Isaiah on Tuesday - A Refuge for the Poor

Last week we looked at Isaiah 24 in which Isaiah started an arc of thought that spans several chapters. The dire prophecy of the last chapter (destruction of the world, that sort of thing) is followed by this week's chapter which is one of hope and restoration. There are certainly aspects of judgment which creep in, but the overall tone is much brighter.

What I find fascinating is how Isaiah is able to move from "See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it;" (24:1) to 25:1

"O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago."

I think he had a grasp of the big picture that alludes most of us - a picture that was so big that he just wrote it down as it came and left it for us (with the help of the Holy Spirit) to puzzle out. Chapter 25 is so so good that I will quote it at length and try not to add too much commentary. Isaiah starts out with praise for God's faithfulness, glory and power, but immediately ties this chapter and the last together:

2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

Note that phrase "ruthless nations" - it gets repeated several times throughout this chapter. Isaiah's zeal for justice and for the poor comes out very strongly here. Verse 2 seems to tie the "devastation" visited to the earth to a specific place - the city of the oppressor, the ruthless nation. But Isaiah quickly turns to promise:

4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall

5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

God is a protector and refuge, though the "ruthless" come against them, He provides a wall, shade and shelter. Note that the "enemy" comes against those without means - the poor and needy. God's compassion for them and His desire to provide resource and protection for those with none is visibly displayed here. But it gets better:

6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.

7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;

8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

This is the shining ray of hope - a feast for ALL peoples. And Isaiah's exceptional prose once again comes out in verse 7 - "The shroud that enfolds all peoples", death is swallowed up forever. Sadness, fear and disgrace is removed and redemption comes for those who accept it.

In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

Vindication comes for those who trusted in God - their hope is not in vain, but fulfilled. The chapter ends the way it started - bookending hope and redemption with the destruction of those who would hope in themselves and their creations, those that would use power to oppress and torment the weak and poor rather than protect and uplift them. This is a theme that runs throughout Isaiah and we will see it repeated in the weeks to come.

One last note - that phrase, "In that day" - we'll see that repeated in the coming weeks as well. It ties together these chapters,signalingg that though we have arbitrarily broken up his thoughts into chapters, Isaiah didn't really intend them to be that way. Unlike the various oracles that we just finished up, Chapters 24-30 and part of 31 are really one long message and I think I would suggest reading them all in one sitting to really see the flow of thought.