← Contents Isaiah 24:1–23 ←→

Isaiah 24:1–23

 

1SEE, THE LORD is going to lay waste the earth

and devastate it;

he will ruin its face

and scatter its inhabitants—

2it will be the same

for priest as for people,

for master as for servant,

for mistress as for maid,

for seller as for buyer,

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.

3The earth will be completely laid waste

and totally plundered.

The LORD has spoken this word.

4The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers,

the exalted of the earth languish.

5The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,

violated the statutes

and broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore a curse consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,

and very few are left.

7The new wine dries up and the vine withers;

all the merrymakers groan.

8The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the revelers has stopped,

the joyful harp is silent.

9No longer do they drink wine with a song;

the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

10The ruined city lies desolate;

the entrance to every house is barred.

11In the streets they cry out for wine;

all joy turns to gloom,

all gaiety is banished from the earth.

12The city is left in ruins,

its gate is battered to pieces.

13So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.

15Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;

exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,

in the islands of the sea.

16From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!

Woe to me!

The treacherous betray!

With treachery the treacherous betray!”

17Terror and pit and snare await you,

O people of the earth.

18Whoever flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit;

whoever climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.

19The earth is broken up,

the earth is split asunder,

the earth is thoroughly shaken.

20The earth reels like a drunkard,

it sways like a hut in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

that it falls—never to rise again.

22In that day the LORD will punish

the powers in the heavens above

and the kings on the earth below.

22They will be herded together

like prisoners bound in a dungeon;

they will be shut up in prison

and be punished after many days.

23The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed;

for the LORD Almighty will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before its elders, gloriously.

 

The Destruction of the Earth (24:1–13)

THERE CAN BE NO question of the focus of chapter 24: the destruction of the “earth.” The word “earth” occurs no less than sixteen times in these twenty-three verses.4 Nor is there any question as to who will bring this destruction about: the Lord (24:1, 3, 21). Verses 1–3 underline the universal nature of this judgment. Everyone will be subject to it, and no one will be exempt. This is established in verse 2 with the use of complimentary pairs, such as “priest” and “people” or “mistress” and “maid.” Neither gender, nor rank, nor function will permit any to escape what God is bringing on the earth.5

But why is this destruction coming? Is it the result of divine pique or the need to demonstrate divine power? Neither. Instead, it is the result of the choices that earth’s inhabitants have made. Verses 4–13 use one of the common images of this early part of the book to make this statement: the vine (cf. 5:1–7; 16:8–10; 27:2–6). The earth “dries up” and “withers” (24:4) like a vine (24:7). All the merry-making associated with the wine harvest and the making of the first new wine is stilled. Why? Because earth’s inhabitants have “disobeyed the laws” of life. They have “broken the everlasting covenant” (24:5).

At first glance this language seems strange. References to “laws,” “statutes,” and “covenant” sound much like language regarding Israel, but this is not Israel, it is the world. What is the point? How can the inhabitants of the earth be held accountable for what was exclusively revealed to the Israelites? In fact, like Paul in Romans 1, Isaiah insists that apart from the Sinai covenant, there are laws that God the Creator has written on the human conscience. Thus, he will not admit any argument of ignorance as justification for sin.

Implicit here is the understanding that humans know enough to behave better than they do. There are common standards of human behavior; if we violate them, we do so to our own destruction. The “covenant” referred to here may be the Noachic covenant of Genesis 9:1–17 with its prohibition of bloodshed. Here again is an understanding between the creature and the Creator that is not dependent on special revelation. Rather, it has been passed down through the ages as common human heritage.

Thus, judgment is not coming on the earth because the gods have decided that humans are too noisy, as in the Sumerian flood story, or because one god has flown into a rage at a petty slight, as is the case in some other myths. Destruction is coming because humans have violated the terms of their creation. Israel’s God is the Creator of all the nations, and they are accountable to him, and him alone. One of the features of covenants was the custom of the parties calling down curses on themselves for failure to keep the covenant. That is what has happened to earth’s inhabitants: They are under a “curse” and bear “guilt” for what they have done (24:6).

Dried up like a vine cut off from its roots, the “city” of earth (24:10, 12) lies silent and desolate. The forced and artificial gaiety induced by alcohol (24:7, 9, 11) vanishes like a vapor before the awful realities of judgment and destruction. Despite the effort of some commentators to argue that a specific city (e.g., Jerusalem or Babylon) is intended in these references, it seems clear that this is not the case. Rather, the earth as a whole is treated under the image of “city.”6 It is easy to see why this might be the case. The city offers wealth, glamour, excitement, pleasure, intrigue, and power—all the things humans are prone to sell their souls for. But as mighty and alluring as the city of earth is, a day of harvest is coming when all the fruit will be stripped off and nothing will be left of all the riches that earthlings thought were their own (24:13).

A Dramatic Contrast (24:14–18a)

THESE VERSES ARE something of a riddle because of the dramatic contrast between verses 14–16a and verses 16b–18a. Either one by itself can be justified in this passage without difficulty, but their juxtaposition causes a problem. The first segment speaks of overflowing shouts of “joy” coming from the ends of the earth because of the “glory” and “majesty” of the Lord. That is not out of place as a response to the righteous judgment of God (cf. 30:29–33). But this is immediately followed with an unidentified “I” (the prophet?) protesting that he is wasting away because of the “treachery” and “terror” that characterize the earth.

What are we to make of this? The great variety of proposals and even the number of different readings in the versions prohibit any degree of dogmatism. But it seems most likely to me that the first segment is the cry of joy from those who have been oppressed by the evil earthcity. They are looking joyously at the end of the story. But the prophet cannot move so quickly beyond the present dark realities. He sees all the horrors that must take place before that final resolution, and he is stricken by them. We have seen this feature elsewhere in this book, beginning as early as the end of chapter 1. The prophet will not let the joyful promises of the future hide the awful present realities that must be dealt with before the promises can be realized.7

A Dramatic Contrast (24:14–18a)

THESE VERSES ARE something of a riddle because of the dramatic contrast between verses 14–16a and verses 16b–18a. Either one by itself can be justified in this passage without difficulty, but their juxtaposition causes a problem. The first segment speaks of overflowing shouts of “joy” coming from the ends of the earth because of the “glory” and “majesty” of the Lord. That is not out of place as a response to the righteous judgment of God (cf. 30:29–33). But this is immediately followed with an unidentified “I” (the prophet?) protesting that he is wasting away because of the “treachery” and “terror” that characterize the earth.

What are we to make of this? The great variety of proposals and even the number of different readings in the versions prohibit any degree of dogmatism. But it seems most likely to me that the first segment is the cry of joy from those who have been oppressed by the evil earthcity. They are looking joyously at the end of the story. But the prophet cannot move so quickly beyond the present dark realities. He sees all the horrors that must take place before that final resolution, and he is stricken by them. We have seen this feature elsewhere in this book, beginning as early as the end of chapter 1. The prophet will not let the joyful promises of the future hide the awful present realities that must be dealt with before the promises can be realized.7