Isaiah 31 – Why Trust God?
A translation & sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 29 April 2007
Translation
1. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
upon horses they rely.
They trust upon the chariot, for it is great,
and upon horsemen, for they are very powerful,
but they have not been looking to the Holy One of Israel,
and Jehovah, they have not pursued.
2. But He is also wise.
He will cause evil to go forth,
and He will not go back on His words.
He will arise over the house of the one who causes evil and upon the help of workers of iniquity.
3. And Egypt is a man and not a god,
and their horses are flesh and not spirit.
So Jehovah will stretch out His hand,
and the helper will stumble,
and the helped will fall,
and together all of them will come to an end.
4. For Jehovah said this to me,
“As when the lion or the lion cub growls over his prey,
when a lot of shepherds are called over him,
he will not be scared away from their voice,
and he will not be disturbed from their noise,
so Jehovah of Hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon her hill.
5. “Like birds covering,
so Jehovah of Hosts will surely protect over Jerusalem
and He will deliver, and by lingering over he will rescue.
6. “Turn to the One against whom they have made rebellion deep, sons of Israel!
7. “For in that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold
which your hands made for y’all - a sin.
8. “And Assyria will fall by a sword – not of men,
and it will not be a human sword that will devour him.
Yet there will be escape for him from the face the sword,
but his young men will be for slave labor.
9. “His fort he will pass by out of terror,
and his princes will be scared away from the flag,”
declares Jehovah, of whom a light is His in Zion
and a furnace is His in Jerusalem.
Opening Illustration: Have you ever tried to solve a problem & just made it worse?
How I tried to solve my financial problems on my own effort through lawnmowing and carpentry work and ended up losing money instead.
Israel was also trying to solve a problem in their own strength apart from God and making things worse!
1 The Setting
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, upon horses they rely. They trust upon the chariot, for it is great, and upon horsemen, for they are very powerful, but they have not been looking to the Holy One of Israel, and Jehovah, they have not pursued.
A) This starts the 4th Woe: 1. ch.28 “Woe to proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards” 2. Ch.29 “Woe Ariel,” 3. Ch.30 “Woe to the rebellious Children.”
B) It’s scary to trust in God. you can’t see Him and can’t always tell what He’s doing, but this chapter reassures us to put faith in Him. (Ps. 20:7) “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Jehovah our God.”
C) Israel was being threatened by the
Assyrian army to the north of them and they were trying to figure out a way to
protect themselves. In rebellion against God, they were looking in the wrong
place for help by trusting in Egypt’s large cavalry.
cf. Chapter 30 “go down to Egypt”-30:1; looking
to “Pharaoh’s strength” 30:2-3; saying “we will flee on horses” 30:16
D) They didn’t have the benefit of Mother Goose back then, otherwise they would have known that “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again!” (Ian Wright)
E) Isaiah is telling the people that only God can help them out of this mess, so they should “look to” Him, they should pursue / seek / inquire of / consult Him!
1. Israel not seeking God - 8:19; 9:13
2. Isaiah calls them to seek God and trust Him
a. 12:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
b. 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
c. 34:16 Seek and read from the book of the LORD;
d. 55:6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
e. 50:10b Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Calvin: “It is impossible for us to place confidence for our salvation in creatures and at the same time in God, for our eyes must be withdrawn from Him as soon as they are directed to them… We should employ lawful and customary means provided that we do not at all deny the power of God and at the same time seek God.”
Isaiah then gives us 4 reasons why we should trust God:
v. 2 Reason #1-God is wise
But He is also wise. He will cause evil to go forth, and He will not go back on His words. He will arise over the house of the one who causes evil and upon the help of workers of iniquity.
Woe to those wise in their own eyes - 5:21;
the wisdom of their wise men shall perish - 29:14;
I am Jehovah who… turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; 44:25
You think your counselors are wise? God is also wise! Much wiser!
God’s wisdom is shown in that::
1) God is sovereign over both good and evil. (lit. evil / disaster-NAS,NIV,ESV)
Job 2:10 shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?
2) God is omniscient
He never has to lit. turn away / call back-KJV,ESV / retract-NAS / take back-NIV / go back on His words. An omniscient person never has to correct himself.
ILLUSTRATION-I said in guitar lessons that John Williams, the classical guitar performer, composed the music for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, now I have to correct that statement – because I found out later that it’s a different John Williams! God never has to do that.
Num 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?”
3) God is just. In His wisdom He will bring calamity both to the rebellious Israelites who work iniquity and upon Egypt, the “help” they are calling in.
1Cor. 1:20-27 “Where is the wise man? … Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? … Jews demand signs & Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise… not many were powerful… But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise” 1 Cor. 3:19 “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He takes the wise in their craftiness’”
God’s wisdom will ultimately prevail over the wisdom of man and so we should trust Him over everyone else.
v. 3 Reason #2 to trust in God - God is transcendent
And Egypt is a man and not a god, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. So Jehovah will stretch out His hand, and the helper will stumble, and the helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end
A) definition of transcendent – unlimited, greater than anything in this world
cf. Hosea 11:9 - I am God; not man! –
B) Humanism is a perennial problem.
It’s a problem because man is not great enough to make an adequate god, he is too limited in knowledge and dies easily.
“Don’t trust in men, in whom is no salvation” Psalm 146:3
“Cursed is he who trusts in man & relies on an arm of flesh” Jer. 17:5
C) Spiritual power is so much greater than temporal power.
God holds the power to cause both Israel and Egypt (The “helped” = Israel and the “helper” = Egypt ) to come to an end / perish / fail
Matt. 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Zech 4:6 “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit.”
That is where the real power is, and that is why we should trust God instead of man!
v.4 Reason #3 to trust in God - God will fight to protect what is His
This is the first of two similes comparing an animal to God. This first one compares God to a “lion or a young lion” (great lion-NIV) word has to do with the “covering” of the lion’s mane. Calvin: “a lion…is
a very appropriate comparison to show that He is in the highest degree both able & willing to defend us”
For thus Jehovah said to me, “As when the lion or the lion cub growls over his prey, when a lot of shepherds are called over him, he will not be scared away from their voice, and he will not be disturbed from their noise, so Jehovah of Hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon her hill.
In this analogy, a shepherd sees the lion nab one of the sheep, so he calls out all his buddies – a multitude / band / lot of shepherds to yell at the lion and try to scare it away, but that lion will not be broken / dismayed-ASV / terrified-NAS,ESV / frightened-NIV / afraid-KJV / displaced-LXX… disturbed-NIV / daunted-Own,ESV / abased-KJV.
He hunkers down like a cat that has decided to dig in and defend its catch.
Likewise, God is not going to let go of you. He will fight tooth and nail to keep you. The world, the flesh, and the devil don’t have a chance at getting you back! What can separate us from the love of God? (Rom 8:35-39)
God will come down with His heavenly hosts upon mount Zion to fight like a lion against the Assyrian hordes (Slotki). to fight / to wage war-NAS / do battle-NIV
Same root as “Hosts” in the title “Lord of Hosts” The “Hosts” of Jehovah are mentioned twice in v.4-5 emphasizing the superiority of His resources over those of any other army.
God is not bothered by the threat of the Assyrian army or anything else against His people. Isaiah has already described in ch 29 how God is totally undaunted by Assyria: 29:5-7 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, (6) you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. (7) And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night…
Calvin: “Must we not be worse than mad if we despise Him and seek other aids which will no only be useless but destructive to us?” Our God alone has the power to protect us against all our enemies!
John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
v.5 Reason #4-God is a protector
In this second analogy, God is likened to a mother bird who protects her young.
Like birds covering, so Jehovah of Hosts will surely protect over Jerusalem and He will deliver, and by lingering over he will deliver.
What is this bird doing? hovering / flying-KJV,NAS fluttering-Del. / cover-BDB,Yng and passing over / sparing-Own,ESV / lingering over in such a was as to protect-NAS,ESV / defend-KJV / shield-NIV … lit. cause to escape / rescue / preserve-KJV / deliver.
“Cover and linger over” makes much more sense than “flutter” or “fly” and “pass over,” because it is speaking of God’s protection:
Illustration: story of the little red hen that called her chicks and hid them under her wing when the barn caught on fire. She died, but the chicks lived.
The Bible speaks in other places too of God’s protection over His people being like that of a mother bird:
Deut 32:9-12 But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. (10) "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. (11) Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that covers over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, (12) the LORD alone guided him...
Luke 13:34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, How I would have liked to gather you under my wings as a hen…”
“How can you trust in anything else when it is I who save and protect you? Is there anyone or anything besides Me whom you could possibly put your faith and trust in? I am the only One who will never fail you!”
In Isaiah 20:6 – the people were asking, “How shall we escape from Assyria?” and here Isaiah says, Just trust God, He will effect your escape. Later on in 46:4 God says, “I have made you...I will carry and I will save.
God is wise, God is transcendent, God will fight for what is His, and God will protect His people. God is entirely trustworthy, and therefore we have the command in v.6 to turn to Him in faith.
Turn to the One against whom they have made rebellion deep, sons of Israel!
* This is the key sentence in this chapter, containing the only Imperative.
God has already called them to turn/return to Him 21:12 “If you will inquire, inquire; return."
God has already warned them against “going deep to – going to great lengths - hide counsel from God” (29:15)
And yet they have formed a “revolt / alienation - Del. / apostasy-Own / defected-NAS / LXX-lawless
Same word in 31:1 speaks of “rebellious” sons of Israel
This is an appeal to the true sons of Israel who love their father to come out from among “them” (they who have made rebellion deep) and turn to God. God makes a distinction here among those who are called His people. “not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (Rom 9:7-8) Not all Israel is Israel. Those of you who love your heavenly father, come out from among them and turn to God!
The rest of the chapter gives 3 results that will happen when we turn to God in trust
v.7 Result of obedience #1 – If we trust God, we will ditch our idols
For in that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your hands made for y’all - a sin.
They have cast away/despised the law (5:24), the waters of Shiloah (8:6), & Isaiah’s word (30:12), so will be cast away themselves (54:6), but God will choose & call a remnant that He will not cast away (41:9) who will despise evil (7:15-16), idols (31:7), and reject oppression (33:15)
2:20 Mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,
30:22 You will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"
Calvin: “the aggravated nature of their wickedness does not shut the door against them from returning to God, if they repent… Although they have been sunk into the deepest wickedness, still God will pardon them… [Make a] “full acknowledgement of your sin… When men are accused of sin, they generally throw the blame on some other person and do not willing allow it to fall on themselves… The Prophet therefore bids them look to their own hands.”
Look at your hands. What kinds of idols do you have yet to throw away?
Example: the idol of accomplishing things and gaining other people’s approval.
These idols are a sin and they must be jettisoned. Through Isaiah, God speaks the good news that these sins can be forgiven through God’s provision of His Son.
1:18 “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow
38:17 “You have cast all my sins behind your back.”
53:12 “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”
v.8-9 Result of obedience #2 – deliverance from enemies
“And Assyria will fall by a sword – not of men, and it will not be a human sword that will devour him. Yet there will be escape for him from the face the sword, but his young men will be for slave labor. His fort he will pass by out of terror, and his princes will be scared away from the flag,”
Cryptic, but this refers to the angel of the Lord who will strike the camp of Assyria as its army surrounds Jerusalem. 2 Ki. 19:35/Isa 37:36
These verses aptly describe how the Assyrian king & the remaining soldiers fled home to Assyria, which was later captured by Babylon and made to pay tribute.
“Sword” emphasized - mentioned 3x, and Isaiah uses a poetic device to continue the contrast from v. 1 & 3 b/w man & God, asserting only the negative, “not of men ,” to mean “of God.”
his rock/stronghold (2:21; 7:19 – a place to hide; 32:2 – a patron = Senacherib, the king of Assyria (Abarbanel,Calvin) His rock: the king of Assyria will pass away in terror/fear/panic, but our rock is Jehovah. He will stay with us (v.4-5) & protect us.
Another interpretation is that Assyria will run past his safe place of retreat (rock – perhaps Lachish, where they were stationed for a while? - 36:2; 37:8) and his princes and officers/commanders will flee from their own standard (flag) in panic. (Kimchi, LXX)
When we trust God, Satan and his hosts tremble in fear, and God delivers us from our enemies!
9 9b-Result of Obedience #3
declares Jehovah, of whom a light is His in Zion and a furnace is His in Jerusalem.
Commentators are all over the map on this:
Burning & light speak of the brilliant, purifying
presence of Jehovah (Delitzsch)
Or of radiating warmth to His people (Malbim).
Young suggests that the fire is the altar of burnt offering.
It is also suggested that the furnace in the last verse of
this chapter is the same burning place, Tophet that ends chapter 30.
תנר Tannur - furnace
1. Used of ovens for cooking in - Exo. 8:3; Lev. 2:4; 7:9; 11:35; 26:26; Hos. 7:4-7
2. Gen. 15:17 – God appeared to Abraham as a smoking furnace
3. Ps. 20:1, Mal 4:1 – God will consume the wicked in a oven [Tophet 30:33]
cf. 33:14 “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: ‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’”
However, I want to suggest that God’s people are the “light” and the “furnace” because the text literally says that these two things “belong to Him” on the mountain of Jerusalem.
24:15 “Therefore glorify the LORD in the light [East], the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, In the coastlands”.
John 8:12 “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
Matt. 5:14 “YOU are the light of the world, a city upon a hill cannot be hidden.”
When we trust God, he purifies us and we get rid of our idols, He delivers us from our enemies, and He makes us a light on a hill that spreads His blessings to the rest of the world!
So let us turn to God in trust, for He is utterly trustworthy in all His wisdom and transcendent spiritual power and He will lovingly and fiercely protect you!