For God's Final Purpose is To Bless His True People Who Will Remain After His Chastisement and Purification, And To Defeat Their Enemies Himself (Isaiah 30:19-33).
While the future holds adversity for them, His final purpose is to bless those who are His true people. In the case of those who will hear His voice, He will be there to guide them. And once they have learned their lesson through their sufferings then they will enjoy great prosperity.
Analysis.
a O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. (Or, ‘the people who dwell in Zion will weep no more'). He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He will hear He will answer you (Isaiah 30:19).
b And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left (Isaiah 30:20-21).
c And you will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You will cast them away as an unclean thing. You will say to each one, “Leave us” (Isaiah 30:22).
d And he will give the rain of your seed, that you sow the ground with it
d And bread of the increase of the ground, and it will be fat and plentiful (Isaiah 30:23 a).
c In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. Similarly the oxen and the young asses which till the ground, they will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with the fork and with the fan (Isaiah 30:23-24).
b And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall (Isaiah 30:25).
a What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound (Isaiah 30:26).
In ‘a' the promise is that one day His people will weep no more because He will hear their cry and be gracious to them, and in the parallel all their benefits will be enhanced in the day when He acts to heal them. In ‘b' although they must suffer adversity and affliction they can be sure that they will hear His voice leading and guiding them in the right way, and in the parallel there will be rivers of waters on the hills, even though there is great slaughter and the towers fall. In ‘c' when they get rid of their idols and destroy them, in the parallel they will prosper and enjoy prosperity. In ‘d' He will feed their sown seed with rain, and in the parallel this will result in abundance of provision.
‘O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he will hear he will answer you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet will not your Teacher be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your Teacher, and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.'
In typical fashion Isaiah now promises hope, because it is finally God's purpose to bless those of His people whom He preserves. His words are addressed to those in Zion, at Jerusalem. It is true that they must first face the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, that is, that adversity and affliction will for a time be their staple diet in days to come, but there will come a day when weeping is no more. The present is bleak because of their sin, but the future is bright because of God's sovereign mercy (but only for those who survive).
For when they do call on Him in genuine repentance and seek His face, when they ‘cry' to Him, then He will hear and answer them. Then they will know Him as their Teacher, who will not be hidden from them any more (contrast Isaiah 29:11-12). Their eyes will see Him and their ears will hear Him. And when they begin to stray the voice of their Teacher will speak to them, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it”.'
The picture is of a Guide, who when the caravan he is leading takes the wrong road because he has gone ahead to scout, calls after them, ‘this is the way, walk in it'.
‘Your eyes will see your Teacher.' Isaiah here probably means acknowledge and recognise, but it was to receive a greater fulfilment than Isaiah probably intended, when the Counsellor Himself walked and taught in Palestine and men saw Him with their own eyes, and they could say, ‘we beheld His glory' (John 1:14).
It may, however, be that he did here have ‘the Counsellor' in mind (Isaiah 9:6), and that the reference here is to the coming Immanuel, Who is later spoken of in this way (Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:2; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 50:4; Isaiah 61:1-2).
So God promises that one day there will be a Teacher in response to their prayers (whether God or Immanuel), a Teacher Who will care for them and be available to them and lead them in the right way (compare Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 28:6; Isaiah 28:26; Psalms 25:8; Psalms 94:10; Psalms 94:12). A Teacher whose concern for them will be such that He is ever watchful of their spiritual welfare, bringing to them His Law and guiding them by it (Isaiah 2:3).
Note again the near and far view. Jerusalem would be delivered in the near future, and the deliverance would certainly have a spiritual impact, but the greater impact awaited another day when God would act in a more wonderful way to finalise His work, because their response of faith would be insufficient.
‘And you will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver,
And the plating of your molten images of gold.
You will cast them away as an unclean thing.
You will say to each one, “Leave us”.'
One sign of their reformation will be that they will rid themselves of their idols made of wood, and covered with precious metals. They will first denude them of their silver and gold, and then throw them away, declaring their intention to be rid of them, and that they want no more of them, demanding that they go on their way and leave them.
It is noteworthy that the final result of exile and the suffering that they subsequently endured was that Israel did finally finish with idolatry. From then on it became anathema to them. So fulfilment was both near and far. Isaiah foresaw what would happen, but he was not aware of the timetable.
‘And he will give the rain of your seed,
That you sow the ground with it,
And bread of the increase of the ground,
And it will be fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures.
Similarly the oxen and the young asses which till the ground,
They will eat salted provender,
Which has been winnowed with the fork and with the fan.'
Then instead of the bread of affliction and the water of adversity, they will enjoy rain from heaven enabling them to sow their seed with certainty, and sufficient harvest that they have plentiful soft bread. The cattle will enjoy pasturage in large fields, the oxen and the young asses will eat well-flavoured provender, which has been thoroughly sifted and fanned (contrast Isaiah 30:6-7). The latter has in mind that when grain is short it is better not to remove too much of the chaff in order that the food may appear more plentiful, but now there is so much that it can be well sifted. The contrast demonstrates that the emphasis is not on the detail, but its significance. Instead of affliction will come freedom and joy; instead of adversity will come peace and blessing.
As so often the fulfilment is greater than the promise. Days did come in their future prior to the time of Jesus when Jerusalem enjoyed the physical blessings promised. Times became prosperous. But the greater fulfilment lay in Him Who was the bread (John 6:35; John 6:51) and water of life (John 4:14; John 7:37-38), which was to be enjoyed while His people were on earth and will be enjoyed even more abundantly, without the weeping (Isaiah 30:19), in eternity, when the curse will be no more (Revelation 21:4; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1-3). Then life will flourish beyond all understanding.
To an agricultural community the greatest blessings conceivable were plentiful rain, fruitful harvests, and large pasturage, and that is why their future was pictured in these terms. The curse would be lifted, the blessings of Eden would return. That is why their everlasting future is depicted in those terms. They were terms that they understood. They indicated that the curse of Eden will have been removed and that Paradise will have come. John in Revelation would later depict the same future in terms of a city made of gold and precious jewels, and of a river of life surrounded by fruitful trees. None are finally to be pressed literally.
(If you were to go among a remote Eskimo group that had no conception of a life beyond the grave or of advanced spiritual concepts, how would you present Heaven to them? Would it not be in terms of plentiful extra fat seals, bigger igloos and larger holes in the ice? So it was here, but in different terms. It is ever so. God can only speak to us through pictures, and that is equally true even in our modern age).
‘And on every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.'
This verse brings out the parabolic nature of the prophetic words. All the mountains will run with streams of water! (Compare Isaiah 33:21). Canaan was a land which depended on rain and not on mighty rivers, and so blessing is pictured in those terms. So on the one hand for the people of God who trust in Him the mountains and hills will run with water, a sign of fruitfulness and plenty, while on the other for God's enemies there will be great slaughter and the destruction of their strongholds (compare Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 32:19). It will thus be a time of judgment and of separation. On the one hand those deemed righteous will enjoy life-giving water, on the other those deemed unrighteous will face destruction and ‘the great slaughter'.
‘What is more the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.'
In the day spoken of the whole of nature will be abounding. The moon will shine like the sun (compare Revelation 21:26) and the sun will have sevenfold brightness, sufficient sun in one day for seven days. That man could not naturally survive in these conditions is apparent, but that is not the point. The point is to indicate that man's blessings and provision will increase ‘sevenfold', that is, will increase in terms of divine perfection. We are not here speaking of literal happenings but of a heavenly kingdom spoken of in earthly terms when all will be magnified and far more wonderful than we can ever imagine.
‘In the day that Yahweh binds up the hurt of His people, and heals the stroke of their wound.' That is, when the everlasting kingdom begins and all is made well (contrast Isaiah 30:20; Isaiah 1:5-6). In New Testament terms it is the day of the Parousia, the day when Christ Jesus takes up His own to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This day is in contrast with the day of great slaughter in Isaiah 30:25. His people will come out of that time of distress, to healing and restoration. And yet for His true people it begins here and now, for ‘out of the innermost beings will flow rivers of living water' (John 7:37-39), while the healing of the wounds is carried out by the Great Physician in all who trust in Him (Mark 2:17).