Yeshayah 2

1The Davar that Isaiah ben Amotz saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim.

2And it shall come to pass in the acharit hayamim, that the Har Beis Hashem shall be established as the rosh of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the Goyim shall flow unto it.

3And amim rabbim (many peoples) shall come and say, Come ye, and let us go up to Har Hashem, to the Beis Elohei Ya'akov; and He will teach us of His Derakhim, and we will walk in His Orakhot; for out of Tziyon shall go forth the torah , and the Devar Hashem from Yerushalayim.

4And He shall judge among the Goyim, and shall arbitrate for amim rabbim; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Goy shall not lift up cherev against Goy, neither shall they train for milchamah any more.

5O Bais Ya'akov, come ye, and let us walk in the Ohr Hashem.

6Therefore Thou hast abandoned Thy people Bais Ya’akov, because they have found their fullness from Kedem (the East), and practice divination like the Pelishtim, and they clasp hands contentedly with yaldei nochrim (children of foreigners).

7Their land also is full of kesef and zahav, neither is there any end of their otzarot; their land is also full of susim, neither is there any end of their merkevot:

8Their land also is full of elilim; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own etzbe’ot have made;

9And adam are humbled and ish are brought low; therefore forgive them not.

10Enter into the Tzur, and hide thee in the aphar, for pachad Hashem, and for the hadar of His majesty.

11The lofty looks of adam shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of anashim shall be brought low, and Hashem alone shall be exalted in Yom Hahu.

12For the Yom L’Hashem Tzva'os shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

13And upon all the cedars of Levanon, that are high and lofty, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

14And upon kol heharim, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

15And upon every lofty migdal, and upon every fortified chomah (wall),

16And upon all the oniyyot of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful ships.

17And the haughtiness of adam shall be humbled, and the pride of anashim shall be brought low; and Hashem alone shall be exalted in Yom Hahu.

18And the elilim shall utterly pass away.

19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of aphar, for pachad (terror of) Hashem, and for the hadar of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake ha'aretz.

20In Yom Hahu a man shall cast his elilei kesef, and his elilei zahav, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the crags before pachad (terror) of Hashem, and for the hadar of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake ha'aretz.

22Cease ye from HaAdam, whose neshamah is in his nostrils: for of what account is he? According to Isaiah, all those who reject the Word of G-d will find judgment (5:24). Invasion by foreign armies (5:26-30), fiery destruction, and exile (5:13,29) will cause a reversal of fortune for these people, and the Day of the L-rd will cause the haughty to be brought low (2:17) and the poor in spirit to become holy and purged in the fire (1:25; 4:3). Along with the survivors will come in the aftermath the Moshiach, the Tzemach (Branch) of the L-rd (4:2) who is identified (in the book of Isaiah itself, not merely in Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15 or Zech.3:8) with the Tzemach T'zadik (Righteous Branch) of the L-rd (53:11) and of Dovid (37:35). This Moshiach-Servant is associated with the L-rd in many ways: He too is "raised high and lifted up" (compare 52:13; 6:1); He too is glorious, Jesse's glorious root (compare 4:2 and 11:10 with 6:3, noticing also the word Shoresh [root, linking 11:10 and 53:2); He too is the rallying focal-point of the nations(compare 11:10 to 2:2-4 and see the one "to whom the obedience of the nations belongs"—Genesis 49:10; see Ezekiel 21:27 [21:32 in the Hebrew Bible]; Psalm 18:43; Isaiah 42:1,4; 49:6); He too bears a divine name and governing function (9:5-6); He too is Immanuel, (G-d-with-us), the rightful owner of Israel's land (compare 8:8 and 7:14 to 5:5); He too, this anointed Moshiach-Servant (11:2; 42:1), is righteous (see 11:4-5 and 42:21; 51:5). The Moshiach- Servant, through the Dovidic covenant, witnesses as a light to the Gentiles (9:6) to those outside the covenant (Isaiah 55:3). Job standing rejected and forsaken with mockers around him (Job 17:2) reminds the reader of the picture we have of the suffering Servant of the L-rd in Isaiah 53 or the mocked Dovidic King in Psalm 22 (compare Job 27:4 to Isa. 53:9). In the midst of the false accusations, Job "holds fast to his righteousness" (Job 27:6) and waits on the L-rd to vindicate him (Job 42:7-8). So the mocked sage who becomes a fool that the world curses and makes sport of is depicted in Isaiah 53. We have seen this picture before in that other image, the judge of Israel, Samson, being made sport of by the Philistines (Judg.16:25) or in the King of Israel, Dovid the sage, pretending to be mad before a similar scoffing Philistine audience (I Sm.21:13-15). When sages like Moshe or Dovid are nearly stoned by the people (Ex. 17:4; I Sm. 30:6) we see this reemerging picture of the rejected-yet-vindicated-as-righteous Sage of Israel. Significantly, the Son of Dovid is depicted as the sage par excellence in the life of Shlomo in I Kings. Then II Chronicles intensifies this portrait and gives Messianic prophetic significance to Dovid's Son as the Moshiach Sage of Israel. Finally, Isaiah combines the two portraits of the sage found in Job and Shlomo and depicts the Dovidic Servant of the L-rd as the mocked and rejected sage-counsellor (9:5-6) filled "with the spirit of wisdom" (Isa. 11:2) who seems to labor "in vain” but trusts his cause to the L-rd (Isa. 49:4) and, after mockery and rejection (Isa. 53:2-4), is finally vindicated by G-d as righteous (see Isa. 53:11-12). The Moshiach is the eternal Kohen who sprinkles the nations with a Cosmic Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) sacrifice. (Ps. 110:4; Zechariah 6:11-13; Isaiah 52:15; Lev. 16:14-17), just as the End He brings is depicted in Scripture as an End beginning with a Rosh Hashana-like Shofar (I Th 4:16). The Moshiach is the Seh HaElohim (the Lamb of G-d) provided from heaven as the redemption sacrifice in order that G-d's people might be passed over and purchased for freedom from divine judgment, as Isaac was and as the nation of Israel was. G-d sent His Word and healed His people from the plagues of judgment He poured out on the heathen. G-d saved His people in order that they might make an exodus to new abundant life in accordance with His gracious covenant promise in the Moshiach (Gen. 32:8; Ps. 107:30; Isa. 53:5-6,10; Deut. 7:15; Isa 42:1,6-7; 40:3; 42:16; 43:19; 49:5-26). The words "son" and "child" are very important to Isaiah's message. His own two sons are given portentous names (7:3; 8:1-3) and the conception of the second son in the womb of his prophetess-wife is divinely timed. In chps. 7-9, Isaiah refers to his own son but also to Dovid's son, a son he calls "G-d with us" and "Mighty G-d." Isaiah shows us a Deliverer who can rule the world (9:5-6), and yet he marvels at this personage being born as a humble child, just as a little child leads the rest of creation in the future kingdom--Isaiah 11:6. The future kingdom is described in passages which include 2:1-4; 4:2-6; 11:6-9; 25:6-8; 35:1-10; 60:1-22. The future king of this glorious kingdom is described in passages which include 7:1-12:6; 32:1-20; 49:1-57:21; 61:1-11. The Moshiach is the Descendant of the Woman who will battle that Ancient Serpent, Satan (Gen. 3:15), called "Leviathan the twisting serpent" in Isa. 27:1. On the Messianic Davidic dynasty--see MJ 7:14; Ro 1:3; Mt 1:1,16; Lk 3:23,31. The legal right to the throne came through the father--see Babylonian Talmud Baba Bathra 130a on Deut. 21:16. Also, see Ignatius' Epistle to the Ephesians, "Miryam of the seed of David." The Branch of the L-rd and of Dovid is called "the L-rd" in Mal.3:1 and Ps. 110:1, since Adon refers to Hashem in Zechariah 4:14 and 6:5. Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised if the Name of G-d is given to the Moshiach in Isa. 9:5-6. The Hebrew words Moshi'a and Go'el found in the books of Judges and Ruth point to this Savior-Redeemer figure, the Moshiach. See Isaiah 49:26. Three kings serve as foils in Isaiah's depiction of the Moshiach: Ahaz son of David, Hezekiah son of David (compare 7:4-17 and 27:1-7,21-35), and the Persian King Cyrus, called Moshiach (45:1), because he saves the Jewish people from the Babylonian Exile and sends them home to rebuild their land and Hashem’s Beis Hamikdash. About 734 B.C.E. Rezin King of Damascus (Syria) and Pekah King of Israel organized a coalition to rebel against Assyria. When Ahaz refused to join them and they invaded Judah (7:1), Ahaz apppealed directly to Assyria for help, beginning the process of foreign invading armies and exile that would swallow his throne in 586 B.C.E. Assyria captured Damascus (732 B.C.E.) and Samaria (722); and Babylon (defeating Assyria) captured Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. Isaiah warned Ahaz's son and successor, Hezekiah about the coming Babylonian captivity (see 39:5-7 and 6:11-12). Isaiah also prophesied about the release from Exile and the return to the land (48:20f). For prophesies by Isaiah against the nations, see 13:1-14:23; 21:1-10; 43:14-15; chp. 46-47 (Babylon): 14:28-32 (Philistia see ch. 20 on Ashdod); ch.15-16 (Moab); 17:1-11 (Damascus); chp.19-20 (Egypt); 21:11-12 (Edom); 21:13-17 (Arabia); ch. 23 (Tyre); 23:4,12 (Sidon); 10:5-19; 14:24-27; 37:33-35 (Assyria); 18:1-7 (Cush, Nubia south of Egypt); Isaiah was well aware of Deuteronomy 4:26-27 which says that sin will cause the people to be "utterly destroyed.and.only a small number of you will remain." Isaiah was also aware of the covenant reprisals in Deuteronomy 28:32-33,36- 37,41,45-62. Therefore, when he begins to prophesy, he sees only a few survivors left after G-d’s scourge of judgment is finished (see 1:9; 10:22). Isaiah foresees that Assyria will be G-d's rod of judgment (10:5) against Israel, though later G-d would destroy the Assyrian hordes as He did the oppressive Midianites in Judges 7:22-25 (see Isaiah 9:4; 10:24-27). The fulfillment of these very prophecies, as well as 30:31 and 31:8, about the destruction of Assyria came in 701 B.C.E. (see 37:36-38) when the Assyrian army was supernaturally defeated. Later, the capital of Assyria, Nineveh, would be destroyed in 612 B.C.E., as Isaiah (31:8- 9), Nahum, and Jonah had predicted. Isaiah also predicts the Babylonian captivity. (See Isaiah 39:5-7; 14:3-4.) It is important to keep the historical facts in mind, but, most importantly, that Moshiach provides first spiritual peace (Isa.53:5; Ro 5:1) before He provides world peace (Isa.9:5-7).]