Page 44 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Chapter 20 There are some difficult to understand things in this short chapter. It boils down to this:
God instructed Isaiah the prophet to remove the sackcloth of mourning from his body and the sandals
from his feet and continue to walk around, prophesying, naked.

One of the ultimate shames for a Jewish man was to have his buttocks exposed. 2 Samuel 10: 4
Isaiah was completely exposed. God asked Isaiah to act out the humiliation of Egypt and Assyria.

This is reminiscent of Hosea’s humiliation by being told to marry a prostitute, Gomer. He was marrying
an unfaithful woman to become a living illustration of the unfaithfulness of Israel toward God.

Chapter 21 - Main Idea: Babylon and its allies are enemies of God and
thus no refuge for God’s people.

We are called to live IN the world, but not be OF the world. The temptation is
always there to trust in the ways of man, the leaders and the power of the world. In this chapter, as in
so many of them, the power of Babylon and its allies was a great attraction to weaker nations.

Since Judah was a small kingdom, it was under constant threat of invading nations, and thus were
tempted to seek alliances that might protect them. This chapter is written to show the people of Judah
what the future of Babylon held.

V. 1-2 The ‘wilderness’ or the ‘desert’ of the sea is the first hint of what is to come. What appears to be
at the time a prosperous city will become a wilderness, a desert. The ‘Whirlwinds in the South’ indicate
from where the destruction will come.

A treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and a plunderer plunders. Leopards don’t change their spots.
We shouldn’t expect those who have acted in an ungodly manner to suddenly become godly

V. 3-4 Despite the past history of Babylon, the prophesied destruction of it still brings sorrow to Isaiah’s
heart-he was distressed when he heard it. We should never glory in the ultimate destruction of any of
God’s creation. It should always be our desire to see them come to belief.

Isaiah’s mission was to prophesy, to carry with him the word of God, as a way to warn others of the
truth of the coming wrath of God. As a pastor I can testify that it is always our desire to see others come
to the Lord, and when they do not, it is a heart-breaking thing.

V. 5 This verse is a reference to the coming destruction which at that time stood a century and a half in
the future. To prepare the table indicates a feast. To set a watchman means that someone is assigned
the duty of guarding, watching for potential attack. However, there would be so much focus on eating
and drinking that they will miss the signs of attack, or that the attack will come from a different source
than expected.

The fulfillment of this prophecy came and is described in Daniel 5, the famous passage about the
handwriting on the wall. King Belshazzar was hosting a drunken feast and using the captured golden
vessels from the Temple to consume mass quantities of alcohol.

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