이사야 Chapter 29

Translation: ESV

1

Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.

Key Message

Even those with outward religious form are not exempt from judgment if they lack a true relationship with God.

▸Ariel is another name for Jerusalem (meaning 'lion of God' or 'altar hearth of God').

Ariel is another name for Jerusalem (meaning 'lion of God' or 'altar hearth of God'). A woe is pronounced over 'the city where David encamped'—David's city of Jerusalem. Even a religious city that keeps its appointed feasts is not exempt from judgment.

Related Verses

Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'
2

Yet I will distress Ariel, and there will be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.

Key Message

God's judgment brings purification and ultimately leads to true restoration.

▸God says he will distress Ariel (Jerusalem).

3

And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siege works against you.

Key Message

God's judgment is carried out concretely in history.

▸This is a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem—corresponding to the Assyrian siege under Sennacherib in 701 BC (which historically failed) and the Babylonian siege of 586 BC (which succeeded).

4

And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

Key Message

The proud will inevitably be brought low before God.

▸The proud Jerusalem will be brought low, able to produce only a whisper from the ground.

5

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,

Key Message

God suddenly brings about a reversal for his humbled people.

▸After Jerusalem's abasement, a reversal comes.

6

You will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

Key Message

God fights for his people with cosmic power.

▸Elements of divine theophany—thunder, earthquake, whirlwind, flame—are used to punish the enemies.

7

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

Key Message

Before God's intervention, even the mightiest army vanishes like a dream.

▸The nations' armies that fight Jerusalem will vanish like a dream.

9

Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!

Key Message

Continually ignoring God's word leads to spiritual paralysis, unable to see God's works.

▸They stagger without being drunk.

10

For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

Key Message

Persistent rejection of God's warnings ultimately makes one unable to see spiritual truth.

▸God pours out a spirit of deep sleep and closes their spiritual eyes.

11

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, 'Read this,' he says, 'I cannot, for it is sealed.'

Key Message

God's truth cannot be understood by intellectual ability; God must open it for understanding.

▸As a result of spiritual blindness, God's visions become like a sealed book.

13

And the Lord said: 'Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.'

Key Message

God desires not external worship but genuine worship from the heart.

▸This is the verse Jesus quotes in Matthew 15:8-9 against the Pharisees.

14

Therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.

Key Message

God's work surpasses human wisdom with wonder upon wonder, and this is the essence of the gospel.

▸This is the verse Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 1:19.

16

You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, 'He did not make me'; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?

Key Message

The creature cannot judge the will of the Creator and must humbly trust in God's plan.

▸The parable of the potter.

17

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

Key Message

God's restoration is a wonderful reversal that transforms even the natural order.

▸A vision of transformation after judgment.

18

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

Key Message

In the day of God's restoration, both spiritual and physical deafness and blindness will be healed.

▸The time of restoration comes when the deaf hear and the blind see.

19

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

Key Message

God exalts the meek and the poor, and this is the paradox of the kingdom of God.

▸The meek and the poor obtain joy from God.

22

Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: 'Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.'

Key Message

The God who has redeemed his people throughout history will continue to redeem them.

▸The God who redeemed Abraham will also redeem the descendants of Jacob.