Isaiah 14:28 to 15:9 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 14:28 to 15:9. Let’s go!
Isaiah 14:28-32 (NIV)
28 This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken; from the root of that snake will spring up a viper, its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.
30 The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.
31 Wail, O gate! Howl, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! A cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there is not a straggler in its ranks.
32 What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”
On verses 28-32: Earlier in Isaiah 6, Isaiah described the vision he saw in the year that King Uzziah died (approximately 739 B.C.) Now here in Isaiah 14:28, Isaiah describes the message he received many years later in the year when King Ahaz had died and his son Hezekiah is taking over the throne in Judah.
The likely background behind this oracle is that the Philistines are thinking that their enemy Assyria is weakening, that “the rod that struck you is broken” (v29), which is possibly a reference to the death of Assyria’s king. However, Isaiah’s message warns the Philistines not to be so confident, because Assyria’s power is only going to get stronger. Just as Moses’ staff became a snake (Exodus 4:3), the rod of Assyria will turn into a venomous viper (v29) who will in turn do even greater damage to the Philistines (v31).
Using tree imagery once again, Isaiah writes that while the “root” of Assyria will bear fruit (from the root of that snake will spring up a viper” – v29b), the root of the Philistines will be destroyed (“But your root I will destroy” – v30b).
This message is not for the Philistines alone. It’s actually even more a message to Judah’s new king Hezekiah and to the people of Judah as they considered whether or not to form an alliance with the Philistines against Assyria. God is effectively warning Hezekiah and all of Judah not to form an alliance with the Philistines but to put their hope in God. Verse 32 pictures Judah speaking to the representatives of Philistia saying, “The LORD has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.” In other words, Isaiah is painting the picture of Judah taking refuge in God rather than in the Philistines.
What can we learn from this? We can be so quick to put our hope in other people or circumstances. But in the end God wants us to place our hope in Him and Him alone.
Isaiah 15:1-9 (NIV)
1 An oracle concerning Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night!
2 Dibon goes up to its temple, to its high places to weep; Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out, and their hearts are faint.
5 My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the way to Luhith, weeping as they go; on the road to Horonaim they lament their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone and nothing green is left.
7 So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
8 Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab; their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.
9 Dimon’s waters are full of blood, but I will bring still more upon Dimon– a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon those who remain in the land.
On verses 1-9: Isaiah’s next oracle is for Moab. Moab was the name of the son who was born to out of an incestuous encounter between Lot and Lot’s daughter in Genesis 19:37. This son’s descendants would eventually become known as the nation of Moab.
In the Old Testament the Moabites and the Israelites had a bitter-sweet relationship. At certain points they are at war with one another, yet at other points they seem to be on friendly terms, such as in the book of Ruth when an Israelite couple Naomi and her husband move to Moab and raise a family there, and when Ruth a Moabite widow moving to Israel where she meets and marries Boaz. That is why, according to some scholars, this oracle about Moab expresses more grief and mourning (for example, verse 5) than the previous oracles about Babylon, Assyria and Philistia.
This oracle pictures the Moabites being attacked (possibly by Assyria) and fleeing from their home country as a result. Tomorrow in the next chapter we will see where the Moabites end up fleeing and what we can learn from this oracle about Moab.
Father, as much as I may be tempted to put my hope in other people and things, I recognize today that You alone were meant to be my hope, the One I trust in. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
