I. Making Plans Without God (1-10)
"“Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;" (v1)
It wasn't a problem of going to Egypt, it was the problem of not seeking for God's guidance on how to address the crisis. How often we have done this in our lives? We have been trained on jumping to the solutions using our own intellect. Hardly ever have we gone to God on our knees, and waiting several days or weeks even, without a clear answer. We want the solution to be quick, and our minds can give quick answers. But many of these answers are wrong, or at the wrong timing.
The phrase "walk to go down to Egypt" and "the shadow of Egypt" (v2) is symbolic of what we do in major decisions - we use the world's method. We partner with worldly people with motives not aligned to God. We may even use questionable approaches, or approaches without God's presence, to achieve our objectives.
For Jerusalem, their trust in Egypt will be their shame and disgrace (v3-5). Perhaps in our lives, making worldly decisions seem to work out for us, but somehow, I wonder if we will be ashamed of it when we see our Creator and realised that we have exchanged his glory for our own.
Isaiah sympathizes with with the donkeys that were used carry Judah's treasures to the Pharaoh, through the dangerous dessert with lions and vipers. All these will be for no benefit, because Egypt is "Rahab-Hem-Shebeth" meaning "Rahab Sits Idle". Rahab is Hebrew for pride (Psa 87:4)
II. Rejecting God's Message (8-11)
God wanted the rebellious nature of Judah to be documented and remembered forever. They were a rebellious and lying children who tells the prophets to stop prophesying the difficult truth and criticisms about themselves, but to tickle their ears with only good news and complements that were false. They were sick of hearing about the Holy One of Israel.
This condition is not unique to Judah. Paul predict that there will be a time when the world will reject the truth. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
III. Trusting Useless Things (12-17)
Because of they distrust God and instead trust useless allies, God will break Judah like a potter's vessel. (14) For they believe in that their plans will save them. They may flee on horses but the enemies have faster horses. This is the fulfillment of Leviticus 26:17 - "I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you."
Instead of fleeing or fighting, all they needed to do was to fall under God's protection, for "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." (v15)
IV. The Gracious God (18-22)
"Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you" (v18) - The Lord is always waiting to bless us. He won't bless us if we are blessing ourselves. It is possible that those who bless themselves can be "successful" on Earth, but he will not enjoy the presence of God.
But sometimes we will have to wait for his grace "blessed are those who wait for Him" - God wants to train us to be trust and to be patient, to wait for the right timing, and to truly let go of the last straw in our own strength, and to be broken before He brings a break-through.
God answers His people when they cry (v19). Crying before God is for someone who is totally broken. When our hearts are in that posture, and when our pride has totally vanished, and when we cry to God out of our emptiness. then God will surely hear us. This is a promise! Yet, how often have we been able to be sincerely be "nothing" and have no fallback plans, and totally dependent on Him? Hardly ever, if you are honest about it!
The discipline that God is bringing to Judah ("bread of adversity and the water of affliction" v20) is to correct their stubbornness, and to bring them realisation that there is a right way to walk. They will cast out their idols like unclean things. (The Hebrew for "unclean things" are literally menstrual cloth). We know that after the Babylonian exile, the Jews never again worship other gods or prayed to idols.
V. God's Plan For Judah's Future (23-33)
There will be a time, and is now, when their people will dwell in Zion. Zion will will be blessed with rich produce, and stocks will graze in the large pastures. There will be brooks that provides water. This is what Israel is enjoying today.
What is to come is when the moon will be as bright as the sun, and when the Lord binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds of His discipline. The Lord will come with anger against the nations and destroy them with His tongue of devouring fire. (v27-28) In those days there will be fire, storms and hailstones (v30). This is a foretelling of the coming of the Lord Jesus!
"From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." (Rev 19:15)
Isaiah's prophecy has a duality that applies to the Assyrians at that time as well, and God, not Egypt, will be the one fighting for Judah. (v32) This happened in 2 Kings 19, where God sent an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
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