Day 201: Isaiah 1-3

(The Old Testament was made up of five books of the Law, twelve books of history, five books of poetry, five books of the major prophets, and twelve books of the minor prophets - thirty-nine books in all. There were also twenty-seven books in the New Testament which meant there were sixty-six books in the Bible. The Book of Isaiah was the first book of the "major prophets" section of the Old Testament. Isaiah was the greatest of the major prophets. The Book of Isaiah was a mini-version of the Bible, sixty-six chapters broken into two parts of thirty-nine and twenty-seven chapters.

-Part I (Chapters 1-39) looked toward the captivities of Israel and Judah.
-Part II (Chapters 40-66) looked beyond the captivities.

Also, the last four chapters in Part I were considered an historical interlude. In order to truly appreciate the Book of Isaiah one needs to understand the rest of the Bible. As you read through this book, you may need to read other parts of the Bible in order to truly appreciate Isaiah's message.)

Isaiah 1

(Part I - Looking Toward the Captivities)

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

(The first verse gave the purpose of this book: to present the vision Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. This book was concerned with events before the exile.)

² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

(Notice, this was how the "Song of Moses" began in Deuteronomy 32:1. God's children had rebelled against Him even though He had nourished them and brought them up. God was Israel's Husbandman (John 15:1). The main job of a husbandman was to "nourish and cherish" the "land" - See Ephesians 5:29.)

³ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

(Isaiah said that Israel did not know God and they were not attempting to. Notice, Jesus was lain in a manger, a place for an ox and ass to eat (Luke 2:7). Even though animals knew the manger was a place to eat, Israel did not know that they ought to eat of the word.)

⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward.

(Israel had forsaken and despised God.)

⁵ Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.
⁷ Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

(The land the Israelites lived in was destroyed. This ought to have caused them to consider if their own actions reaped judgment on them.)

⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
⁹ Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

(Paul referenced this verse in Romans 9:29. The very few Israelites left in Israel were the only thing that prevented them from ending up as Sodom and Gomorrah. The causes of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah were:
1) pride,
2) fullness of bread,
3) idleness of time,
4) not strengthening the poor/needy (Ezekiel 16:49).

Did Israel do these same causes?)

¹⁰ Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
¹¹ What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

(God wanted to know what were the purposes (why) of the Israelites' sacrifices. God asked a question. God often spoke through using questions.)

¹² When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
¹³ Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,- I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting.

(God called their offerings vain: unprofitable.)

¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them.

(The traditions the Israelites were establishing, man-made tradition, were hated by God's Soul. God's "Soul" was His Nature, His Identity. This meant God saw their man-made traditions as an opposition to Right and Just.)

¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

(This implied a very true sense of Justice was involved in God answering prayer. Do people today think that God can just give people what they want at no cost?)

¹⁶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
¹⁷ learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

(God told the Israelites to stop doing evil. However, God also gave them things to do. God will always point you towards something.)

¹⁸ Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

(God wanted to "reason" with the Israelites. He wanted to help them think contrastively. If you are willing and obedient, your sins which are scarlet will be white as snow, they will be washed away.)

¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

(Being willing and obedient were causes. An effect of these causes was eating the good of the land. God was giving them the opportunity to pursue growth with an achieve gain mentality.)

²⁰ but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

(Then God gave them the fear of loss mentality. If they refused and rebelled (opposites of willing and obedient) they would be devoured.)

²¹ How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

(Again, God presented an example of something in opposition to Right and Just. Unfortunately it was the very "city" He had established for the Israelites.)

²² Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.
²³ Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
²⁴ Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies;
²⁵ and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin;

(God would purge (refine) His people, this would result in growth.)

²⁶ and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town.
²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

(Opposing Righteousness and Justice were the causes of the people's wickedness. Embracing  Righteousness and Justice would be their cause for redemption.)

²⁸ But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.
²⁹ For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
³⁰ For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
³¹ And the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

(The destruction of "transgressors" and "sinners" would not be stopped, not without repentance.)




Isaiah 2
¹ The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

(The word that Isaiah saw…)

² And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

(This will happen during the Millennium: 7th Dispensation.)

³ And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
⁴ And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

(Christ will judge during the Millennium.)

⁵ O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

(An exhortation for Israel to "walk in the light of Jehovah.")

⁶ For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

(The Israelites allowed the traditions of the heathens surrounding them to infest Israel and its people.)

⁷ And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.
⁸ Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

(Israel was full of idols. This verse made it clear that the idols referred to were not gods but merely the working of the hands of men. Man was the cause of these idols.)

⁹ And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not.
¹⁰ Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty.
¹¹ The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

(The proud would be humbled. An effect of that humility was exalting God.)

¹² For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low;

(The "day of Jehovah" in this verse referred to the day in which Christ will set up His kingdom during the Millennium. There were two "days of Jehovah":
-One was a spiritual day that will occur at the end of our current dispensation (6th) with the Rapture of the Church.
-The second "day of Jehovah" was a physical day that will occur at the end of the dispensation of the Law (5th), which is at the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennium.

Remember, during Old Testament times, God spoke to Israel as if our dispensation did not occur. There were prophecies given to Old Testament prophets that were interrupted, mid-sentence even, by our dispensation: e.g., Isaiah 61:1-3.)

¹³ and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴ and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
¹⁵ and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall,
¹⁶ and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant imagery.
¹⁷ And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

(Again, the proud would be humbled. You have two choices: humble yourself or be humbled by God.)

¹⁸ And the idols shall utterly pass away.

(Idols were short term.)

¹⁹ And men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth.

(Men would hide from the terror of God and from His Glory.)

²⁰ In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
²¹ to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth.
²² Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?

(This last verse was Israel’s way to obtain mercy. They needed to stop trusting in man and start trusting in God. If Israel avoided the opportunity to obtain mercy, then God would bring judgment through Babylon...which was detailed in the next chapter.)




Isaiah 3
¹ For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;
² the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder;
³ the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the expert artificer, and the skilful enchanter.

(In response to Justice, God would begin to take things away from Israel.)

⁴ And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
⁵ And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.
⁶ When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand;
⁷ in that day shall he lift up his voice, saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: ye shall not make me ruler of the people.

("In that day" was the day when Judah received its judgment. God used Babylon (captivity) in order to judge the Israelites.)

⁸ For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

(Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed because their words and actions were against God.)

⁹ The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves.
¹⁰ Say ye of the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
¹¹ Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; for what his hands have done shall be done unto him.

(Causality and Justice: The good and the bad would be recompensed for their works. Everything would be equaled out.)

¹² As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

(The people leading Israel were causing the Israelites to do wrong.)

¹³ Jehovah standeth up to contend, and standeth to judge the peoples.
¹⁴ Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses:
¹⁵ what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

(God would defend His people against those who caused His people to err.)

(Verses 16-24: judgment meant specifically for the daughters of Israel.)

¹⁶ Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
¹⁷ therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents;
¹⁹ the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers;
²⁰ the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets;
²¹ the rings, and the nose-jewels;
²² the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels;
²³ the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils.
²⁴ And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty.

(God would take away the things that these women treasured. The reason was that they treasured their appearance, their image. This was a form of idolatry: worshipping an image.)

²⁵ Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit upon the ground.

(The men of Israel would be killed in war.)

(This post covered the beginning of the Book of Isaiah which focused on the causes of Israel's and Judah's coming judgment.)

Day 202