Thursday, May 16, 2024

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 130, An Obstinate Nation

We begin Chapter 30 today with a warning for the people of Judah not to look to Egypt for help against Assyria. The Lord compares the people of Judah to disobedient children in this matter, calling them "obstinate", which is the same as calling them "stubborn, willful, headstrong, unyielding, unreasonable and hardened".

Earlier in the Old Testament, after the Lord brought the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt, He warned them never to return there. They weren't even to engage with them in trading, for the Lord commanded the kings not to procure a fleet of horses and chariots from Egypt, which is where most kings obtained the finest horses and chariots in the world at that time. But as the threat of Assyria looms large over Judah (and as Israel falls to Assyria) the people of Judah will appeal to Pharaoh for help against their common enemy.

"'Woe to the obstinate children,' declares the Lord, 'to those who carry out plans that are not Mine, forming an alliance, but not by My spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting Me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.'" (Isaiah 30:1-2)

We are not to make any sort of close alliances that go against the word of God. We are commanded not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. (2 Corinthians 6:14) To be in a yoke with someone is to be tied to someone closely for a common purpose, like in marriage or in a business partnership or (as in the case of Judah) in a political/military alliance. It is never the Lord's will for a believer to marry an unbeliever and I don't believe it is ever the Lord's will for a believer to enter into a business partnership with an unbeliever. It is not the Lord's will for Judah to enter into an alliance with the heathen nation of Egypt either.

As we learned during our study of the kings, the forces of Egypt will be unable to repel the forces of Assyria. This alliance will not benefit Judah for, after suffering a large defeat, Pharaoh will submit to Assyria and pay tribute to its king in order to avoid being deposed from the throne and in order to prevent his nation from falling. The Lord warns the people of Judah ahead of time that the alliance will not benefit them. "But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace. Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace." (Isaiah 30:3-5)

The officials of Pharaoh will make an alliance with the nation of Judah and will accept gifts from the king of Judah but, when all is said and done, the alliance will not be advantageous to either party. Close alliances with unbelievers are not advantageous to anyone, whether it's in marriage or in business or in any other situation where the believer and the unbeliever are tied together legally or emotionally. While it's possible that the believer will be a good influence on the unbeliever, there is no guarantee of that, and it is often the case that the unbeliever is a bad influence on the believer. At the very least, such an alliance will be fraught with conflicts because the two will have differing opinions in many areas. The believer will want to make decisions based on the word of God and prayer while the unbeliever will want to make decisions based on human feelings and based on worldly advice. Whatever endeavor they are engaged in will not prosper as it should because spiritually they are not a good match and this will reflect on everything they do together.

The people will end up ashamed for trusting in help from Egypt. By contrast, this is what the Bible says about the one who trusts in the Lord: "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." (Psalm 34:5)

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