ISAIAH 2:6-11
FULL, BUT EMPTY
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Why is it imperative that Israel learn to walk in the light of the Lord? Because there is no future or hope in their present condition and way of life. Isaiah now depicts the foolishness of humanity attempting to exalt itself. The cause of the problem is given as human pride and supposed self-sufficiency. If they refuse to repent and acknowledge God and walk in His ways, God will abase them. The effect of their prideful self-sufficiency will be their humiliation for trusting in the works of their hands.
The achieving of wealth became an end in itself (instead of using it for the purposes of God) and Israel place their confidence in themselves and what they could achieve instead of in YAHWEH. As a result of their attitude and practices the nation will be brought low, but the God they refuse to walk with will be exalted without them. They decided to be full of the world which made them empty of God. You can not prepare for a good future if you continue to live in rebellion against God. [Developed with help of John Oswalt Commentary on Isaiah, Chs, 1-39, pp120-125]
I. FILLED–WITH INFLUENCES, 6.
II. FILLED–WITH WEALTH, 7.
III. FILLED–WITH IDOLS, 8.
IV. EMPTY OF GOD, 9.
V. EMPTY BEFORE GOD, 10-11.
Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. For Thou hast abandoned Thy people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
God had abandoned His people not because He no longer loved them but because they had become like the pagans around them. You can not prepare for a good future if you continue to live in sin. Rather the expectation of a good future should motivate them to deal with their present sinful condition. If they will not change their ways (and they won’t) then restoration can only come about after utter humiliation needed to destroy their false hopes.
What is the underlying cause of their condition? The first underlying condition was following man-exalting religion. They were following the religious practices of other nations.
The exact sense of they are full from the east is unclear. It probably indicates that Israel has borrowed the superstitious ways of Assyria and Babylonia, the great ancient eastern civilizations. Divination like the Philistines meant claiming to know and control the future by the power of demons (sorcery) or by interpreting omens.
As if this is not enough it continues, with the children of foreigners they clap hands. It seems to refer to the making of alliances with foreigners that involved recognition of the foreign gods. The prophet is saying that Israel has borrowed pagan religious practices from the east to west.
The use of divination and omens or magic was strictly forbidden to Israel (Lev. 19:26; Deut. 18:9-14), for by these practices the pagans sought to gain control of their own destinies and to manipulate the gods. As has always been the case with the human race, they saw achievement of national and personal security as the paramount aim, and believed that manipulation of the gods through formula or magic was the way to achieve that aim. But God called the Hebrews to commit their security to Him in faith and to give their attention to justice and righteousness. This was the dilemma Israel faced throughout her history. Listen to God or listen to the nations? The prophet says they have listened to the nations.
II. FILLED–WITH WEALTH, 7.
Having made charge that Israel is following pagan religious practices, Isaiah details some other pagan ways Israel is following. These practices begin in verse 7. Their land has also been filled with silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses, And there is no end to their chariots.
Everything that could make Israel monetarally great she had. Uzziah’s long peaceful reign during the Assyrian lull before Tiglath-pileser III (745 B.C.) had given an opportunity unlike any since Solomon’s time to amass wealth and power (2 Chron. 26:6 -15). Israel was thus at the height of prosperity and military prowess and armament.
[Judah had great material wealth (silver and gold) and military strength (horses and chariots) which they no doubt mistakenly thought came to them because of their own efforts.]
When God’s people are filled with the fullness which the world offers, they become empty toward God. Having given up the riches of the promises of God the nation took the man made idols and treasures of the world in His place.
This is very reminiscent of Deuteronomy (esp. 17: 16-17), where the accumulation of military power and wealth is forbidden to the king on the grounds that they will turn the king away from God. This is exactly what happened to Solomon (1Kg 10:26-11:8). The desire for this world’s security led to assimilation of this world’s gods.
III. FILLED–WITH IDOLS, 8.
The third evil item Israel was filled with was false worship seen in verse 8. Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.
Unless that wealth and power they accumulated were understood to be gifts of God and not the work of human hand and idolatrous practices, they would prove end the end to be a curse. For man made religion is ultimately the creation of God in man’s image for the purpose of achieving human ends. It is thus the utmost exaltation of mankind.
But idolatry and man made religion is eventually proven as foolishness. How foolish to worship (prostrate themselves) what human’s have made. If worship is in any way the image or product of humanity, then the world is without any sense or ultimate purpose.
Though few people worship carved images today, worshiping objects that symbolize power or pleasure continues. We pay homage to cars, homes, sports stars, celebrities, money, etc. Such idol worship is evil because one, it insults God when we worship something He created rather that worshiping Him. Second, it keeps us from knowing and serving God when we put our confidence in anything other than Him. Third, it causes us to rely on our own efforts rather than on God (Deut. 27:15).
IV. EMPTY OF GOD, 9.
In verse 9 the prophet pronounces their fall from sinful heights because of their emptiness of God. So (for this reason) the (common) man has been humbled, And the man (of importance) has been abased, But do not forgive them.
You can not prepare for a good future if you continue to live in sin. They who bow down to the idols of this world can not expect God to fill them up much less lift them up. Isaiah has said that Israel is full of the world’s best wisdom, which is: that it is through wealth, power, and control of one’s destiny that human beings become great. But in fact that will not be so. They will be humbled and brought low.
They poured themselves out in sin and brought themselves low. It will not be easy to escape such full defilement. Do not forgive them could express the prophet’s deep despair over his people’s condition, or the certainty of God’s judgment. If it is the prophet’s thought, he seems almost afraid that God might relent and, in violation of His own justice, forget their heinous sins. As such, this phrase exposes the problem of sin. It cannot be simply forgotten, it must be punished; otherwise, the whole chain of cause and effect upon which the world is built would be broken. But the punishment for playing god can be no less than banishment from God, a denial of God’s purpose in creating human beings, which is for fellowship with Himself. What might the solution be? Only in the second part of Isaiah will we find the answer (43:1-7; 44:21-22; 52:7; 53:12; 59:15-21: 53:1-6).
V. EMPTY BEFORE GOD, 10-11.
Enter the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty. (11) The proud look of man will be abased, And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
Their eyes will be cast down in shame, their former self-exaltation will come to nothing. They will hide in the rocks and crannies (19-21; Rev. 6:15-17). Why will this be so? Certainly because the true source of greatness will appear in that day. The God from whom their self-worship has alienated them will appear, and there will be no more cause to glory in human greatness than there would be to praise a flashlight in broad daylight. [But the exaltation of mankind devalues humanity in another way, a way that has appeared in modern existentialist philosophy. If man is the center of things then life is without meaning or value, for each of us knows that we do not contain the meaning of life within ourselves. Having striven to become sovereigns of the universe we have become meaningless victims of a vast cosmic bad joke: able to conceive of meaning when there is none. Thus, even before the appearance of God, our quest for total self-sufficiency has reduced us to nothing. How much more will that be true when we see Him in the splendor of His might.] It will be true terror to meet the Holy God having lived our lives for ourselves.
CONCLUSION / INVITATION
You can not prepare for a good future if you continue to live in rebellion against God. The compiling of earthly wealth must not be to make you self-sufficient and secure. We must always accept our dependence on God and find our security in Him. No matter how well prepared you think your future is, unless you acknowledge all as a provision of God, its end will not hold the hoped for fulfilment. It is God who gives us the power to make wealth and there is no sufficient security outside of Him. Should we look to things, people or assets in place of God our last days on earth will be insecure ones no matter how secure we attempt to make them.
