As we closed our last study session we found the Lord saying that the people of the northern kingdom had not repented even though He has sent correction upon them. Like any good parent, He first gave a verbal warning that they were going astray. When they refused to listen to Him and change their ways, He applied some unpleasant consequences to get them to see the error of their ways. But most of them still have not repented and are not going to repent; therefore, in the near future, they are going to lose their nation.
"So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day; the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail. Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray." (Isaiah 9:14-16) The elders and the leaders of the government are making poor decisions instead of following the laws the Lord established. They are setting an ungodly example---a public ungodly example---for everyone. The priests and prophets should have been able to give wise counsel, both publicly and privately, but most of those by this time who are calling themselves prophets were not called by the Lord. They are speaking lies in the Lord's name. Many of the priests have compromised with the world and with idolatry in Isaiah's day, even the high priest of Judah who built a pagan altar for King Ahaz, and we know that the priests of the northern kingdom are not even of the tribe of Levi and are serving at the golden calf altars and at pagan altars.
The Lord says that the people have been led astray but it's not as if they didn't go willingly. It's true that the political and spiritual leaders of Israel are doing the wrong things but it's also true that the citizens are not ignorant of the Lord's laws and commandments. It's not as if they don't know all the great things He's done for Israel in the past. Because they have this knowledge, they are responsible for choosing to do what's right even if their leaders are doing wrong. And because they have this responsibility and have chosen to do wrong, they will face the penalty for their idolatry and for their wicked mode of living. "Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will He pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly." (Isaiah 9:17a)
A great number of the young men will fall in battle. If they had chosen to follow the Lord, He would have been their strength against the enemy, but they are depending on their own strength and on false gods. This will not give them the ability to stand before the invading Assyrian army. Their wives will be widowed and their children will be rendered fatherless, for no person's sin affects only himself; it always affects those around him, even those he loves the most.
The nation will fall to the powerful and expanding Assyrian Empire. Repeated invasions, sieges, and battles will take place. These types of things always lead to death, disease, scarcity of food, and sky-high inflation. The Lord is going to allow those things to take place in our next study session, so He concludes today's text by saying, "Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised." (Isaiah 9:17b) His hand of discipline is poised to deliver more discipline because the people have not responded correctly. They have not repented and forsaken their sin and their abominable idols.
They are already cold-hearted toward the Lord and, as a result, are already cold-hearted toward each other. They will become even more callous toward each other when the deprivations become severe enough, causing the Lord to predict in our next study session that they will adopt an attitude that we would call in our day, "Every man for himself."
When we place the Lord in His proper place at the center of our lives, we will naturally care about the fate of our fellow man. But when we forsake Him, we lose a great deal of compassion for those around us. This is why the Lord stated that the first and greatest command was to love Him and that the second greatest command was to love our fellow man. If we don't obey the first command, we are going to have trouble obeying the second command. In fact, we won't ever be able to love our fellow man the way the Lord created us to love them if we don't love Him the way He created us to love Him.
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