Isaiah 23 “The Burden of Tarshish”

‘Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.” (V.14)

Over the last 10 chapters, Isaiah recorded the coming judgment of God against Israel’s various neighbors. In this section, the final judgment is against the principal city of Phoenicia (Tarshish), whose ships were famous in the Mediterranean world.

Tarshish was a pagan, idol-worshipping nation that practiced human sacrifice to their god Baal. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had brought priests of Baal into Israel, resulting in the dramatic confrontation on Mount Caramel with the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18). Here in Isaiah 23, God was warning Phoenicia (Tarshish) to repent. They refused and history records that they were overrun by Assyria in 738 BC, and then completely destroyed in 332 BC by Alexander the Great.

God had pointed out again and again to His people the foolishness of placing their hope in idol-worshiping pagan nations, rather than placing their hope in Him, the only true God. And, as a result of taking their eyes off their Savior, they became consumed with the circumstances of life that surrounded them.

O how often do the same thing - panic and start looking for another source of help because we don’t think God is going to come through. In these times where some are trying to completely change our culture back to the days of Sodom and Gamora, better to heed the warning given through Isaiah to Tarshish, repent! Or the end result will be the same, total destruction.

The Truth: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)

Isaiah 22 “Proclamation Against Jerusalem”

“Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you (Jerusalem). Even to the death.” (v.14)

Here in chapter 22 we find the prophet Isaiah (after relating his vision of the destruction of Jerusalem) basically mocking their physical preparations to stave off the coming invasion by the Assyrians. The gathering of water, the fortification of the city walls, the digging of a ditch between the two walls (vv.9-11). They did all these things, but they did not look to the LORD. They did not call upon Him with weeping and morning, with shaved heads and the girding of sackcloth (v. 12).

God has said, "If My people, called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, then will I hear from heaven" ( 2 Chronicles 7:14). But rather than humbling themselves and praying and seeking God, they were taking every natural precaution that they could, instead of looking to the supernatural.

God does expect us to use wisdom and to take natural precautions. But He also wants us to look to Him and to trust in Him. The wisdom of God is well beyond the knowledge of man. And when God is calling us to times of fasting and prayer and waiting upon Him, then it is manifestly wrong that we seek our own resources for our deliverance. And so when they should have been weeping and mourning, and girding themselves with sackcloth, they were having parties. Therefore, Isaiah voices God’s coming judgment against Jerusalem (v.14) for their error in obedience, in seeking Him first.

The Truth:  "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways." (Ezekiel 33:20)

Isaiah 21 “Set A Watchman”

“For thus has the LORD said unto me: ‘Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.’” (v.6)

In Isaiah’s day, walled cities relied on watchmen, who stood on the city walls and towers, to keep them informed about conditions around them. It was common during times of war for city officials to go out in the middle of the night and ask, “Watchman, what do you see?” If things were good, the watchman would respond, “all is well,” and if things were bad, he would warn of the coming danger.

Here in chapter 21 we find the fall of Babylon proclaimed by Isaiah the prophet through a vision given to him by God (vv. 1-4). He warns the king to “set a watchman,” and to anoint the shields” for trouble is coming from the Meds and the Persians (v.5). In other words, prepare for war. But the king put his trust in his strong walls and paid no attention to Isaiah’s prophetic warning.  

God still calls for watchmen to be over His kingdom today, to sound the alarm against changing cultural values when needed. We are not to hold back or keep silent if the alarm needs to be sounded. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend that danger does not exist, as the foundations of society are being eroded away.

We are to be like the prophet Nathan who boldly walked into even the king’s chambers and confronted David on his sin with Bathsheba, saying to him, “You are the man” who has sinned (2 Sam. 12). Oh how we need “watchmen” in our society today, least we become the minority, in a democracy of the majority, and loose our voice.

The Truth: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

Isaiah 20 “The Naked Truth”

“At the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put your shoes off your feet. And so he did, walking naked and barefoot.”

Here in chapter 20 when Assyria invaded Ashdod (one of the five cities of Philistines), the LORD told Isaiah to take off his clothes and his shoes and to walk naked and barefoot as a sign to the people of Egypt and Ethiopia saying, “So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt” (v.4)

God will not call us to walk around naked, but He does call us to proclaim the “naked truth.” And yet we seem to shirk away from even that. So many  are afraid to speak candidly of the gospel for fear of alienation. But the truth is, “The wages of sin is death” and “you must be born again” or you will be lost, defeated, taken captive, destroyed in hell fire. That’s the naked truth!

Jesus died naked and exposed on a Roman Cross because He cared for you and for me. He cared about us passionately bearing the sin and the shame. Is it any wonder then, no matter how embarrassing, that Isaiah would obey His command? I think not.

The Truth: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

Isaiah 19 “Proclamation Against Egypt”

“The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.” (v.1)

When Assyria swallowed up Syria in 732 BC and then the northern ten tribes of Israel in 722 BC, many of the southern Judeans began looking south to Egypt for help. Isaiah had warned them in the past against putting their confidence in foreign powers. In Isaiah 17:10 he said: “Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold,” the work of their hands would not prosper. In this verse, Isaiah was warning his countrymen again against seeking help from men (Egypt) instead of God. The “foundations will be broken” was literally speaking here of the foundations of Egypt.

The lesson was, and still is today, that whatever thing (or country), the people of God place their trust in instead of God, it will eventually let them down, turn on them, and destroy them. God alone is the only firm foundation a person can truly rely upon in this life and on into eternity. Oh how believers in every generation need to be mindful of “the Rock” of their salvation.

The Truth: “He (God) alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress; I will never be shaken” (Ps 62:2).

Isaiah 18 “Proclamation Against Ethiopia”

“Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, which sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed (bulrushes).” (vv.1-2)

Here in chapter 18 the prophet Isaiah is warning Israel/Judah not to join in a confederacy with Ethiopia against Assyria. Isaiah is saying they don’t need to make a covenant with these people because God is going to take care of it. He will cut them down, “They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them” ( v. 6 ).

Thus we have the word of the LORD through the prophet Isaiah of Assyria’s destruction by the hand of God. No need for Israel/Judah to join hands with the Ethiopians in a mutual defense pact because, “God will take care of them." And this is the point God was trying to make with His people over and over again, trust Me, wait on Me, don't go it alone. 

Oh how often we get ahead of ourselves doing things in our own power and our own strength, only to fail miserably. Better to wait on God for His perfect plan than move ahead against it. 

The Truth: “The sword shall come upon Egypt, and a great anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, and they take away her wealth, and her foundations are broken down.” (Ezekiel 30:4-5)

Isaiah 17 “The Burden Against Damascus (Syria)”

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will become a ruinous heap.” (v.1)

This chapter described the coming destruction of Damascus, the capital of Syria (or Aram as it was called by the Assyrians), in 732 BC. In this verse God promised to protect His people. When the Assyrians tried to continue south, and attack Jerusalem, God intervened and destroyed the Syrian army in one evening: “at eventide, trouble!”

The story is recorded in 2 Kings 18, and happened exactly as Isaiah prophesied. Assyria sent threatening letters to Judah. King Hezekiah and Isaiah took the letters into the temple and prayed over them. They were literally laying their burdens and fear before the Lord. God heard their prayer, and that same evening sent a single angel from heaven to destroy 185,000 Syrian warriors in one night.

Oh that we might go straight to God first and seek His help when we face insurmountable odds. So much worry, fret, and fear could be avoided if we would just rely on Him, trust in Him, cling to Him. Like king Hezekiah, we need to take our problems to the LORD in prayer, lay our burdens out before Him.

The Truth: “For He is our refuge and strength, a very pleasant help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

Isaiah 16 “There Is Hope”

“A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.” (v.5)

Here in chapter 16 Isaiah continues his prediction of doom against Moab. But, in verse 5 we find hope! For there is promised (out of love) one who will sit on the throne of David and judge in faithfulness. He will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness.

Historically, this would refer to the throne of Hezekiah, and his government over Judah, which was more firmly settled and established after the overthrow of the Assyrian army, through the mercy of God (Proverbs 20:28). Hezekiah, being a type of Christ, and his throne typical of His, would make the ultimate view of the prophecy pointing to the kingdom of Christ and His throne and rule (Amous 9:11). 

Therefore Isaiah speaks a message of hope to us all that God will restore what has fallen.

The Truth: “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old. That they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,” Declares the LORD. (Amos 9:11-12)