Isaiah 9:8-21
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
9 All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10 "The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars."
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.
14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
15 The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks folly.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts
The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
No man shall spare his brother.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
And not be satisfied;
Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be against Judah.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
The message of the punishment of Samaria where Israel the northern kingdom ruled from is given here through Isaiah. They imagined that God’s punishment as a consequence for their rebellion could not stop them from rebuilding even more lavishly and continuing in sin, so He pronounced judgment on such foolishness of arrogant pride. He called them to account after repeatedly offering forgiveness and finding that they did not want to turn from their sin to follow Him according to His word. The Lord sent their enemies to deal with them as instruments of His hand. This judgment is repeated three times in verses 12, 17, and 21 where it is written, “For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” Unfortunately, they did not repent in turning to the one who struck them nor did they seek the Lord as the people of God should. This is the rebellion of unrepentant sin which brings judgment. We are all under this curse of sin unless it is removed by being taken on by another in our place as we all deserve justice and divine judgment. Only in the promised deliverer, the Messiah, mentioned in the previous verses can we find judgment’s justice satisfied once for all (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10). Without an eternal atonement for sin, we find His hand stretched out to judge us in divine wrath against our sin, both in our thoughts and deeds as well as in our inheritance from Adam (Romans 5:12-13) with the only hope being in Christ our Messiah, the Son given to bring the light of reconciling hope (Romans 5:18-19). Israel refused to listen as the leaders led the people to sin more and the prophets brought false promises which tickled their ears but was not truth from God, just as false self-proclaimed ones continue to do today (2 Timothy 4:3) and lead many to destruction instead of hope in forgiveness through the simplicity of the gospel of truth. These hypocrites and evildoers were judged then and will be until the final judgment. His hand brings wrath to bear on unrepentant sin against Himself. Just as wickedness burns and consumes men and women, so will there be many as fuel for the fire of this judgment by God’s just anger against sin by all consumed in arrogant pride who refuse to turn from sin to Him. That is the warning to the people of God then and now. He calls all to turn and live as in the passages of Ezekiel 18:23, and Ezekiel 33:11. The people who refused to repent then consumed one another in the shadow of impending judgment, just as many continue to do today as they eat, drink, and appear to be merry while ignoring the call to Himself, the good news of deliverance through Christ. May we never stop telling this story of warning and of hope.
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