The Worthless Treaty with Egypt
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan, but not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in the shade of Egypt. But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shadow your disgrace. For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”
This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.
Egypt’s help is vain and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still. Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever. These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. They say to the seers,
“No more visions,” and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us the truth. Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant! It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”
For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.” “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster. A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
God Will Be Gracious
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him. O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with the shovel and pitchfork.
And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.
Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter. And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished. For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it ablaze.
Ah, Egypt! Ally! Protector! Refuge! Say what??? For centuries, the Israelites have had a love/hate relationship with Egypt, going there in times of famine and sometimes making alliances. But when God delivered the Israelites from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, he warned the people not to return to Egypt again, even getting Moses to record those warnings. (Exodus 13:14 “By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”)
Repeatedly, God has warned His people not to rely on Egypt or to return there, but God’s people frequently refuse to listen to Him. Now the Assyrians are moving westward, devastating everything in their wake. Rather than relying on the God who has saved and delivered them so many times, the citizens of Judah want to make an alliance with Egypt and even flee there if necessary. These people are conveniently forgetting that God wiped out Pharaoh’s army, the greatest standing army in the world.
“These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. They say to the seers, “No more visions,” and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us the truth. Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!” Rather than asking God for His perfect will and His protection, the Judeans are making their own plans. The results will be disastrous; after all, a huge army that can cross the Euphrates River can-and will – make it to Egypt. Eventually, the Assyrians do invade Egypt, destroying everything there just as they have in other nations.
God is amazing! God knows human hearts better than the humans themselves, and God knows how meager our shriveled up little souls really are. Despite this knowledge, God is promising to be gracious to all those who will serve Him while He will also punish Assyria. Eventually, the Assyrian Empire also disintegrates, with their armies presumably going to Topheth, or Hell. When the day of the Lord comes, streams of water will flow abundantly, with lush pastures for livestock and peace and joy and celebration for those who are faithful to Him.
APPLICATION: How many times do we begin to plan by asking God to guide us? Years ago, one group with which we worked took a decision with which we violently disagreed. One leader defended the group by claiming that they had prayed before taking that decision. My question to him was this: Did you actually ask God for His will or did you pray, “God here’s our decision. Please rubber stamp it!” There was no reply.
One Christian evangelist described his early ministry. This man was copying every successful evangelist he knew, and nothing was happening. Finally this man asked God what was the problem. God’s answer was simple: “You’re doing your will in My Name. I didn’t ask you to imitate anybody else.”
We would like to think that we are smarter than the citizens of Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time, but human nature hasn’t changed. Anytime we choose to do our will rather than God’s, we are bound for trouble. As we plan for the months ahead, let us be quiet before the Lord and allow Him to inform us of what He wants us to do. That way, we’ll get His results.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives and help us to follow Your plans and not ours. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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