57 lines
14 KiB
HTML
57 lines
14 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<html><head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script>
|
|
currentBook = 'Isa';
|
|
currentChapter = 34;
|
|
PriorBook = 'Psalms';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Psa_1.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Isaiah 33';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Isa_33.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'Daniel';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Dan_1.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Isaiah 35';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/david_guzik/sg/Isa_35.html';
|
|
Title = 'Study Guide for Isaiah 34';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<h2><a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'1-');">Isa 34</a> - The Indignation of the Lord against All Nations</h2>
|
|
<p>A. The indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> against the peoples of the nations.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'1-4');">1-4</a>) The fury and the completeness of the judgment of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">The indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: In the immediate context, Isaiah continues the thought of the coming judgment against the Assyrians. But in the larger context, we can see this passage as an announcement of the judgment of come upon the <b><span class="c3">nations</span></b> during the Great Tribulation.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. Jesus, and many Old Testament prophets, plainly told us of a coming time He called <i>great tribulation</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,21);">Mat 24:21</a>), when because of the judgment of God, conditions on earth would be the worst human history had ever seen. Revelation chapters <a onclick="return mV('Rev',6,'1-');">6</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Rev',8,'1-');">8</a>-<a onclick="return mV('Rev',9,'1-');">9</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Rev',16,'1-');">16</a>-<a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,'1-');">18</a> describe this horrific time, when there will be widespread ecological, economic, cosmic, and human catastrophe on a level never before known in history.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. The idea that this chapter relates to the very end times goes back a long way among Christian teachers. "Eusebius, with many other ancients, will have this chapter to be understood of the end of the world and the last judgment." (Trapp)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. No wonder Isaiah pleads with the nations: <b><span class="c3">Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people!</span></b> In light of how terrible the great tribulation will be, when we consider how prophecy has been fulfilled, and how the stage is set for even more fulfilled prophecy, we should <b><span class="c3">hear</span></b> and take <b><span class="c3">heed</span></b>!</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. The stage is set for a rebuilt temple that will come in the last days, necessary to fulfill the prophecies of the abomination of desolation (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,15);">Mat 24:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',13,14);">Mar 13:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,'3-4');">2Th 2:3-4</a>). The stage is set for the sort of world-dominating confederation of nations, heir to the Roman Empire to arise (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,'36-45');">Dan 2:36-45</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,'1-8');">Rev 13:1-8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',17,'10-14');">17:10-14</a>). The stage is set for a political and economic "superman" to arise, the sort of single political leader who will lead this world-dominating confederation of nations (<a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,'3-12');">2Th 2:3-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,'4-7');">Rev 13:4-7</a>). The stage is set for the kind of false religion the Bible says will characterize the very last days (<a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,4);">2Th 2:4</a>, <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,'9-12');">9-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,'11-15');">Rev 13:11-15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',17,'1-6');">17:1-6</a>). The stage is set for the kind of economic system predicted for the very last days (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,'15-17');">Rev 13:15-17</a>). The stage is set for the end-times scenario the Bible says will happen between Russia and Israel in <a onclick="return mV('Eze',38,'1-23');">Eze 38-39</a>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. The warning regarding this time of the <b><span class="c3">indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b> is directed not to God's people, but to the <b><span class="c3">nations</span></b>. This is because God's people will escape the terrors of the great tribulation, though they may experience great hardship in the time leading up to it. Jesus said we should pray that we would be counted worthy to escape that time of terrors (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',21,36);">Luk 21:36</a>), and be taken to heaven in the great catching away of the church (<a onclick="return mV('1Th',4,'16-18');">1Th 4:16-18</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'5-7');">5-7</a>) The great bloodshed at the judgment of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">"For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. The sword of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Indeed it shall come down on Edom</span></b>: The Edomites were near neighbors to Israel, and often bitter rivals. The Edomites rejoiced whenever the people of Judah or Israel were afflicted, so Isaiah focuses on the judgment that will come against Edom, using them as a single example of the large judgment that will come upon all the <i>nations</i> (as in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'1-2');">Isa 34:1-2</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. "Edom was a sister nation to Israel, but it hated Israel more than any other nation. Throughout all of history we see a burning hatred of Edom against Israel. It is for this reason that Edom is frequently presented as a representative of all the nations that hated the Jews." (Bultema)</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">ii. "Edom had derided and attacked Judah for centuries, but now God would avenge this hateful attitude that is so characteristic of the world's ways." (Wolf)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">The sword of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> is filled with blood...their land shall be soaked with blood</span></b>: The <i>indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span></i> finds its final fulfillment in the battle of Armageddon, which will be a terribly bloody affair (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',14,20);">Rev 14:20</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">Overflowing with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, for the <span class="c6">Lord</span> has a great sacrifice...and a great slaughter</span></b>: In associating this time of judgment with the image of sacrifice, Isaiah tells us that this is payment for the penalty of sin. Even as a sacrificial victim paid for the sin of the one bringing the sacrifice, so the bloody judgment of sin at Armageddon will be a payment for the penalty of sin. It will be an imperfect, incomplete payment, but it will be a payment of some kind.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. "The mention of sacrificial animals is primarily intended to refer to the slaughter of people." (Wolf)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">d. The King James Version translates <b><span class="c3">wild oxen</span></b> as <i>unicorns</i>. Bultema writes, "There used to be quite a difference of opinion regarding the word <i>unicorns</i>, but today the general opinion is that it does not mean rhinoceros but aurochs, or wild bison. According to <a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,17);">Deu 33:17</a>, this animal did not have one but two horns."</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. "<i>Wild oxen</i> were not used in the sacrifices. Possibly therefore Isaiah is using animal metaphors for the important people and leaders of Edom." (Motyer)</p>
|
|
<p>B. The indignation of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> against the land of the nations.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'8-10');">8-10</a>) The land is made desolate.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and ever.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Its streams will be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone</span></b>: In this <b><span class="c3">day of the Lord's vengeance</span></b> known as the great tribulation, there will be unparalleled ecological disaster. Before Jesus Christ returns at the end of the great tribulation, one-third of the earth's vegetation, one-third of the oceans, and one-third of fresh waters will be destroyed and unusable (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',8,'1-');">Rev 8</a> and <a onclick="return mV('Rev',16,'1-');">16</a>).</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'11-15');">11-15</a>) The land is inhabited only by animals of the wilderness.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; it shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it</span></b>: Much of the earth will be so destroyed that in many places, only wild animals will be able to live.</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. The King James Version translates <b><span class="c3">wild goat</span></b> as <i>satyr</i>, which was a mythical demonic creature. The Hebrew word here is <i>sair</i>, which as an adjective means <i>hairy</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',27,11);">Gen 27:11</a>) and as a noun refers to a male goat (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',37,31);">Gen 37:31</a> and <a onclick="return mV('Lev',4,23);">Lev 4:23</a>). It is possible that Isaiah means that wild goats will inhabit the desolate regions of Edom, or he may mean that it will be the haunt of demonic spirits. Bultema thinks the best translation "is satyrs, demons, or field devils."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">c. The Hebrew word for <b><span class="c3">night creature</span></b> is <i>lilith</i>, which is the feminine form of the word "night." Old Jewish superstitions make <i>Lilith</i> a beautiful demon of the night, who seduced men and killed children. It is possible that Isaiah uses the term to describe the demonic habitation of Edom after God's judgment.</p>
|
|
<p class="c1">3. (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',34,'16-17');">16-17</a>) The surety of the judgments of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="c2">"Search from the book of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and read: Not one of these shall fail; not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it."</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">Search from the book of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and read: not one of these shall fail</span></b>. This remarkable statement tells us that Isaiah <i>understood that his words were the words of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.</i> It also tells us that Isaiah meant that <i>his prophecy should be understood literally</i> - poetically, but <i>literally</i>. It also means that Isaiah clearly challenged doubters to "look it up" once the prophecy was fulfilled.</p>
|
|
<p class="c5">i. "After Edom has become a wasteland, men will take out the scroll and verify that Isaiah's predictions came true." (Wolf)</p>
|
|
<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">Search from the book of the <span class="c6">Lord</span>, and read: not one of these shall fail</span></b>: This time of great tribulation is certainly coming upon the earth. This is beyond all doubt; our part isn't to bring it or to prevent it, but simply to be ready, and to <i>pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',21,36);">Luk 21:36</a>).</p>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/DG_Footer.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|