We are still in Chapter 9 and still dealing with the subject of the disaster that's soon going to fall upon the northern kingdom of Israel. The disaster is something the Lord is going to allow due to the rampant idolatry that has grown over the past several centuries, ever since the ten northern tribes split from the two southern tribes during the time of King Solomon's son Rehoboam. With idolatry comes a lot of other sin, for idolaters are a law unto themselves, eschewing the laws of the God of Israel in favor of doing what seems right to man. And this is what we know about the things that seem right to man: "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)
In today's text from the book of Isaiah, the Lord compares the people's sin to a fire burning out of control. The very fire they set ablaze (their idolatry and wrongdoing) will consume them. "Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upwards in a column of smoke. By the wrath of the Lord Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire; they will not spare one another." (Isaiah 9:18-19)
You are likely familiar with the saying, "If you play with fire, you are going to get burned." The people have been playing with fire for a long time. They sought to keep themselves warm by the fire of idolatry but there is no comforting warmth to be had at the hearth of a false God. There is no help to be had there either; their idols won't save them. Their idols won't save their souls and their idols won't save their nation from falling to a nation that serves idols itself: Assyria.
Their idols won't save them from each other either. Lawlessness will abound more and more as deprivations strike the nation more and more. People will turn on each other, having no compassion for their fellow man, as each of them seeks to get something for himself. An attitude of "every man for himself" will reign, rather than an attitude of loving their neighbor as themselves. This is why the Lord says in verse 19, "They will not spare one another". If a person needs or wants something, and if that person is strong enough to take it from someone else, that is what he or she is going to do.
The people of the northern kingdom know that the greatest threat they are facing is the rising Assyrian Empire. In desperation, rather than turning to God, they made an alliance with the king of Aram in order to join forces with him against Assyria. In Isaiah's day they appealed to King Ahaz of Judah to join with them; when he refused they plotted to come up against Jerusalem, take the city by force, remove Ahaz from the throne, and place a man on it who will gladly enter into a confederacy with them. This is the situation in view here at the end of this next passage: "On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring: Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh; together they will turn against Judah." (Isaiah 9:20-21a)
The tribes of the northern kingdom will want to band together in a united front to attack Judah but they will not even be able to work effectively with each other. They are going to turn on each other and fight against each other, falling apart from the inside before they fall to an enemy from the outside. The imagery here is of them gnashing their teeth on each other and the "feeding" may be both literal and figurative, for we know that cannibalism of the dead has taken place in Israel and in many other ancient nations during times of war and siege when there was no food to be had. But primarily what is being described is a breakdown of government, of society, of law and order, and of common human decency.
Chapter 9 ends on this dire note, with Isaiah letting the people know that this is not the end of the trouble that is coming. The Lord's hand is poised to strike again. "Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised." (Isaiah 9:21b) The discipline is severe because the wickedness is severe. In Chapter 10 we will be provided with some examples of the wickedness for which they are being judged.
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