1 "Woe to the rebellious children," saith the Lord, "that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My spirit, that they may add sin to sin:"
Our first, most listened to counselor should be God. We find His council primarily in the Bible.
We must read the Bible to know what God wants, what He thinks is the right course of action.
Unfortunately Christians all too often say they are following God when they are really following some human minister. We are each responsible to God for our own decisions. And especially since the invention of the Gutenberg (automatic) printing press, in a country rich enough to have Bibles in every hand, where you can get free apps for you phone to have a Bible with you at all times, there really is no excuse to not know His Word.
Do you want to know how many children you should have and how far apart they should be spaced? Read your Bible.
Do you want to know how to educate, feed, or clothe you kids? Read the Bible.
Do you want to know what career to pursue? Read you Bible.
Do you want to know how to make your marriage work? How to get along with your neighbor? How to be successful in life? Read you Bible.
2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Many in Israel and Judah had already decided to seek for help from Egypt against the Assyrians. They planned, if it came to actually being invaded, to take refuge there. They did not seek God's will in the matter.
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
Many did, in fact, run to Egypt for shelter. But God sent conquers there, too, so in the long run they didn’t escape. In fact, many of them would have been better off staying in Palestine because both the Assyrians and the Babylonians left the poorest to care for the land, but took all refugees in Egypt captive.
4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
“4 For though his power extends to Zoan and Hanes,
5 yet it will all turn out to your shame—He won’t help one little bit!” -LT
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
“See them moving slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt—donkeys and camels laden down with treasure to pay for Egypt’s aid. On through the badlands they go, where lions and swift venomous snakes live—and Egypt will give you nothing in return!
7 For Egypt’s promises are worthless! “The Reluctant Dragon,”[b] I call her!” - NLT
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
God is warning the Jews long before it happens to not look for help from Egypt. They will anyway, but this way they can only blame themselves.
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
10 Which say to the seers, "See not;" and to the prophets, "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:"
“Don’t tell us we are sinning, but flatter us and tell us about God's love. We don’t want to hear about His justice and righteousness.”
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
They simply didn’t want to hear the truth; only those things that made them feel good.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, "Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 "Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant."
14 And He shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; He shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
“because of your stubbornness and sin you will be wiped out.”
15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not."
God offered them security by following Him and they simply refused. Imagine, this major part of history, the conquering and destruction of Israel, didn’t have to happen. All they had to do was turn to God and He would have protected them.
16 But ye said, “No; for we will flee upon horses;” therefore shall ye flee: and, “We will ride upon the swift;” therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.
God wanted nothing more than to protect Israel and keep them safe. But they so absolutely refused to obey Him that He had no choice. Yes, God is the God of love, but He is also the God of justice and righteousness. Evil must be punished.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee.
If they, both Israel and Judah, would have just called to Him He would have spared them the conquest and captivity.
20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
The one thing that God won’t take away from them is the prophets telling them how to live righteously.
21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
God speaks to us first and foremost through the Bible, but also through our own conscious and a still small voice in our minds, as well as His ministers. We have only to shut up long enough to listen.
22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, “Get thee hence.”
The captivity did remove idol worship from Judah. They never again fell into that particular sin on a nation-wide basis.
23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
God promises them that if they will only turn to Him, He will bless them with more than enough food.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
No matter what goes on around them, God will bless them abundantly.
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
Could this one be symbolic? The sun and moon tend to stand for the nation Israel since Joseph’s dream. So, Israel/Judah will shine for the entire world to see? Greater than ever before? Like, when the Messiah came to save the world?
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire:
God is mad.
28 And His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
All this turmoil that is happening to the region is God's doing. He is punishing, correcting the entire known world.
29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel.
But still, no matter what, IF the Jews will turn to Him, God will protect them from all that is going on. They not only won’t be touched by it, they will prosper.
30 And the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
At this point in history the Assyrians appear to be undefeatable. But that won’t be a problem to God.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets (tamborines) and harps: and in battles of shaking will He fight with it.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
30 And the Lord shall cause his majestic voice to be heard and shall crush down his mighty arm upon his enemies with angry indignation and devouring flames, with tornadoes, terrible storms, and huge hailstones.
31 The voice of the Lord shall punish the Assyrians, who had been his rod of punishment.
32 And when the Lord smites them, his people will rejoice with music and song.
33 The funeral pyre has long been ready, prepared for Molech, the Assyrian god; it is piled high with wood. The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano, will set it all on fire.