Isaiah: Expository Series, #8

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Foreword

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Thank you reader for selecting my book. There are many choices of books and we all have a limited window of time to read. I appreciate you purchasing my product. It is a humbling thing to know someone would choose to purchase, and then read your work. I do not take it as a small matter. By purchasing and reading a book, the reader and the author form a certain bond as they travel a road together for a short time. It is especially rewarding when the two agree on the content. It is my hope you can find inspiration and life challenges in the pages of this small booklet.

From the days of my high school years I have found the Bible fascinating. I have travelled to Israel on two occasions to learn more about the land and culture of the Bible. I worked on an archaeological dig and lived on a Kibbutz to better inform myself of how to understand this book from God. I have read it from cover to cover over twenty times, and it is still as exciting to me as it ever was.

The Bible is a magnificent journey and experience. It is ever a delight. In it you will travel to distant lands and meet some of the most incredible people of history. It will introduce you to kings and peasants. You will walk the palace halls of castles and the open fields of the countryside. You will meet the famous and be introduced to people whose name we will never know. You will read some of the greatest love stories ever told and you will see the dark side of man as the evil manifests itself in heinous ways. Every emotion of man is highlighted at some time. You will see greed and avarice and murderous covetousness. You will also see the greatest examples of love and sacrifice that mankind has ever contributed. For indeed the Bible is the story of man. It is the whole story, and nothing is left out or omitted. It is the ultimate mirror of life.

When we invest time in the Bible we indulge a bit of the eternal. The Bible will never pass away, even in the eons of the future. If you have read it sincerely then my hope is this small work will intensify your understanding and enjoyment a little more. It is the grandest journey we can make while in this life. Thank you for sharing a portion of your life journey with me.

In this volume I include the commentary by other men who worked on Isaiah. I wrote the commentary for chapters 1-39. Vaughn Reece wrote the commentary for chapters 40-46. Scott Hall wrote the commentary for chapters 47-56. Bart Adkins wrote the commentary for chapters 57-66. I am proud to attach my name along with these outstanding Bible expositors.

Kenneth Bow

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Introduction

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In the eighth century BC while Homer was writing the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Lao Tzu was writing the Tao de Ching, Isaiah wrote the book that bears his name.

The prophet Isaiah was a giant of Jewish history. He is considered the Shakespeare of Hebrew literature. The New Testament quotes him more than all the other prophets added together. Ironically he is quoted 66 times, the same number of chapters in his book. All other prophets combined are quoted 33 times. No author in the Bible can match his eloquence and mastery of style and imagery.

He lived midway through the founding of the nation and its final destruction. He lived on the border between the Northern and Southern kingdom. He was one of the prophets who observed first-hand the fall and captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He preached for 64 years.

The Rabbis say that he was first cousin to King Uzziah. Isaiah’s father, and Uzziah’s father, were brothers. This would mean he was of royal lineage, and familiar with the palace and court life. He certainly was the confidant and advisor to at least 5 kings. He is a descendant of Judah and Tamar in the book of Genesis.

Isaiah was not a yes man to these kings. He stood against the popular tide of optimism. His name meant The Lord saves. He warned Kings repeatedly that to depend on military power or wealth or alliances or anything but God would bring disaster.

Isaiah outlived four of the kings he advised, but finally offended one King beyond the King’s tolerance. Manasseh is said to have placed Isaiah between two planks and had him sawed in half. Thus ending the life of one of Israel’s greatest heroes. Some Rabbi’s believe Isaiah hid in a cedar tree to escape Manasseh, who cut the tree in two, and also cut Isaiah in two.

Isaiah’s writings are about the nature of God. It is a collection of many messages on many subjects.

His writings break down like this:

•Chapters 1-12 warnings to Judah during their prosperous days

•Chapters 13-23 messages to surrounding nations

•Chapters 24-35 earth’s future and the imminent invasion of Assyria

•Chapters 36-39 an interlude telling of crisis Judah faced

•Chapters 40-48 prophesies 200 years into the future. (Babylon)

•Chapters 49-55 The nation’s final deliverance through the suffering servant

•Chapters 56-66 warnings to Judah and a view of the future

These are quick bullet references to Isaiah:

•Began preaching before he was 20 years old

•A contemporary of Amos and Hosea

•Born during Uzziah’s reign

•Called in the year Uzziah died

•Saw the Glory of Jeroboam II (Israel)

•Observed the fall of Israel in 721 BC

•Influenced Hezekiah

•Foretold the rise of Babylon

•Killed by Manasseh

•His book a mini Bible (66 chapter, 39,27)

•Proclaims the coming Messiah

•Quoted more in New Testament than all other prophets combined, (66 times vs. 33 times)

•Shakespeare of Hebrew literature

•First cousin to Uzziah

•Giant of Jewish history

•Lived exactly in the middle of the founding of the nation and its destruction

•His name means the Lord saves

•Prophesied during 5 kings

•Wrote same time as the Iliad and the Odyssey and Tao de Ching

•Looks into the nature of God

•He was Hezekiah’s song in the night

•He preached for 64 years until he was almost 84 years old

•He was a 13 year old boy when his father Ahaz became King

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His supreme contribution was his fore telling Messiah is coming. The nation hung onto this thread of hope until Jesus arrived. It helped keep them through the 400 silent years of despair. When the New Testament opens they are on point looking for Messiah.

Because he looks into the nature of God, He is our One God preacher. Verses like, 9.6, 7.14, 43.10-11, 44.6, 44.8, 45.15, as well as chapters 12, 35, and 53, are favorite one God passages. When an Apostolic preacher preaches on Oneness, he invariably visits the book of Isaiah.

When Assyria threatened the nation, after conquering 200 walled cities and leading away 200,000 captives from the northern nation, it was Isaiah who stayed calm while Hezekiah panicked. Isaiah was the song in the night with a word from the Lord. The next morning 185,000 Assyrians lay dead, Judah was saved, and Isaiah was right.

Isaiah had heard from God and the Angel of the Lord went through the camp of Assyria and slew 185,000 men while Israel slept and never lifted a finger.

The Devil was not alone in using Giants to do great exploits. God answered with some Giants of his own.

Of these, none stands taller than Isaiah.

Isaiah’s book is a book of variety; it is very eclectic, with a variety of tone, style, thought and historical background.

The picture is of a man who loved his people, but was unbending in his nature, and loved his God most of all.

Chapter 1

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1.1 1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

1.1 The reign of these five kings was from 754 until 695 BC. This would mean Isaiah would prophecy approximately 64 years, as he was killed during the reign of Manasseh.

1.2-31 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 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. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 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. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 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. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 24 Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

1.2-31 This setting was the setting during the final 20 years of the reign of Uzziah. Isaiah was 20 years old when Uzziah died and Isaiah began his public ministry. National apostasy was rampant and unabated. The time for national repentance had come or judgment loomed for the nation. The sinful nation, (verse 4), had become immune to their conscience. They had lost their ability to discern right from wrong. Isaiah opens his book with the appeal to repent and the hopelessness of vain sacrifices. Israel was trying to buy off their conscience and God says it is time to forsake their wicked way. Once again the nation is given the choice to live or die. The omnipotent God calls for them to come and reason with Him. They are faced with the opportunity to change the fate of their nation.

Chapter 2

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2.1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2.1 The year is 754 BC, Uzziah dies (chapter 6.1), the Northern tribe is a short 33 years from captivity (721 BC), and Isaiah pronounces the glory of Judah and Jerusalem. The next three chapters carry this theme.

2.2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

2.2 God’s house will reign supreme over all mountains, Sinai, Carmel and Tabor. In the last days, the church Christ founds will prevail over the kingdoms of this world from sea to sea. Many people will be converted in the latter day, Zechariah 8.20-22.

2.3-7 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. 6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:

2.3-7 Out of Zion. .and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem is a prophecy of the coming of New Testament salvation recorded in Acts chapter 2. Peter preached the first sermon of the church age from Jerusalem. This new birth was the birth of the water (baptism in Jesus Name), and the birth of the spirit (outpouring of the Holy Ghost), that Jesus spoke of in John 3.1-7.

2.8-10 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.

2.8-10 Their land also is full of idols; this is an important concept to a true child of God. We are to have no idols in our land. This would include statues of the Virgin Mary, or statues of false gods, or departed saints, Revelation 9.20.

2.11-12 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

2.11-12 At the day of the Lord, all the followers of the antichrist shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted, (verse 17).

2.13-22 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

2.13-22 Oh the futility of running from God. Where would you hide that He cannot see? The irony is this: God is our hiding place. (Ps32.7) Men should run to God rather than run away and attempt to hide. Silly little gods made with human hands always fail.

Chapter 3

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3.1-4 For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. 2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, 3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

3.1-4 The day is coming when every man shall be equal. All titles and positions will no longer gain a man an advantage. We shall all stand before God