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Commentary on Isaiah 30 verses 8–17
Here, I. The preface is very awful. The prophet must not only preach this, but he must write it (Isa 30:8), write it in a table, to be hung up and exposed to public view; he must carefully note it, not in loose papers which might be lost or torn, but in a book, to be preserved for posterity, in perpetuam rei memoriam - for a standing testimony against this wicked generation; let it remain not only to the next succeeding ages, but for ever and ever, while the world stands; and so it shall, for the book of the scriptures no doubt, shall continue, and be read, to the end of time. Let it be written, 1. To shame the men of the present age, who would not hear and heed it when it was spoken. Let it be written, that it may not be lost; their children may profit by it, though they will not. 2. To justify God in the judgments he was about to ring upon them; people will be tempted to think he was too hard upon them, and over-severe, unless they know how very bad they were, how very provoking, and what fair means God tried with them before he brought it to this extremity. 3. For warning to others not to do as they did, lest they should fare as they fared. It is designed for admonition to those of the remotest place and age, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come, Co1 10:11. It may be of use for God's ministers not only to preach, but to write; for that which is written remains.
II. The character given of the profane and wicked Jews is very sad. He must, if he will draw them in their own colours, write this concerning them (and we are sure he does not bear false witness against them, nor make them worse than they were, for the judgment of God is according to truth), That this is a rebellious people, Isa 30:9. The Jews were, for aught we know, the only professing people God had then in the world, and yet many of them were a rebellious people. 1. They rebelled against their own convictions and covenants: "They are lying children, that will not stand to what they say, that promise fair, but perform nothing;" when he took them into covenant with himself he said of them, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie (Isa 63:8); but they proved otherwise. 2. They rebelled against the divine authority: "They are children that will not hear the law of the Lord, nor heed it, but will do as they have a mind, let God himself say what he will to the contrary."
III. The charge drawn up against them is very high and the sentence passed upon them very dreadful. Two things they here stand charged with, and their doom is read for both, a fearful doom: -
1.They forbade the prophets to speak to them in God's name, and to deal faithfully with them.
(1.)This their sin is described, Isa 30:10, Isa 30:11. They set themselves so violently against the prophets to hinder them from preaching, or at least from dealing plainly with them in their preaching, did so banter them and browbeat them, that they did in effect say to the seers, See not. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. It was their privilege that they had seers among them, but they did what they could to put out their eyes - that they had prophets among them, but they did what they could to stop their mouths; for they tormented them in their wicked ways, Rev 11:10. Those that silence good ministers, and discountenance good preaching, are justly counted, and called, rebels against God. See what it was in the prophets' preaching with which they found themselves aggrieved. [1.] The prophets told them of their faults, and warned them of their misery and danger by reason of sin, and they could not bear that. They must speak to them smooth things, must flatter them in their sins, and say that they did well, and there was no harm, no peril, in the course of life they lived in. Let a thing be ever so right and true, if it be not smooth, they will not hear it. But if it be agreeable to the good opinion they have of themselves, and will confirm them in that, though it be ever so false and ever so great a cheat upon them, they will have it prophesied to them. Those deserve to be deceived that desire to be so. [2.] The prophets stopped them in their sinful pursuits, and stood in their way like the angel in Balaam's road, with the sword of God's wrath drawn in their hand; so that they could not proceed without terror. And this they took as a great insult. When they went on frowardly in the way of their hearts they said to the prophets, "Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the paths. What do you do in our way? Cannot you let us alone to do as we please?" Those have their hearts fully set in them to do evil that bid their faithful monitors to stand out of their way. Forbear, why shouldst thou be smitten? Ch2 25:16. [3.] The prophets were continually telling them of the Holy One of Israel, what an enemy he is to sin ad how severely he will reckon with sinners; and this they could not endure to hear of. Both the thing itself and the expression of it were too serious for them; and therefore, if the prophets will speak to them, they will make it their bargain that they shall not call God the Holy One of Israel; for God's holiness is that attribute which wicked people most of all dread. Let us no more be troubled with that state-preface (as Mr. White calls it) to your impertinent harangues. Those have reason to fear perishing in their sins that cannot bear to be frightened out of them.
(2.)Now what is the doom passed upon them for this? We have it, Isa 30:12, Isa 30:13. Observe, [1.] Who it is that gives judgment upon them: Thus saith the Holy One of Israel. That title of God which they particularly excepted against the prophet makes use of. Faithful ministers will not be driven from using such expressions as are proper to awaken sinners, though they be displeasing. We must tell men that God is the Holy One of Israel, and so they shall find him, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. [2.] What the ground of the judgment is: Because they despise this word - wither, in general, every word that the prophets said to them, or this word in particular, which declares God to be the Holy One of Israel: "they despise this, and will neither make it their fear, to stand in awe of it, nor make it their hope, to put any confidence in it; but, rather than they will be beholden to the Holy One of Israel, they will trust in oppression and perverseness, in the wealth they have got and the interest they have made by fraud and violence, or in the sinful methods they have taken for their own security, in contradiction to God and his will. On these they lean, and therefore it is just that they should fall." [3.] What the judgment is that is passed upon them: "This iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall. This confidence of yours will be like a house built upon the sand, which will fall in the storm and bury the builder in the ruins of it. Your contempt of that word of God which you might build upon will make every thing else you trust like a wall that bulges out, which, if any weight be laid upon it, comes down, nay, which often sinks with its own weight." The ruin they would hereby bring upon themselves should be, First, A surprising ruin: The breaking shall come suddenly, at an instant, when they do not expect it, which will make it the more frightful, and when they are not prepared or provided for it, which will make it the more fatal. Secondly, An utter ruin, universal and irreparable: "Your and all your confidences shall be not only weak as the potter's clay (Isa 29:16), but broken to pieces as the potter's vessel. He that has the rod of iron shall break it (Psa 2:9) and he shall not spare, shall not have any regard to it, nor be in care to preserve or keep whole any part of it. But, when once it is broken so as to be unfit for use, let it be dashed, let it be crushed, all to pieces, so that there may not remain one sherd big enough to take up a little fire or water" - two things we have daily need of, and which poor people commonly fetch in a piece of a broken pitcher. They shall not only be as a bowing wall (Psa 62:3), but as a broken mug or glass, which is good for nothing, nor can ever be made whole again.
2.They slighted the gracious directions God gave them, not only how to secure themselves and make themselves safe, but how to compose themselves and make themselves easy; they would take their own way, Isa 30:15-17. Observe here,
(1.)The method God put them into for salvation and strength. The God that knew them, and knew what was proper for them, and desired their welfare, gave them this prescription; and it is recommended to us all. [1.] Would we be saved from the evil of every calamity, guarded against the temptation of it and secured from the curse of it, which are the only evil things in it? It must be in returning and rest, in returning to God and reposing in him as our rest. Let us return from our evil ways, into which we have gone aside, and rest and settle in the way of God and duty, and that is the way to be saved. "Return from this project of going down to Egypt, and rest satisfied in the will of God, and then you may trust him with your safety. In returning (in the thorough reformation of your hearts and lives) and in rest (in an entire submission of your souls to God and a complacency in him) you shall be saved." [2.] Would we be strengthened to do what is required of us and to bear what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness and in confidence; we must keep our spirits calm and sedate by a continual dependence upon God, and his power and goodness; we must retire into ourselves with a holy quietness, suppressing all turbulent and tumultuous passions, and keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a holy confidence that he can do what he will and will do what is best for his people. And this will be our strength; it will inspire us with such a holy fortitude as will carry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties we may meet with.
(2.)The contempt they put upon this prescription; they would not take God's counsel, though it was so much for their own good. And justly will those die of their disease that will not take God for their physician. We are certainly enemies to ourselves if we will not be subjects to him. They would not so much as try the method prescribed: "But you said, No (Isa 30:16), we will not compose ourselves, for we will flee upon horses and we will ride upon the swift; we will hurry hither and thither to fetch in foreign aids." They think themselves wiser than God, and that they know what is good for themselves better than he does. When Sennacherib took all the fenced cities of Judah, those rebellious children would not be persuaded to sit still and patiently to expect God's appearing for them, as he did wonderfully at last; but they would shift for their own safety, and thereby they exposed themselves to so much the more danger.
(3.)The sentence passed upon them for this. Their sin shall be their punishment: "You will flee, and therefore you shall flee; you will be upon the full speed, and therefore so shall those be that pursue you." The dogs are most apt to run barking after him that rides fast. The conquerors protected those that sat still, but pursued those that made their escape; and so that very project by which they hoped to save themselves was justly their ruin and the most guilty suffered most. It is foretold, Isa 30:17, [1.] That they should be easily cut off; they should be so dispirited with their own fears, increased by their flight, that one of the enemy should defeat a thousand of them, and five put an army to flight, which could never be unless their Rock had sold them Deu 32:30. [2.] That they should be generally cut off, and only here and there one should escape alone in a solitary place, and be left for a spectacle too, as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, a warning to others to avoid the like sinful courses and carnal confidences.
(v. 9 et seq.) For the people provoke to anger, and the sons are liars, sons unwilling to listen to the law of God. They say to the seers, “Do not see”; and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us pleasant words; see us errors. Depart from me the way; turn aside from me the path; let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.” It is clear that they have provoked the Lord to anger, not wanting to hear the words of Jeremiah (Jer. 43). And they said to Him, 'Do not show us what we do not want to see; do not forbid us from the way of Egypt, nor tell us what is right; but speak what pleases us, so that we may go to Egypt and accumulate sins upon sins. Why do you impose on us what we do not willingly hear? Why do you show us the way which we do not want to enter? Why do you repeatedly proclaim to our ears, 'Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel'? Let this preaching cease from us.' According to allegory, all heretics are called lying sons. For they went out from us, but they were not of us (1 John 2); they do not listen with the ears of the inner man to the Law of God, and they speak to the teachers of the Churches: Do not show us what is right, nor threaten us with the flames of hell; but promise us the kingdom of heaven, so that after indulgence and pleasures, paradise may be opened to us. Why do you show me the way of the Lord, which I do not willingly enter? What does the title Holy Israel or the word 'Israelis' mean, which does not penetrate the secrets of my heart? Indeed, it is also said to the negligent people of the Church if they turn away from the severity of the teachers and favor flatterers.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 30:9 delivers a profound and searing divine indictment against the people of Judah, revealing their deep-seated spiritual depravity. The verse unequivocally characterizes them as a nation defined by an inherent and obstinate defiance, pervasive deceit, and a deliberate, ingrained refusal to heed the divine instruction and covenantal commands of the Lord. It stands as a concise yet powerful summation of their moral and spiritual bankruptcy in the face of God's persistent call to faithfulness and trust.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 30:9 masterfully employs several potent literary devices to convey its stark and condemning message. Metaphor is central, as the people are described as "lying children," a vivid and poignant image that portrays their inherent character of deceit and their spiritual immaturity, standing in stark contrast to the expected maturity and integrity of a covenant people. The phrase "rebellious people" functions as a powerful epithet, succinctly defining their core identity and pervasive nature of defiance. Furthermore, the verse utilizes effective parallelism by repeating the term "children" and linking it with two distinct, yet interconnected, negative attributes ("lying" and "will not hear the law of the LORD"). This repetition and pairing reinforce the pervasive nature of their spiritual failings and underscore the depth of their moral corruption. Finally, the stark contrast between God's clear and righteous "law" (Torah) and the people's willful refusal to "hear" it underscores the profound gravity of their disobedience and highlights the tragic disconnect between God's gracious provision of guidance and their stubborn rejection.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 30:9 stands as a profound theological statement on the nature of human sin and the persistent rebellion of a covenant people against a holy and faithful God. It reveals that disobedience is not merely an outward act but originates from an inward disposition of the heart—a "rebellious" and "lying" character that actively resists divine truth, wisdom, and guidance. This verse highlights the essential truth that God desires not just outward conformity to His commands, but a heart that genuinely listens, trusts, and obeys His "law," which encompasses His entire revealed will for human flourishing and covenant fidelity. The deliberate refusal to hear and obey the Lord's instruction inevitably leads to spiritual blindness, moral decay, and ultimately, national judgment, underscoring God's unwavering commitment to His covenant and His righteous expectations for His people.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 30:9 serves as a timeless and convicting mirror, inviting us to critically examine the posture of our own hearts towards God's Word and His sovereign authority. Are we truly a people who listen attentively and obediently to the "law of the LORD," embracing its wisdom and guidance, or do we, like ancient Judah, exhibit characteristics of rebellion, deceit, and a willful spiritual deafness? In a world saturated with competing voices, alluring ideologies, and self-serving narratives, the temptation to rely on human wisdom, political pragmatism, or personal desires over divine instruction remains ever-present. This verse challenges us to cultivate a spirit of profound humility and teachability, recognizing that genuine security, true wisdom, and ultimate flourishing are found only in wholehearted submission to God's revealed will. It calls us to repent of any "lying" or "rebellious" tendencies within us and to actively pursue a life characterized by sincere obedience, unwavering integrity, and complete trust in the Lord alone, knowing that His "law" is always given for our ultimate good and eternal blessing.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does it mean for a people to be "rebellious" in the biblical sense?
Answer: In the biblical sense, being "rebellious" (Hebrew: mᵉrîy) signifies far more than just occasional acts of disobedience; it describes a deep-seated, stubborn, and often bitter opposition to God's authority and His revealed will. It implies an entrenched attitude of defiance, a refusal to submit to divine instruction or covenant obligations. This rebellion is frequently rooted in a profound lack of trust in God's character and provision, leading to a preference for human wisdom or self-reliance, as vividly seen in Judah's decision to seek an alliance with Egypt instead of trusting the Lord for protection (see Isaiah 30:1-3). It represents a fundamental posture of the heart that actively resists God's rightful claim as sovereign over all creation and human affairs.
How does "lying children" relate to "will not hear the law of the LORD"?
Answer: The phrase "lying children" (Hebrew: kechâsh bên) describes the inherent character of the people, indicating their deep-seated untrustworthiness, pervasive deceitfulness, and spiritual infidelity. This moral corruption directly contributes to and explains their unwillingness to "hear" (Hebrew: shâmaʻ) God's law. A heart that is prone to falsehood and deceit is inherently resistant to divine truth and spiritual instruction. Their "lying" nature manifests as a deliberate rejection of God's clear, truthful, and life-giving "law" (Torah), which is specifically designed to guide them in righteousness and covenant faithfulness. It suggests that their internal spiritual state of deceit makes them spiritually deaf and unwilling to genuinely engage with, understand, or obey God's voice, leading to a destructive cycle of disobedience and unfaithfulness (compare with Proverbs 28:9).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 30:9, with its stark portrayal of a "rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD," powerfully sets the stage for the absolute necessity of Christ's redemptive work. This verse highlights humanity's pervasive spiritual brokenness, our inherent inability to perfectly obey God's law, and our deep-seated tendency towards rebellion and deceit. It underscores the universal human condition that necessitates a divine intervention of grace. Jesus Christ perfectly embodies the antithesis of this rebellious spirit; He is the "obedient Son" who perfectly "heard" and fulfilled the "law of the LORD" in every respect, not through external conformity but from a heart of perfect submission to the Father's will, even unto death on a cross (as profoundly declared in Philippians 2:8). He is the truth, the one in whom there is no lie, and through His atoning sacrifice, He addresses the "lying" and "rebellious" nature of humanity, offering forgiveness for sin and a new heart (as promised in Ezekiel 36:26). Through faith in Him, we are transformed from "children of disobedience" (as described in Ephesians 2:2) into "children of God" (as stated in John 1:12), empowered by the Holy Spirit to genuinely "hear" and walk in His ways, fulfilling the very obedience that Judah so desperately lacked and demonstrating the true nature of a people redeemed by grace.