Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Isaiah · About this commentary
Woe to the Rebellious Children
Isaiah 30:1-17
1 “Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; · WEB
An embassy carries treasure through snake country to buy an alliance, and the offer they refused was rest.
Woe to the rebellious children, says Yahweh, who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin Isaiah 30:1.
The hidden policy of the previous chapter is now named. Judah is negotiating with Egypt, and the phrase add sin to sin describes a second measure taken to secure the first.
Who set out to go down into Egypt without asking for my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! Isaiah 30:2.
The shadow of Egypt — shade, which is what a traveler wants and which this book has already promised from a different source Isaiah 25:4.
Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people Isaiah 30:6.
The caravan is tracked across the Negev, and the detail is the point: the tribute is going by the hard route, past predators, at real risk, loaded on animals — and the people it is going to can't profit them. The effort is exactly proportioned to the futility.
For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still Isaiah 30:7.
The nickname is a joke and a cruel one. Rahab was the name of the sea monster of old poetry, the great chaos-dragon — and this one does not move. A famous terror, sitting down.
Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever Isaiah 30:8.
The message is put in writing because it will be needed later as evidence.
Who tell the seers, "Don't see!" and the prophets, "Don't prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits" Isaiah 30:10.
The most candid demand in the book, and it is quoted as though the speakers heard nothing wrong with it. They are not asking to be deceived accidentally; they are commissioning it. And the last request is the honest one: cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us Isaiah 30:11. They want him out of the room.
This iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant Isaiah 30:13.
A bulge in a high wall. It stands for a long time and gives no useful warning, and the collapse is instantaneous. The policy is described as structurally unsound rather than as immediately dangerous, which is why nobody in the government could see the problem.
He will break it as a potter's vessel is broken... so that there won't be found among the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern Isaiah 30:14.
A smashed pot usually leaves one usable shard — the standard scoop of the ancient world. This one leaves nothing that size.
You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence. You refused Isaiah 30:15.
The offer and the answer in one verse. Four words for what was on the table, and two for what was done with it.
But you said, "No, for we will flee on horses;" therefore you will flee Isaiah 30:16.
The judgment is the request granted. They wanted speed and they get it, in the wrong direction.
settled What this mark means