You'll recall from our studies of the earlier books of the Bible that the Philistines sorely plagued the nation of Israel during the time of the Judges and during the reign of King Saul. During the time of David he won major victories against the Philistines and, during his reign and that of his son Solomon, Israel was too powerful for Philistia to defeat.
But during the reign of David's grandson, King Rehoboam, Israel was no longer a united kingdom. The ten northern tribes split away from the two southern tribes, appointed a king other than Rehoboam over themselves, and retained the name of Israel whereas the two southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) became known as the kingdom of Judah with Rehoboam (of the tribe of Judah) reigning over them. Since that time both nations have enjoyed periods of prosperity and periods of upheaval but Israel, during the time of Isaiah, is rapidly on the decline because of the idolatry of its citizens and it will soon be conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Judah also fears it will be conquered by Assyria. But Judah won't fall until approximately 130 years later to the Neo-Babylonian Empire because a spiritual revival will take place during the reign of King Hezekiah, son of Ahaz.
The Philistines may view the decline of the northern and southern kingdoms as a good time to attack, especially when King Ahaz of Judah dies. They made a number of attacks during his reign but are likely planning a bigger and better one upon his death. Enemy kings often considered attacking whenever there was a change in the leadership of another nation, supposing that the incoming king might be weak or might not have enough support behind him to mount a successful defense. Isaiah relays the Lords message of doom for Philistia: "This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died: 'Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken; from the root of that snake will spring up a viper, its fruit will be a venomous, darting serpent. The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.'" (Isaiah 14:28-30)
The words of verses 28-30 were primarily intended to encourage the people of Judah, I believe, for it's unlikely that the Philistines would have listened to a message from one of the Lord's prophets. We don't even know whether they heard of the message but we can be certain that the people of Judah heard of it and that it must have made many of them take heart.
The Philistines had troubled King Ahaz and his father before him but were not successful in conquering Judah. Ahaz's father was able to push back against them quite successfully and, although the Philistines did a better job at taking territories from Ahaz, they didn't win a decisive war against him. They were planning to make another attack upon the death of Ahaz which is why the Lord warned them about rejoicing that "the rod that struck you is broken", which is a reference to the death of Ahaz. Also I believe it's a reference to the royal line of Judah and to King David himself, who defeated them as no other king ever did. From a root of Ahaz will spring up one whom the Lord will be with in a powerful way: Ahaz's successor, Hezekiah, who will eschew the idolatry of his father and will worship the Lord only, making numerous religious reforms in Judah. The Lord will protect the people of Judah for a long time to come, in contrast to how He will deal with the exceedingly wicked and idolatrous Philistines.
To the fortified cities of Philistia, and perhaps to its capital city in particular, the Lord says: "Wail, you gate! Howl, you city! Melt away, all you Philistines! A cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there is not a straggler in its ranks. What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? 'The Lord has established Zion, and in her His afflicted people will find refuge.'" (Isaiah 14:31-32)
The reference to "envoys" is interpreted by many scholars to mean that the Philistines approached Judah about allying with them against Assyria. Later in our study of the book of Isaiah we will find the king of Babylon sending envoys to King Hezekiah of Judah seeking to make just such an alliance with him. But nowhere in the book of Isaiah will we find the prophet encouraging any king of Judah to trust in anyone except the Lord. Therefore, the answer of any king approached with an invitation to make an alliance is to be: "The Lord has established Zion, and in her His afflicted people will find refuge." Refuge is not to be found in an alliance with any nation---especially considering that all the other nations of Isaiah's day were idolatrous nations. The Lord strictly instructed the children of Israel, before bringing them into the promised land, to place their trust in Him alone. It's no use for them to seek refuge from any other nation, for He will crush Assyria, Babylon, Philistia, and others---as we will see as we move on through the book.
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