Isaiah, chapter 29
interpretation - meaning - commentary - explanation
(1) Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. (2) Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. (3) And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
The city where David camped was Jerusalem. The action takes place many years after the king's death. At that time the Jews celebrated the holidays only ceremonially, spiritually they were elsewhere, which only compounded their decline. Israel was about to be attacked by Assyria. Because of their sinful lives, God would allow them to do what they wanted, which was to rely on themselves and ally with Egypt.
(4) And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
When the city is surrounded, and deliverance does not come from Egypt (you can read about this in the other chapters) the only salvation for the inhabitants of Jerusalem remains God. The inhabitants of the once holy city were cut off from the outside world, the Assyrian army tightly surrounded the city, thousands of enemy warriors were just waiting for the city to fall. Rams, siege towers, tunnels under the walls, hunger and lack of sufficient food were a daily occurrence for the besieged. Then they humbly turned to the Creator for help.
(5) Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. (6) Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. (7) And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. (8) It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
The enemies who attack Jerusalem will be destroyed. Their defeat will be immediate, the words thunder, earthquak, storm, tempest.
(9) Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. (10) For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. (11) And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: (12) And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
The people who had the Temple of God, the prophets, the miraculous history with God have stooped so low that they can no longer (because they don't want to) listen to the prophecies. He rejects them to his doom. Isn't today's world similar?
(13) Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Israel's hypocrisy is not hidden from the Lord. The priests, along with almost all the people, celebrated the feasts, but so what. What matters to God is the heart. We read in the Bible that God was tired of celebrating the feasts, he was sick of them, he couldn't look at them. He wanted to see their good hearts. Isaiah 1.13-18 "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
How many people go to church to then sin without restraint? Those who so easily accuse Israel of falling so low should look around them. Today we have the same thing. Many churches have ceremonies and the lives of the clergy are rotten inside.
(14) Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
For interpretation, 1 Corinthians is helpful, where Paul quoted this verse. Israel had fallen so low that the prophecies uttered by Isaiah, among others, were foolishness to them. What a terrible picture this must have been, the chosen people completely misunderstood their God.
Human stupidity
(15) Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? (16) Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
Human stupidity knows no bounds. The Jews were aware that the Creator existed, but they did not respect Him, in their sick momentum they reached such a state that they thought that the Lord did not see what they were doing. Well, today we have the same thing, supposedly people believe in God, but live as if He does not exist. We are like Israel of old.
(17) Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
When the time of love comes, the lands of Lebanon will serve as a fertile field, while what is now considered good land will be considered a wasteland, so that it will lie fallow until a forest grows there. The general idea is that what is considered good land today will be considered futility in the future.
(18) And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. (19) The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. (20) For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: (21) That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
The day will come when people will understand what God is saying to them, cognition will increase. Evil people will be exterminated.
(22) Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. (23) But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. (24) They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
Jacob is the people who will survive the time of persecution. There is a lot of hope in this verse, we read that those who wandered and murmured will survive. This does not mean that all will survive, in verse 20 it is stated that the wicked will be exterminated. It is made clear that those who are newly converted will be saved.
