Isaiah 29 - Introduction

Chapter 29 The Second Woe. A Woe Against The False Jerusalem.

Isaiah stresses that although they boast of their city as the city of David, Yahweh will soon cause her to be besieged by an army which He will bring against her. But then, when they cry out of the dust He will act on their behalf in power and deliver Jerusalem.

Analysis.

a Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped. Add for yourselves year to year, let the feasts come round. Then will I distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and she will be to me as Ariel.

b And I will encamp against you in a circle (literally ‘like a circular object' surrounding the city), and will lay siege against you with a fort, and I will raise siegeworks against you.

c And you will be brought down, and you will speak from the ground, and your speech will be low out of the dust,

c And your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper (chirp), out of the dust.

b But the multitude of your alien foes will be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passes away. Yes, it will be at an instant suddenly, from Yahweh of hosts she will be visited, with thunder and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and flame of a devouring fire,

a And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be as a dream, and as a vision of the night, and it will be as when a hungry man dreams,and behold he eats, but he awakes and his inner man is empty, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold he drinks, but he awakes, and behold he is faint, and his inner man has an appetite, so will all the multitude of the nations be, who fight against Mount Zion

In ‘a' Ariel is David's city, which he made his headquarters (encamped there), but as time goes by Yahweh will distress Ariel and there will there be mourning and lamenting, and in the parallel those who come against Ariel and distress her will dream of victory but will find that the reality is far different, for they are fighting against Mount Zion. In ‘b' at Yahweh's behest they will lay siege to Ariel, but in the parallel they will experience the visitation of Yahweh Who will devastate them. In ‘c' Judah will be brought low and speak out of the dust, and in the parallel it will be similar to the way in which mediums speak out of the dust.