Isaiah 22:1-5, 8-16, 19-25

Isaiah 22:1-5, 8-16, 19-25 NIV

A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:

What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs, you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle. All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.

Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains. The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest. You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator: What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock? I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position. “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

“In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.

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Caesar Nero played the violin while Rome burned. Some accounts say Hitler's highest officials got drunk in the bunker in Berlin as Allied Forces surrounded the city. They took their own lives.
These are the behaviors of some during times of crises.

In Isaiah 22 the prophet decries those who party in the face of doom. When called to humble themselves in repentance, fasting, and prayer, they drink wine and feast. At the news of the Assyrian army taking Judean villages and cities, the king's officials fled Jerusalem. Others partied. The palace administrator, Shebna, had a fine tomb dug out and set aside for him. Was he planning suicide before the fall of Jerusalem to the Assyrians? All these folks show that they have lost heart. Those who fled the city, those who dug their graves, and those who dulled their senses, are all responding to the impending doom without the one thing they really need...faith.

The prophet confronts their faithlessness. They made many preparations to endure a lengthy siege against Jerusalem. They fortified the walls of the city by tearing down houses. They built reservoirs for drinking water. They stockpiled provisions, but in all this activity they did not pray. They did not turn to the Lord.

Isaiah claims that these people were beaten before the enemy arrived. Before the first arrow flew these faithless Jews were defeated by their lack of faith. Frankly, they were out of practice. They had turned away from Yahweh a long time ago and worshiped other gods instead, gods like those of their neighbors, the Philistines, the Moabites and the Ammonites. Isaiah calls Jerusalem the valley of vision. In the place where God dwells in His temple, the place where the Lord gives visions to prophets and seers, to priests and kings, the people sacrifice to idols and ignore the Lord their God who brought them out of slavery and into this land.

How often are we defeated by our fear before calamity falls? Often we're afraid when we cannot be certain any danger will befall us. Fear is powerful. It drives us to fight, freeze, or flee. You can see these various responses in Isaiah 22. City officials flee the city while others get drunk. They are running away, literally and emotionally. Others busy themselves with battle preparations. They are ready to fight. Still others contemplate their death and dig graves for themselves. They have given up. They are frozen in fear. There's not enough energy in them to fight or flee.

Shebna, the palace administrator will be replaced by a good man, Eliakim. He will exhibit faith and be strong for Jerusalem, but even he will fall when Jerusalem falls.

Interestingly Jerusalem does not fall to the Assyrians. Instead God saves the city through Hezekiah's humble prayers.

2 Chronicles 32:20-22 NIV

King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword. So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side.

Don't count out God. You do not know for certain what troubles will befall you. Have faith in God, with whom all things are possible. Instead of being beaten by fear, kneel and pray. Instead of running away, be still and know He is God. Instead of giving up and planning your death, give thanks and look to the Lord to lead you through.

May you be established firmly in faith to brave every storm. May your eyes witness the deliverance of your God.