Isaiah 18-23

 Isaiah 18-23

Nations Continued…

“Up to this point, Isaiah has preached against primarily Jerusalem (Judah) -

the southern tribes of God’s people. In chapter 13, God directs His

judgment in these eleven chapters against the nations surrounding Judah.

This is done for a few reasons:

1. These nations are guilty of sin and sin has to be punished. This shows

us that God has expectations of everyone.Everyone is obligated to learn

what God wants them to do.

2. God had warned Israel not to trust in men (2:22);therefore, they should

not trust in nations of men for their security. God, alone, is to be trusted.

3. God has promised that He will establish a new body of people (pictured

as a temple - 2:1-4 and a Kingdom, with the Son of David as the King -

7:14; 9:6-7). How will these foreign nations react to this new kingdom?

Well, on one hand, they will flow to this new kingdom (2:1-4); on the other

hand, God will destroy the kingdoms so they cannot inhibit the

establishment of this new kingdom.

4. In a culture in which gods of conquering nations were viewed as more

powerful than those of conquered nations, God would show that He,

indeed, was God Almighty. Israel should not trust other gods as Ahaz had

done.

It’s all a matter of how you approach obedience to God’s word. A loose

approach in one area can and often will eventually lead to a loose

approach in all areas.” (Holland, 44)

Chapter 18

Ethiopia (Cush)

Ethiopia had gained power through the years. They actually ruled Egypt

from around 712 - 663 BC. There was a presence of teaching of God in the

region at that time and until the first century (Acts 8: 26-39). Moses’ wife

was from Cush.

V1

I. Cush was a busy place (buzzing or whirring wings). It also could be

a reference to the many insects found in the land.

V2

I. Papyrus grew along the Nile River and was used all over the known

world to make “paper”. They were known as a “tall and smooth”

people. Herodotus, in the fifth century BC, described them as “the

tallest and most beautiful of men”. (Herodotus, Ends of the World).

V3

I. The people would be assembled (called - standard or banner) and

they would be called (trumpet) to march. The entire world was called

to witness God’s judgment.

V4 - 7

I. The Lord is always watching over the affairs of men. He also acts in

judgment, “pruning” evil. The Ethipoians had a relationship with

Judah.

Questions

1. Did the Ethiopian people and the people of Judah have a

relationship?

2. Should the Judean people trust in the Ethiopian people?

Chapter 19

Egypt

V1

I. Ps. 104:3. This metaphor was often used in ancient writing.

II. Egypt had an idolatry problem. I.E.S. Edwards (112) listed about

seventy-five idols in his A General Introductory Guide to the Egyptian

Collections in the British Museum.

V2

I. “Egyptians against Egyptians” - “ The power of the dominant house

rapidly waned until there was at last an independent lord or petty king

in every city of the Delta and up the river as far as Hermopolis. We

are acquainted with the names of eighteen of these dynasties, whose

struggles among themselves now led to the total dissolution of the

Egyptian state.” James Henry Breasted, A History of Egypt, 448

V3

I. In their despair, they would turn further to idols and to “charmers”,

“mediums”, and “sorcerers”. It didn’t turn out well.

V4

I. “Give into the hand of a cruel master” - the Assyrians. Ethiopia’s

time as an influential people was up.Both Sargon II (711 BC) and

Sennacherib (701 BC) attacked.

V5 - 10

I. V5-9 - A vivid description of economic collapse. Farmers,

manufacturers, weavers, all of it was dependent on the Nile flooding

to bring water to the land. Receiving only 2 inches of rain annually,

we see how important the Nile River was, and still is.

II. V10 - If “pillars” or “foundations” are idols or “the foundations of

state -honesty, virtue, piety, and good people...” (Hailey, 162), it will

be crushed.

V11 - 15

I. V11-14 - Zoan was at the south shore of Lake Menzaleh, the

northeastern edge of the Delta. The family of Jacob lived in this area

(Goshen) when they went to Egypt (Gen. 46: 28-34).

II. Egypt was known for its wisdom knowledge (Shackleford, 222). We

mustn’t forget that those who refuse to have God in their knowledge

(relationship with) will be led astray by their own delusions: Rom.

1:18-32

III. V15 - The nation would not be able to produce anything good or

worthwhile.

V16-17

I. Egypt will feel terror that they have never felt before (Heb. 10:31).

V18

I. “Five” would be best seen as representing a small number.

“Language of Canaan” could be the language of the Jews, or of a

merchant people. The destruction will be so bad that a city will be

called by that name.

V19 - 22

I. V19 - Egyptians will worship the Lord. It is well known that the most

ancient of residency of Jews, in mass, away from the Promised Land

is Alexandria. It is there, in that region, that the Jews translated the

Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek language, which we use today.

II. V20 - May be seen as messianic: Jer. 20:11. There are hosts of

Coptic Christians in Egypt.

III. V21-22 - Covenant words. God struck Egypt but healed it. God’s

punishment is always to bring about repentance.

V23

I. “Highway” - a metaphor for unhindered access or at least a removal

of alienation.

V24 - 25

I. The Lord calls Egypt “My people”, the Assyrians “the work of My

hands”, and Israel “My inheritance”. God used these nations to

represent all of humanity. God is Father of all. God is Lord of all. God

is sovereign of all. The ultimate fulfillment in this is Christ: Eph. 2:14;

Gal. 3:28; Gal. 6:16

Questions

3. Do we see a repentance, at some time, from the Egyptians?

4. Did (does) Christ have influence in Egypt?

Chapter 20

Egypt and Ethiopia

V1

I. “Tartan” or “commander” - tharthan - Second in command after the

king. Sargon II, 722-705 BC, sent his commander and fought against

the Philistines (Ashdod). Ashdod fell in 711 BC, bringing down

Ethiopian rule of the area. Sargon II, himself, wrote of this in the

Assyrian inscriptions we have.

V2 - 6

I. V2 - An enacted parable; Jeremiah and Ezekiel both had visual

demonstrations: Jeremiah chapters 13, 19, 27, and 32; Ezek. 4, 5,

and 37. It is highly unlikely that Isaiah walked nude. Most likely he

was in his short undergarments. This was the common attire of

captives and slaves.

II. V3-5 - The meaning of Isaiah’s action: captivity for the people. It is

interesting to note that naked and shame are the same root word in

Hebrew.

V6

I. Isaiah lived as a symbolic warning to the people of Judah. Do not

rely on man, as man will fall; all nations bow to God. Trust in Him and

repent.

Questions

5. Who else used “enacted parables”? Bonus question, what example do

we have of this in the New Testament?

Chapter 21

Babylon, Edom, and Arabia

Babylon rose, fell, rose, fell, and then rose again during the life of Isaiah

and immediately after. Nebopolassar finally defeated the Assyrians in ~612

BC when he destroyed Nineveh. His son, Nebuchadnezzar, would come to

power in ~605 BC and make Babylon one of the world’s greatest cities.

Twenty-three years after his death, the Mede-Persian Empire would

capture Babylon.

V1

I. We are not immediately told the identity but we know it is a land

bound area. Later we see it is Babylon.

V2.

I. Elam and Media - East of Babylon and around what is now Iran. The

agents. They too would be perverse in warfare.

V3 - 4

I. Isaiah pondered the terrible effects of war. God’s chosen or not, war

is terrible. “War is hell. It is only those who have neither fired a shot

nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for

blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” William

Tecumseh Sherman, West Point, after the Great War.

V5

I. A sharp contrast to 3 and 4, a banquet described. Everyone is

having a great time, until they’re not. Daniel 5.

V6 - 8

I. Isaiah is watching, warning, letting Judah know that the enemy is

coming. When a watchman fails at his duty, terrible consequences

are shortly on the horizon.

V9

I. Idols cannot save people. Babylon has fallen. Only the Lord God

can save.

V10

I. The Old Testament uses “threshed people” frequently to describe

the harsh treatment of one nation to another nation. Isaiah declared

the message to warn God’s people.

V11 - 12

I. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. Gen.

25:30; 32:3. They lived southeast of the Dead Sea to the Red Sea.

The Edomites refused the Israelites passage: Num. 20:14-18. King

Saul fought them, King David subdued them: 1 Sam. 14:47; 2 Sam.

14:47.

II. Micah 3:6

III. Edom is prophesied elsewhere: Is. 34:5-6; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11;

Jer. 49:17,20; Obad. 8; Mal. 1:4

V13 - 17

I. Arabia is a peninsula located in southwestern Asia surrounded by

the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf; however, for

this prophecy it is the area east of Ammon, Moab, and Edom. It is first

mentioned in 2 Chron. 9:14. It is mostly desert and dwelled by

nomadic peoples.

II. V13-15 - The Dedanites were the people of the son Abraham by

Keturah (1 Chron. 1:32). Tema was the son of Ishmael, making him

the grandson of Abraham. Tema was an oasis and could quench the

thirst of travelers. People running will flee to it.

III. V16-17 - Kedar was a son of Ishamel too (Gen. 25:13). “For the

Lord God of Israel has spoken it”. It is certain. It is inevitable.

IV. Ps. 8:1 Hymnal 215

Questions

6. Who were the Edomites?

7. What people were in Arabia?

Chapter 22

Jerusalem

V1

I. “Valley of vision” - Applied to Jerusalem sarcastically or a valley in

which nothing good can be seen?

V2 - 5

I. Although Jerusalem may be bustling, it is headed for disaster.

Apathetic leadership will ruin a people.

II. Isaiah wept for his people. Jeremiah used the same terminology in

8: 11, 21, 22. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. It

tormented God’s prophets to see the destruction of His people, their

people.

V6 - 10

I. 2 Kings 16:9; Amos 1:5

II. Elam (east of the Euphrates) would be knocking on the gate and

Judah would be making preparations, but God had removed the

defense.

V11

I. This may be a reference to the tunnel that Hezekiah built that

brought water from the spring Gihon (2 Chron. 32:2-4). Once they

had completed their work, they inscribed a description of their

achievement. This was discovered in 1880 AD and was removed and

is currently in a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. See The Siloam

Inscription.

II. The people of Judah failed to put their trust in God, who was their

only protection.

V12 - 14

I. “Therefore” - God was calling for repentance. Great anguish and

shame will come.

II. V13 - The Jews did not listen, they lived fatalistic and self-indulged.

III. V14 - Isaiah emphasized that the Lord was calling, he was just the

messenger. Please listen. Please obey. Please turn back to God.

V15 – 19

I. Shebna was the manager of the king’s house ( 2 Kings 18:18).

Obviously he had issues, as the Lord called him out specifically.

Divine judgment is not just for nations, it is also for the individual.

II. Shebna would die in disgrace.

V20 - 25

I. In contrast Eliakim would be honored. He would have the power to

make binding decisions and he was an honorable man.

II. One man doing good is not enough to save a nation. There is only

that man, Jesus Christ. He is the only one, in the singular and plural

(Elohim) who can save.

Question

8. Can any mortal man save his people?

9. Who were the Judeans relying on?

Chapter 23

Tyre

Tyre, or Phoenicia, were/was the king of the sea. They were an

exporting/importing people who were wealthy and very influential around

the known world. Egypt relied on them heavily.

V1 - 7

I. Tyre had the largest trading vessels of antiquity (Shackleford, 255).

From house to harbor, from the sea to the innermost land portion of

Tyre, is destroyed. Again, Isaiah’s lamenting over a people being

destroyed is seen. Tyre’s destruction will send shockwaves

throughout the world. It is a city and a people that stood for centuries.

They had colonized distant places. They didn’t know God.

V8 - 12

I. The nations ask, “How can this be?” The Lord. What the Lord wills,

no one can stand in His way. There destruction will extend to their

colonized areas too.

V13 - 18

I. From East to West, Tyre will fall. We may see the seventy years as

symbolic or literal. If we see it as literal then it is a tie to the

Babylonian captivity. Symbolically, God has achieved His purpose in

a given direction.

II. People may benefit from trade, as the Lord wills. People may

benefit from the sharing of ideas and ingenuity of different cultures,

as the Lord wills. The common theme? The Lord’s Will.

Questions

10. What is the message God is sending to the nations?

11. What message is He sending Judah?