Weep and Wail for the Proud (Isaiah 15-16)

God's Plan for Proud Moab (ch.15-16) [Gary Smith]

1. A lament over the ruin of Moab (15:1-9).
• Laments over the ruined northern Moabite cities (1b-4).
• Laments over fugities who flee south (5-7).
• The inevitability of Moab's dire situation (8-9).
  
2. A Moabite request for shelter in Judah (16:1-5).
3. A lament: pride will cause the devastation of Moab (16:6-12).
• Moab is proud (6).
• Moab will wail, its field ruined (7-8).
• Prophet laments; there is no joy in Moab (9-10).
• Prophet weeps; Moab's prayer is useless (11-12).
  
4. An announcement: Moab's end within three years (16:13-14).

Moab: Salvation Refused by Pride (ch.15-16) [J. Alec Motyer]

1. Moab's crisis (15:1).
2. Moab's grief (15:2-4).
3. The Lord's grief over Moab (15:5-9).
4. Moab's plea (16:1-4a).
5. Isaiah's answer (16:4b-5).
6. Moab's grief explained (16:6-8).
7. The Lord's grief over Moab (16:9-12).
8. Moab's imminent ruin (16:13-14).

Concerning Moab [Barry Webb]

1. The lament (15:1-9).
2. The appeal (16:1-5).
3. The reflection (16:6-11).
4. Summary and appendix (16:12-14).

Moab [Derek Kidner, New Bible Commentary]

1. Defeat and flight (15:1-9).
2. Moab can look to Zion (16:1-5).
3. Moab's pride and fall (16:6-14).

Genesis: A Few Key Doctrines

Consider the following statements below and what they mean to you, your life and your community.

The Creation (Genesis 1-2): Do you honor God as your Creator (Ps 33:6)?

• God is the Creator (Gen 1:1).
• God created man in his image (Gen 1:27).
• God planted a paradise for man (Gen 2:8-9).
• God gave man work to do (Gen 1:28; 2:15).
• God gave man freedom and a command (Gen 2:16-27).
• God saw that being alone is not good and gave the man a family (Gen 2:18ff).

The Fall (Genesis 3): Do you understand what it means that human beings are fallen creatures (Jer 17:9)?

• The temptation to be like God and to take control of your own life and the lives of others (Gen 3:5).
• The promise of One who would crush Satan's head (Gen 3:15).
• The curse of labor pains and the desire for a husband (Gen 3:16).
• The curse of toiling and worrying all the days of your life (Gen 3:17-19).

The Call (Genesis 12): Have you personally heard "the call"? Seen the Lord (Isa 6:1, 5, 8)?

• God gave Abraham a command and a promise (Gen 12:1-3).

The Covenant (Genesis 15): Do you know what it means to live by faith (Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17)?

• The basis of righteousness is faith (Gen 15:6).
• It is God who initiates a covenant with man as the recipient of the covenant (Gen 15:18).

Circumcision (Genesis 17): Is your heart circumcised by God (Dt 30:6; Rom 2:28-29)?

• Coram Deo ("in the presence of God"): God requires that we live before God faithfully and blamelessly (Gen 17:1).

The Provision (Genesis 22): Do you see your life as God's gracious gift (Rom 6:23b; Jas 1:17)?

• The Lord provides (Gen 22:8, 14).

The Stairway (Genesis 28): Are you on the stairway to heaven (Jn 1:51)?

• Jacob saw a stairway to heaven (Gen 28:12-13)?

The Wrestling Match (Genesis 32): Have you been transformed after wrestling all night with God (Ps 51:10; 2 Cor 3:18)?

• Jacob wrestled with a man all night until his inner person was supernaturally transformed (Gen 32:24, 28).

 The Adversity (Genesis 37-39): What life changing major adversity have you encountered in your life (Rom 5:3-5; Jas 1:2-4)?

• Joseph was thrown into the pit of darkness (Gen 37:24).
• In the worst of times Joseph prospered (Gen 39:2, 23).

 The Providence of God (Genesis 50): Have you genuinely experienced Romans 8:28 in your life?

• Despite man's deliberate intention to hurt him, Joseph experienced God's intention to bless him (Gen 50:20).

God's Plans for Babylon and Assyria (Isaiah 13-14)

Don't trust Babylon. This prophecy is best dated sometime shortly before 701 BC, when Judah was tempted to depend on the Babylonians (Isa 39:1-7) to defeat the Assyrians. At that time Assyria was about to crush Hezekiah at Jerusalem and Babylon was a rising empire on the eastern horizon that had the potential of being able to help Hezekiah escape from Assyria's iron grip. If this is the context for the message of ch. 13-14, Isaiah is exposing the foolishness of Hezekiah's trust in Babylon and arguing against this political alliance. Isaiah thus affirms the approaching defeat of Babylon (Isa 13:19; 14:22; 21:1-10) and later affirms the fall of Assyria (Isa 14:25).

God determines the destiny of each nation. God's warnings in ch. 13-14 demonstrate that it makes no sense to put one's faith in any earthly kingdom or king (especially not Babylon), for God will determine the destiny of each nation. Although human troops fight, the spiritual reality is that God and his heavenly forces will determine the outcome of every battle and bring punishment on those who oppose God (Isa 13:9, 13) and on the arrogant who think they are in control (Isa 13:11, 19). Everything that happens fits together to accomplish God's purposes on earth. There is no one or no nation that can prevent God's plan from being accomplished (Isa 14:26-27; 10:12ff; Ac 2:23-24; 4:25-26, 27-28).

What is the purpose of Isaiah's prophecy (oracle) against Babylon?

1. It is senseless to fight against God's plan by trusting a proud nation like Babylon, for God has already condemned Babylon to destruction.
2. God has already announced his plan to have compassion on Israel, return their captives to the land, and cause many foreigners to worship Israel's God (Isa 14:1-3; 2:2-3; 10:20-27; 11:10-16).
3. God's people do not need the protection of Babylon to survive an Assyrian attack, for God himself will destroy Assyria (Isa 14:24-27).

God's people should trust God with its present problems, as Judah should trust God during their imminent crisis. What people believe about God will determine their practical walk, just as their practical walk will reveal what they really believe about God. The extent of each person's trust in God is evident in the decisions they make and the things they do.

A major theme that epitomizes man's rebellion against God is pride. In the time of Uzziah,

• the people of Judah were proud (Isa 2:6-21),
• the women walked around proudly strutting their stuff (Isa 3:16-4:1),
• the nation of Israel was haughty (Isa 9:8-9) and
• the Assyrian king arrogantly bragged about his greatness and power (Isa 10:5-14).

Learn from these negative examples: Do not overstep your rightful place and become proud. Isaiah's message is that God will destroy those who are proud (Isa 13:11) and any proud king who tries to play God (Isa 14:12-14). No man--no matter how powerful--determines the future, God does. No man has any reason to exalt themselves in pride. God is the only One who should be exalted. People need to humble themselves before the mighty power of God and simply put their trust in Him.

Structure:

1. Destruction on the Day of the Lord (13:1-16).
• Preparation for battle (1-5).
• Superscription (1).
• Soldiers summoned (2-3).
• Soldiers arrive (4-5).
  
• The battle on the day of the Lord (6-16).
• People will wail (6-8).
• Destruction of heaven and earth (9-13).
• People will be hunted and killed (14-16).
  
2. God will Destroy Proud Babylon (13:17-22).
3. God will Restore Israel (14:1-2).
4. A Taunt for the Babylonian King (14:3-23).
• Introduction to the lament (3-4a).
• Death of this oppressive king (4b-8).
• King's spirit enters into Sheol (9-11).
• King's fall from heaven (12-14).
• King's humiliation (15-21).
• God's judgment of Babylon (14:22-23).
  
5. God's Plan to Crush Assyria (14:24-27).
• God's plan for Assyria (24-25).
• God's plan for all nations (26-27).
  
6. God's Plan for Philistia (14:28-32).
• An introduction (28).
• A warning not to rejoice and a rationale (29-30).
• An encouragement to lament and a rationale (31).
• A call to trust God (32).

Reference: Isaiah 1-39, New American Commentary. Gary Smith. 2007.

Don't Trust The Nations (Isaiah 13-23)

Isa 13:1 begins a new section of Isaiah. The oracles in ch. 13-23 focus on the destruction of several nations (mostly foreign nations), and is thus set apart from ch. 1-12, which primarily addresses Judah. Various titles of ch.13-23 are:

• God's Sovereign Plan for the Nations (Gary Smith, 2007).
  
• The Kingdom Panorama: The Whole World in His Hands (J. Alec Motyer, 1999).
• Lord of the Nations (Barry Webb, 1997).
• Why Do the Nations Rage? (Ray Stedman)
• The Supremacy of God Over the Nations (Ray Ortland, God Saves Sinner, 1995).
• God's Judgment on the Nations (John Oswalt, The NIV Application Commentary, 2003).
  
• Don't Trust the Nations (John Oswalt lectures at Francis Ashberry Society, 2011).

Ch. 13-23 pick up some of the themes in ch. 1-12:

• Pride (Isa 13:11, 19; 14:11; 16:6; 23:9), just like the people of Judah (Isa 2:11-12, 17; 3:16), Israel (Isa 9:8), and the Assyrian king (Isa 10:5-14).
• A godly remnant of people will come from these nations (Isa 11:11; 14:1-2; 17:7-8; 18:7; 19:18-25; 23:18; cf. Isa 2:1-5).

Oracles, prophesy, utterances are titles to each of the 10 main parts in ch. 13-23. Each oracle is a "burden, something carried," a term that has the negative connotation of bearing something heavy. The word means "to carry, lift up."

All the different oracles in ch. 13-23 are related to the way God will direct the affairs of the nations in that part of the world.

Cycle of Hope and Judgment (Isaiah 7-12)

7:1-16	7:17-8:22	9:1-7	9:8-10:34	11:1-16	12:1-6
Hope	Judgment	Hope	Judgment	Hope	Conclusion
His birth	Judah/Aram/Samaria	His nature	Israel /Assyria	His reign	Song of Praise

 

1. The Messianic Sign of Immanuel (Isa 7:1-16): His birth.
2. The Messianic Son of God (Isa 9:1-7): His person, his nature.
3. The Messianic Branch (Isa 11:1-16 ): His kingdom, his reign.

•       Interspersed between these messianic passages are passages of God's judgment.