Isaiah 2:6-22

The Awful Situation of His People Before Yahweh And Its Future Consequences (Isaiah 2:6).

In contrast with the glorious vision that we have just seen, of Yahweh's triumph and people flocking to God, is the contrasting scene that follows. It is a scene of unrelieved gloom although still pointing to Yahweh's triumph.

Analysis of Isaiah 2:6:

a For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they clap (strike) hands with the children of strangers (Isaiah 2:6).

b Their land also is full of silver and gold, nor is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, nor is there any end of their chariots. They worship the work, each of his own hands, that which his own fingers have made. And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled. Therefore there is no way that they can be forgiven (Isaiah 2:8).

c Enter into the rock, and hide yourself in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glorious splendour of his majesty. The lofty looks of man will be brought low, and the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day (Isaiah 2:10).

d For there will be a day of Yahweh of hosts, against all that is proud and haughty, and against all that is lifted up, and it will be brought low (Isaiah 2:12).

e And against all the cedars of Lebanon, which are high and lifted up, and against all the oaks of Bashan (Isaiah 2:13).

f And against all the high mountains, and against all the hills that are lifted up (Isaiah 2:14).

f And against every lofty tower, and against every fenced wall (Isaiah 2:15).

e And against all the ships of Tarshish, and against every object gazed upon (Isaiah 2:16).

d And the loftiness of man will be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men will be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day (Isaiah 2:17).

c And the idols will utterly pass away, and men will go into the caves of the rocks, and into the dust of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake mightily the earth (Isaiah 2:18).

b In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship, to the moles (‘rodents') and to the bats, to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when He arises to shake mightily the earth (Isaiah 2:20).

a Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for in what way is he to be accounted of? (Isaiah 2:22).

Note the powerful contrasts and comparisons. In ‘a' Israel (the house of Jacob) are totally taken up with their relationships with men so that God has ceased having dealings with them, and in the parallel He tells them to cease from men who only have a noseful of breath. In ‘b' they are taken up with silver and gold, and all worship the work of their own hands, and in the parallel they cast away their idols of silver and gold and hide ‘from the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake mightily the earth'. Note how this last phrase is repeated from ‘c', a typical chiastic construction, compare for example Exodus 18:21 a with Exodus 18:25 a; Numbers 18:4 with Numbers 18:7; Numbers 18:23 with Numbers 7:24; Deuteronomy 2:21 with Deuteronomy 22:22; Deuteronomy 31:6 with Deuteronomy 31:7.

In ‘c' they are to enter into the rocks and hide themselves from the terror of Yahweh and the glorious splendour of His majesty, and men will be humbled before Him (rather than before idols as in Isaiah 2:9), and in the parallel they will do so. In ‘d' Yahweh's day is against all that is proud and haughty, and all that is lifted up and it will be brought low, and in the parallel that is what happens so that Yahweh, Whose day it is, will be exalted. In ‘e' He is against all the trees of Lebanon and Bashan which are high and lifted up, and in the parallel against the great ships made from those trees for trading purposes. And in ‘g' He is against their mountains and hills (on which they worship idols) and in the parallel against their lofty towers and fenced walls (in which they trust).