Isaiah 22:1-14

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
2.

JUDAH

a. IRREVERENT ATTITUDES

TEXT: Isaiah 22:1-14

1

The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

2

O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

3

All thy rulers fled away together, they were bound by the archers; all that were found of thee were bound together; they fled afar off.

4

Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

5

For it is a day of discomfiture, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.

6

And Elam bare the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.

7

And it came to pass, that thy choicest valleys were full of chariots and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.

8

And he took away the covering of Judah; and thou didst look in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.

9

And ye saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

10

And ye numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and ye brake down the houses to fortify the wall.

11

Ye made also a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye looked not unto him that had done this, neither had ye respect unto him that purposed it long ago.

12

And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

13

and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

14

And Jehovah of hosts revealed himself in mine ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till ye die, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

QUERIES

a.

Where is the valley of vision?

b.

Who is going to weep bitterly?

c.

Why would they say, let us eat and drink. etc.?

PARAPHRASE

This is God's message concerning Jerusalem, the place where God's word goes forth. What is the matter with you? Why are you all running up to the housetops? You are all consumed with the madness of revelry and irresponsibility. There is nothing to celebrate in your dead for they have not died honorably on the field of battle. Your leaders tried to desert you, but they were captured and taken prisoner. Everyone who tried to escape was either slain or captured. Some of you tried to console me, but I said, Do not try to console me, this is not a time for consoling but a time for weeping. I cannot be consoled when I see my people bring upon themselves inevitable destruction. No, these are days of confusion and affliction from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. In the place where God's word is supposed to reside, an enemy is breaking down Jerusalem's walls and the enemy's cries of success echo among the mountains. The expert warriors of Elam came in wagonloads and warriors from as far away as Kir took up arms against you. Your finest and most strategic lands were filled with wagon-loads of these warriors. The enemy had you completely besieged occupying even the city gates. The enemy exposed your decadence and your foolishness. And where do you look for help? To man-made weapons you run for deliverance. You thought you could deliver yourself. You saw the walls of your city in disrepair. You saw that you would need water for a time of siege. So you calculated what you thought it would take to fix all your defences and tore down houses and repaired your wall; and you made a reservoir between the two walls for an increased water supply; but not once did you ask for help from Him who lets this come upon you. He is the One who planned it long ago and you do not know it. When this was happening to you it was the Lord calling you to repent. His call to you is to weep, to mourn, to shave your heads in contrition, and to put on the sackcloth of penitence. But instead, you sing and dance and play, and feast and drink. You fatalists! You say, Let us eat and drinkwhat's the difference, for tomorrow we shall die. The Lord of hosts has revealed to me that this sin will never be forgiven you, not even when you die.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 22:1-4 FRIVOLITY: The events of this chapter apparently are those events surrounding the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib about 701 B.C. According to 2 Kings 18:14-16 Sennacherib had advanced against Jerusalem and demanded a heavy tribute, which somehow Hezekiah was able to amass and so buy off the attacker. For a while Sennacherib respected the terms of the tribute and withdrew his forces from Jerusalem. This first part of chapter 22 reflects the frivolity permeating the whole city after Sennacherib's withdrawal.

The valley of vision refers to Jerusalem and Judah as the repository of God's revealed word which came so often in olden times by vision. The prophet rebukes the people's irreverence and frivolity when they should have been solemnly and faithfully seeking God's direction by asking, What is the matter with you? The people were running up to the tops of houses, gawking, shouting gleefully to one another, and all over the city there was a frivolous holiday spirit. In spite of all the warnings of the prophets they could not seem to grasp the impact of what had just happened. They did not understand the Assyrian siege as a warning from God that they should repent. They were shouting and reveling as if their armies had been victorious in battle. But their dead had not died honorably on the field of battlethey had died of starvation and pestilence which always follows a siege. In fact, their rulers had deserted their posts of leadership and tried to escape. They were captured and carried off by the enemy. Evidently someone had tried to console Isaiah and gainsay his interpretation that the Assyrian siege meant repent. Someone suggested Isaiah join in the shouting and frivolity. Isaiah's reply was, Do not look toward consoling me. This is the time for weeping bitterly. I cannot take comfort in the impenitent self-destruction of my people.

Isaiah 22:5-7 FOREBODING: The prophet proceeds to retell the foreboding events of the siege. He interprets it as a day of discomfiture, of affliction, of confusion. Its source, he says, is the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. Joel interpreted the locust plague as a Day of Jehovah. Joel even called the locusts God's army. God works through natural phenomena to call the world to repentance (Romans 1:18-20; Acts 14:15-18); He warns the world to repent by allowing reprobate sinners to receive in their own persons the due penalty of their errors (Romans 1:26-32); and He calls the world to repentance and salvation through the preaching of the Word (Acts 17:22-31). In Jerusalem's case God was using at least two of these methods of calling. The Assyrians had broken down parts of Jerusalem's walls. Their shouts of encouragement to one another in attacking Jerusalem were reverberating through the hills and valleys surrounding the city. The Assyrians brought with them expert soldiers by the wagon (chariot) load from as far away as Elam (Persia) and Kir (Armenia). This massive army inundated the peaceful valleys around Jerusalem. Those choice valleys where all their fertile farm lands lay were bivouac areas for teeming masses of men, chariots and horses. The Assyrians had the city so well trapped in a siege they could safely occupy the city gate areas.

Isaiah 22:8-11 FOLLY: Apparently the veil of frivolity was ripped from the faces of the people momentarily as they contemplated what the Assyrians had done. Somehow they began to take a serious look at things. They could see the situation called for help. But where did they go for help? They went to their own devices. They went to the armory of the forest. This armory had been built by Solomon with cedars from Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2-6). Among other things it contained the golden shields which Solomon had made (1 Kings 10:17), and was one of the objects later shown by Hezekiah to the envoys of Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:2). They were proud of their own abilities to prepare for war. They built water reservoirs to store up water for the siege. They calculated how many house-bricks it would take to repair the breaches in the walls and tore down the houses and repaired the wall. Leupold says, But in their mad haste to get everything done in quick order, no time was left for looking to Him who controls situations like this and alone can extricate those that have become entangled in their complications. The prophet's way of stating the case indicates how strongly he believes in the total control of the Almighty in every human situation, and that faith demands that his help be earnestly sought. Jeremiah would say, ... my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).

Isaiah 22:12-14 FATALISM: A second look at their situation caused them some soberness. But the tragedy is it did not lead them to repentthey responded with a foolhardy fatalism. Their reaction was to engage in hedonism. God was calling to repentance. Their reaction was reasonable enough. If one does not believe in One God, The God of Truth and Justice, a sort of epicurean fatalism is all that is left. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. When men deny the historical realities of God's redemptive work in Jesus Christ today the only alternative is epicurean fatalism.; The apostle Paul told the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:30-34) that he would not be playing Christian martyr if there was no resurrection. To the contrary, the only sensible alternative to life hereafter is hedonism in the here and now! Liberal theologians who deny the authenticity and credibility of the New Testament and who refuse to accept the deity of Jesus Christ and the historicity of His resurrection, are schizophrenic ostriches with their heads in the sand. They are living in a world of make believe when they pretend there is something to Christianity. Those who deny the existence of God, the authority of His Word, and still try to play at the game of Churchianity are obscurantists par excellence! The mixture of liberal theology and existential philosophy has produced a generation of hedonistic fatalists, Their shibboleth is Meaning is found only in meaninglessness. This brand of fatalism has been preached by Sarte, Camus, Hemingway, Scheslinger and a host of others. It has fathered a generation of do-your-own-thing hedonists, since, tomorrow we die and life is never more absurd than at the grave. So, you see, modern existential-fatalism is not new! There is nothing new under the sun! Unbelief will produce the same moral anarchy in one generation after another.

QUIZ

1.

What historical events do these verses probably refer to?

2.

What was the first attitude of the people of Jerusalem?

3.

How did Isaiah interpret these events?

4.

Where did the people turn for solutions to their circumstances?

5.

Why were the people so fatalistic?