Woe to those who fly to Egypt for succour. 1 Woe to the rebellious chil- the LORD: dren, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt ! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 The burden of the beasts of the south into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. 8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shred to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. 15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. 16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. LECTURE 1134. How our safety lies in repentance, and calm confidence. appears certain from the words of the defiance which Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah, that some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, doubtless without the sanction of their pious king, were relying upon help from Egypt. See Ch. 36. 6. It is against these parties that the woes here written are denounced. They are reproved for doing thus without asking counsel of the Lord; in which it is implied, that they knew it to be against his will. They are warned, that the strength of Egypt, in which they trusted, should prove their shame. And a burden is proclaimed against "the beasts of the south," against the land to the southward of Judea, in the way to Egypt, infested by lions and serpents, see Deut. 8. 15, through which the Jews were about to send an embassy for help, bearing presents of value on asses and on camels, "to a people that shall not profit them." And further Isaiah is charged, to write the sentence of these sinners on a tablet, to be exposed in public, and in a book, to be perpetually preserved; namely, that they were "a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, see not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us." What a dreadful state of mind is here described! And what a terrible punishment is straightway afterwards foretold; no less than the sudden and entire overthrow of the whole kingdom and state of Judah ! a prophecy fulfilled afterwards, more than once; even as also the measure of the iniquity of this people was more than once filled full. Far then be it from us, in a time of danger, to take counsel with the arm of flesh, instead of putting our trust in the Lord! Far be it from us to seek for prophets of smooth things, to prefer those interpretations, or interpreters of Scripture, which represent the way to heaven as broad instead of narrow, and which keep out of sight the holiness of God! Let us beware, lest He make those very means in which we put a sinful trust for safety, instruments of our destruction. Let us observe, that in returning and rest shall we be saved; in returning, by repentance, towards God, and in the rest which Christ offers to give unto our souls. In quietness and confidence shall be our strength, not in spiritual sloth, but in a calm and stedfast reliance on our Saviour; not in a presumptuous trust either in our works, or in our faith, but in that "confidence towards God," which, as S. John instructs us, can be ours only "if our heart condemn us not," 1 John 3. 21, if our heart, after self examination, testifies, that we really do repent, believe, and love; or, in one word, if we be sincere. Blessings in store for God's people; judgments for his enemies. 18 And therefore will the streams of waters in the day of LORD wait, that he may be the great slaughter, when the gracious unto you, and there- towers fall. fore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. 27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. 29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain ‘of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. 30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. 32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. 33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is pre pared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. LECTURE 1135. That we must stand in awe of the terrors of the Lord. The sins of Judah and Jerusalem interposed an interval of judgment, between God's former favour to his people, and that which is here foretold. "Blessed are all they that wait for him;" all who even when chastised, still look with faith, and hope, and patience, for a season of unmingled joy. Such a season is here promised to the people of Judah; and such a season was actually given them, after the captivity in Babylon, when they again dwelt in Zion, when their prayers were very graciously heard, when their teachers were at hand to shew them how they ought to walk and please God, when they utterly renounced idolatry, and when God gave them, as of old, abundance of every good thing in due season; so that compared with the times of their captivity, and with the ruin and desolation which they had lately undergone, their prosperity should be as though the moon were to give the light of the sun, and the sun its own brightness sevenfold. This has been once, and this will be yet again. It has been, when the people returned from captivity. It will be when they are again gathered together from their universal dispersion. And in like manner, there is another Tophet, besides that which was prepared for the victorious host of the blaspheming king of Assyria. His discomfiture is here foretold, in language the most forcible, and is connected with the prophecy of peace and plenty for Judea, as though it were to be for a sign and token to the Jews, that God, who could so marvellously destroy one great army of their enemies, would also in after times lay low the towers of their sore captivity. But this language evidently points to greater things than the destruction of the army of Sennacherib. And language, close akin to that which we meet with here, is applied in the book of Revelation to events, of which there can be little doubt that the fulfilment is yet to come. See Rev. 19. 20. Let us therefore view with awe these terrors of the Lord, as warnings addressed to ourselves. Let us shrink from provoking this "indignation of his anger." And when we are tempted by any false notions of his grace to continue in sin, let us call to mind, that this very same passage, in which love unto his people is so largely dwelt upon, tells us also of the pile heaped up in Tophet, that "the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." An assurance that the Lord would himself defend Zion. 1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! 2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. 4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it. 6 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. 8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him : but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. 9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. LECTURE 1136. The duty of looking first of all to God for help. Let us examine our own hearts, and see, what is our first thought when any want oppresses us, when any danger overhangs us, when any disaster overtakes us? Many, if they were to speak the truth, must answer, Our first thought is of the help of man. We consider first, which of our friends is most likely to be able and willing to help us. And when the calamity is come to such a pass, that no help of man can avail, then as a last resource we turn to God most High, and pray for help from Him. If this be the common practice among Christians, we need not be surprised to find, that the Jews of old used to go down to Egypt for assistance, and were apt to put their trust in horses and in chariots, and in those who rode and drove them, instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel. Gross as was their infatuation, considering how many precious promises God had given them, and |