Isaiah 30 - Introduction

A series of Oracles dealing with the Egyptian Alliance and its consequences; the present state and future prospects of israel, and the destruction of the Assyrians

i. Isa 30:1-7. A "Woe" against the treaty with Egypt, which is here for the first time referred to in express terms. The Judæan embassy is already on its way across the terrible desert (6); and the prophet reiterates his warning against it as an enterprise contrary to Jehovah's will (1, 2) and based on an absurdly exaggerated estimate of the resources of Egypt (3 5, 7).

ii. Isa 30:8-17. Isaiah receives a command to record in writing his unavailing protest against this fatal step, now irrevocably taken (8). It is the crowning evidence of the rebellious disposition of the nation, its contempt for the organs of revelation, and antipathy to the holy rule of Jehovah (9 11). The disastrous consequences are then set forth by the help of an effective comparison (12 14); and finally the true and false policy for Israel are tersely summed up and contrasted and the issue of the choice that has been made is clearly indicated (15 17).

iii. Isa 30:18-26. A picture of the blessings reserved for the faithful remnant in the Messianic dispensation. The principal features are, a teachable disposition in the people (20, 21), the cessation of idolatry (22), and a miraculous transformation of the external aspect of nature (23 26). The passage is remarkably similar in character to ch. Isaiah 19:15-24.

iv. Isaiah 30:27. The destruction of Assyria accomplished by a terrible display of Jehovah's might. Jehovah in person suddenly appears on the scene, not, as in Isaiah 3:14, to judge His own people, but to execute vengeance on their enemies (27, 28); the Israelites are but spectators of the great catastrophe and accompany its progress with songs of thanks-giving for their deliverance (29 32); while the remains of the Assyrian host are consumed on the vast funereal pyre which the prophet's imagination sees already prepared for their cremation (33).