Isaiahs prophecy and the doom of the Jewish state: (Reading Isaiah 3) The Decay of Israel: Isaiah prophesizes at a period where the decadence of Judah and Israel reached a peak. These prophecies precedes the exile of the Jews in 500 BC. A few things occurred before the Jews were sacked. The first was the confidence of the Israelites with what they possess and what they could do with their own hands. Such confidence with themselves lead to a total disregard of God. This is the “loftiness of man” referred to in Is 2:17. The consequences of such pride are losses and poverty; what they thought they had and owned was taken away from them, even the basic necessities like food, water and security (v1-3). Their “wealth” will be reduced to the extent that they become “powerless”, so that even babes and children will have power over them and rule over them (v3:4). Furthermore, what they did with their hands were evil in God’s sight (v8). It came to a state that people did not recognize what is evil anymore and they did evil openly and shamelessly (v9), becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah. The consequence is that they will “eat the fruit of their doings.”(v10) The universal truth is that they will reap what they sow. If they sow distrust, they will one day be betrayed themselves. If they sow immorality, they will see decadence and corruption of their lives. The lives of the Israelites, post exile, is an example we know we would suffer if we similarly sinned against God.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:22:26 +0000