Isaiah 2:12-22
Isa 2:12
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon
every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is
lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
The day of the LORD here will be when the Babylonians
sweep the land and all those who are in high positions or are the wealthy and
powerful will be humbled and they be treated as all the other people without any
concern for the positions they held.
As arrogant as they were in Judah, they will be humbled as the poor
people of the land. Just as Israel
faced the judgment of God for their sins, all the unsaved people of the world
will stand before the LORD on the last day in judgment and that will include the
mighty men as well as the frail men.
And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)
Isa 2:13
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high
and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
The cedars of Lebanon which are high and lifted up
represents those who held high positions like rulers of countries and kingdoms.
The cedars of Lebanon were very strong and
odoriferous which mean they had a sweet scent.
Many who are in high positions put on the front that they are sweet and
nice when they are really self-serving.
The oaks of Bashan represent those who had inferior positions such as
princes or nobles because the oaks of Bashan were inferior to the cedars of
Lebanon. In contrast to these
unbelievers being likened to the trees of these places the true believer is also
called a tree but a tree of righteousness.
To appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
(Isaiah 61:3)
Isa 2:14
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills
that are lifted up,
The high mountains and hills may be representative of
kingdoms and cities which would come under the judgment of God.
It would also point to literal mountains and hills as many would flee to
them thinking they could escape from the invading armies and the judgment of
God. As we saw back in 2:10 that
the people would be looking for secure places to hide and would hope that the
rocks and dust would hide them.
Isa 2:15
And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
Jerusalem had a wall which surrounded it for the purpose
of keeping out invaders plus on those wall there were high towers which were
used for the purpose of keeping watch to see any approaching invaders from a
distance. During the time of
Nehemiah, he had rebuilt many of the towers which were on the wall such as the
tower of the furnaces, the tower of Meah, the tower of Hammeah and the tower of
Hananeel.
Isa 2:16
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant
pictures.
Tarshish was located on the southern part of Spain.
It was where Jonah had attempted to go to when he was running away from
the LORD, like that is possible.
The ships of Tarshish was what the Israelites used to buy and sell merchandise
from other parts of the world and because these were their focus, they too would
come under the judgment of God. The
pleasant pictures was the precious cargo that the ships would carry back to
Judah. Even the cargo would come
under judgment because it represented the evil dealings that many of the
Israelites partook of.
Isa 2:17
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the
haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in
that day.
The LORD is emphasizing that the loftiness of man which
is the arrogance of man shall no longer reign but they will be bowed down as any
subject bows to one of higher importance on the social ladder.
The arrogance of man shall be made low and all the people will see that
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day instead of the pride of man.
Whenever the Bible records something two or three times, God is
emphasizing that point more emphatically.
Isa 2:18
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
The LORD will destroy all idols off the land as he will
show them that they have no power nor can they stand against the LORD or oppose
him in any fashion. God will
eventually destroy all idols in the world such as those of Roman Catholicism,
Buddha, Hinduism and other false religions.
God takes seriously today the worship of idols as he did throughout
history. There are billions who
stand before idols in the present world.
The funny thing is the man thinks he has intellectually advanced when he
does the same thing as the ancient pagan people did.
Isa 2:19
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into
the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty,
when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Many will seek the protection of caves and holes in the
rocks to avoid the judgment of God.
They will be unable to hide themselves from him who sees all.
And said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb: (Revelation 6:16)
It will be the same thing on the last day when the day of the wrath of
the lamb has come. They will try to
use natural hiding places but will be unable to escape God’s judgment.
Whose voice then shook the earth:
but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
also heaven. (Hebrews 12:26)
When he ariseth means he will at that time intentionally bring judgment upon the
earth as had been prophesied in the Scriptures.
It will be a time of such devastation that the people will fear the LORD
greatly.
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and
for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:26)
They will also see the glory of the majesty of the LORD as he will be the
one who will be bringing the calamities on the earth and the arrogant man will
be bowing.
Isa 2:20
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his
idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the
moles and to the bats;
Once the day of judgment has begun, the people will be so
frightened that they will no longer look to their idols as their focus of
worship but they will then realize that the real God is now showing his
superiority over the false idols as they can do nothing to stop the judgment of
God. The idols will have no value
so that the people will discard them wherever they are.
Here it is represented by the moles and bats.
Moles live in holes in the ground and bats live in caves.
They will come to a realization that these false gods are just that,
false, and they have no power nor can they do anything but get a person under
the judgment of God. Notice these
idols are made of silver and gold which is coveted by man but on the day of
judgment, they will have lost their value and will be worth nothing when a
person is under the judgment of God.
Isa 2:21
To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of
the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when
he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Here the LORD parallels his destruction from verse 19.
The difference is the type and places of the rocks.
Many shall go to different places in the mountains and hills to try and
hide themselves from the coming of the LORD to judge them.
The clefts are rocks which have fissures or gaps and if it is wide enough
a person could find a good hiding place.
The ragged rocks would be like rocks which tower above and can hide a
person and give them cover from any marauders.
It would be considered a stronghold but even that would be of no use to
hide.
Isa 2:22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
In other words, do not put your trust in any man, even if
he is a strong man because all have only breath in their nostrils which can be
stopped at any time. Putting your
trust in man is placing your trust in someone like yourself which is only a
living being which can be killed at any time and has no strength to oppose God.
To be accounted means he can be here today and gone tomorrow and that would be
the end of your hope. It is like
Christians who place their trust in their preacher instead of trusting only the
word of God, they trust the thoughts of a man.
A foolish thing to do.
Isaiah speaks of this in another part of his prophecy.