Isaiah 28-31 Trust in the Lord

Isaiah 28-29  Our class last week centered on judgments God pronounced against surrounding nations. In chapter 28, Isaiah takes a focus on God and his ways being in control. Chapters 28 and 29 implicitly refer to what chapters 30 and 31 explicitly state - that Judah needed trust in the Lord and not in alliances with Egypt.  These chapters are poetic in their presentation.  Isaiah begins with a depiction of Israel’s leaders as drunk and ready to be brought down. (28:1- 6).  This is followed by an interesting interlude that perhaps could be a recounting of a real episode? Drunken religious leaders mock Isaiah and his teaching (28:7-10).  However, Judah will learn from God the truth of Isaiah’s teaching (28:11-13).  Jerusalem is judged for making an alliance with death! They have placed their hope in this covenant rather than in surety of their foundation with God (justice and righteousness 28:14- 17).  The Lord will punish his people, but not forever (28:18-29).  The vision of “Ariel” is much like the siege of Jerusalem that will be described in 37-39 (29:1-10).  The people cannot understand the vision because their hearts are far from God (29:11-16).  Again, as at the end of 28, God promises an ultimate restoration (29:17-24).

Isaiah 30-31  Chapter 30 makes the anchor in history more explicit by immediately calling out the alliance with Egypt (the likely reference in chapter 28 of a covenant with death, 30:1-7).  Again, following a similar trajectory to chapter 28, the people reject the prophetic teaching (30:8-17).  However, again as before, the punishment teaches and leads to restoration by God (30:18-32).  It is in the latter verses where we hear the explicit mention of Assyria and allusion to the siege of Jerusalem from the previous chapter (30:31).  Notice also, that God is the inflictor of punishment and restoration. The punishment is meant to be restorative (30:26).  The short oracle in chapter 31 sums up the heart of the matter - Judah is called to trust in God for protection from Assyria, not Egypt.