Isaiah relays the words of God: "This is what the Lord says to me: 'As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey---and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor---so the Lord Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.'" (Isaiah 31:4) The Lord has been promising the people of Jerusalem that He will protect them from the threat of Assyria. The Assyrian army is going to come right up to the gates but the people inside will not have to fight for their city; the Lord will supernaturally defend it.
Just as a lion growls fiercely over a lamb it has captured from the herd, no matter how much the shepherds might shout at it and try to drive it away from its kill, the Lord will not be driven away from His intention to defeat the plans of the Assyrian army. He is not at all alarmed by how many soldiers are going to come and encamp around Jerusalem. With one "growl", so to speak, He is going to strike dead 185,000 enemy soldiers in the middle of the night. He will not need any help from anyone. The God who spoke the universe into existence can easily defeat any enemy that comes against His people.
Isaiah's fellow citizens are to place their trust in the Lord alone. They have heard what Assyria has done to the northern kingdom of Israel and to many other nations but there is no reason for them to be shaking in their shoes at the news that this army is advancing toward them. The Lord will protect them. "Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; He will shield it and deliver it, He will 'pass over' it and will rescue it." (Isaiah 31:5) Like a bird scaring predators away from the nest, the Lord will scare Assyria away from Jerusalem. When the plague strikes the enemy army in the night, the king of Assyria (who is not encamped with his army) will have to call a halt to his plans and retreat to his own country, intending to call up and train more soldiers and plan another siege, but this will never come to pass because he will be assassinated while making an offering to one of his heathen idols.
The nation of Egypt will be no help to Judah. They are wasting time and resources making an alliance with Pharaoh. All of their prayers need to be directed to the God who made them into a nation in the first place. "Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against." (Isaiah 31:6) A fair number of the people of Judah---including some of the kings---have practiced idolatry. Some practiced it alongside their worship of the Lord and some forsook the Lord entirely in favor of pagan gods. But at this time in history the people of Judah have not forsaken Him to the extent that the people of Israel have. If the northern kingdom had not fallen so far from Him, their nation would not have fallen to Assyria. The people of Isaiah's nation of Judah need to take to heart what is happening to Israel and to so many other countries at the hands of the Assyrian army. They need to turn back wholeheartedly to the Lord. The Lord allowed Israel to fall because of idolatry. He allowed many other idolatrous nations to fall. With this in mind, every person in Judah should be calling out to the Lord for help. Every person in Judah should be confessing their sins to God and giving their hearts to Him.
When we move on to our next segment of Chapter 31 we will find Isaiah prophesying about the supernatural deliverance that is coming.
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