In our last study session Isaiah visualized them repairing breaks in the walls and shoring up the walls, tearing down houses inside the city to use the blocks and brick to reinforce the city walls in an effort to keep the invaders out. He foresaw them taking steps to protect their water sources against siege by the enemy, so they would have water inside the city while the enemy camped around its walls. He foresaw them assembling an arsenal of weapons. But this is not what the Lord wanted them to do! Below we learn what the Lord urged them to do instead.
"The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth." (Isaiah 22:12) In other words, the Lord called on them to be sorry for their sins, to repent of their sins, and to turn back wholeheartedly to Him. If they had done that, no enemy could have conquered them. Powerful as the army of the Neo-Babylonian Empire was, the Lord would have turned it away. The Lord would have either supernaturally defeated it (as He did when the Assyrian army encamped around Jerusalem) or else He would have empowered the heavily outnumbered Judean army to repel the enemy. Many times in the Bible we find the Lord giving victory in battle to His heavily outnumbered people, but He does this when the people are trusting in Him, not when they are living in rebellion against Him.
In our next segment of text we learn that instead of putting on sackcloth, the people donned their most luxurious garments. Instead of repenting in dust and ashes, the people took on a fatalistic attitude, such as, "There is nothing to be done! We might as well enjoy what time we have left. We will drink. We will feast. We will party like there is no tomorrow."
Therefore Isaiah says: "But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! 'Let us eat and drink,' you say, 'for tomorrow we die!'" (Isaiah 22:13) Why did they adopt this attitude instead of bowing on their knees to the One who could forgive them and change their fate? Did they think they had sinned too much to be forgiven? If so, they were wrong, because as long as we have breath in our bodies, it is never too late for any of us to be forgiven! The Lord would not have sent His prophets time and time again, urging the people to repent, if He was not willing to accept their repentance. He would far rather have had them repent than to have to send discipline upon them in the form of invasion, siege, and captivity.
I think it's possible that some of the people thought they had sinned too much to be forgiven but I feel it's far more likely that something else happened. I think the majority of them did not want to repent. I think they did not want to humble themselves before the Lord, submit their hearts and souls to the Lord, and live according to His laws and commandments. This is not an attitude peculiar to the people of ancient Judea; it is an attitude experienced by mankind ever since the Lord created the human race. There is something about mankind's carnal spirit that resists submitting to the Lord, which is why we have to struggle against temptation as long as we live in these mortal bodies. But when we place all our trust in the Lord for salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us to strengthen us against the temptations of this world, and the Holy Spirit enables us to live lives that contain more spiritual victories than defeats.
I think the people preferred to live according to their own wants and, knowing that they didn't want to cast aside their idols and serve the Lord, they said this to themselves: "We will do all we can to set ourselves up for success against Babylon. We will fortify our walls. We will arm ourselves. We will store up provisions. We will protect the water supply. Once we have done all we can do, we have done all we can do, and we will live it up and enjoy what time we have left. When everything that can be done by our own strength has been done, let us eat and drink and make merry. If we die, then at least we will go out on a high note."
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