Isaiah_35-36

Isaiah 35 – God’s Glory Transforming Zion

The eschatological message of divine judgment in the previous chapter is contrasted with new promises about God’s appearance on earth. He will marvelously transform the dry earth into fertile ground (35:1–2, 6–7) and the weak and blind into a holy and redeemed people (35:3–4, 8–10). This announcement of salvation describes God’s final and dramatic transformation of his people and their world. It is not about conditions when the exiles return from Babylon, for exilic conditions were nothing like what is described here. The coming of the glory of the Lord will be the central transformative agent (35:2b, 4), thus this salvation oracle seems to deal with some of the same issues considered in 2:1–5; 4:2–6; 29:16–24; 33:1–24). (Quote: NAC)

The prophet’s words of encouragement are structured into three paragraphs.

Isaiah 35:1-10 (ESV)
¹  The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
²  it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.
³  Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
⁴  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
⁵  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
⁶  then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
⁷  the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
⁸  And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
⁹  No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.
¹⁰  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

V.6b-10 – The salvation oracle ends by describing how God will cause his people to return to Zion.

V.8 “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness.”  –  Note the highway name!

The holy people will walk on it as it is reserved for God’s redeemed people.  It is for those who joyfully enter Zion to fellowship and praise God.

V.10 “..the ransomed of the LORD shall return….”  –  That the legal payment was made and these people are welcomed on God’s highway.  Thus the curse on man and the world is removed and establishes the holy kingdom of God.  Quote:  NAC

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS. Chapters 34–35 describe the time when God will settle accounts with mankind on earth and set up his eschatological kingdom. There is no doubt about the theological principle that God will have vengeance on the wicked and violently destroy them and the earth where they live. His judgment is real, it is devastating, and it is final. If one can conceive of a world without divine support and care, that is the world that awaits the nations that will receive God’s wrath. It will be the most gruesome, bloody, terrible, and repulsive scene that one can imagine. Death, infertility, and desolation will characterize the planet; everything attractive and beautiful will vanish. The prophet’s description of this abominable time was meant to repulse the hearers and motivate them to do everything possible to avoid experiencing these things. It will be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.

On the other hand, in chap. 35 God offers an alternative world of fertility, joy, and gladness where he will reveal something of his marvelous glory. The theological principle here is that everyone should be encouraged to experience the salvation of God, no matter how weak or blind they are. God is not only able to remove blindness and strengthen the weak; he will also miraculously open the eyes of many. His kingdom will have abundant water, great fertility, and a holy highway for his redeemed people to come to Zion to worship him. Only those who return to God, only the holy, and only the ransomed will experience the joy of that day.^[1]

Isaiah 36-39:8 (4 chapters) – Hezekiah’s Challenge to Trust God!

1. HEZEKIAH’S CHALLENGE TO TRUST GOD (36:1–39:8)
2. Overcoming Sennacherib’s Threats against Hezekiah (36:1–37:38)

(1)  Challenging Hezekiah’s Trust for Deliverance (36:1–22)

The First Challenge: On Whom Can You Depend? (36:1–10)

The Second Challenge: Who Can Deliver You? (36:11–21)

(2)  Cutting Off the Blaspheming Assyrian King (36:22–37:7)

(3)  Sennacherib’s Final Warning to Hezekiah (37:8–13)

(4)  God’s Promise to Rescue Hezekiah (37:14–35)

Requesting God’s deliverance (37:14–20)

Promise to Defeat Proud Sennacherib (37:21–29)

God’s Sign of Survival and Promise of Protection (37:30–35)

(5)  Assyrians Defeated (37:36–38)

2. Hezekiah Delivered from Death (38:1–22)

(1)  Hezekiah’s Prayer for Healing (38:1–8)

(2)  Hezekiah’s Thanksgiving for Healing (38:9–20)

(3)  Concluding Comments (38:21–22)

3. Trusting Babylon Rather Than God (39:1–8)

Isaiah 36:1-10 (ESV)
¹  In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
²  And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
³  And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
⁴  And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?
⁵  Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
⁶  Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
⁷  But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?
⁸  Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
⁹  How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
¹⁰  Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

These four chapters contain a theological account of Hezekiah’s reign while he was dealing with problems related to Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in 705–701 BC. These chapters are somewhat reminiscent of the narrative report of events when King Ahaz refused to trust God while facing the crisis of the Syro-Ephraimite War in chaps. 7–8. A comparison of the sections exposes several similarities in the way these leaders behaved and also highlights some fundamental differences between these two kings, for in the end Ahaz refused to trust God, while at the last moment Hezekiah did trust God for deliverance from Assyria. The historical events and the dialogues (between the Assyrian general Rabshakeh and the people of Jerusalem, Isaiah and Hezekiah, Hezekiah and God), about whether the king should trust God or some other nation, provide the reader with an historical context for understanding many of the preceding chapters (13–35) and particularly God’s promises to destroy the Assyrians. The wording of this narrative is so closely related to the literary account of the identical events described in 2 Kgs 18–20 that one must assume there is some literary connection between these two narratives. The various attempts to explain this literary interrelationship will be described at the beginning of each section of the text.  (An additional quote from the New American Commentary.) ^[2]

^[1] Smith, G. V. (2007). Isaiah 1–39. (E. R. Clendenen, Ed.) (pp. 565–582). Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.

^[2] Smith, G. V. (2007). Isaiah 1–39. (E. R. Clendenen, Ed.) (pp. 565–582). Nashville: B & H Publishing Group.