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More Isaiah commentaries
Isaiah 28:1-13
Corruption of Israel
Isaiah 28:14-29
Warning to Judah
Isaiah 29:1-12
Woe Against Jerusalem
Isaiah 29:13-24
Woe Against The Schemers
Isaiah 30:1-7
Admonition Against the Alliance
Isaiah 30:8-17
Prediction of the Failure of the Alliance
Isaiah 30:18-33
Restoration of Israel
Isaiah 31:1-9
Deliverance From Israel’s Enemy
Isaiah 32:1-20
Woe to Those Trusting in Military Defense
Isaiah 33:1-12
Destruction of Assyria
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Deliverance From Israel’s Enemy
Isaiah 31:1–9
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
An article in an older National Geographic magazine gave a penetrating picture of God’s love for us. After a forest fire raged through Yellowstone Park, one of the rangers found the charred body of a bird at the base of a smoking tree stump. When he knocked it with a stick … More
This fifth “woe” is a brief summary of what Isaiah had already told the people. Their faith was in men and not in God. They trusted in “horses” and “chariots” and not in the hand of the Lord (vv. 1-3). God had warned the Jewish kings not to go to Egypt for horses or chariots (Deut. 17:14-16), but Solomon ignored this warning (I Kings 10:28-29). This was both unbelief and disobedience.
It was wrong for Judah to look to other nations for military help. They sought protection from those who had far less power than God. They were concerned with their own interests instead of God’s and thus they did not even consult Him. God assured the people that His greatness would protect them from the Assyrians (vv 4-5). He promised to do battle on Mount Zion (v. 4), and like birds flying overhead, He would shield Jerusalem and not let it fall into the enemy’s hands (v. 5).
Because the Lord promised to protect Judah the people are called to return to Him and reject their idolatry (vv. 6-7). Think of the money they would have saved and the distress they would have avoided had they only trusted in the Lord and obeyed Him. An amazing prediction is made that the invading Assyrian army would not fall by the sword, but would flee from the sword (vv. 8-9). Therefore, the prophet calls on the people to repent. This is the very heart of Isaiah’s message. If there is any hope for her future, it is in turning again to God.
Application
It has been said that “Faith is living without scheming." That is what Isaiah was saying to Judah and Jerusalem; ant that is what He is saying to me today. Is my life made up of trusting or scheming?
Isaiah 31:1-9 (English Standard Version)
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together. For thus the LORD said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it." Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you. "And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor. His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic," declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
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