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Commentary on Isaiah 22 verses 8–14
What is meant by the covering of Judah, which in the beginning of this paragraph is said to be discovered, is not agreed. The fenced cities of Judah were a covering to the country; but these, being taken by the army of the Assyrians, ceased to be a shelter, so that the whole country lay exposed to be plundered. The weakness of Judah, its nakedness, and inability to keep itself, now appeared more than ever; and thus the covering of Judah was discovered. Its magazines and stores, which had been locked up, were now laid open for the public use. Dr. Lightfoot gives another sense of it, that by this distress into which Judah should be brought God would discover their covering (that is, uncloak their hypocrisy), would show all that was in their heart, as is said of Hezekiah upon another occasion, Ch2 32:31. Thus, by one means or other, the iniquity of Ephraim will be discovered and the sin of Samaria, Hos 7:1.
They were now in a great fright, and in this fright they manifested two things much amiss: -
I. A great contempt of God's goodness, and his power to help them. They made use of all the means they could think of for their own preservation; and it is not for doing this that they are blamed, but, in doing this, they did not acknowledge God. Observe,
1.How careful they were to improve all advantages that might contribute to their safety. When Sennacherib had made himself master of all the defenced cities of Judah, and Jerusalem was left as a cottage in a vineyard, they thought it was time to look about them. A council was immediately called, a council of war; and it was resolved to stand upon their defence, and not tamely to surrender. Pursuant to this resolve, they took all the prudent measures they could for their own security. We tempt God if, in times of danger, we do not the best we can for ourselves. (1.) They inspected the magazines and stores, to see if they were well stocked with arms and ammunition: They looked to the armour of the house of the forest, which Solomon built in Jerusalem for an armoury (Kg1 10:17), and thence they delivered out what they had occasion for. It is the wisdom of princes, in time of peace, to provide for war, that they may not have arms to seek when they should use them, and perhaps upon a sudden emergency. (2.) They viewed the fortifications, the breaches of the city of David; they walked round the walls, and observed where they had gone to decay for want of seasonable repairs, or were broken by some former attempts made upon them. These breaches were many; the more shame for the house of David that they suffered the city of David to lie neglected. They had probably often seen those breaches; but now they saw them to consider what course to take about them. This good we should get by public distresses, we should be awakened by them to repair our breaches, and amend what is amiss. (3.) They made sure of water for the city, and did what they could to deprive the besiegers of it: You gathered together the water of the lower pool, of which there was probably no great store, and of which therefore they were the more concerned to be good husbands. See what a mercy it is that, as nothing is more necessary to the support of human life than water, so nothing is more cheap and common; but it is bad indeed when that, as here, is a scarce commodity. (4.) They numbered the houses of Jerusalem, that every house might send in its quota of men for the public service, or contribute in money to it, which they raised by a poll, so much a head or so much a house. (5.) Because private property ought to give way to the public safety, those houses that stood in their way, when the wall was to be fortified, were broken down, which, in such a case of necessity, is no more an injury to the owner than blowing up houses in case of fire. (6.) They made a ditch between the outer and inner wall, for the greater security of the city; and they contrived to draw the water of the old pool to it, that they might have plenty of water themselves and might deprive the besiegers of it; for it seems that was the project, lest the Assyrian army should come and find much water (Ch2 32:4) and so should be the better able to prolong the siege. If it be lawful to destroy the forage of a country, much more to divert the streams of its waters, for the straitening and starving of an enemy.
2.How regardless they were of God in all these preparations: But you have not looked unto the Maker thereof (that is, of Jerusalem, the city you are so solicitous for the defence of) and of all the advantages which nature has furnished it with for its defence - the mountains round about it (Psa 125:2), and the rivers, which were such as the inhabitants might turn which way soever they pleased for their convenience. Note, (1.) It is God that made his Jerusalem, and fashioned it long ago, in his counsels. The Jewish writers, upon this place, say, There were seven things which God made before the world (meaning which he had in his eye when he made the world): the garden of Eden, the law, the just ones, Israel, the throne of glory, Jerusalem, and Messiah the Prince. The gospel church has God for its Maker. (2.) Whatever service we do, or endeavour to do, at any time to God's Jerusalem, must be done with an eye to him as the Maker of it; and he takes it ill if it be done otherwise. It is here charged upon them that they did not look to God. [1.] They did not design his glory in what they did. They fortified Jerusalem because it was a rich city and their own houses were in it, not because it was the holy city and God's house was in it. In all our cares for the defence of the church we must look more at God's interest in it than at our own. [2.] They did not depend upon him for a blessing upon their endeavours, saw no need of it, and therefore sought not to him for it, but thought their own powers and policies sufficient for them. Of Hezekiah himself it is said that he trusted in God (Kg2 18:5), and particularly upon this occasion (Ch2 32:8); but there were those about him, it seems, who were great statesmen and soldiers, but had little religion in them. [3.] They did not give him thanks for the advantages they had, in fortifying their city, from the waters of the old pool, which were fashioned long ago, as Kishon is called an ancient river, Jdg 5:21. Whatever in nature is at any time serviceable to us, we must therein acknowledge the goodness of the God of nature, who, when he fashioned it long ago, fitted it to be so, and according to whose ordinance it continues to this day. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; and therefore, whatever use it is of to us, we must look at him that fashioned it, bless him for it, and use it for him.
II. A great contempt of God's wrath and justice in contending with them, Isa 22:12-14. Here observe,
1.What was God's design in bringing this calamity upon them: it was to humble them, bring them to repentance, and make them serious. In that day of trouble, and treading down, and perplexity, the Lord did thereby call to weeping and mourning, and all the expressions of sorrow, even to baldness and girding with sackcloth; and all this to lament their sins (by which they had brought those judgments upon their land), to enforce their prayers (by which they might hope to avert the judgments that were breaking in), and to dispose themselves to a reformation of their lives by a holy seriousness and a tenderness of heart under the word of God. To this God called them by his prophet's explaining his providences, and by his providences awakening them to regard what his prophets said. Note, When God threatens us with his judgments he expects and requires that we humble ourselves under his mighty hand, that we tremble when the lion roars, and in a day of adversity consider.
2.How contrary they walked to this design of God (Isa 22:13): Behold, joy and gladness, mirth and feasting, all the gaiety and all the jollity imaginable. They were as secure and cheerful as they used to be, as if they had had no enemy in their borders or were in no danger of falling into his hands. When they had taken the necessary precautions for their security, then they set all deaths and dangers at defiance, and resolved to be merry, let come on them what would. Those that should have been among the mourners were among the wine-bibbers, the riotous eaters of flesh; and observe what they said, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. This may refer either to the particular danger they were now in, and the fair warning which the prophet gave them of it, or to the general shortness and uncertainty of human life, and the nearness of death at all times. This was the language of the profane scoffers who mocked the messengers of the Lord and misused his prophets. (1.) They made a jest of dying. "The prophet tells us we must die shortly, perhaps tomorrow, and therefore we should mourn and repent today; no, rather let us eat and drink, that we may be fattened for the slaughter, and may be in good heart to meet our doom; if we must have a short life, let it be a merry one." (2.) They ridiculed the doctrine of a future state on the other side death; for, if there were no such state, the apostle grants there would be something of reason in what they said, Co1 15:32. If, when we die, there were an end of us, it were good to make ourselves as easy and merry as we could while we live; but, if for all these things God shall bring us into judgment, it is at our peril if we walk in the way of our heart and the sight of our eyes, Ecc 11:9. Note, A practical disbelief of another life after this is at the bottom of the carnal security and brutish sensuality which are the sin, and shame, and ruin of so great a part of mankind, as of the old world, who were eating and drinking till the flood came.
3.How much God was displeased at it. He signified his resentment of it to the prophet, revealed it in his ears, to be by him proclaimed upon the house-top: Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, Isa 22:14. It shall never be expiated with sacrifice and offering, any more than the iniquity of the house of Eli, Sa1 3:14. It is a sin against the remedy, a baffling of the utmost means of conviction and rendering them ineffectual; and therefore it is not likely they should ever repent of it or have it pardoned. The Chaldee reads it, It shall not be forgiven you till you die the second death. Those that walk contrary to them; with the froward he will show himself froward.
(Verse 12-14) And the Lord God of hosts shall call in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts. In the present captivity and siege of Jerusalem, when the city was being pressed by sword, famine, and thirst, Jeremiah called the people to repentance (Jeremiah 34). On the other hand, kings, princes, and the miserable populace, in their desperate state, devoted themselves to feasting. However, nothing offends God more than a neck raised after sins, and being despised out of desperation. This is also spoken by Amos: I will not turn away from him for three or four transgressions; because he has thought and done them and has not repented, moreover he has taught evil. Wherefore now it is said: If this iniquity remain unpunished to you, until ye die. (Amos I, 4). Allegorical interpreters say it is about the passion of Christ, that God has called even after the crucifixion of the Lord and Saviour an unfaithful people to repentance, and nevertheless that people has delivered itself to despair and pleasure. The beginning of this vision, where it says: Full of outcry, a populous city, a joyful town, refers to that time when the people, instigated by the Pharisees, echoed with the same voice against Jesus: Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar. (John XIX, 6, 7). The Apostle also made use of this testimony, writing to the Corinthians about the resurrection: If the dead do not rise again, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die (I Cor. XV, 32).
(Verse 12 and following) And on that day the Lord God of hosts will call for weeping and mourning, for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing calves and slaughtering rams, eating meat and drinking wine: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts: 'Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,' says the Lord God of hosts. Every day the Lord God of hosts invites heretics to repentance, who, despising the water of the old pool between two walls, dig a pit for themselves and gather the water of the lower pool, which does not have water from heaven but from the earth; and He calls them to weeping; Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:5). And to lamentation, lest they hear afterwards: We have mourned to you, and you have not lamented (Matthew 11:17). And for baldness, so that they may shave off all the works of death and rid their bodies of anything that does not live in the body. And for the belt of the robe, so that they may not be bound with a rope around their waist near Jerusalem. But on the contrary, for weeping and lamentation, baldness and sackcloth, they had joy and gladness, and as if everything were ending in death, they slaughtered calves and lambs, so that they could eat meat and drink wine, and they spoke words of blasphemy. While we are in the present age, we abound in delights. For tomorrow, which is the future time, will be without meaning. When they were saying these things, the Lord heard words of blasphemy and threatened that He would not let go of this wickedness until they either die and perish in sin and vices, or drag themselves down to the underworld with their own faults. And this can be understood not only of heretics, but of every sinner who, neglecting his sins, becomes worse through despair; and ensnared by pleasures, combines blasphemy with sin, thinking that all sense of living things ends in death, saying that statement of Epicurus: 'After death, there is nothing, and death itself is nothing.' »
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 22:12 presents an urgent and profound divine summons from the Lord GOD of hosts to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, calling them to a deep and visible demonstration of repentance and sorrow. In stark contrast to their prevailing revelry and self-reliant preparations for an impending crisis, God commands traditional acts of lamentation—weeping, mourning, baldness, and girding with sackcloth—as an imperative response to their spiritual apathy and the looming judgment. This verse powerfully underscores God's sovereign authority and His profound desire for genuine contrition and humility from His people when they have strayed from Him.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 22:12 masterfully employs several potent literary devices to convey its urgent and severe message. Metonymy is prominently featured in the use of "weeping, mourning, baldness, and girding with sackcloth." These physical actions and symbols stand in for the deeper, internal state of genuine repentance, contrition, and humility that God desires from His people. They are not merely rituals, but outward manifestations meant to accompany and reflect an inward transformation. The phrase "Lord GOD of hosts" functions as a powerful epithet, emphasizing God's absolute authority, omnipotence, and military might over all creation. This title intensifies the gravity of His call and underscores the certainty of His impending judgment if His command is ignored. Furthermore, while not explicit within this single verse, the broader context of Isaiah 22:12 implicitly utilizes juxtaposition by contrasting God's solemn call for lamentation with Jerusalem's actual response of defiant revelry and feasting, as explicitly detailed in Isaiah 22:13. This stark contrast powerfully highlights the profound spiritual disconnect, rebellion, and tragic blindness of the people.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 22:12 profoundly illustrates God's persistent and compassionate desire for His people's genuine repentance, even when they are on the brink of severe judgment. It reveals that God's primary concern is not merely outward compliance or ritualistic observance, but a deep transformation of the heart, expressed through authentic sorrow for sin and humble submission to His sovereign will. The divine call to traditional acts of lamentation underscores the seriousness of their spiritual condition and the severity of the impending consequences of their defiance. This summons is a testament to God's unwavering justice, which demands accountability for sin, but also to His long-suffering mercy, which consistently provides an opportunity for His people to turn back to Him before it is too late. It demonstrates that true security and well-being lie not in human fortifications, worldly wisdom, or carnal revelry, but solely in a right, humble, and repentant relationship with the sovereign Lord of all hosts.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 22:12 serves as a timeless and convicting mirror for individuals, communities, and nations today. It challenges us to critically examine our default responses when faced with difficult circumstances, divine warnings, or the natural consequences of our own spiritual complacency and sin. Do we, like ancient Jerusalem, instinctively default to self-reliance, worldly distractions, or superficial remedies, trusting in our own strength, intellect, or material comforts? Or do we heed the Lord's profound call to genuine introspection, heartfelt humility, and authentic repentance? This verse powerfully reminds us that true spiritual health and flourishing are marked by a courageous willingness to acknowledge our sin, grieve over our failures, and turn wholeheartedly back to God. It calls us to strip away our pride, self-sufficiency, and any false sense of security, embracing a posture of humble dependence and profound contrition before the sovereign Lord, recognizing that His ways are always for our ultimate good, even when they involve painful self-examination and a turning away from cherished comforts.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did God call for such extreme outward displays of mourning?
Answer: God called for these extreme outward displays because in ancient Near Eastern culture, actions such as weeping, mourning, baldness, and wearing sackcloth were universally understood as profound, non-verbal declarations of extreme sorrow, humiliation, and repentance. They were not merely symbolic gestures but were expected to reflect a deep, internal state of contrition and a recognition of one's dire situation before God. For Jerusalem, who was depicted as reveling and feasting despite impending judgment and divine warning (Isaiah 22:13), these acts were a necessary and culturally significant way for God to call them to a complete reversal of their spiritual apathy and defiant pride. He was demanding a visible and visceral acknowledgment of their sin and a humble dependence on Him, demonstrating the seriousness of their spiritual condition and the urgency of His call.
What does "Lord GOD of hosts" signify in this context?
Answer: The title "Lord GOD of hosts" (Hebrew: Adonai Yahweh Sabaoth) is one of the most powerful and significant divine titles in the Old Testament, particularly in prophetic literature. "Adonai" (H136) signifies God's absolute sovereignty, mastery, and ownership over all things. "Yahweh" (H3069) is God's covenant name, emphasizing His faithfulness, self-existence, and personal relationship with His people. "Sabaoth" (H6635), meaning "hosts" or "armies," refers to the celestial armies of angels, the stars, or the earthly armies of Israel, but ultimately signifies God's supreme power, authority, and command over all creation and all forces, both spiritual and physical. In Isaiah 22:12, this composite title underscores the immense gravity of the divine call, indicating that the command comes from the Almighty Commander of the universe, whose word carries ultimate authority and whose judgments are inevitable if unheeded. It emphasizes that this is not a mere suggestion, but a decree from the One who controls all things.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Isaiah 22:12 presents a divine call to repentance under the Old Covenant, its ultimate fulfillment and deeper meaning are profoundly realized in Christ Jesus. The Old Testament's calls for outward acts of lamentation—weeping, mourning, baldness, and sackcloth—were powerful expressions of sorrow for sin and a desperate plea for divine mercy, pointing to humanity's inherent need for a radical change of heart. Jesus, the Lamb of God, embodies the perfect fulfillment of this call, not by demanding outward rituals, but by offering the ultimate means of true repentance and reconciliation with God. He Himself "was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), bearing the full weight of humanity's sin and offering the only true path to freedom from its dominion. Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross, He provides the genuine spiritual transformation that mere outward acts could only symbolize. The "weeping and mourning" that God desired from ancient Jerusalem finds its true spiritual expression in the believer's conviction of sin and the "godly sorrow [that] produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Believers are called not to gird themselves with sackcloth, but to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14), embracing His righteousness and finding true humility, forgiveness, and new life in Him. Jesus "came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17), providing the very grace that enables the heart to turn from sin and embrace God's saving love.