11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”
12 But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.
God uses Assyria to judge Israel. After He does this, He will punish Assyria.
13 For he says:
“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations,
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.
14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.”
15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,
or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it?
As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,
or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
Assyria is just a tool God uses to judge Israel
16 For this reason the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire,
their Holy One will become a flame;
it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s briers
and his thorns in one day.
18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard
will be completely destroyed,
as when a sick man’s life ebbs away.
19 There will be so few trees left in his forest,
a child will be able to count them.
20 At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22 For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.
indeed, God's promise will be fulfilled (Gen 22:17, Gen 32:12)
23 The sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.
24 So here is what the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.
25 For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”
26 The LORD who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt.
27 At that time
the LORD will remove their burden from your shoulders,
and their yoke from your neck;
the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large.
It is debatable, but a parable of Assyria's destruction seems to be the most likely explanation of verses 28-34:
28 They attacked Aiath,
moved through Migron,
depositing their supplies at Micmash.
29 They went through the pass,
spent the night at Geba.
Ramah trembled,
Gibeah of Saul ran away.
30 Shout out, daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah!
Answer her, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah flees,
the residents of Gebim have hidden.
32 This very day, standing in Nob,
they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain—
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look, the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies,
is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power.
The tallest trees will be cut down,
the loftiest ones will be brought low.
34 The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax,
and mighty Lebanon will fall.
11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock,
a bud will sprout from his roots.
2 The LORD’s spirit will rest on him—
a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom,
a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans,
a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the LORD.
3 He will take delight in obeying the LORD.
He will not judge by mere appearances,
or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.
4 He will treat the poor fairly,
and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and order the wicked to be executed.
5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,
integrity will be like a belt around his hips.
6 A wolf will reside with a lamb,
and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;
an ox and a young lion will graze together,
as a small child leads them along.
7 A cow and a bear will graze together,
their young will lie down together.
A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.
8 A baby will play
over the hole of a snake;
over the nest of a serpent
an infant will put his hand.
9 They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain.
For there will be universal submission to the LORD’s sovereignty,
just as the waters completely cover the sea.
We Need The Holy Spirit
" 2 In the OT there was the growing sense that the unaided human spirit was incapable of saving itself. The initial expressions of this conception related to feats of skill and strength, for instance, in the craftsmanship of Bezalel (Exod. 31:3) or the might of Samson (Judg. 14:6). But it soon came to be related to more abstract matters, such as the capacity for leadership. So Saul and David were endued with the divine Spirit for their tasks (1 Sam. 10:10; 1 Sam 16:13). Thus, to say that God’s spirit was upon someone became almost a code phrase for saying that the person was acting out of a capacity which was more than merely human. This phrase came to be applied supremely to capacity for ethical behavior (Isa 44:3; Ezek. 36:25–27). Yet, the Davidic kings had come to manifest a spirit which had little of God in it. Craven, cynical, pompous, they seemed to be spiritually bankrupt, so much so that Isaiah was led to testify that the palace was empty (Isa 32:14) and envisioned a day when the Spirit of God would be visited on the people as a whole (Isa 32:15) through their leaders. This verse fits the picture just drawn in a perfect manner. The promised shoot from the stump of Jesse will be characterized by the very breath of God about him. Everything about his leadership will testify to a supernatural endowment for his calling. It is this which is critical. Unless the Messiah is truly endued with the Spirit of God, the results of his rule will be no different from those of an Ahaz. But Isaiah can look forward to such a Messiah who will be able to perceive things correctly and who will be able to carry out correct decisions because of a correct motivation. The basis of this king’s activity will be that kind of experiential acquaintance with God which will issue in the recognition that the supreme reality of life is our accountability to a just, faithful, holy God. It is this understanding which characterizes true religion for the Hebrew. Pious feelings and ecstatic experiences are as nothing unless they are underlain by that pervading consciousness of God’s reality and of our accountability to him. Because the Messiah will be characterized by this fear of the Lord, he can be depended upon to perceive correctly (John 2:24, John 2:25; Mark 2:8) and to act with integrity (Luke 4:1–13). The person who knows God in a full-orbed way and is supremely concerned to please him can be depended upon not to allow self-serving to cloud the issue, to cause him to trample other people. If there should come One in whom God’s Spirit could dwell completely and purely, that person could be the Savior of the world (Isa 61:1). The testimony of the NT (Luke 4:14, 18; John 1:14) and of the Christian Church is that Jesus of Nazareth is that person." Oswalt, J. N. (1986). The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 (pp. 279–280). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co."
Questions
1) Has there ever been a time in your life where your loyalty to God was tested? Do you believe you passed the test? In what way did God discipline you through that experience? How have you changed today as a result?
