Book
of Isaiah
Isaiah 16
Isaiah 16:1-4, “Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of
the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter
of
Zion
[where the beast empire is currently ruling from, Jews no longer in control
of
Jerusalem
]. Like fluttering birds pushed from the
nest, so are the women of
Moab
at the fords of Arnon. ‘Give
us counsel, render a decision. Make
your shadow like the night—at high noon. Hide
the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let
the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.”—The
King James Version reverses who is to protect and not betray who. I’ll
go for the KJV each time for accuracy. KJV:
“Let the outcasts dwell with thee,
Moab
: be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the
extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are
consumed out of the land. [time setting,
get this--] And in mercy shall
the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the
tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.” The NIV version of verse 5 follows.
Isaiah 16:5 is Millennial Kingdom of God, “In
love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit
on it--one from the house of David--one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.” So, verse 4 is referring to hiding outcasts, refugees. This is taken by some to imply Christians
and Messianic believers using
Petra
as a place of safety. This
would fit an “end-of-tribulation” rapture,
which occurs simultaneously with the 1st Resurrection and is the 1st Resurrection
to immortality. Not going
to get into which interpretation is correct here or on this site. Belief one way or the other will not change
how these prophecies really pan out. We’ll
see more clearly as the events draw closer.
Verses 6-14, “We have heard of
Moab
’s pride—her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and
her insolence—but her boasts are empty. Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail
together for
Moab
. Lament and grieve for the men of Kir Hareseth. The
fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibnah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled
down the choicest vines which once reached Jazer and spread toward the
desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far
as the sea. So I weep, as
Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibnah. O
Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The
shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been
stilled. Joy and gladness
are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting. My heart laments for
Moab
like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth. When
Moab
appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes
to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail.
This
is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning
Moab
. But now the Lord says: ‘Within three
years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s
splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors
will be very few and feeble.’”
Isaiah 17
Isaiah 17:1, an oracle
against
Damascus
. “See,
Damascus
will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins…” From the time of this writing to now
Damascus
has been a city. If taken
literally (all of God’s prophecies through the holy prophets that
have been fulfilled, have been fulfilled literally), this has to be a
future occurrence. Vs. 4-5, the people of Jacob will be as
few as what’s left after the olive tree has been beaten, leaving
a few olives at the top, etc. The
effect of this, vs. 7, “In that day men will look to
their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of
Israel
…” Halley has a more historic fulfillment interpretation for the whole chapter,
which may also be correct, but the problem of
Damascus
remaining a city right up till now is not addressed. So
here we may have a case of prior and future fulfillment.
Isaiah 17:1-9, “An oracle concerning
Damascus
:
‘See,
Damascus
will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted and
left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid. The fortified city will disappear from
Ephraim, and royal power from
Damascus
; the remnant of
Aram
will be like the glory of the Israelites,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
In
that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will
waste away. It will be as when a reaper gathers the
standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm—as when
a man gleans heads of grain in the
Valley
of
Rephaim
. Yet some gleanings will remain, as when
an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,’ declares the Lord, the God
of Israel.
In
that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the
Holy One of
Israel
. They will not look to the altars, the
work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
and the incense altars their fingers have made.
In
that day their strong cities [must still be talking about the Syrians]
which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places
abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And
all will be desolation.”
Verses 10-14, Israel’s
harvest turns to nothing “in the day of disease and incurable
pain” and then an allusion to an overflowing of conquering
armies, then vengeance on those who have attacked Jacob, Israel. Again,
points to a past and future fulfillment.
Verses 10-14, “You have forgotten God your Savior; you
have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore,
though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,
though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on
the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the
harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable
pain. Oh, the raging of many nations—they
rage like the raging sea! Oh,
the uproar of the peoples—they roar like the roaring of great
waters! Although the peoples roar like the roar
of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven
before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before
a gale. In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot
us, the lot of those who plunder us.
Isaiah 18
Isaiah 18 speaks in
allegorical language about the Assyrian nation. It
is a warning, a message of woe. It
has to be future, pointing into the
Millennial
Kingdom
of God, when in vs. 7, “gifts will be brought to
Mount
Zion
by these people. It speaks
of the destruction of these people, and then finally of the survivors
bringing tribute to the Lord who lives on
Mount
Zion
. Vs. 3 alludes to the 2nd coming, “…when a trumpet
sounds…”. Vs 6 says, “They will be left to
the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed
on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.” These
branches being referred to are those that fall in the great battle of
Armageddon in allegory. Then verse 7 gives timing.
Isaiah 18:1-2, “Woe to the land of whirring wings along
the rivers of
Cush
, which send envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go swift messengers to a people tall and
smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation
of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.”
Germany
is a land divided by many rivers, a huge canal system exists in
Germany
. They are a people “smooth-skinned…feared
far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech.” Verses
3-7, “All you people of the world, you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when
a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. This
is what the Lord says to me: ‘I will remain quiet and will look
on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like
a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.’ For,
before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes
a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and
cut down and take away the spreading branches. They
will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.
[vs.7]At that time gifts will be brought to the
Lord Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people
feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose
land is divided by rivers--the gifts will be brought to
Mount
Zion
, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.”
Isaiah 19
Isaiah 19. Verses 17-18 show this is future, a prophecy
against
Egypt
. Vs. 1, “See, the Lord rides on a
swift cloud and is coming to
Egypt
…”vs. 16, “In that day the Egyptians will be like
women. They will shudder with fear…And
the
land
of
Judah
will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom
Judah
is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is
planning against them. The rest
is very
Millennial
Kingdom
of God, during and just after the 2nd coming of Yeshua. If
you don’t think so, ask yourself, has this ever happened in
Egypt
? Let’s read
it:
Verses 1-17, “An oracle concerning
Egypt
: See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to
Egypt
. The idols of
Egypt
tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them. ‘I
will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. Egyptians will lose heart and I will bring
their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of
the dead, the mediums and spiritists. I
will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce
king will rule over them,’ declares the Lord
, the Lord Almighty.
The
waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched
and dry. The canals will stink; the streams of
Egypt
will dwindle and dry up. The
reeds and rushes will wither, also the plants along the
Nile
, at the mouth of the river. Every
sown field along the
Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more. The
fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the
Nile
; those who throw nets on the water will pine away. Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope. The
workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick
at heart. The officials of
Zoan are nothing but fools; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless
advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, ‘I am
one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings’? Where
are your wise men now? Let
them show you and make known what the Almighty has planned against
Egypt
. The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of
Memphis
[Hebrew Noph ] are deceived; the cornerstones
of her peoples have led
Egypt
astray. The Lord has poured into them a spirit
of dizziness; they make
Egypt
stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit. There is nothing
Egypt
can do—head or tail, palm branch or reed. In
that day the Egyptians will be like women. They
will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises
against them. And the
land
of
Judah
will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom
Judah
is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is
planning against them…” How do we know this applies to the 2nd coming,
and the battles mentioned in Zechariah 12-14? Read on…
Isaiah 19:18-25,
“In that day five cities in
Egypt
will speak the language of
Canaan
[Hebrew!] and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of
Destruction
[Dead Sea Scrolls: City of the Sun (that is
Heliopolis
)]. In that day there will be an altar to
the Lord in the heart of
Egypt
, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It
will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the
land
of
Egypt
. When they cry out to the
Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender
[one of us?—a resurrected immortal believer in Yeshua, Jesus?],
and he will rescue them. So
the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they
will acknowledge the Lord. They
will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows
to the Lord and keep them. The
Lord will strike them and heal them. They
will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them…” [Now here it gets into a really interesting
prophecy about who’s going to be number 1, 2 and 3 as far as nations
go after Jesus becomes ruler of the world.] Vs. 23-25, “…In that day there will be a highway from
Egypt
to
Assyria
. The Assyrians will go to
Egypt
and the Egyptians to
Assyria
. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship
together. In that day
Israel
will be third, along with
Egypt
and
Assyria
, a blessing on the earth. The
Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be
Egypt
my people, and Assyria my handiwork, and
Israel
my inheritance.” Henry Halley
in his Bible Handbook thinks all this has been fulfilled historically,
and can point to some historic evidences. But
this does not match up to the language and forceful predictions made,
especially the last verse. The
last verse indicates that Assyria (Germany) and Egypt will be the #1
and #2 nations along with Israel during the Millennial Kingdom of God,
once they really learn who God is (and that it’s not a good idea
to try to fight him).
Isaiah 20
Isaiah 20:1-6. This
was historically fulfilled. Halley
says, “Isaiah’s warning of their [
Egypt
’s] defeat and captivity, intended to discourage
Judah
from looking to
Egypt
for aid against
Assyria
. This was 713BC. The prediction was fulfilled 12 years
later. Sennacherib’s
annals for 701BC says: “I fought with the kings of
Egypt
, accomplished their overthrow, and captured alive charioteers and sons
of the king.” Esarhaddon further desolated
Egypt
…Sargon (20:1): this is the only known mention of Sargon’s
name, till archeological excavations of the past century [1800s] revealed
him as one of the greatest Assyrian monarchs…”
Verses 1-6, “In the year that the supreme commander,
sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and
captured it—at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son
of Amoz. He said to
him, ‘Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals
from your feet.’ And
he did so, going around stripped and barefoot…” Man, these true prophets of the Lord must really loved him, to follow instructions like this! Imagine if the Lord commanded you to walk
through the center of your town naked and barefoot. Would
you do it? “…Then the Lord said, ‘Just
as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years,
as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush [that is Upper
Nile region], so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped
and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and
old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. Those
who trusted in
Cush
and boasted in
Egypt
will be afraid and put to shame. In
that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what
has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and
deliverance from the king of
Assyria
! How then can we escape?’”
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