2:1  A prophecy concerning Judea and Jerusalem which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw in vision:

Now in chapter one, we have a similar heading: “The vision of Isaiah, which he saw or beheld,” and the verbs used here in both places and the noun – to see in vision. I don’t think the Hebrew in chapter two verse one says that “he saw in vision,” using a verb and a noun like that. As I recall, it just says that “he saw.” But, the connotation of that Hebrew verb “to see” is used only in the sense of seeing in vision. We don’t have that verb in English. We don’t have a verb that says, when you see, using this verb, you mean seeing in vision. But, the Hebrews had that in their culture. They were a nation of visionaries, many of them anyway. In order to get across the connotation, the exact connotation, of how he was seeing, you have to add “saw in vision.” I don’t think some of the translations, like the King James, say that. But, that defines how he was seeing.

2:2  In the latter days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall become established as the head of the mountains; it shall be preeminent among the hills, and all nations will flow to it.

So, here we establish a context. This is kind of a unique context in the book of Isaiah that he actually identifies the latter-days. Because, most of what goes on in the Book of Isaiah actually happened historically, happened in his day, before and after Isaiah’s day. And those things are what we call historical. But here, he defines another context – the Latter Days. And, in Judaism you’re taught that the words of the Hebrew prophets apply two distinct levels; one in the prophet’s own day, and the other in the latter days. And, you can take books, like the Book of Isaiah and apply them on those two levels, one referring to the time of the prophet and the other to the latter days. And, both interpretations or both levels, in which we can read in the Book of Isaiah, are valid. And we find in the Book of Ezekiel, when Ezekiel is castigating his people, they made the claim and say, “Well, he’s not talking about us, he’s prophesying about the far off time, meaning the latter days. And so, they understood that double connotation, but they didn’t want to associate themselves with present connotation for them, which was their own day. They just wanted to relegate his prophecies of nasty things to someone else. And, we who live in this day do the exact opposite, when we relegate these prophecies in Isaiah back to their day, the time of Isaiah. Because of human nature, we haven’t changed. We’re still doing the same thing. Well, here Isaiah gives a definition or a timeframe for his prophecy.

Well, the odd thing is that, yes, some of the things that Isaiah spoke about in apply in history and her and in other places where he identifies some glorious things that are yet to come, they’re definitely talking about the future millennial time of peace. It hasn’t come yet. But, there was a structure in the Book of Isaiah that works like a domino effect. Isaiah will repeat several events in different contexts in the Book of Isaiah and he’ll link them to other events, domino fashion. He’ll mention, like I’ve said before, a new exodus, as a wandering in the wilderness and something else. And, then somewhere else in another part of the Book of Isaiah he’ll mention a new exodus and link a few other events to it, and so forth. And, he’ll take a wandering in the wilderness somewhere else and link other events to it. He kind of interconnects all these events in the Book of Isaiah. Well. Some of those events connect up with this passage, chapter two. The time frame for this passage is the latter days. So, what does that tell you? Since, there is no other time frame given, connecting those events in the Book of Isaiah. It means that the whole theory of connected events, all happen in the latter days. And, that’s one of Isaiah’s structures. That’s the way he establishes the latter-days as a timeframe for all the events he interconnects. That’s just one structure. It’s kind of a rhetorical structure that happens kind of below the surface. There are other structures in Isaiah that are much more supportive of a latter day timeframe than that one. But, it is one structure and it is a valid one. All of this stuff that we’ve been reading, in other words we can apply on a latter day level. Because it interconnects through these linking events, domino fashion to this timeframe, the latter days.

In the latter days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall become established as the head of the mountains; it shall be preeminent among the hills, and all nations will flow to it.” The mountain of the Lord’s house; the Lord’s house is the place where the temple is. The Lord’s house can also be His covenant people themselves, but its main connotation in the Book of Isaiah, through the linking words is a temple. Mountain can also be a physical place. That’s its first level of meaning. However, mountain is also a metaphor in Isaiah for a nation or kingdom. And so, we could be reading on that level – in the latter days nation of the Lord’s house shall become established as the head of the nations, rather than the head of the mountains. And, that was a covenant blessing that was promised Israel in the Sinai covenant; that if Israel kept the terms of the covenant, she would become the head of the nations, not the tail. And, if other nations became the head of the nations, it would be because of Israel’s apostasy. Well, he’s predicting that in the latter days, the Lord’s covenant people would become the head of the nations. The King James translation reads “the tops of the mountains” rather than the head of the mountains. And the word in Hebrew for head or top is “Rosh;” pointing to my head. And top is a secondary meaning of the word “Rosh.” Isaiah also chose that word like peaks or mesas or some other word indicating a geographical location. But, he didn’t. He chose the word head. Why? Because in Isaiah he establishes the word mountain as a metaphor for nations. And, so the head of the mountains means the head of the nations, which is the covenant blessing. Do we have a nation today that is the head of the nations? We do. It’s right here, the United States. How did this nation become the head of the nations? Because, we had a people who were a righteous people, who were Christians, who established this nation to be the head of the nations, or rather God established it because of their righteousness; because they kept covenant with their God, the God of Israel. And, as a result they inherited the blessings of the covenant of Israel and became the head of the nations. Is that the only fulfillment, then, of the prophecy? No, there are many levels that we can look at this. Because in verse three, it identifies the people involved here as the people of Zion, the people of Jerusalem. And, that is a connotation that does not appear in the Book of Isaiah until right before the Millennium. Then we have a people of Zion emerge. And, that has not happened yet. So, let’s review.

So far, we have a physical fulfillment where we have the temple of God in the tops of the mountains. That’s a valid level of interpreting this. Secondly, we have a head of the nations; namely the United States of America. And third, we have a millennial context that hasn’t happened yet, when the people of Zion will be established; and this prophecy will be fulfilled more properly, in its fullest sense, ‘cause it says “it shall be preeminent among the hills and all nations will flow to it.” Who flowed into this nation to make it up? People of all nations made up the USA. But, in a millennial context, what does this refer to? What happens when Zion is established? Isaiah shows that when Zion is established, it will be established by people of all nations who will go to Zion. And, they will come to Zion and be gathered from the four corners of the Earth, from the four directions, in an exodus to Zion. All those nations will flow or representatives of all nations will flow to Zion. And, the word “flow” in fact, of nations flowing is a word link or two word link to other passages of Isaiah. One of them is there in the margins, 66 verse 12. There are two of them. The only other two instances in which the word flow is used in the context of nations flowing, rather than nations going or coming to Zion. It uses the word flow like water flows, or streams flow. It is the same word used as streams of water. He uses those words because in the other two contexts that create these word links we have Israel’s returnees returning from exile or from dispersion to Zion. And, they flow as they go, as it were to Zion. It’s called Israel’s Return. And, we’ll see those contexts and that cross reference is one of them. So, what we see here then in this passage when people say:

2:3  Many peoples shall go, saying, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, that we may follow in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.

It is in a particular sense applicable to the return of Israel in an exodus to Zion in the latter days. And, that hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t seen that new exodus happen yet. That context will more fully fulfill this prophecy in the latter days, referring to the latter days. The way Isaiah links these contexts through word links, it has a particular reference to the return of Israel in the latter days to Zion. “Many people shall go, (verse three), saying,” he said all nations at the end of verse two, and here he says many peoples. He doesn’t mean entire nations. He means representatives of people, because we know that most people of the Earth are going to be wiped out; because the Earth will be in a general state of wickedness in the latter days; necessitating that God intervene in destroying the wicked from the Earth. Because if he did not do so, he would not be God. He must deliver his people when they rely upon him to deliver them from the oppressors and from the wicked. When wickedness becomes bad enough, then God intervenes as he did at the Flood. And, he destroyed the wicked from the Earth. The Flood is a type in Isaiah of that kind of universal destruction. So, when it says, “All nations will flow unto it” means representatives of all nations. “Many people shall go, saying, come let us go up” certainly in a millennial context it will be all nations literally. They will come up once or twice a year on a pilgrimage to Zion. That’s what they did anciently when they went to Jerusalem, from around the land of Israel. And, this is a pilgrimage motif and says “Many peoples shall go, saying, let us go up.” The Hebrew word “go up” is one verb, “ala” means to go on a pilgrimage. To go up in that particular verb, means to go on a pilgrimage – “ala.” The pilgrimage was called “Aliyah,” from the same root word. Noun flows from the verb.

And also an empire anciently, in the ancient near east, as it was in the empire of David and Solomon, all the tributary nations, subservient to Israel, their kings and their peoples came up to Jerusalem to pay tribute to King David or King Solomon, or to any other emperor that ruled in the ancient areas. The tributary or vassal kings came once or twice a year to renew their allegiance to the emperor and they brought gifts with them or tribute monies to the emperor, and that’s a type and shadow that we have in the past of what will happen in the future. Representatives of people will come from all over the world and bring these tributes to Zion or Jerusalem.

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord;” of course this time they will come willingly. Some of them may not have come so willingly in ancient times. “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” – up to the temple. “That He may instruct us in His ways, that we may follow in His paths.” – So there is instruction to be had in the House of God. And, that’s something perhaps that the Jews have lost sight of. Their connotation of temple worship involves sacrificial animals, and so forth. But here, Isaiah makes clear that there is instruction to be had there – “That we may follow in His paths.” And, later on Isaiah talks about things like that. Here it is in chapter 26 in verse seven and verse eight. “The path of the righteous is straight. Thou pavest an undeviating course for the upright. In the very passage of thine ordinances (that is temple ordinances) we anticipate thee, or Lord; the soul’s desire is to contemplate they name.” And, there are many passages like that, that have connotations of temple imagery in them. And, the purpose of the path is to lead to God. The path brings you into his presence. “For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.” – so, when it’s all restored as we saw earlier, then the millennium can begin. When the law of God is restored and the word of the Lord is obeyed, then this millennial context will follow. In Isaiah, the law of the word of the Lord are his covenant law. They are expressed in terms of the covenant. So, if it is a secular law, it will be a theocracy that we’re talking about. The law of God is also the law of the land in this case, in a millennial context. The law going forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem is not exclusively the law from Zion and not exclusively the word from Jerusalem. It can be vice versa. The word can also go forth from Zion and the law from Jerusalem. But, this is describing the millennium, in its prophetic sense, proper fulfillment.

2:4  He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks: nation will not lift the sword against nation, nor will they learn warfare any more.

Well, some people are trying to do that now, aren’t they? Is that a good idea, to that any time? Well, if destruction is looming, then would that be a wise thing, to just put your head in the sand? Until the millennium is actually established, this would not be a wise idea. Also, the context in which Isaiah here gives, is that only when that when that millennial context is established, then do you do that. Because up until the, you may need to defend yourself.

Verse four has the word judge in int. And, the word judge, you take that all the way through Isaiah and see what its word links are and you’ll find that there are two who judge in the Book of Isaiah; first of all it the Lord himself. He’s called his people’s judge, and secondly the servant. He also judges. Then there are those judges, lesser judges such those in verse 26 of chapter one that we already saw. But, basically in Isaiah it is the Lord and His servant who judge. Who is it in this case? “He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks, nation will not lift sword against nation, nor will they learn warfare any more. O house of Israel, come, let us follow the light of the Lord.” Well, it could be the Lord and His servant in this case; because certainly when the Lord comes; he will come to rule upon the Earth or reign upon the Earth in the millennium. He will be the judge. But, also he appoints his servant as the judge. And, his servant will continue to rule during the millennium as well and so will the lesser judges. In fact, all 144,000 that John the Revelator talks about appears to be lesser judges in Israel, of that kind, the ones mentioned chapter one verse 26. When that theocracy is established, all will be judging like Moses and the Elders of Israel. They will judge the higher and lesser cases of the people; as a matter of delegation of that kind of authority. “He will judge, but here is a person;” so, it’s the Lord or his servant, “between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples.” And then, the millennial time of peace will begin. “The lifting of the sword,” – Since the sword is a metaphor describing the King of Assyria, “the lifting of the sword” has a secondary connotation; not only does it mean that they will not shoot each other anymore or thrust each other through with literal swords or bayonets; but it also means that they will not sustain such an one as the Anti-Christ anymore, which they will before the millennium begins. There will be many people on the Earth who will sustain this person, and uphold him as some kind of Messiah or Christ figure; someone who’s bringing peace on the Earth, when in fact all he’s interested in, is ruling the world as some kind of demi-god and is a dictator.

It has that connotation that there will be no more sustaining or lifting up; it’s the same word in Hebrew; of evil people or violent people such as him. “Nor will there be warfare any more” because there will be no more need to defend themselves against their enemies. Why not? Well, the Lord will be present among them, and they will have the power of God to put down their enemies, as the servant does in chapter 11. It says “he will smite the earth with the od of his mouth and with the breath of his lips slay the wicked.” And, there will be those such as the 144,000 who will have that kind of power, power over the elements. So, they will not need to learn warfare any more to defend themselves.

2:5  O house of Jacob, come, let us follow the light of the Lord.

This is a transition in reverse between that passage, verses two through four an what follow; because what follows is talking about the people’s wickedness again. So, he’s kind of holding out this possibility, this millennial possibility, to the wicked. And, to be part of that possibility, of that millennial context, people have to do something. They have to follow the light of the Lord. In the Book of Isaiah, the Lord’s light is the law of the Lord and his precepts. They are called a “light unto the nations,” later on the Book of Isaiah. The Lord himself is a light also, and so is his servant. The Lord is the greater light and the servant is the lesser light. The servant is like the light dawning after a dark night; like the downing of the millennium. The dawning of the millennium happens or begins to happen, when the Lord’s servant fulfills his mission; and then when the sun pops over the horizon; that’s like the Lord coming in glory to the Earth. But, there’s a preparatory time during which the Lord’s servant fulfills his mission. What is the servant’s job? Well, he establishes justice and righteousness. He will restore the law and order of God. And, he is a light. He is appointed as a light to the nations, in the Book of Isaiah. The Lord appoints him. And, his job is to bring people into the presence of the Lord, which is the Lord himself, who is the light, the greater light.

2:6  For thou, O Lord, hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because, like the Philistines,  they provide themselves with mystics from the East and are content with the infantile heathen.

So, all of those ideas are linked here. And, the Lord’s servant does it through establishing the law and will of God, which are called a light awesome. So, there are several ideas present in that verse. “The House of Jacob” identifies a category, like that of Israel. All through the Book of Isaiah, Jacob, and Israel form a single category of people or a particular level of covenant keeping. Zion and Jerusalem form a higher level. The level of Jacob/Israel are those who have need to repent. The level of Zion are those who do repent and obtain a remission of their sins, as we saw in verse 27. Zion are those of Israel who repent. And, basically these people now that are going to be mentioned in the next few verses have need to repent, as we will see.
For thou, O Lord, hast forsaken they people.” “Thy people” identifies the covenant people. It’s the covenant formula. This is their God, my God, his people. Those possessives always identifies a covenant relationship between the Lord and his people. “Thou hast forsaken they people.” Why? Because earlier we read that they had forsaken him, right? They have forsaken the Lord. They have spurned the Holy One of Israel. They have lapsed into apostasy. We see that here.
Thou hast forsaken they people, the house of Jacob, because, like the Philistines, they provide themselves with mystics from the East and are content with the infantile heathen.” They have become like the Philistines. In other words, they are following the customs of the nations round about, against which Moses warned them; not to follow the customs of the nations round about, one of them being the Philistines, because they were into various kinds of idolatry or idol worship. And, so these are here, “like the Philistines, they provide themselves with mystics from the East,” gurus or some other type of wise men who teach people their ideas about God and spirituality. “And are content with the infantile heathen.”  These mystics from the East are paralleled with infantile heathen. So to God, their wisdom is infantile. It’s childish. It’s nonsense. God has a covenant with his people. There’s all the knowledge in the world there, in his law and in his word. You don’t have to turn to other people who don’t know the God of Israel, who don’t know the God of Heaven and Earth; or to some kind of mysticism or oriental religion. They may have truth. Who’s to say they don’t? But, as far as the covenant with Israel is concerned; everything that you need is there. It’s a form of Idolatry to do that. As in the next verse,

2:7  Their land is full of silver and gold and there is no end to their wealth; their land is full of horses and there is no end to their chariots.

Their land is full of idols: They adore the works of their hands, things they own fingers have made.” Notice “their land is full of” appears three times, identifying silver and gold, horses, and idols. It kind of sums up, the silver, the gold, the wealth, and the horses and chariots, as idols; doesn’t it?

2:8  Their land is full of idols: they adore the works of their hands, things their own fingers have made.

Because of their parallelism it identifies synonymous categories. Do people today idolize wealth, silver, and gold? Idols are identified as all those things that a particular definition “as the works of men’s hands,” materialism in other words. The society is rife with materialism. The horses and chariots today could of course refer to vehicles. They could be a metaphor as they usually are of such things.

2:9  Mankind is brought low when men thus debase themselves. Forbear them not!

Mankind is humanity as a whole. How is humanity as a whole brought low? When men debase themselves.  Because every time someone transgresses, he brings everyone down with him, as it were. He adds to the corporate iniquity, or wickedness, the corporate guilt. When people debase themselves through their idolatry; they drag humanity as a whole down with them, to the slightly lower level. And, when people across the board do that, the whole society kind of keeps sinking down in spirituality. So, you must not think, I other words, that what you do individually is not going to affect anybody else. It has repercussions all through your society. Your iniquities, and your spirit, and the vile things you do, will have an impact upon everyone else around you; one way or another. We can’t avoid it; with the kind of consequences of wickedness. So, the more wickedness there is in the Earth; the more that cumulative affect happens until it gets to the point where the Lord has to intervene and destroy the whole thing. Just like he did at the Flood.
Forbear them not.” – Don’t put up with them. Don’t tolerate it. Don’t give them the time of day.

2:10 Go into the rocks; hide in the dust from the awesome presence of the Lord and from the brightness of his glory.

When humanity gets to that degree of wickedness, then is the time of the Lord going to come. “The awesome presence of the Lord” happens when He comes; he comes in person. It’s kind of a paradox isn’t it? When things come to that head of wickedness; they also come that head of righteousness. Because in the Book of Isaiah, you have at the time, extreme wickedness; is when the Elect emerge. That very wickedness of society acts as a “refiner’s fire” of God’s own people, his covenant people, who do repent; who do keep the terms of the covenant; and who do prove faithful under all conditions. And, that wickedness and that oppression at the hands of the wicked actually lifts them up, actually elevates them to that elect status. Their having to suffer through that time, acts as a refiner’s fire and has a sanctifying affect upon them; so that when the Lord comes; He comes to those people, those elect who are awaiting their deliverance, from him. You have that same idea in that expression in the New Testament with Christ that “He comes as a thief in the night.” Christ is not a thief, but the king of Assyria is a thief. And, he does the plundering and the spoiling of the whole world as we’ll see in chapter 10. The Lord commissions him as a plunderer and a spoiler of the whole world. And, he comes as a thief in the night. He deceives the nations. And, that happens immediately preceding the coming of Christ himself. The king of Assyria comes to power, or the king of Babylon as he is also called. He comes to power and then is put down and that’s when the king of Zion, Christ the Lord comes. The king of Zion does not come until the King of Babylon is put down. And so, he has his day of power first; the king of Babylon does, the Anti- Christ does. And so, it is here; mankind being full of idolatry, being full of wickedness, cause God to intervene. How? To allow the king of Assyria to put an end to all of that; to put an end to all of those who do not repent. And then, the Lord comes. So, the presence of the Lord is like his coming as a thief in the night. It may not be his actual presence when He come that we’ll all perish, because we’re wicked and we’ll perish because we can’t stand to be in his presence. Well, that’s not how it happens at all. The presence of the Lord is his imminent coming, as well as, his literal presence. And, his imminent coming is preceded by the work of the king of Assyria, of destruction; of burning the wicked by fire; and destroying them by the sword. And so, those who go into the rocks and hide in the dust; from the awesome presence of the Lord and from the brightness of his glory. This passage could be alluding to those events that actually precede his literal, physical coming.
Dust is a chaos motif. Isaiah is actually saying or implying that they will be annihilated; they will be eliminated, he’s kind of mocking them, as it were. They become even with the dust, as it says later on in the Book of Isaiah. The Lord does come in glory, this time. In chapter 53 we see his first coming, which is as a humble, suffering servant, but in its second fulfillment, this coming to rule upon the Earth, of which I have been speaking, of which Isaiah is speaking; that is his coming in glory or his second coming

2:11  The haughty eyes of men shall be lowered and man’s pride abased; the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

And, that’s the theme in this next passage. That that which is high and mighty or lifted up in pride will be abased, everything which is high will be laid low and everything which is low will be lifted up. It’s kind of a reversal of circumstances, between the righteous and the wicked as a matter of fact; that’s present all the way through the Book of Isaiah. – That which exalts itself now is humiliated and that which has been humiliated is exalted. And that’s the pattern of the Lord himself. And, those who follow the pattern of the Lord, the Elect, will go through the same experience. They will at first be humiliated and then exalted. On the other hand, the wicked who exalt themselves now, will end up humiliated. And, it says, “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” It identifies the Lord himself, but actually later on in the Book of Isaiah it talks about Zion being exalted, the people of God being exalted. On the other hand, the wicked, who exalt themselves now, will end up humiliated.

And it says, “The lord shall be exalted in that day.” It identifies the Lord himself, but actually later on in the Book of Isaiah, but actually later on in the Book of Isaiah it talks about Zion being exalted, the people of God being exalted. So, we have to qualify this line by saying everything that is of the Lord will be exalted. And, of course, those whom the Lord exalts, exalt the Lord too. They don’t exalt themselves. They exalt the Lord. They attribute salvation to him and He exalts them, because they stuck it out; they proved faithful to his covenant. “In that day,” at the end of verse 11, “that day” is an expression that appears all the way through the Book of Isaiah. It identifies the Lord’s day of judgment. It’s called “the day of the Lord.” It is the same day that John the Revelator saw in vision, when it says that John the Revelator was in vision on the Lord’s Day, or in the Day of the Lord. It didn’t mean that he’s just seeing things on a Sunday. It is a day of judgment lasting for a period of three or four years in the Book of Isaiah, when the Lord comes, and destroying the wicked from the Earth; using the King of Assyria to do that; and comes himself to reign upon the Earth. That’s the Lord’s day. John the Revelator identifies it as three and a half years, so does the Book of Daniel. Isaiah identifies it as about three years.

2:12  The Lord of Hosts has a day in store for all the proud and arrogant and for all who are exalted, that they may be brought low.

“The day in store” for all the proud and arrogant and for all who are exalted, is exalting itself. And, in Isaiah’s scenario that which exalts itself is humiliated.  In fact, they are brought low and eliminated, not just put down from positions of authority; they’re actually eliminated from the Earth and go into the dust. And, that which has been low and humiliated, or oppressed at the hands of the wicked, or maybe even the Lord’s elect; they will be exalted.

2:13  It shall come against all the lofty cedars of Lebanon that lift themselves up high, and against all the oaks of Bashan,

against all high mountains and elevated hills, against every tall tower and reinforced wall, against all vessels at sea, both merchant ships and pleasure craft.” Now notice all those are in the nature of geophysical objects. And yet, in the previous verses he’s been talking about people exalting themselves and being abased and the Lord being exalted.  If the Lord is going to be exalted, then the Lord has been humiliated; for that’s the pattern of humiliation and exaltation that’s all through Isaiah. It’s also the central idea of two structures in the Book of Isaiah. The structure of contrast; the king of Babylon, chapter 14 with the King of Zion, chapter 52; and Isaiah’s seven part structure. The key and central ideas of that structure are humiliation and exaltation. And there is never an exaltation without a prior humiliation. So that means or that implies in verse 11, when the Lord alone should be exalted in that day; He himself has gone through a prior humiliation.

But here, we’re talking about the opposite phenomenon, here is a prior exaltation followed be an enforced humiliation. And that’s in verse 12 and also the Lord supplanting the idol God’s in verse 18; and men’s pride abased in verse 17. But there, in verses 13 through 16, we have a series of geophysical objects, where nothing is mentioned about people being abased, only about these geophysical objects being abased. –cedars of Lebanon, oaks of Bashan; but later on we’ll see that those are metaphors. Many of these things are metaphors. And, that it is the King of Assyria who does this leveling; for example, the King of Assyria is called the Lord’s axe and saw in chapter 10 verse 15. And, elsewhere he’s the one who hews down the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan. He knocks them down. That’s actually an old Mesopotamian idea. In Mesopotamian folklore and mythology, the hero, to show his prowess, that he was really macho was to come down into Lebanon from Mesopotamia and hew down the cedars of Lebanon. We have that idea here. He’s actually the King of Assyria, He’s this macho type fellow who comes down. He kind of follows in the pattern of these Gods of mythology or these heroes who came and did that. And, it’s Isaiah’s ways of identifying him with these figures of myth. He does that in other ways too. In the Canaanite myth, the false god there identifies with the sea and river. And, Isaiah calls him by those names, sea and river, all through the Book of Isaiah. He’s the sea in commotion with the river and flood. He causes this chaos throughout the Earth. He’s the power of chaos, or new flood that floods over everything and destroys it. What’s implied here is not just literal trees and you could take it on this level; I suppose; that these people , the elite people’s of the Earth, in fact, and particularly the elite peoples of Israel, because Lebanon is a name that’s used of the elite of Israel or of Israel all through the Old Testament. Look it up in a concordance sometime, all the way through the Old Testament. We’ll see that Lebanon identifies with the people of God. It’s a metaphor. So, the cedars of Lebanon against whom the Lord comes or that day comes implies that the elite peoples of the world and of the Earth are going to be made low and wretched. –the oaks of Bashan.. Later on, we’ll see that righteous elements replace these wicked elements; for example the followers of righteousness are also called the oaks of righteousness. They’re people. They’re like the mighty oaks of society. The wicked oaks are replaced by the righteous oaks in that day. So people are called the oaks of righteousness.

2:14  against all high mountains and elevated hills,

Then mountain and hills; those are again metaphors for nations large and small. And we’ll come across several instances where mountains are parallel in synonymous parallelisms with nations or kingdoms or to let us know they are metaphors for nations or kingdoms. Trees are people. Forests are cities, and mountains are nations in Isaiah.

2:15  against every tall tower and reinforced wall,

those are the other forms of human institutions, not just literal towers. Now we have sky scrapers that are called tower. And, no doubt that will be literal. The day of the Lord will come against those kinds of physical objects, but also against all human institutions; same with vessels at sea and merchant ships. Later on in chapter 23 as in chapter 23 verse 1 it’s cross referenced there. We see that part of Babylon or part of this false socio-economic structure of the world is this merchandising. That too will be made an end of. That whole structure will collapse. And it will collapse in the Lord’s day of judgment, through the agency of the King of Assyria.

2:16  against [all vessels at sea,] both merchant ships and pleasure craft.

Pleasure craft are also talked about, indicating people’s quest for their own pleasures.

2:17  The haughtiness of men shall be abased, and man’s pride brought low; the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Well, he’s already said something along those lines in verse 11. Why does he say it again? I guess to make the point. Something similar is said in verse 19. – “From the awesome presence of the Lord and from the brightness of his glory, when he rises and strikes terror in the Earth,” He said that kind of thing before. In verse 21 he says something along those lines again. So he keeps repeating some of these elements. Why do you think he does that? For emphasis, and also when he repeats things, as in chapters 9 and 10. He repeats a phrase “For all that, his anger is not abated, his hand is up raise still.” That refrain keeps repeating itself 3 or 4 times. And that is to let you know that this time of judgment will be prolonged; just when you think it might be over, it goes another round, and another round. And so, when he says in verse 18

2:18  He will utterly supplant the false gods.

He really does mean that. They’re not going to be left around anymore. Notice the link between pride, human pride and false gods, where they themselves are their own gods or the works of their hands in which they take pride, or their wealth, or whatever it may be. Those things have taken them away from the service of God and attending to the needs of His people, which they can properly serve.

2:19  Men will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, from the awesome presence of the Lord and from the brightness of his glory, when he arises and strikes terror on earth.

Well, who does? Everybody? No. What happens to the elect? Did they go into the caves, and bomb shelters and stuff like that? No way. If you were building a bomb shelter what you are actually doing is saying: “I don’t trust in the Lord’s salvation. I’m going to be saved through my own means.” And that’s a common test in the Book of Isaiah.

The elect thrust in the Lord to deliver them. They take certain precautions, but they don’t rely upon means like that. Who goes into there? The wicked do the ones who don’t have that kind of trust, who rely on the arm of flesh. They will go into caves and holes in the ground, from the awesome presence of the Lord, or from that time period immediately preceding His coming, where the King of Assyria holds sway and power, in the brightness of His glory. The “brightness of his glory” is twofold- there is the cloud of glory that signifies the Lord’s presence, but there are also the bright clouds that signal the destruction, the destruction of the cities. We would say “no, these are the nuclear blasts,” you know that’s very bright and that kind of what the wicked would receive as their version of that. The righteous would be in the middle of the cloud of glory, but the wicked would be in the middle of the nuclear cloud. You know, the nuclear blast. The one is a fire by night, that is healing, that is protective, and that is gentle and light. The other is a fire of brightness, or whatever that destroys or burns you up. That’s the terror, when He arises and strikes terror. The word “arise,” when the Lord arises, that’s ominous for the wicked.
Take that word all the way through Isaiah, look up its word lengths and you’ll see that. By the time we get through Isaiah, where we will have seen plenty of places where the Lord arises and it’s ominous. He strikes terror on the Earth. Terror always overtakes the wicked, never the righteous. The righteous are never terrorized.

2:20  In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats their idols of silver and gods of gold which they have made for themselves to adore.

2:21  Men will go into crevices in the rocks and fissures in the cliffs, from the awesome presence of the Lord and from the brightness of his glory, when he arises and strikes terror on earth.

2:22  Desist from the things of man, in whose nostrils is but breath! For of what consideration is he?

This is like the other verse that we read a moment ago. “Mankind is brought low and men thus debase themselves. Forbear them naught. The things of man are nothing.” If God didn’t give him breath he wouldn’t be alive “of what consideration is he?” God is of consideration, not man, the things of God.