Isaiah 21-23

·      This study will conclude the second unit in the book of Isaiah, the first unit consists of chapters 1-12, this second unit includes chapters 13-23, which covers God’s judgment of 10 nations. 

·      The Lord was teaching His people that repentance is the remedy, not running to the world for help.

Isaiah 21 

·      The Fall of Babylon would come at the hands of the Medo-Persians around 200 years after this prophecy.

The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed 1-10

1 The burden {prophecy, heavy message of impending judgment} against the Wilderness of the Sea. Aswhirlwinds in the South {Negev, Desert} pass through, So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 

2 A distressing {troubling} vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam {part of Persia}! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing {groaning} I have made to cease. 

·      The Lord does not take kind to bullies.

3 Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. Iwas distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it. 

4 My heart wavered {staggered}, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. 

·      Daniel and John had similar experiences with the heaviness of the prophecies they were given to speak.

5 Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower {NU: spread out the cloth, carpet}, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint {oil} the shield! 

6 For thus has the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees.”

7 And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, And helistened earnestly {paid close attention} with great care {fully alert}. 

8 Then he cried, “A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at mypost every night.

9 And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” 

·      This would be fulfilled in the near future in Daniel 5 under Darius the Mede.

·      This will be fulfilled in the far future in Revelation.

·      Revelation 14:8 ”And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”“

·      Revelation 18:2 ”And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 

·      The gods of the nations couldn’t protect them from the wrath of God so why should God’s people trust in these people?

10 Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God ofIsrael, I have declared to you.

Proclamation Against Edom 11-12

11 The burden against Dumah {Idumea; Edom}. He calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night {how far gone is the night, what is left of the night}? Watchman, what of the night?” 

12 The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire {ask}, inquire {ask}; Return! Come back!” 

·      Edom would fall at the hands of the invading Assyrians.

Proclamation Against Arabia 13-17

13 The burden against Arabia. In the forest {thickets} in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies {caravans, nomads} of Dedanites. 

14 O inhabitants of the land of Tema {NW Arabia}, Bring water to him who is thirsty; With their bread they met him {fugitives} who fled. 

15 For they fled from the swords {Sargon of Assyria}, from the drawn sword, From the bent bow, and from the distress of war. 

16 For thus the LORD has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man {NIV: as a servant bound by contract would count it, an exact year}, all the glory of Kedar {Muhammad’s lineage} will fail; 

17 and the remainder {survivors} of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.”“

·      Isaiah prophesied this defeat of Arabia about 5 years before it happened.

·      These Arabian nomadic tribes would fall at the hands of the invading Assyrians.

Isaiah 22 

Proclamation Against Jerusalem 1-14

1 The burden {vision, prophecy} against the Valley of Vision {Jerusalem, Upper Kidron?}. What ails younow, that you have all gone up to the housetops {flat roofs}, 

·      Jerusalem may be called the Valley of Vision because of the prophets who were given visions here.

·      This is most likely the invasion of Sennacherib.

2 You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle. 

3 All your rulers have fled together; They are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; They have fled from afar {NIV: while the enemy was still far away}. 

4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; Do not labor to comfort me Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”

·      The Lord Jesus Christ would weep over Jerusalem too.

·      Luke 19:41-44 ”Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”“

5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of Vision— Breaking down the walls And of crying {of death} to the mountain. 

6 Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield. 

7 It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. 

8 He removed the protection of Judah. You looked {trusted} in that day to the armor {weaponry} of the House of the Forest {built during Solomon’s reign}; 

·      The Lord removed His protection from His people, because they didn’t want it, and instead looked to their own defenses.

9 You also saw the damage to the city of David, That it was great {KJV: many}; And you gathered togetherthe waters of the lower pool {the pool of Siloam}. 

·      King Hezekiah’s tunnel diverted the water of the Gihon Springs to keep the enemy from cutting off their water supply.

10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, And the houses you broke down To fortify the wall {the breaches in the defense walls}. 

11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool {the ruins are in the Jewish quarter today}. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago. 

·      Preparations aren’t a bad thing, but they are a useless thing if we aren’t looking to the LORD.

12 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and forgirding with sackcloth. 

·      The Lord is still calling to repentance.

·      Luke 5:32 ”I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”“

·      2 Peter 3:9 ”The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.“

13 But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 

·      Instead of repenting, they continued with the party life and selfish fleshly indulgences, looking to the world, but not looking to the Lord God.

·      “Let us live it up before we have to give it up.” -The Rebels

·      They live disregarding the warnings, ignoring the signs of the times.

14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the LORD of hosts, “Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, Even to your death,” says the Lord GOD of hosts. 

·      They would continue to live in sin until their death, they would die in their sin.

The Judgment of Shebna 15-25

15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “Go, proceed to this steward, To Shebna, who is over the house {NIV: the palace administrator}, and say: 

·      Shebna was 2nd in command under King Hezekiah.

·      He did not use his high-ranking position to be an example to the people of God. He disregarded the Lord’s warning.

·      Promotion from God should not lead to promotion of self.

·      Promotion from God should be marked by devotion to God.

16 ‘What {right} have you here {what do you got?}, and whom have you here {who do you think you are?}, That you have hewn a sepulcher here, As he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? 

17 Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently, O mighty {strong} man, And will surely seize you.

18 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball Into a large country; There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots Shall be the shame of your master’s house.

·      Shebna wouldn’t be buried in the sepulcher that he carved for himself.

19 So I will drive you out of your office, And from your position he will pull you down.

·      Shebna is a type or description of our the Antichrist. 

20 ‘Then it shall be in that day, That I will call {appoint} My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;

·      Eliakim is a description of Christ.

21 I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility{authority} into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah. 

22 The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And heshall shut, and no one shall open.

·      This prophecy has a double fulfillment; immediate, and future.

·      Isaiah 9:6 ”For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.“

·      Revelation 3:7 ”“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:“

23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 

24 ‘They will hang on him {the peg} all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 

·      This is true of the Lord Jesus Christ.

·      John 17:5 ”And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.“

25 In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken.’ ”“

·      The sad reality was, despite having a good leader, they would still rebel and incur the judgment of God.

·      Many see this as a reference to the Crucifixion of Christ.

·      Daniel 9:26 ”“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.“

Isaiah 23

·      Tyre was the most important city of Phoenicia.

·      It was a wealthy ancient city.

·      Tyre was the nation that Jezebel came from.

·      It is in modern day Lebanon.

·      Ezekiel describes its destruction in Ezekiel 26-28.

·      It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

Proclamation Against Tyre 1-18

1 The burden against Tyre. Wail, you ships of Tarshish {the area of Spain}! For it {fortress} is laid waste {destroyed}, So that there is no house, no harbor; From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them. 

2 Be still {mourn in silence}, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon {25 miles North of Tyre}, Whom those who cross the sea {Mediterranean} have filled {enriched, replenished}. 

3 And on great waters the grain of Shihor {the Nile}, The harvest of the River, is her revenue; And she is a marketplace for the nations. 

4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea has spoken, The strength of the sea, saying, “I do not labor, nor bring forth children; Neither do I rear young men, Nor bring up virgins.” 

5 When the report reaches Egypt, They also will be in agony at the report of Tyre. 

6 Cross over to Tarshish; Wail, you inhabitants of the coastland! 

7 Is this your joyous city, Whose antiquity is from ancient days, Whose feet carried her far off to dwell {her international influence}? 

8 Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, Whose merchants are princes, Whose tradersare the honorable of the earth? 

9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, To bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. 

·      This is the destiny of rebellious pride.

10 Overflow through your land like the River, O daughter of Tarshish; There is no more strength. 

11 He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms; The LORD has given a commandment against Canaan To destroy its strongholds. 

12 And He said, “You will rejoice no more, O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over to Cyprus; There also you will have no rest.” 

·      There is no rest for the wicked, but only for those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans {the Babylonians}, This people which was not; Assyria founded it for wild beasts of the desert. They set up its towers, They raised up its palaces, And brought it to ruin. 

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For your strength is laid waste. 

15 Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king {normal life span}. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: 

·      This is the enemy’s plan for your life, V13-15.

16 “Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered.” 

17 And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with {revive} Tyre. She will {again} return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 

18 Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the LORD {who live in the LORD’s presence}, to eat sufficiently, and for fine{CSB: sacred} clothing.“

·      The riches of Phoenicia would be stored up for God’s remnant people. 

·      Phoenicia would reject the witness of God’s people and would remain godless idolators, and immoral people. 

·      Here is a picture of what Christ provides for His people; God’s presence, sustenance and satisfaction; clothed in His righteousness.

·      How do we receive these? Repent and believe.