Isaiah 19:1-15.  Today Isaiah’s burden is about Egypt.  If you have been reading along there are two things you should be keeping in mind by now.  First, Isaiah has put theses messages together for the people of Judah.  Messages like this one about Egypt may have been a general warning to Egypt at one point but we have no evidence that suggests Isaiah ever went to Egypt or sent this message to them.  It still is there for any one from Egypt to read if they look for it but the book is still first to the people of the southern kingdom, Judah.  That does not mean it is not for us too, and we do need to learn its message.  Second, the message so far has focused on two things; God will deal with pride and It is God who deserves our honor not idols.

In this first part of the message or burden about Egypt we do not see any mention of their pride but look at the description of what God will do and the reaction.  First God is coming on a swift cloud that image is important later in the message because we see a severe drought and it’s results in verses 5-10.  So it is important to see that God has control over the clouds.  In the Bible swift moving clouds are useless because they pass without dropping any rain.  In Jude 12 selfish fake teachers in the church are called clouds without rain driven by the wind.  In the rest of the description of these men we see that they tell the people what they want to hear for money (Jude 11, that’s what Balaam did) and that they are selfish.  Instead of bringing what they people need they give them false hope.  In Proverbs 25:14 we see that a prideful man is also compared to clouds without rain.  By the way all clouds contain water it’s right there but in these cases it never gets to the ground

And what is the reaction to God riding right on by on theses clouds?  The idols tremble.  It reminds me of Moses.  Moses was an Israelite chosen by God to bring the rest of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt (See also “The Old Testament Connection”).  Of course the Pharaoh or king of Egypt at the time was not about to loose 600,000 (Number 1:46) free workers so he denied the request for them to leave.  Over the course of several days God used 10 miraculous signs to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go (though he though they might come back).  According to Bible scholars those signs or plagues were specifically aimed at certain idols of the Egyptians.  At first the Egyptian magicians, who were actually leaders of idol worship, copied the signs but eventually they could not keep up with God (Exodus 7-8).  In a sense the idols where shaken then too.  So we see fake gods in Egypt.  The Egyptians were giving God’s honor to something else.

Another part of the response to the drought was that the people’s hearts melted like wax on a hot day.  This is a way of saying that the people were discouraged.  In verses 7-8 the fishermen were discouraged because they could not catch anything, the low water levels were driving the fish away.  Also the cloth makers were discouraged because they didn’t have any “flax” to make into thread to make into cloth.   In verse 10 the weavers were compared to pillars.  Pillars are the big strong posts that support a building.  In this case the weavers were the big strong supporters of Egyptian society, the rich manufacturers.  Even today Egypt is know for its fine cotton.  But when God rode on by with the water Egypt’s economy was destroyed.  Men take pride in what they do and when there is no work it is very humiliating.  We should do the very best we can do, we should use our talents to their fullest, but we always need to remember where our abilities came from and use them for God’s honor and give him credit for them.

So in verse one we see the two main ideas of the book of Isaiah (Ok, Ok, so we have looked at verses 5-10 too).  In verse 2-4 we see another part of Egyptian pride and idolatry and also see a part of the message that would have applied directly to the Israelites.  Israel, or more specifically Judah, often though about making alliances with Egypt.  They would usually be warned against it by one of the prophets.  In fact one of the last kings of Judah was warned by the last prophet of Judah before the Babylonian captivity (Jeremiah) not to look to Egypt for help.  Instead of listening that king took the remaining people of Judah to Egypt seeking refuge.  Jeremiah was forced to go too.  Ironically Jeremiah predicted that on the front porch of the Egyptian palace in the city where the Israelites were staying that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would set up his royal tent.   History tells us that was exactly what happened in 567-568 BC.  But in our verses in Isaiah we see Egypt filled with riots or civil war.  Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot last very long and a kingdom divided against itself will be taken over (Matthew 12:25).  Here then we see the powerful go to ally not so powerful.  Instead of turning to God, the real power, they turn back to their idols and spirits of the dead.

Verses 11-15 tell us that the people turned to the idols because their leader are unwise fools,  In verse 12 there is a little beam of light, Isaiah encourages the “wise” men of Egypt to show the Egyptians that the LORD (Yahweh, the “I am who I am” that plagued Egypt 1000 years before) was working on them.  But instead the leaders lead them away from the LORD (v. 13).  Verse 15 ends today’s reading on a very sad note, from the highest person in Egypt (palm branch or head ) to the lowest (the bulrush, a weed on the edge of the river, or the tail) no one can find work.  The glorious hard working hard fighting Egypt has been completely humiliated and all God had to do was take a Sunday drive on one of his clouds.

We need to remember that God will deal with pride, everyone’s because pride keeps us away from Him.  God will also deal with false God, whether we are worshipping our selves, our work, the things we make, or things we make just to worship them.  God alone deserves to be honored.  And remember that is not some selfish power trip by God.  He is the one who made this wonderful world for us.  He is the one who filled it with awesome produce, amazing creatures, magnificent scenery, and he is the one who gave us the ability to appreciate it all.  He gave us eyes to see, ears to hear, a mouth to taste, a nose to smell, and hands to touch.  He also gave us a mind to understand, a conscience to guide us, and all of the abilities necessary to live and work and create and enjoy.  All because he loves us.  We are not mere animals, we are, created by the IAM (Yahweh) in his image.  We need to never worship the shadow we are but rather the reality He is.  He truly deserves all of the honor.  Lord help me always see you for who you are and what you are doing.  Let me give all of the credit to you.  Let my vision never be distorted by my own ideas or by the words of others.  Let your rain fall on me and let me appreciate all it brings.  Let your spirit be ever present in my life teaching and guiding me.  To you alone belongs all of the credit.  Thank you.

Isaiah 17:1-18:7.  Today we have another “burden” or heavy message about two more foreign nations.  The first part of the burden is about Syria or Aram.  Damascus is the capital of Aram.  We have already seen a lot of information about Aram because they were part of the coalition that was putting pressure on Ahaz to fight against Assyria.  As we have seen before God would deal with this nation and Ahaz should not have worried, but he did and made a treaty with Assyria.  God used Assyria and that treaty to destroy the coalition but it came at a cost and Ahaz kingdom also fell under an eventual curse.  We also see mentioned in this part of the reading, Ephraim.  Ephraim was one of the 10 tribes which made up the northern kingdom of Israel.  It was a major player in the kingdom and here it represents the entire northern kingdom.  In verse 3 when Aram’s cities are compared to the “glory of Israel” it is not hopeful, Israel was going to be destroyed by Assyria and Aram would be too.  The destruction would be very complete like an over picked field or orchard, almost nothing left.  The reason for the destruction is given in Isaiah 17:10, they had forgotten about God, the real God.  The result of the destruction is given in Isaiah 17:7, people will be forced to see that God exists.  Chapter 17 ends with a reminder that God will fight for Judah, and he did when the Assyrian army threatened to attack Jerusalem.  In response to Hezekiah’s faith the Assyrian army was distracted away from Jerusalem by a report of an Egyptian invasion.  It was at that time that God sent a destroying angel who destroyed 185,000 Assyrians troops in one night and the invasion of Jerusalem never happened

The second nation in today’s reading is Cush or Ethiopia.  About 730 BC there was a new king in Ethiopia who was exerting great power in his region.  If you do not know where Ethiopia is it is south of Egypt and he was exerting influence all the way north into Egypt.  Cush also was contacting Judah about alliances during these years (During the invasions by Assyria in 711 and 701 BC).  Although the Ethiopians were contacting Jerusalem it was god who had a message for them, “Look out!” (Woe in Isaiah 18:1).  Verses 5-6 talk about pruning a vine and God is the one doing the pruning.  God is also compared to the heat and humidity at harvest time.  I have never lived in a place where there is a lot of humidity but I am told it is hard to escape from that kind of heat.  In the same way God’s presence is everywhere and effects every thing.  The pruning is probably a reference to the destruction of Assyria, God knows what is going on and the nations are in his hands.  That was the message to the Ethiopians and their response was to sent gifts to Jerusalem honor the Lord of Hosts or God Almighty.  This compound name for God tells us that he is the God who controls the ultimate army.

I know it seems a little repetitive with all of theses messages to or about all of these different powerful kingdoms all having the same basic message but you need to remember what was going on.  Theses messages were originally given over a time of about 40 years, one generation.  During that time there were dozens of invasions, wars and rumors of war, Isaiah starts the book by mentioning four different kings in Jerusalem.  There were several different nations all fighting for power in the region with all of these smaller kingdoms caught in the middle.  These smaller kingdoms in response tried to make different alliances to fight off the invaders.  When one or more of the small kingdoms failed the others would bail out.  Can you say, Drama”?  But this drama was real life with thousands dying in the process.  You might say, “Where was God in all of this?”  The answer is right there in the middle of it all.  The problem is the people were not looking to God they were looking to each other, themselves, and to the fake idols they had made.  As sad as all of that destruction was it is even sadder the fact that these peole were not getting their relationship with God worked out, because that lasts forever, one way or the other (Remember the bed of maggots and blanket of worms? (Isaiah 14:11)).  God doesn’t like all of the destruction either but sometimes we can be so stubborn it takes a lot to get through to us, and most of th time theses nations were acting on their own, God just used their actions to focus people back to him.  The paradise that was lost in Genesis 2 because of disobedience will one day be restored (Revelation 21-22) but it will only be for those who have put their trust in the promised coming king (from the house of David).  The question for us is will we see the destruction and reject God or will we bring gifts like the Ethiopians did to honor him.  Isaiah repeats the idea over and over that God will deal with pride and he will be honored because in times of trouble we can often forget about him.  The book started out with people in good times forgetting God too.  So I guess we need reminders all the time.  Hopefully we will learn and turn away from our man made solutions and trust and honor God.  Lord help me see you at work and give you the honor you deserve.  Help me trust you and help me follow you.  I don’t want to be pruned and I don’t want to be left on the hill side for the vultures I want to be with you forever in your kingdom.  Help me start practicing now by following you faithfully.