of judgment," and is suggested from the fact that this section is divided into four paragraphs, or strophes, each one ending with the sad refrain, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still," i.e., for further chastisement. The special themes of these four paragraphs, respectively, are as follows:

1. Isaiah 9:8-12, The loss of wealth, followed by repeated invasion.

2. Isaiah 9:13-17, The loss of rulers.

3. Isaiah 9:18-21, The devouring fire of their own sinfulness.

4. Isaiah 10:1-4, A woe unto perverters and their utter helplessness.

The loss of wealth is described in Isaiah 9:8-12. The prophet introduces this section by saying that the Lord had sent word to Jacob and it had lighted up Israel, i.e., this message of destruction was mainly for Israel, who were standing stoutly in the face of God’s chastisements, by substituting one thing for another destroyed by Jehovah. The prophet assures them that God has not exhausted all his means and that he will use Syria and Philistia to complete the work of desolation.

Then the loss of their rulers is described in Isaiah 9:13-17. The prophet introduces this strophe with a complaint that Jehovah’s chastisements had been ineffective in turning Samaria to himself. Then he goes on to show that Jehovah would cut off from Israel the head, i.e., the elder, and the tail, i.e., the lying prophet; that he would destroy all without mercy because they were all profane.

The devouring fire of their own sinfulness follows in Isaiah 9:18-21. The prophet here likens wickedness unto a devouring fire, which devours briers and thorns, then breaks out in the forests and rolls up its column of smoke. A very impressive picture of the course and penalty of wickedness, as it goes on to full fruitage in its destruction of those who practice it, until without discrimination it devours alike the neighbor and the kinsman.

In Isaiah 10:1-4 the prophet brings a heavy charge against this class, that they rob the poor and needy, and devour widows’ houses, making them their prey. What a picture of perverted justice! Because of this awful corruption there will be no hope for them before the enemy in the day of Jehovah’s visitation and desolation. They shall bow down under the prisoners and fall under the slain. A graphic description of their humiliation is this, yet, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." A sad wail and a gloomy picture from which we joyfully turn to another section of the book, in which we have the enemies of Jehovah’s people brought low and the true Israel of God exalted. But this will follow in the next chapter.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the title of Isaiah 7-12 in the outline and why is it so called?

2. What is the outline of this division?

3. What is the items of information in the historical introduction?

4. Give an account of the first meeting with Ahaz and the message of the prophet in connection with it.

5. Give an account of the second meeting with Ahaz and the message of the prophet in connection with it.

6. What is the meaning of Jehovah’s sign to Ahaz and when was the prophecy of this sign fulfilled?

7. What is the significance of "the fly," "the bee," "the razor," "the cow and two sheep," and "briers and thorns"?

8. What are the three subdivisions of Isaiah 8:1-9:7?

9. What is the twofold sign of the punishment about to fall upon Damascus and Samaria and what the significance of it?

10. Describe the picture of the Assyrian invasion as given here by the prophet in Isaiah 8:5-8.

11. What hope of defense against this invading power does the prophet hold out to Judah in Isaiah 8:9-10?

12. In what was their real danger as shown in Isaiah 8:11-15?

13. What was the meaning of Isaiah 8:16-18, "Bind thou up the testimony, etc."?

14. What is the special pertinency of the exhortation of’ Isaiah respecting familiar spirits in Isaiah 8:19-22 and what Old Testament example of the violation of its teaching?

15. What is the fulfilment and interpretation of the great messianic prophecy in Isaiah 9:1-7?

16. What are the names ascribed to our Lord in Isaiah 9:6 and what the significance of them in general and in particular?

17. What promise here concerning his kingdom?

18. What is the title of section Isaiah 9:8-10:4 and what suggests it?

19. What are the special themes of each of these four paragraphs?

20. How is the loss of wealth in Isaiah 9:8-12 described?

21. How is the loss of their rulers in Isaiah 9:13-17 described?

22. How is the devouring fire of their own sinfulness in Isaiah 9:18-21 described?

23. How is the woe against perverters of righteousness in Isaiah 10:1-4 here described?

Verses 5-6

XIII

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 5

Isaiah 10:5-12:6

The general theme of this section is the abasement of the Assyrians and the exaltation of Israel, and the main divisions are:

1. The Assyrian exalted and then abased (Isaiah 10:5-27)

2. Judah humbled and then exalted (Isaiah 10:28-12:6).

There are five distinct paragraphs in the first division:

1. The Assyrian was the rod of Jehovah, though he did not so thinker purpose it, and threatened Jerusalem because of his successes (Isaiah 10:5-11).

2. His abasement decreed because he took the glory to himself and became exalted (Isaiah 10:12-14).

3. Jehovah’s right to abase Assyria is the right of the hewer over the ax and the sawyer over the saw, therefore the punishment will be complete (Isaiah 10:15-19).

4. The remnant will be encouraged when they see Jehovah’s destruction of their enemies (Isaiah 10:20-23).

5. Jehovah’s exhortation to his people not to fear the Assyrians, for he meant good to them by this correction, but now he was about ready to stretch forth his hand to destroy their enemies, just as he had saved his people in their past history from their enemies (Isaiah 10:24-27).

There are five distinct items also in the second division:

1. A vivid description of the invading Assyrian, indicating his course and progress through the land and his threat against Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:28-32).

2. A prophecy of the destruction of the proud Assyrians by Jehovah himself (Isaiah 10:33-34).

3. A shoot out of the stock of Jesse becomes the Deliverer, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 11:1-10).

4. The return of Jehovah’s people from all lands (Isaiah 11:11-16).

5. The song of the redeemed (Isaiah 12).

The last three items are messianic and need very careful and extended consideration which we now take up. An appropriate text with which to introduce this great messianic prophecy is a passage from Acts:

Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said. It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. – Acts 13:46 f.

The single point in this passage to which attention is called, is the fact that Paul calls a prophecy, that the gospel should go to the Gentiles, a command; that what is prophesied by the Spirit of God becomes a command resting upon the children of God. He says, "We turn to the Gentiles, for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles." Now if a prophecy of the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles is a command upon God’s people, then a prophecy of the ultimate conversion of the Jews becomes also a command resting upon his people.

Now let us look at Isaiah 11:1 "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." In the book of Job it is said: "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again; that through the vapor of water it will sprout and it will bring forth and bear." We have seen that illustrated hundreds of times when from the stumps of trees that have been cut down shoots will spring up and make new trees. This means that the royal line of David, who was the son of Jesse, had fallen under great misfortune and under the curses of God for their sin, and that the house of David was brought very low. It was, as if it were a tree cut down. Now, when it seemed to be utterly gone, there should come out from the stump of that Davidic tree a tender branch, and that branch should become a fruit-bearing tree that would be more remarkable than the original tree itself. Jesse’s home was Bethlehem, and in the New Testament times the family of David had gotten so low that Mary and Joseph, who both belonged to it, were able to present as offerings only a pair of turtle doves, indicating their great poverty. Joseph was a carpenter and a very poor man. Now, when they came to Bethlehem and Christ was born, that, according to a multitude of scriptures which I will not take time to cite, was the springing up of the sprout from the stump of the tree of Jesse.

Isaiah 11:2 says: "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." This was fulfilled at his baptism, when coming up out of the water he prayed, and the Spirit of God descended upon him in the form of a dove. This was his anointing, and John says that on that day he received the Spirit of God without measure. All people upon whom the Spirit of God had descended before that time had received it in a limited degree, a measured degree) but the fulness of the Spirit’s power by the anointing rested upon the Lord Jesus Christ, so that it might be called the "spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." He himself in Nazareth, where he had been brought up, read a passage from this same prophecy of Isaiah, where the spirit of the Lord was promised to rest upon him, and declared that on that day that prophecy was fulfilled in their midst; that he stood before them as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, and that the Spirit of the Lord had anointed him to preach the gospel to the poor, to give sight to the blind, to give deliverance to the imprisoned, those that were in bondage, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, that is, the jubilee year, the fiftieth sabbatical year, that antitype of the Old Testament which prefigured the millennial day, when the trumpet should be blown throughout the ends of the earth, announcing that all bondage was ended, that all prison doors were open, that all the burdens and ails that flesh was heir to were to be removed. He announced that through his induement of the Spirit he came to preach that. Consequently the next verses say that this Spirit of induement shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked.

The life of our Lord as set forth in the Four Gospels illustrates all that is here foretold. Never before in the history of the world had there come one whose initiative perception of the realities of things was so vast; who was never misled by an apparent state of affairs, but who looked through all seeming and all masks to the very heart of things, so that he never made a mistake. He read the heart of every man that came and propounded a question to him. He understood the motive that was back of the question, and in making his reply to these inquiries he never for one moment used a flattering term, but he laid bare the secrets of the innermost heart, and all he said was in righteousness. When cases came before him in which the great were oppressing the small, in which the rich were grinding the poor, in which the hypocrite was taking advantage of the simple, in all these cases he reproved as the oracle of God. He swept away the subterfuges under which men disguised their real nature, and unveiled the iniquity of their purposes, and no earthly position and honor, no gathering of the multitude upon one side of the question, ever deterred him from speaking the plainest and simplest truth without fear, without favor, and without partiality. The earth had never been so reproved with equity for the meek. The lowly ones found in him their everlasting friend, a tower of strength, and the exalted ones found in him their mightiest enemy, when their exaltation was based not upon merit and not upon truth, but upon a fictitious or adventitious circumstance.

The prophecy goes on now to tell the ultimate results:

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall go to the pasture; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Now, here is a fulfilment that has not yet come – the prevalence of the knowledge of God over the whole earth and such an acceptance of the teaching of Jesus Christ as shall put an end to the strifes and bitterness of time; in the imagery here put forth, as if a cow and a bear should go out to the pasture together; as if a lion’s nature should be so changed that he should eat grass like an ox; as if a leopard and a kid should lie down together, the kid without a fear, and the leopard without the lust of the kid’s blood; that a baby, perfectly helpless, a little child, sucking child, should put out his hand upon a venomous reptile, and a child a little older, a weaned child, should thrust his hand into the den of a basilisk, or cockatrice, as it is here called.

Now, these figures indicate to us what is called the millennial times, the thousand years in which wars will cease and differences between peoples will be settled by arbitration, and according to another prophecy in this book, that Jesus Christ shall be the Arbiter between the nations, that is, that there will come a time when the principles presented in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not the principles adopted at the Hague Conference, shall be the basis of the settlement of differences between nations. It is a long way to that time now but it will come.

It is the logical and inexorable result of the world’s full acceptance of the teaching of Jesus Christ. The hope of every Christian is turned to that time, and no matter how sinister, for the time being, may be the portents on the political sky, nor how gloomy the forebodings of the pessimistic mind, yet the true Christian is heart fired by faith and is essentially an optimist. He sees the good times coming. He does not believe that this world is going to destruction. He does not believe that God has vacated the throne of government, or allowed to slip from his hand the reins of government) but that on high, above all mutations of time and clouds and fogs and dusts of earth’s battle, in a serenity that is never clouded, he looks down calmly upon what seems to be the ceaseless perturbations of time, knowing that in his own way, retaining his control of every spring of activity, of every source of power and of the ultimate forces of nature and morals, he is bringing things to pass in a way that is perfectly irresistible. Every word of God ever spoken in the past, that was to be fulfilled up to the present time, has been fulfilled literally, and we shall see the fulfilment of this prophecy in due time.

The second part of the chapter, whose connections with Romans 11 would be apparent is as follows:

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the peoples, to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

This is a distinct prophecy, connecting the gathering together of dispersed Israel in some way with that period of millennial peace and glory. It is to be in connection with that prevalence of the knowledge of the Lord that will fill the whole earth; not the first gathering, as when he led Israel out of Egypt; not the first gathering from Babylon, as when by the command of Cyrus the captives were ordered to return to their own land; not the first time, from Elam or Cush, whose kings issued decrees, that is, the decree of Cyrus, the decree of Darius Hystaspes, the decree of Artaxerxes, and the second decree of Artaxerxes, all bearing upon the return of the Jews to their native land. That was the first time. Now he says it shall come to pass in that day, that is yet ahead of us, that "A second time I will gather the dispersed of Israel from all the lands of the earth," mentioning Cush, or Ethiopia, Egypt, Persia, and Assyria. This gathering will certainly come.

He says, "And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart." Ephraim, that is, the Ten Tribes, always envied Judah, and that envy had to do with the partition of the kingdom and the calamities that came upon the divided nation. Now when this gathering takes place the Ten Tribes shall this time be without envy against Judah, and "Judah shall not vex Ephraim. And they . . . shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west . . . and the children of Ammon shall obey them." That is to say, the Gentiles shall become nursing mothers and fathers to the Jewish people, and this gathering of the Jewish people shall be brought about through the action of the Gentile nations. That is yet to be fulfilled.

Whether the initiation of the movement shall take place by England, or Germany, or the United States, we do not know, but the Word of God, which has never failed, will yet bring about a change of the sentiment of Gentiles toward the Jewish people. The reproach of being a Jew will be taken away. For a long time the name of a Jew has been a stench in the nostrils of other nations. The Romans hated him. The Greeks hated him. The Russians hate him today. The Germans hated him. The English kings ground him to powder. From all parts of the world the hand of the oppressor has been stretched forth to smite the Jew. Now it is the prophecy of God that through the intervention of Gentile nations these despised Jewish people shall be gathered together.

Two thousand years have passed away since they cut off their Messiah and he cut them off, but Paul says, "Hath he cast them off forever? God forbid." When they fell in betrayal of their Messiah did they fall forever? He affirms positively that they did not. They fell, but it was in the purposes of God only to allow the opening of a door of salvation to the Gentiles. Three years and a half after the crucifixion of Christ the gospel that had for the past seven years been preached exclusively to Jews took a different direction, and from that time on we have no historical account of any great number of Jews being converted. Multitudes of them were converted from the time of Christ’s baptism to the time of Saul’s persecution – three thousand in one day, five thousand another day, great multitudes at other times, so that we may reasonably conclude that at least a hundred thousand Jews were converted in the seven years lasting from the beginning of the public ministry of Christ, at his baptism, when he was received and anointed, to the persecution under Saul of Tarsus, which turned the attention of the church to the Gentile world, and from that time on the thousands of converts have come from the Gentiles. The kingdom of God had been taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles. Now, says the apostle Paul, Is that permanent? When they stumbled that way did they fall finally? He says, "No"; that stumbling was not final, because the gifts and callings of God are without any change of mind, and he has not utterly cast off his people, but he has permitted their fall to bring about the salvation of the Gentiles, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

But the Jews will be cut off as long as the great period of evangelization lasts among the Gentiles; just that long Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of the Gentiles. The Jew shall not occupy his holy land, nor his ancient city, but there will be a full measure ultimately, when because of sin on the part of the Gentiles the glorious opportunities that are enjoyed today will be taken away; when we have allowed our hearts to wax cold and our faith to become dim, and have turned away from that induement of power which comes by the Holy Spirit, and trust to money, and trust to personal influence, and trust to human eloquence; when we have shut our eyes to the shining of the galaxy of perfect stars that are blazing in the darkness. Then the fulness of the Gentiles will have come.

Another result is here described: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea." The tongue of the Egyptian sea is the Red Sea which projects away up into Egypt, and when, in the olden time the captives were brought out of Egypt, with the wind God divided the tongue of that sea, and they passed over dry shod. Now, something similar to that will occur in the later times: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and make men go over dry shod."

When these Jews were approaching their Holy Land in the olden time, the Jordan was swelling in its flood, with full banks, and by the voice of God the river was cut in twain, and the people passed over it. Now, by miracles as astounding as the Red Sea and the passage of the river Jordan, shall the difficulties and obstacles in the way of the gathering of the Jewish people be removed in the later time. "And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." The King of Persia gave an order when the Jews were allowed to return, that men should be sent to prepare a way for them to go, and all of the officers of the Persian government along the entire line of the passageway to the Holy Land were commanded, by money and every kindness, to facilitate the passage of these people back to their ancient home. Now, in the time spoken of here, from every land of dispersion there shall be a highway, an easy traveling path, for the returning Jewish remnant. It is this conversion of the Jews that shall usher in the millennial times.

Zechariah’s testimony to this event is clear and that shall be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Zechariah: "I will pour upon the house of David) and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son." Their mourning in that time shall be greater than their mourning when King Josiah died in the battle of Megiddon. There the independent monarchy of the Jews died a royal death. After that time the three descendants of Josiah were mere dependents upon Babylon. Consequently the mourning of the Jews when Josiah died was the greatest mourning in their history. Jeremiah wrote an elegy on him. Now, says this prophecy of Zechariah, They shall ultimately be so convicted of their sins by the outpouring of the spirit of God upon their hearts that they shall see the Messiah whom they have pierced, and the mourning that they will experience will be greater than the mourning in which they indulged when King Josiah died. The prophecy then goes on to state that in that day there shall be opened up for the house of Israel and the seed of David a fountain for sin and uncleanness. That is the prophecy upon which Cowper wrote the hymn that lingers on the lips of all congregations which praise God: There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.

Now this prophecy declares that that fountain in that day shall be opened for the Jews. Gentile sinners already for two thousand years have been plunging into its cleansing stream, but Israel standeth afar off, a people under ban, an outcast, stricken and forlorn people, the contempt of the nations of the earth. But the full tide of millennial glory can never come until these Jews be converted.

I cited that passage in Acts 13, which said that when God prophesied that Jews should become a light to the Gentiles, that operated as a commandment upon his church to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; so now when God prophesies the future salvation of the Jewish people, and that operates as a commandment upon us to turn our attention to the salvation of the Jews, knowing that that is the last barrier between us and that glorious time when the leopard and the kid shall lie down together, when the cow and the bear shall go off together to the same pasture, when the lion shall eat straw like an ox, when the helpless babe will need no protection though coming in contact with the most ravenous wild beast or the most venomous serpent, because the power to hurt is taken away from all of God’s holy mountain, and the old paradise time has come back, when Adam and Eve without fear mingled with the beasts, and they even passed in review before them. The lion did not crouch at his coming, the tiger did not glare upon him with malignancy, but the fear of man was on all of the brute creation. Sin came and destroyed the majesty of man and brought about a war between the man and all the beasts of the field, and brought a curse upon the earth, so that it produces thorns and briers. Now, in the millennial times the disabilities which attach to present life, the misfortunes which come, the wars whose thunders today shake the Orient and whose echoes frighten the Occident, shall cease. God speed that day, when hatred shall lie down to ashes, when envies and jealousies and strifes have come to an end; when this world, this errant globe, that through sin swung out of its orbit of allegiance to God, and wandered rebelliously and darkly into space, shall feel the centripetal attraction of the sun of righteousness, and by the attracting power of the Son of God shall be brought back to its place among the realms of the universe and chaos is ended, and order and harmony restored.

The prophet goes right on from chapter II into the song of the redeemed, which is a perfect little gem of literature and reminds us of the song of Miriam and Moses on the banks of deliverance from the Egyptians, or the great song of deliverance from the apostate church as we have it in Revelation. Here they sing of Jehovah’s goodness and his comfort, his salvation and his strength, his excellence and his greatness. They are now drawing water out of the wells of salvation and rejoicing in their triumphs over their oppressors. That will be a glorious, good day for God’s people when the Jews accept the Messiah and add their joyous hallelujahs to the chorus of the redeemed. Then will they make glad the city of God in publishing the good tidings to earth’s remotest bounds. Ye pilgrims on the road To Zion’s city, sing: Sing on, rejoicing every day In Christ th’ eternal King.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the general theme of this section?

2. What is the main divisions of this section?

3. What are the several items of the first division, Isaiah 10:5-27?

4. What are the several items of the second division, Isaiah 10:28-12:6?

5. What would be an appropriate text with which to introduce this great messianic prophecy?

6. What is the single point of the application of this passage to the matter in hand?

7. Explain the "rod out of the stem of Jesse" and its application.

8. Explain the verse Isaiah 2: when fulfilled, what the proof and what the results?

9. How are all these things here foretold illustrated in the life of our Lord?

10. What is the ultimate results as here foretold?

11. What can you say of the fulfilment as to the final results?

12. What is indicated by this prophecy, how to be realized, and what its bearing on the Christian’s outlook?

13. What is the prophecy of the second item of the chapter and with what other scripture is it connected?

14. When is this to be realized and what gathering is this to be?

15. How is all this to be brought about, i.e., by whom and what to be one of the glorious results?

16. How long now since the Jews were cut off, how, when, and why and what hope does Paul hold out to the Jews?

17. How long are the Jews to be cut off and what will indicate the approach of the end of the Gentile dispensation?

18. What is another result and what its meaning?

19. What is Zechariah’s testimony to this event?

20. What is our relation to this great future event?

21. What is the nature and contents of Isaiah 12?