Reflections on Isaiah 30

Isaiah 30 (Contemporary English Version)
1. This is the LORD's message for his rebellious people: "You follow your own plans instead of mine; you make treaties without asking me, and you keep on sinning.
   
2. You trust Egypt for protection. So you refuse my advice and send messengers to Egypt to beg their king for help.
   
3. You will be disappointed, completely disgraced for trusting Egypt.
   
4. The king's power reaches from the city of Zoan as far south as Hanes.
   
5. But Egypt can't protect you, and to trust that nation is useless and foolish.
   
6. This is a message about the animals of the Southern Desert: You people carry treasures on donkeys and camels. You travel to a feeble nation through a troublesome desert filled with lions and flying fiery dragons.
   
7. Egypt can't help you! That's why I call that nation a helpless monster.
   
8. The LORD told me to write down his message for his people, so that it would be there forever.
   
9. They have turned against the LORD and can't be trusted. They have refused his teaching
   
10. and have said to his messengers and prophets: Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false.
    
11. Stop telling us what God has said! We don't want to hear any more about the holy God of Israel.
    
12. Now this is the answer of the holy God of Israel: "You rejected my message, and you trust in violence and lies.
    
13. This sin is like a crack that makes a high wall quickly crumble
    
14. and shatter like a crushed bowl. There's not a piece left big enough to carry hot coals or to dip out water."
    
15. The holy LORD God of Israel had told all of you, "I will keep you safe if you turn back to me and calm down. I will make you strong if you quietly trust me." Then you stubbornly
    
16. said, "No! We will safely escape on speedy horses." But those who chase you will be even faster.
    
17. As few as five of them, or even one, will be enough to chase a thousand of you. Finally, all that will be left will be a few survivors as lonely as a flag pole on a barren hill.
    
18. The LORD God is waiting to show how kind he is and to have pity on you. The LORD always does right; he blesses those who trust him.
    
19. People of Jerusalem, you don't need to cry anymore. The Lord is kind, and as soon as he hears your cries for help, he will come.
    
20. The Lord has given you trouble and sorrow as your food and drink. But now you will again see the Lord, your teacher, and he will guide you.
    
21. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice saying, "This is the road! Now follow it."
    
22. Then you will treat your idols of silver and gold like garbage; you will throw them away like filthy rags.
    
23. The Lord will send rain to water the seeds you have planted--your fields will produce more crops than you need, and your cattle will graze in open pastures.
    
24. Even the oxen and donkeys that plow your fields will be fed the finest grain.
    
25. On that day people will be slaughtered and towers destroyed, but streams of water will flow from high hills and towering mountains.
    
26. Then the LORD will bandage his people's injuries and heal the wounds he has caused. The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter than usual. It will be like the light of seven days all at once.
    
27. The LORD is coming from far away with his fiery anger and thick clouds of smoke. His angry words flame up like a destructive fire;
    
28. he breathes out a flood that comes up to the neck. He sifts the nations and destroys them. Then he puts a bridle in every foreigner's mouth and leads them to doom.
    
29. The LORD's people will sing as they do when they celebrate a religious festival at night. The LORD is Israel's mighty rock, and his people will be as happy as they are when they follow the sound of flutes to the mountain where he is worshiped.
    
30. The LORD will get furious. His fearsome voice will be heard, his arm will be seen ready to strike, and his anger will be like a destructive fire, followed by thunderstorms and hailstones.
    
31. When the Assyrians hear the LORD's voice and see him striking with his iron rod, they will be terrified.
    
32. He will attack them in battle, and each time he strikes them, it will be to the music of tambourines and harps.
    
33. Long ago the LORD got a place ready for burning the body of the dead king. The place for the fire is deep and wide, the wood is piled high, and the LORD will start the fire by breathing out flaming sulfur.

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It seems ironic that now as Israel faced the threat of the Assyrians she turns to her former oppressor, the Egyptians, and not to the God who led her out of that oppression by Egypt. Israel's Passover observance was a constant reminder of how God delivered Israel from the Egyptians, so it is not as if they no longer knew about that piece of history or were ignorant of God's deliverance. This is obstinate rebellion, and that is how Isaiah addressed the people, "Woe to the rebellious children!" (30:1) Israel had a way out of this dilemma and she refuses to avail herself of it. In fact, she seemed to go to great length to avoid availing herself of God's help. Israel planned to send an envoy on a difficult and hazardous journey to Egypt in an attempt to form an alliance that might save her from the Assyrians. But Isaiah tells them that this effort will be worthless. Egypt cannot help them for she is "Rahab Who Just Sits." Rahab, which means strength, was one of the names attached to Egypt in that period. Isaiah was saying, though, that it was a strength that could do nothing.

Isaiah points them, however, to where their strength truly lies. Their strength, he says, lies in returning and resting; in quiet confidence. (30:15) Their strength lies in doing nothing except to rely on God. That was it! How simple, and yet how difficult it seemed to be for them.  For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing." And yet, are any of us much different?

For future reference, God had Isaiah write down all of this on a tablet. After judgement had come, God did not want the Israelites to forget why it happened or to deny that they had been forewarned. As Isaiah pointed out in the previous chapter, this tablet would do them no good in the present for they would deny that they could even read it. They did not want to hear any negative message of warning. They wanted to beleive that everything was good. Why is it so hard to trust God? We will do anything else but trust Him. The plan of the Israelites was to seek the help of Egypt and then as a back up plan to flee on horses if the worst happened. But Isaiah tells them this plan will not work either for those pursuing them will be faster than they.

The God they are avoiding, though, is waiting and anxious to show them mercy and compassion. He is a just God, and happy are those who wait patiently for Him. (30:18) The question may come to mind that if God is so compassionate, why doesn't He keep the threat of destruction away from them altogether?  It is a naive question, though, that fails to grasp all of the dynamics involved. Can there be true compassion if there is no alternative? Can there be true compassion if we have no choice in the matter? It is human nature to blame others for our bad choices, and often that 'other' is God. We always have available to us the choice of God's compassion, and often we fail to choose it. Then, having rejected God's compassion, we blame Him for the bad that results from our choice.