From Where Does Help Come?
As we saw
yesterday, chapter 31 deals with the issue of getting help and support from
Egypt. Since I went into the problems
with this approach yesterday, I’ll assume that I don’t need to repeat them
here. However, the fact remains that God
considers the fact that the Hebrew people are turning to Egypt for help against
the Assyrians to be a significant insult to His relationship with them.
I love the
opening verses in this chapter. The
Hebrew people long to “rely on horses” and “trust in chariots.” They long to rely upon the strength of
horsemen and the chariots because they are numerous. The Hebrew people see what appears to be
strength in numbers and sheer brute force.
But they are
missing something. The so-called
strength of the Egyptians is not based at all upon the Lord’s evaluation of
their power. What is a whole valley full
of chariots to God? What is the strength
of a horseman in the eyes of the same God who created the universe? What good is flesh when we can rely upon the
eternal? What good is the physical when
we can rely upon the spiritual? When the
Lord stretches out His hand, who can resist Him without stumbling?
I wonder how
many times humanity has to learn this lesson.
Remember David and Goliath?
Remember Daniel and the Lion’s Den?
Or Daniel and the fiery furnace?
Remember Joshua and Caleb as the Hebrew people were coming out of
Egyptian bondage? Remember Gideon and
the battle that God called him to fight as God whittled down his army? Remember Joshua and the battle of Jericho? Why do we as human beings feel so comfortable
putting our faith in the physical world as a source of our sustaining?
Isaiah bids
the Hebrew people to listen to God.
Isaiah tells them that God is not afraid of the Assyrians. Isaiah tells them that God will fight for His
holy hill (Jerusalem). As a lion stalks
a herd of sheep regardless of the number of shepherds, so will God stalk the
Assyrians.
I thought
long and hard about this last analogy.
Have you ever seen a cheetah hunt antelope? It doesn’t matter how big the herd is, the
cheetah will stalk it in a very singular pattern. Or what about a pride of lions stalking a
herd of water buffalo. They may circle
around to protect themselves, but doesn’t the lion pride usually single out one
who is weak or young and drag it down?
The same ferocity and single-minded purpose that is alive in the cheetah
and the lion is alive in the Lord. He
will protect His interests. He will
defend that which is His. The Lord is
not daunted by the size of the opposition.
The good Lord brought them into the world; He can take them out.
Just to be
sure that the Hebrew people have heard the Lord, God spells it out very clearly
through Isaiah. Assyria will fall by a
sword, but not the sword of a man.
Assyria will flee in a panic.
Isaiah tells them flat out from where their hope is to come.
The People’s Response
However, the
people do not listen. Remember God’s
revelation through Isaiah only a few days ago?
God tells us that even though Jerusalem will be miraculously saved, they
will go back to life as normal in a very short period. Although the Assyrians will be slaughtered by
no effort of mankind, the Hebrew people in Jerusalem will miss the hand of the
Lord that olds the sword to the throat of the Assyrians. They will see the act, but they will miss its
meaning entirely.
However,
Isaiah is right. Eventually, Israel
would throw away their idols. It will
take the Babylonian captivity and the rescue at the hand of the Persians – but
the remnant of the Hebrew people will cast away their idols. Well, for a time, at least. But here we go again with humanity. We all cast away our idols … only to either
pick them up again or find ourselves drawn to new idols. Such is the fate of humanity. We love our idols.
God is
indeed a gracious God. Slow to
anger. Abounding in steadfast love. Thanks be to God!
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment