Turning the world Upside Down.

a. Judgment coming on Jerusalem (29:1–4)

29:1–4. In this second of five “woes” in chapters 28–33 Isaiah continues with the theme of the last part of the first woe (28:14–29). Judgment was coming on Jerusalem and on Judah, and its purpose was to get the nation to return to God. Unlike the judgment that would sweep away the Northern Kingdom, this judgment on Jerusalem, though very severe, would be averted by the Lord. Jerusalem would not fall into the hands of the Assyrians.

Ariel undoubtedly refers to Jerusalem as can be concluded by the parallel phrase the city where David settled (cf. 2 Sam. 5:7, 9, 13). Many interpreters say Ariel means “lion of God,” in which case the city is seen as a strong, lionlike city. Ariel may also be translated “altar hearth,” as in Isaiah 29:2; Ezekiel 43:15–16. Jerusalem is the place where the altar of burnt offering was located in the temple.

Though Jerusalem is where festivals were celebrated before God (Isa. 29:1), the city would be besieged and fighting and bloodshed would turn it into a virtual altar hearth.

Though the Assyrians under Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem in 701 B.C. it was as if God had done so (I … I … My, vv. 2–3). Being humiliated (brought low), Jerusalem spoke softly rather than in loud tones. Though Jerusalem would be surrounded it would not be taken at this time. This assurance should have encouraged the people to trust God and to worship Him properly.

Deliverance coming for Jerusalem (29:5–8)

29:5–8. Jerusalem’s protection described in these verses refers to her deliverance V 1, p 1079 from Assyria, recorded in chapter 37. It would have seemed impossible to hope that the Assyrians would not take the city. Only by God’s sovereign intervention was Jerusalem spared. Though 29:5–8 refers to the Assyrian soldiers becoming like … dust and chaff when they were slaughtered, these verses also seem to have eschatological overtones. At the end of the Tribulation when nations (vv. 7–8) will attack Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1–3), the LORD Almighty will come and destroy each attacking nation. The threat of those nations will vanish like a dream. When the Assyrian soldiers were destroyed in Isaiah’s day, no doubt the people of Jerusalem were delirious with joy. But shortly the difficulty of that situation subsided in their thinking, and life returned to normal. Rather than turning back to God the nation got more deeply involved in sin.

c. Jerusalem’s understanding of God’s revelation (29:9–24)

In this section a contrast is drawn between the people’s present spiritual insensitivity and their future spiritual understanding.

29:9–12. The Jerusalemites’ spiritual insensitivity was in itself a judgment from God. The people were told to blind themselves (v. 9) but the LORD also caused the blindness (v. 10). The fact that the prophets and the seers did not see and understand clearly was part of God’s judgment. They did not understand God’s revelation about His judgment on the Assyrians that Isaiah recorded on a scroll (vv. 11–12). No one, either people who could read or those who couldn’t, could understand this truth.

29:13–14. The people of Jerusalem, professing to know God, were formally involved in acts of worship but they did not worship God from their hearts. They were more concerned with man-made legalistic rules than with God’s Law, which promotes mercy, justice, and equity. Because of that, God would judge them; their wisdom would vanish.

29:15–16. God pronounced woe on those who thought He did not see their actions. They attempted to hide their plans from God by doing things at night. They were not thinking clearly, for God can hide things from man (vv. 10–12) but not vice versa. Such thinking twisted the facts and confused the potter with the clay. A jar, however, cannot deny that the potter made it, or say that the potter is ignorant (cf. 45:9; 64:8). Actually the people knew nothing of what was going on, but God always knows everything.

29:17–21. However, things in the future will be different. The phrase in a very short time refers to the coming millennial kingdom. Some think it refers to the time when the Assyrian army was slaughtered (37:36), but the conditions described in 29:20–21 seem to nullify that interpretation. Lebanon, which was then occupied by Assyrian troops, will eventually be productive (fertile) again. The second occurrence of the words fertile field may refer to Mount Carmel. When the Millenium comes the deaf and the blind … will hear and see (cf. 32:3; 35:5). This contrasts with 29:10–12, which referred to the nation’s impaired sight. The needy will rejoice in the LORD because of what He will do for them, and conversely the ruthless who deprived the innocent of justice will be punished (vv. 20–21; cf. v. 5).

29:22–24. The attitude of the people of Jerusalem and Judah will completely change. They will no longer … be ashamed (v. 22) or brought low (v. 4) by foreign domination and their own sin (cf. 1:29). As their children grow up in safety they will realize that God has protected them and will worship (stand in awe of) Him. The Lord’s delivering them from Sennacherib was a foretaste of the ultimate deliverance they will experience. People who are wayward and who complain will change and will accept instruction. No longer will blindness prevail; then they will know God’s ways (cf. 29:18).

Woe to Ephraim (Isa. 28). The message to the Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, was to rest in God (v. 12). Unresponsive to the personal dimension of God’s message, they had twisted the Word of God into empty legalism. Stripped of His living presence, the Word of the Lord became:

Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.

Isaiah 28:13

We too can distort Scripture. God’s message is not a system of rules to imprison us, but calls us to a personal relationship which grows into a loving and holy lifestyle.

* Woe to David’s city (Isa. 29). God’s people were blinded because they had devoted themselves to a life of ritual observance (v. 1). God complained:

These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men.

Isaiah 29:13

How often the revealed faith gets slowly buried as we interpret and repeat our interpretations. Soon we lose the reality of God in the confusing structures of our traditions. Then, beneath all the outward piety, our hearts turn from God. We devise plans in the darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” (v. 15)

How strange that religion itself can so easily rob us of our sense of God’s presence.

The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, kThese men are the servants of lthe most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. kBut Paul, mbeing grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ nto come out of her

Robert Oppenheimer was the man one man responsible for the development for the atomic bomb the United States used against Japan at the close of World War II. He was born in 1904 in New York City, and showed an early interest in science. He entered Harvard at 18 and graduated 3 years later with honors. He continued his studies in theoretical physics at various universities in Europe prior to teaching at the California Institute of Technology. He was considered one of the top tem theoretical physicists in the world, and specialized in the study of sub-atomic particles and gamma rays. From 1943 he began directing 4500 men and women at Los Alamos, New Mexico, whose sole purpose was to build an atomic bomb. Two years and two billion dollars later, they had successfully detonated the first atomic bomb.

When he saw what he had made, Robert Oppenheimer underwent a radical revaluation of his values; a value inversion. Upon seeing the first fireball and mushroom cloud, he quoted from the Bhagavad-Gita, “I am become death.” Two months later he resigned his position at Los Alamos and spent much of the remainder of his life trying to undo the damage, trying to get the genie of atomic weapons back in the bottle. There are certain individuals who, in a flash so to speak, like Oppenheimer, see that all they once valued is really of no lasting value at all. Their entire life has been turned on its head, everything is upside down. They see with painful clarity that the very things they prized most in life are in reality worthless baubles