seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.”
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.”
6 A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of hardship and distress,
of lions and lionesses,
of adders and darting snakes,
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,
their treasures on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her
Rahab the Do-Nothing.
of lions and lionesses,
of adders and darting snakes,
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,
their treasures on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her
Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill.”
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill.”
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33 Topheth has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur,
sets it ablaze.
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33 Topheth has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur,
sets it ablaze.
Wow.... Chapter by chapter is a full morning..... well I've been using the bible-studys.org commentary so that's where I went this morning.
Verses 1-7: The “rebellious children” are the people of Judah who are determined to “go down into Egypt,” that is, to seek an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. “Hanes” is mentioned in the bible only here. It was apparently near Zoan (Tanis), the largest Egyptian city near the Israelite border. It served as the capital of the Twenty first and Twenty second Dynasties of Egypt.
Verses 8-17: The prophet is commanded by God to write His message in a “table” (tablet), and a “book” (sepher). He is to write down God’s message “for the time to come” (or for succeeding generations to read). He is to note that the people of Judah are a “rebellious people,” Who are telling the prophets “See not … Prophesy not.”
They have refused the truth and would rather hear prophets to “cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us”. While the nation was busy sending out emissaries of peace they had failed to make peace with God. “Returning” and “rest” refer to repentance and faith, which are necessary to true salvation.
Verses 10-11: Isaiah’s listeners tired of hearing counsel that was contrary to the path they desired to follow and wanted him to change his message to accommodate them.
Verses 12-14: Since the people opted not to hear the world of the Lord’s prophet, they will hear from the Lord’s judgment.
They are not interested in the help of God. They are depending upon their own strength and the strength of the Egyptians in battle. They are feeling as if these swift horses are all they need. God says, since you depend on that, we will see that your enemy’s horses are swift, as well.
If the Israelites had just come home and quietly waited upon the Lord in rest and peace, He would have fought for them. They would have been safe. They would not listen to God, and they did not trust His promises. Abraham's faith saved him, not something he did. Placing their complete trust in God would have saved the Israelites.
We see they will be so frightened that just a handful (5), of the enemy will cause them to run and hide. They will be stripped of all their equipment, and will stand helpless in front of the enemy. They will be like a flag that symbolizes their defeat.
Verses 18-33: Because God is “gracious” and has been willing to “wait” for His people to return to Him, He will certainly bless those who “wait for him.” “Waiting” is a confident and dependent trust in God.
The reference to the “bread of adversity and the water of affliction” shows that God teaches us lessons through circumstance when we will not listen to our “teachers” who call us to walk in “the way” (i.e. the way of God). “Tophet” is used as a symbol for the fires of hell where the “breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,” kindles the flame.
This is from the blueletterbible.org. I was looking for more on Rahab the Do-Nothing and on Tophet.... where molech and baal are finally destroyed.The burden against the beasts of the South: Isaiah proclaims a burden against the pack animals of Judah, which will carry the riches of Judah down to Egypt, through the wilderness, in a foolish attempt to purchase protection against the Assyrians.
It will be wasted money, because the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. No wonder Isaiah feels sorry for the donkeys that will carry the treasure of Judah down to Egypt! Despite the riches that the pack animals bring across the desert, Egypt will not help Judah at all, so one could call Egypt Rahab-Hem-Shebeth, which means "Rahab Sits Idle" of "Rahab the Do-Nothing." Rahab is a name, but it is also the Hebrew word for pride, and is sometimes used as a title for Egypt (Psalm 87:4). Egypt will sit idly by as the Assyrians trouble Judah.
"It is all useless, bringing neither help nor advantage. 'Well, of course!' Isaiah might have said, for from the feared killer (Assyria) they were seeking help from the proved killer (Egypt)!" (Motyer)
For Tophet was established of old, yes for the king it is prepared: Tophet was a place in the Valley of Hinnom, just outside of Jerusalem's walls (Jeremiah 7:31). The Valley of Hinnom served as Jerusalem's garbage dump, and the combination of disgusting rubbish and smoldering fires made it a picture of hell. The Hebrew word for hell (gehenna) comes from the word for the Valley of Hinnom. Therefore, God says He has a special place in hell for the Assyrian king!
Over and over and over again Isaiah keeps telling me that the people just would not listen to anything Isaiah had to say about God. The people in Judah kept trying to strike a deal with Egypt.... so that Egypt would protect them. Here.... God is warning them.... They are going to have to answer to God sooner or later. There will be a judgement and they will have to stand for it. I have to admit.... when I read the name "Rahab the Do-Nothing" It really made me smile. Rahab was a whore who helped Joshua and his men when they were scouting out Canaan. She "did something" to help..... Soooo.... to me Rahab the Do-Nothing would be an apt description of all those who wouldn't go to God for help. And Rahab the Do-Nothing is like the stupid humans who have an opportunity to talk to people about God.... but they don't.... they do nothing to help others find Salvation.... safety.
Then when I saw Topheth I just had to google it.... and I smiled.... See Topheth was where they killed babies..... Isaiah told us God is going to destroy all the crap that gets in the way. Those shiny little idols that people are so addicted to will be thrown in the garbage dump to burn. They won't be burning babies to death anymore.... they will be burning up their shiny little idols instead.
Oh and one more little note.... I've seen news of the people in Times Square running for cover because of a car backfire. That does kind of paint a picture of verse 17, doesn't it? We will all hear it.....
