9:1  But it shall not be gloomy to those who have been in anguish for her. In the past he humbled the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, but at the last he will exalt the Sea Route by the Jordan in Galilee of the nations.

Chapter 9 The end of chapter 8 ends with gloom and doom, and chapter 9 reverses that gloom and doom. Who’s that?  Her is the woman figure representing the Lord’s people.  So there are some who are in anguish for the Lord’s people, for Israel, for Israel’s condition.  So for those who mourn in Zion, as we see later on in chapter 61, those who mourn for the condition of the Lord’s people, who have gotten themselves into this situation of wickedness and destruction, they will not be gloomy.  And when you read through the prophets, the prophets are always of that frame of mind.  They are always concerned even more for their people than they are for themselves almost.  They link themselves totally to the people.  They pray for them.  They intercede with God on their behalf.  They pray with all their hearts and their souls to God for their people.  And we see that in Isaiah, all the way through Isaiah.  Isaiah, the prophet, is in constant anguish for the wickedness of the people and for the things that are happening to them.  For such individuals it will not be gloomy.  In other words, they would be the equivalent of the wise virgins who were taken into the marriage supper of the Lamb, where there is light.  In the past he humbled the land of Zebulon and Naphtali, but at the last he will exalt the Sea Route by the Jordan in Galilee of the nations.  The lands of Zebulon and Naphtali bordered on the coasts; and the highway, this is anciently, the highway north led through their countries into captivity.  The Assyrians took the Ten Tribes captive over the Sea Route, as it were.  It was a flat area.  The sea is also a metaphor for the king of Assyria, himself, so it’s his route, the route into captivity and destruction.  Also, at the end of chapter 8 the word darkness is a metaphor for the king of Assyria.  It describes him; he personifies darkness.  He banishes into outer darkness means that he has power over you.  They are given over into his hands.  So, contrasting with that route into captivity and exile, there will be a route of return.  At last he will exalt the Sea Route because the return of the tribes will also come back over that route; they will return from exile.  …by the Jordan and Galilee of the nations...  Jordan and Galilee seem to be symbolic here of more than just the Jordan River and Galilee, the nations being the Ten Tribes nations.  But now in the latter day context, or an end-time scenario, Galilee could be a much larger area of the world.  Galilee actually is Ga leel’ which means “rolling on and on.”  It comes from the verb galal, which means to roll like waves.  The Jordan River also divided the land of Israel from the other side of Jordan, which was populated by other countries.  So, it could imply return from the promised nations, back to the promised land.

9:2  The people walking in darkness have seen a bright light; on the inhabitants of the land of the shadow of Death has the light dawned.

So, while some are given into the hand of the king of Assyria and are banished into outer darkness, or into the power of the king of Assyria; others are delivered from his power.  …people walking in darkness… can refer to literal darkness, as outer darkness also refers to literal darkness.  It can refer to spiritual darkness, like apostasy.  The people walking in darkness have seen a bright light… would therefore refer to their spiritual conversion to the light of God.  His word, or light, in Isaiah.  So that implies spiritual conversion.  On a third level walking in darkness, meaning they were in the power of the king of Assyria.  And they have seen a bright light.  The light of the law and word of God, their spiritual conversion?  Yes.  But also, light in the Book of Isaiah is a metaphor, or pseudonym of the Lord’s servant.  He’s called the light, a light to the nations, in chapters 42 and 49.  The Lord, himself, is a light in the Book of Isaiah; he’s the greater light.  The servant is a lesser light.  …on the inhabitants of the land of the shadow of death has the light dawned.  Death, too, is personified by the king of Assyria.  He’s God’s instrument of death over them, and the light has dawned upon them.  That is the dawning of the millennium in Isaiah, the dawning of that light refers to the mission of the Lord’s servant.  His mission is like a light dawning, preparatory to the actual sun coming over the horizon, which is the coming of the Lord.  So, there’s many levels in which you can read this verse.  The light of the shadow of death also referred to an actual place where they were in constant danger of dying.  And in an historical sense when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they came through the Sinai wilderness where they were threatened with death many times, death in the wilderness, and many actually died.  There were a whole generation that came out of Egypt that died there.  In a latter-day context, this would be the land of the north perhaps, where people went captive into Assyria and now are coming out of Assyria.  The Ten Tribes coming from the land of the north would qualify for this prophecy to be fulfilled.  So in a modern Assyria, they might be in a situation of danger, danger to their lives and the Lord’s servant, since he is the one who releases the captives in the Book of Isaiah, and brings back the people from exile, from dispersion, and from captivity.  He could be the one that actually does the delivering of them, I mean of the Ten Tribes. 

9:3  Thou hast enlarged the nation and increased its joy; they rejoice at thy presence as men rejoice at harvest time, or as men are joyous when they divide spoil.

So, we have progressed now from verse 1, there are people implied as coming out of exile, out of dispersion, back to the Promised Land.  They walked in darkness, and now they come into the land, and they are in the land.  Harvest time and spoil implies that they are in the land.  They are harvesting.  They are planting and harvesting.  So they have now the Promised Land given to them.  Spoil also means that they have power over their enemies.  The enemies that had power over them are now subject to them.  The Assyrians, in other words, who did the spoiling, are now themselves being spoiled.  Thou hast enlarged the nation… meaning that those who are abroad have joined those who are at home, a reunion.  In Isaiah you have that dichotomy of those at home and those abroad.  And the enlarging of the nation is when the exiles return and then the nation is increased, or is enlarged.  Joy also is a theme all the way through Isaiah associated with deliverance.  There are many songs of salvation in chapters 24 through 27 in particular, for example, and each one of them is associated with joy.  It is a joyous occasion when the Lord finally delivers them.  Of course, who does he deliver?  Well, those who waited for him, right?  (Chapter 8:17)  Those who sanctified him.  Those who kept his law and word.  …they rejoice at thy presence… because God is with them.  Remember Immanuel, so he’s there with them.  The others he cuts off from his presence.  He hides his face from the house of Jacob (verse 17 of chapter 8).

9:4  For thou hast smashed the yoke that burdened them, the staff of submission, the rod of those who subjected them, as in the day of Midian’s defeat.

Or, as in the day of Midian.  These people are clearly released from some kind of bondage.  It’s implied that the Lord’s servant, who personifies God’s light, had a hand in it.  They have returned from exile to the Promised Land, having been released from that bondage.  Read later on in the Book of Isaiah chapters 42 and 49, particularly, that’s the servant’s job, is to release the captives, to bring them on an exodus back from exile to the Promised Land, assign the lands of inheritance, having gained power over their enemies to do that.  The yoke, however, and the rod and staff are also metaphors identifying the king of Assyria.  In 10:5, for example, he’s called the rod of God’s anger; he’s a staff.  In 10:15, he’s also called a rod and staff.  These terms appear in synonymous parallels with the word yoke.  And so that means that the work yoke, like the words rod and staff, is also a metaphor describing the king of Assyria.  He’s the yoke around people’s necks, he’s the staff that demands submission, he’s a rod that subjects them, that smites them.  However, whatever the king of Assyria does to the Lord’s people, even though he’s commissioned by the Lord to do so, whatever he does to the wicked is done to him as well because he’s an evil person.  He’s on the bottom rung of Isaiah’s spiritual ladder.  So he’s going to be smashed, and the rod and staff will be broken.  …as in the day of Midian… when Gideon with 300 men overthrew an army of Midianites of 120,000.  So, an unequal  battle.  They mostly kill themselves.  They were terrorized and started killing each other.  It will be that kind of defeat that the Assyrians will suffer.  We’re talking about a latter day kind of Armageddon, if you like, when the Assyrians are destroyed; in some way resembling that defeat of the Midianites by Gideon.  Gideon would represent the Lord’s servant in this case, and we will see that in several other contexts.  This is not a very explicit one about that, but it implies someone like Gideon that does that.  The Midianites were not defeated by the Israelites.  The Israelites had someone to lead them. 

9:5  And all boots used in battle and tunics rolled in blood have become fuel for bonfires.

So, the implements of war will be burned and erased from memory.  As we will see later on, too, it could be a war to end all wars.  It will usher in the millennium.  The millennium will begin when the Assyrians are put down, or the Babylonians.  When the king of Babylon or the king of Assyria is defeated, his forces are overthrown, then it will be like the Israelites coming out of Egypt.  That will be true deliverance.  There’s no real deliverance until the enemies of God’s people are put down.

9:6  For to us a child is born, a son appointed, who will shoulder the burden of government. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, one Mighty in Valor, a Father for Ever, a Prince of Peace—

There are many word links here:  the child being born, the son, the appointed, government.  There are many word links that tie this person to the Lord’s servant, and we will see those as we progress through the Book of Isaiah.  Son implies vassal, it’s a vassal relationship.  Yes, it can be a literal child.  In an historical context it could be King Hezekiah, if you read the Book of Isaiah as referring back in history.  As far as a latter day scenario is concerned, it will be the Lord’s servant of the last days, who prepares the way before the Lord’s coming.  On another level it could be Christ, himself, is born, as Matthew and others allude to.  For example, the world child in verse 6 has a link in 10:19 where after the Assyrians are put down there will be so few left of his people that a child could record them, record them in the Book of Life, that is.  And we will see that, but the child refers back to this person here.  …is born…  Later on in 66:7 the woman Zion gives birth to a son in the day of judgment, or before the day of judgment.  The word son appears in other contexts.  The word appoint leads to chapters 42 and 49 where the Lord’s servant is appointed.  These word links help us tie this down to what Isaiah means when he talks about this.  That’s called the manner of the Jews, analyzing it through the internal checks and balances that Isaiah has put in place.  So, you don’t take something out of context and say, “Oh, this is what it means.  This backs up my preconceived notion about this and that.”  It doesn’t work that way.  You tie this verse into all the other contexts where Isaiah uses these similar words.  Then apply the things that you learn there to this verse, to this context, and you get an overview of what he means when he says that.  You can’t manipulate scripture by taking things out of context.  …who will shoulder the burden of government.  He will be called Wonderful Counselor, one Mighty in Valor, a Father for Ever, a Prince of Peace…  In Hebrew those are four couplets.  It’s not wonderful, counselor, it’s wonderful counselor.  It’s one Mighty in Valor.  The King James Translation says the mighty God.  The Hebrew is el gibor, which means: el can mean a god, but generally it means a mighty one, or one mighty.  Gibor is a valiant one, one who is valiant, or mighty valiant one, or one Mighty in Valor.  Avi ad, a Father for Ever.  Everlasting father, that’s questionable.  One who is a father forever is the literal translation.  Prince of Peace, sar shalom. That’s O.K.  Sar also means minister, a minister of peace.  And in Isaiah, peace is a synonym of salvation, so he is a minister of salvation, or he is a savior.  Of course it applies to Christ because he is the Savior of us all.  But there are many saviors, lesser saviors, little saviors, also.  Saviors on Mount Zion.  The way it is used in the Book of Isaiah it draws on Egyptian practice of calling the Egyptian King, Pharaoh, by various titles like this.  Later on in chapters 41 through 46, the word servant is used more.  Here the word son is used.  And those chapters draw the Mesopotamian practice.  That helps identify the servant in the way Mesopotamia kings from the north are treated and identified.  Here it draws on Egyptian practice from the south and emphasizes more the son aspect.  Both the word servant and son imply vassalship to the Lord.  He is a son and servant of the Lord, the Lord God of Israel.  So Isaiah has kind of created a dichotomy there.  And so, again, we must not read these chapters that talk about the woman who gives birth to the son, Immanuel, and here the son is pointed, you mustn’t isolate them from the servant passages in that later part of the Book of Isaiah that are juxtaposed in Isaiah’s seven part structure with these chapters.  Just as King Ahaz is juxtaposed with King Hezekiah, or the people of King Ahaz are juxtaposed with the people of King Hezekiah, so these chapters are juxtaposed with the servant passages later on, and we should read them together because both terms imply vassalship, servant and son, and they are usually taken together, not divided in this way.  Isaiah does that because he wants to draw our attention to the other passage as a parallel passage.  The servant later on is appointed.  When someone is appointed, he is appointed for a specific task.  And it is here, to shoulder the burden of government, that is political government.  He’s called by these titles that imply different attributes that he has, and they reflect the life of Abraham in the Book of Genesis; Genesis beginning about 14 through the 20’s where Abraham proves to be a wonderful counselor.  In the dispute between his servants and Lot’s servants, Abraham said to Lot, “You choose the plain, I’ll take the mountains; you choose the mountains, I’ll take the plane.  Let’s separate ourselves so there will be no strife between our servants, the shepherds.”  And so Lot chose the plain, the best.  Abraham was left with the mountains.  Abraham was not selfish.  The Lord, then, took him up on the mountain and showed him all the land of Canaan, and said, “All of this will be yours.”  And Lot eventually had to flee Sodom and Gomorrah, the plain, to the mountains, and was left with nothing.  So, selfishness never works, as Lot found out, and Abraham also. But there Abraham was a wonderful counselor.  In the next chapter of Genesis he actually rescues Lot.  A coalition of northern kings comes down and takes captive the kings of the plain, and he and about 300 men of his confederacy go after them and rescue those kings, and deliver back the spoils to them.  Abraham, there, proved himself Mighty in Valor.  And then he seeks for a son, or he wants a son, and he thinks Eliezer, his servant, might be his heir, or even Ishmael.  Finally he gets Isaac, and he becomes a Father for Ever, according to the covenant.  In the next episode, he intercedes with the Lord on behalf of the righteous in Sodom and becomes a minister of salvation there.  Eventually Lot is rescued from Sodom, it says for Abraham’s sake.  And so he did actually perform a savior role on behalf of Lot, thus becoming a Prince of Peace.  Of course, Christ is the exemplar of all of these attributes.  He is at the top of the spiritual ladder in Isaiah’s book, that is, the Lord God of Israel is.

9:7  that sovereignty may be extended and peace have no end; that, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, his rule may be established and upheld by justice and righteousness from this time forth and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish it.

Peace being synonymous with salvation in Isaiah implies a millennial context.…The millennial context on the throne of David a Prince of Peace ruling, historically this could have referred to King Hezekiah, like I said, who was such a righteous king.  But properly would have fulfillment in an end time scenario when the millennium was to begin.  …his rule may be established and upheld by justice and righteousness…  Righteousness is a descriptive term or metaphor of the Lord’s servant.  He is called Righteousness.  In 41:2 he is actually a person who personifies righteousness, again referring to the son of David.  Justice and righteousness, of course, on a literal level, are the foundation of all good or covenant keeping, and the foundation of a society; and Isaiah refers to justice and righteousness in that context over and over.  …from this time forth and forever.  Like I said, the war to end all wars in verse 5 introduces the millennium.  From that time there will be peace.  The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish it.  The Lord’s purpose is to save his people and to bring them to a time of joy.  It’s only his own people that keep impeding the Lord’s plan and keep preventing it from being fulfilled.  Zeal is also another term describing the Lord’s servant, implying that he will accomplish it.  He personifies zeal for the Lord.  He is a zealot, and he will accomplish it, or the Lord will accomplish it using his servant as his instrument, as he uses the king of Assyria for accomplishing other things. 

9:8  This message my Lord sent to Jacob, and it shall befall Israel.

Jacob and Israel here are a single category, just as Zion and Jerusalem are a category of people in the Book of Isaiah.  So it is referring to a lesser category of people, to a lower level, just as Zion and Jerusalem refers to a higher category of people, people who have passed the test.  As we will see in chapters 36 and 37 the Lord begins to refer to his people as Zion and Jerusalem after they have passed the test of faithfulness to the Lord.  Here, these people have yet to pass such a test.  They are in a state of wickedness generally.  This message my Lord sent… Personalizing my Lord, again.  …to Jacob, and it shall befall Israel.

9:9  And the entire people—Ephraim and those who dwell in Samaria—shall know of it, who say in pride and arrogance of heart,

That is the northern kingdom.

9:10  The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars!

Pride and arrogance are the sins of the wicked all the way through the Book of Isaiah; not just Israelites, but others.  All of whom are destroyed and put down in the Lord’s day of judgment.  There will be no more prideful elements left upon the earth in that day.  You know when it says this that they are a condemned category of people.  The bricks have fallen down…  Why?  Maybe through earthquakes or because enemies have thrown them down, which is a covenant curse either way.  And yet, in that situation of covenant curse, they assume that they will just build bigger and better anyway. 

9:11  But the Lord will strengthen Rezin’s enemies against them when he stirs up their adversaries:

Rezin is the king of Aram and the enemies of Rezin are the Assyrian alliance from the north, against whom Rezin is trying to prepare by creating a coalition in the south.  These people are in a situation of covenant curse, so these circumstances have happened because of their transgression.  If they would get out of transgression and repent, the Lord can restore his blessings again.  So the Lord can actually raise up enemies against his people.  It says that of Solomon, actually, the Lord raised up enemies against Solomon.  He does so here, too, the king of Assyria, the king of Aram.  …stirs up their adversaries. 

9:12  Aramaeans from the east and Philistines from the west will devour Israel with open mouth. Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.

So they are going to get it from all sides; and, in a latter day context, in an invasion of the promised land you can expect similar results, an invasion from both sides, the east and from the west.  Mouth is also a metaphor describing the king of Assyria.  He has a big mouth, he is a mouth.  It always seems like the antichrists of the world have it in for the Lord’s people.  Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.  Here we are beginning to see that phrase being used.  It appears three times in chapter 9 and once in chapter 10, and the repetition of that phrase seems to implied that it’s a prolonged period of time, three or four years because of the three-fold repetition, or four-fold repetition of it.  The king of Assyria personifies God’s anger.  He’s called a rod of God’s anger.  In 10:5 he’s a staff—my wrath in their hand.  He’s the Lord’s left hand.  The Lord’s servant in the Book of Isaiah is called the Lord’s right hand.  He has two hands.  One that smites the wicked and one that delivers the righteous.  Anger and hand here are in parallel, in synonymous parallel.  The Lord’s anger is not abated.  He personifies anger, he personifies the Lord’s anger.  The Lord is not an angry God, but he uses someone who is angry like that as an instrument to punish his people.  Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.  It goes on and on and on.  Even after one calamity, it’s still not over.

9:13  But the people do not turn back to him who smites them, nor will they inquire of the Lord of Hosts.

The one who smites them is the Lord, using the king of Assyria.  …him who smites them… is paralleled with …the Lord of Hosts, here.  They don’t turn back to him, they don’t inquire of him.  Who do they inquire of?  Mediums and spirits, and the arm of flesh, and so on.  If they would turn back to him, he would cease smiting them.  That’s the point.  Smiting is a covenant curse. 

9:14  Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm top and reed, in a single day;

That is the day of judgment.  It’s not actually a single, 24-hour day, it’s the day of the Lord that’s spoken of in chapter 2 and in chapter 13 and other places.  The day of the king of Assyria.  …head and tail…  is explained in the next verse.

9:15  the elders or notables are the head, the prophets who teach falsehoods, the tail.

This the classic example of where the political and the religious aspects of the leadership of the Lord’s people are in parallel.  All the way through Isaiah they seem to be on a par, they seem to be in a parallel situation.  What’s happening with the one is what’s happening with the other.  The political and the religious are both in the same boat – spiritually I mean.  He will cut off from Israel head and tail…  In other words, the political leadership and the spiritual leadership.  …palm top and reed, in a single day… Palm top and reed has other words links in the Book of Isaiah.  Palm top refers to the Babylonians and the Mesopotamians, and reed refers to Egyptians through a series of word links.  So, what Isaiah is saying here is that it implies a universal judgment.  It’s a universal judgment in which this happens.  In an end time scenario that would make much more sense, where Israel was scattered around the world, a universal entity.  Now palm top and reed can also refer to other things.  It could refer to air defense and sea defense and things like that, but that doesn’t have word links in Isaiah, so you can’t pin that down.  …the elders and notables are the head, the prophets who teach falsehoods… meaning that’s the order of the day.  It’s a time when false ideas are being preached by those who represent the Lord. 

9:16  The leaders of these people have misled them, and those who are led are confused.

That is, these alienated people, these people who have broken the covenant.  …have misled them, and those who are led are confused.  Which implies that the leadership really reflects what the people are, doesn’t it?  He doesn’t say my people.  If he said the leaders of my people have misled them, then he would still be claiming them as his covenant people because they were keeping covenant.  When he says these people, it means that the people are in a wicked state and the leaders misleading them is just what they deserve; and the leadership reflects what the people themselves are.  …and those who are led are confused.  That is the result of a general state of wickedness, not just among the leaders themselves.

9:17  My Lord is not pleased with their young men, nor does he pity their fatherless and widows, because all alike are godless malefactors, and every mouth utters profanities. Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.

Again, personalizing my Lord.  It doesn’t say the Lord or their Lord.  …is not pleased with their young men, nor does he pity their fatherless and widows,… And yet in chapter 1 the Lord exhorts his people to take care of the widows and the fatherless as an example of the extreme needy of society.  If they will do so, then that is an example of their keeping covenant with the Lord.  And so, when it comes to that point that the Lord, himself, does not pity their fatherless and widows, then the people must be in an extreme state of wickedness.  …because all alike are godless malefactors, and every mouth utters profanities.  So they are in an extreme state of wickedness.  How can he pity them?  How can he care for them when they are just like a Sodom and Gomorrah type of society?  Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.  The judgments go on, the consequences of transgression, the covenant curses, the king of Assyria is still in power.  He’s the anger, he’s the hand upraised still, ready to smite again and again.  Is God a vengeful God that he wants to do that?  No, the people bring it upon themselves.  They have chosen that course of action; so he must, if he’s a just God, implement these consequences.

9:18  Wickedness shall be set ablaze like a fire, and briars and thorns shall it consume; it shall ignite the jungle forests, and they shall billow upward in mushrooming clouds of smoke.

Some people question whether the mushrooming clouds of smoke is in the Hebrew.  It doesn’t use the word mushroom, but it uses the word billowing upward like a mushroom, so it is a correct translation.  Wickedness in general shall be set ablaze like a fire…  Wickedness is here paralleled with briars and thorns, which lets you know that briars and thorns represent wickedness, or refers to wicked people.  The wicked are also called weeds in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 37.  People are also known by trees, as we have talked about, so briars and thorns represents the wicked.  In chapter 5 the wicked overran the vineyard, remember?  The whole vineyard became corrupt.  …like a fire...  The word fire implies the king of Assyria’s instrumentality.  They are burnt up through the instrumentality of the king of Assyria.  He’s the one that does the destroying in the Book of Isaiah.  He destroys God’s people and other nations, all the wicked nations, by fire and by the sword.  Also the whole land shall revert to briars and thorns and wilderness as you saw earlier in chapter 8.  It means that the wicked overrun the land.  While their wicked are going to be burned out of it shall ignite the jungle forests.  In the Book of Isaiah 32:19, which verse is out of place, it appears between verses 14 and 15, says …by a hail shall forests be felled, cities utterly leveled.  So the hail levels or fells forests and cities.  The paralleling of forests and cities implies that forests may serve as a metaphor for cities.  Just as trees are people, forests are cities, and mountains are nations.  They are all metaphors, and it depends on which level you want to read them.  You can read them literally as forests, are you can also read them as cities.  You can read them literally as trees, or you can read them as people.  Or you can read mountains literally as mountains, or you can read them as nations.  But he establishes these metaphors by way of parallels like this in 32:19.  It could be a hail of fire and brimstone raining from the sky.  That is actually a word link.  The hail is a word link.  It’s part of the storm imagery, and the storm imagery is the king of Assyria.  He kicks up a storm.  He’s the one that does the destruction in that day that’s described as a storm in many, many contexts, including chapter 4 where the cloud of glory rests over the Lord’s righteous people and protects them from the storm and from the hail and from the downpour from the sky.  So when it says they shall ignite the jungle forests and they shall billow upward in mushrooming clouds of smoke, that may actually refer to forests, but it can also refer to cities that are destroyed; because Isaiah does say that cities will be destroyed in an instant in other places, and turn into flying dust and chaff.  Because there’s people being destroyed as it says in the next verse.

9:19  At the wrath of the Lord of Hosts the earth is scorched, and people are but fuel for the fire. Men will have no compassion for one another.

Wrath and fire are pseudonyms of the king of Assyria.  He personifies God’s anger and wrath, and he’s the fire and he’s the sword that destroys God’s people and the wicked of the nations in general.  And he conducts this scorched earth policy, and actually tries to annihilate entire nations.  As it says in 10:7:  His purpose shall be to annihilate and to exterminate nations not a few.  How do you do that with modern technology?  Just like it says here.  Men will have no compassion for one another.  Times will be hard and rough.  90% of the earth’s population will be under covenant curse, so they will be in a situation that will be really difficult.  They will have no compassion for one another.  It will be every man for himself, in other words.

9:20  They will snatch on the right, yet remain hungry; they will devour on the left, but not be satisfied: men will eat the flesh of their own offspring.

They will revert to cannibalism as they did when the Romans seized Jerusalem, according to Josephus, and that’s covenant curse.  To be hungry is a covenant curse, because meanwhile those who go in the exodus, who live the nomadic lifestyle for awhile, will be eating cream and honey and other things that will provide for them a sufficiency.  Cream and honey is just symbolic of a general diet, nomadic diet.  It doesn’t mean that’s all you’re going to have is cream and honey for 3 or 4 years.  It just represents a temporary diet.  So, these people are hungry.  You saw that also earlier, remember, when they tried to get somebody who had been in a leadership position to take charge of this ruination, and he said I don’t want to be a leader of people.  There’s no food or clothing in my house.  There’s nothing I can do about it.

9:21  Manasseh will turn against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh, and both will combine against Judah. Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.

So there will be enmity between the people, even between tribes within a nation.  And if we were to turn this to a modern context, people will always pick on the Jews, won’t they?  When times get rough, they will revert to anti-Semitism, make them their scapegoats.  So there will be this enmity, again, between the nations of the people of Israel; an enmity between individuals, as we have already seen; between the leadership of the people; enmity between nations.  Everywhere you look.  Yet for all this his anger is not abated; his hand is upraised still.  So, it’s an ongoing time of trouble and distress that will only be concluded when the destruction is complete.  Like Isaiah, when he was first commissioned as a prophet, he said in chapter 6:  ..how long, my Lord:  And he said, until the cities lie desolate and without inhabitant … and the land ravaged to desolation, until the destruction is over.