The Book Of Isaiah. Day 120, A Covenant With Death

In yesterday's study Isaiah spoke about the coming fall of the nation and the captivity that would ensue. He was attempting to reteach the people the laws and the commandments in hopes they would turn back to them and live by them. Many of the people were scoffing at his words and making fun of him, saying something like, "Why do you speak to us as if we are children? Why have you gone backwards to teach us the most basic principles of the Lord's law? We already know all these things."

As we stated yesterday, Isaiah was teaching them like children because they were behaving like children: they had regressed spiritually. This next thing I say may seem like an odd example but I think it's an apt one. When we are potty training a child or a pet, they will have progressions and they will have regressions. Whenever they have a regression, it helps to go back to the basics and start all over, then move forward again. That is what Isaiah is trying to do for his people; he is trying to take them back to the basics (which they have cast aside) so they can relearn them, take them to heart, apply them to their hearts, and move forward in their faith.

But because the majority of the people don't want to listen to the words of prophets from among their own people, the Lord vowed to teach them with foreign tongues. He is going to cast them into foreign lands where, upon the loss of their nation and their freedom, they will begin to recall the words of the prophets and take them to heart.

We will back up a verse to the one we ended with yesterday and then move forward. "Very well then, with foreign lips and with strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom He said, 'This is the resting place, let the weary rest'; and, 'This is the place of repose'---but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there---so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured." (Isaiah 28:11-13)

Isaiah's scoffers said they were sick of him trying to teach them a rule for this, a rule for that, a little here, a little there. They accused him of talking down to them and treating them like small children. But that is what they needed. They had left the ways of the Lord so far behind them that they needed a very basic refresher course. They are going to get the refresher course whether they want it or not---and they are going to get it in foreign lands under the rule of pagan leaders.

If we refuse to obey the Lord's principles even though we are well aware of them, He has to take us back to the basics until we "get it". If we are able to leave the teachings of the Lord behind, without a care in the world about our ungodly mode of living, then we didn't "get it" in the first place. If we had taken it to heart, we would love the law of the Lord, for, "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward." (Psalm 19:7-11)

If the people had trusted in the Lord and had loved His beautiful and righteous laws, they could have had refreshment of the soul. They could have had wisdom, joy, light, and purity. They could have had security, for no enemy could ever have successfully come against them. The Lord told the people before He ever brought them into the land that if they would remain true to Him, their enemy might charge at them from one direction but He would send the enemy running from them in seven directions. But He also said that if they forsook Him, He would send them running from their enemies in seven directions. This same principle is true for us in our own era. Nothing of any worthwhile or eternal significance can be accomplished if we are living far from the Lord.

Isaiah's people are living far from the Lord in their souls and minds and hearts. The Lord is going to send them far from the land as a result. They think they are living it up by doing whatever their flesh desires but the Lord says this is a lie they have told themselves. "Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, 'We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.'" (Isaiah 28:14-15) 

The people may not know they have made a covenant with death but, in serving idols and in believing the lies of false prophets and wicked priests, they have made such a covenant. In rejecting the Lord in favor of pagan deities they have rejected their only Helper. They may believe some sort of supernatural forces will protect them but these are lies of false prophets. An even more insidious lie will begin making the rounds as well, which we will learn about later in the Old Testament, because false prophets from among their own people (not the pagan prophets) will promise them that the Lord will never allow the city of His temple to fall. The people will welcome this message and will choose to believe it because the message is being spoken by descendants of Jacob. But that doesn't make it any less of a lie! Because they willingly give themselves over to falsehood, the Lord will give them over to the invader, and this is something that can happen to any nation that forsakes the Lord.