Jacob Taunts the King of Babylon. The Lord Will Judge the Philistines. Isaiah 14:1-32

Transcription

1 1 Jacob Taunts the King of Babylon The Lord Will Judge the Philistines Isaiah 14:1-32

2 2 Text: Isaiah 14:1-32, Jacob Taunts the King of Babylon The Lord Will Judge the Philistines 1. The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; he will again choose Israel as his special people and restore them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family of Jacob. 2. Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord s land. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them. 3. When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, 4. you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased! 5. The Lord has broken the club of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 6. It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint. 7. The whole earth rests and is quiet; they break into song.

3 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down! 9. Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10. All of them respond to you, saying: You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us! 11. Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you. 12. Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations! 13. You said to yourself, I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. 14. I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High! 15. But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the Pit. 16. Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking: Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble? 17. Is this the one who made the world like a desert, who ruined its cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home? 18. As for all the kings of the nations, all of them lie down in splendor, each in his own tomb.

4 But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. You lie among the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for the stones of the Pit, as if you were a mangled corpse. 20. You will not be buried with them, because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again. 21. Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities. 22. I will rise up against them, says the Lord who commands armies. I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, including the offspring she produces, says the Lord. 23. I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom, says the Lord who commands armies. 24. The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow: Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen. 25. I will break Assyria in my land, I will trample them underfoot on my hills. Their yoke will be removed from my people, the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. 26. This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth; my hand is ready to strike all the nations. 27. Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has a plan, and who can possibly frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can possibly stop it? The Lord Will Judge the Philistines

5 In the year King Ahaz died, this message was revealed: 29. Don t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! For a viper will grow out of the serpent s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder. 30. The poor will graze in my pastures; the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors. 31. Wail, O city gate! Cry out, O city! Melt with fear, all you Philistines! For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke, and there are no stragglers in its ranks. 32. How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her. (NET) Introduction: I. Isaiah 14:1-4a is written as prose while the remainder of the chapter is written as poetry. II. Judah s sinfulness led to their defeat, Jerusalem s destruction and the exile of the people to Babylon. A. Following their repentance and the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians, Judah returned to Canaan, the land God had long before given them. B. Foreigners would also migrate to the land of Judah and would become servants of Jacob. (See Hamilton.) C. Related scriptures via Hamilton:...

6 Joshua 1:2-4, 11, Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. Go through the camp and command the people, Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you. (NET) 2. Joshua 21:43-45, So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, and they conquered it and lived in it. The Lord made them secure, in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could resist them. Not one of the Lord s faithful promises to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; every one was realized. (NET) 3. Isaiah 42:24-25, Who handed Jacob over to the robber? Who handed Israel over to the looters? Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned? They refused to follow his commands; they disobeyed his law. So he poured out his

7 7 fierce anger on them, along with the devastation of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; it burned against them, but they did not notice. (NET) 4. Jeremiah 25:1-29, In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. (That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.) So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again what he said. But you would not listen. Over and over again the Lord has sent his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. He said through them, Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. Then I will not cause you any harm. So, now the Lord says, You have not listened to me. But you have made me angry by the things that you have done. Thus you have brought harm on yourselves. Therefore, the Lord who rules over

8 8 all says, You have not listened to what I said. So I, the Lord, affirm that I will send for all the peoples of the north and my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it and make them everlasting ruins. I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands. I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses. This whole area will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years. But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon an everlasting ruin. I, the Lord, affirm it! I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation too. I will repay them for all they have done! So the Lord, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision. Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I

9 9 will send wars sweeping through them. So I took the cup from the Lord s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. Such is already becoming the case! I made all of these other people drink it: Pharaoh, king of Egypt; his attendants, his officials, his people, the foreigners living in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod; all the people of Edom, Moab, Ammon; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon; all the kings of the coastlands along the sea; the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples; all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri; all the kings of Elam; all the kings of Media; all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the Lord s wrath, the king of Babylon must drink it. Then the Lord said to me, Tell them that the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, Drink this cup until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can t get up. For I will send wars sweeping through you. If

10 10 they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the Lord who rules over all says You most certainly must drink it! For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. So how can you possibly avoid being punished? You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaim-ing war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, affirm it! (NET) 5. Deuteronomy 7:6-8, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth. It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (NET) 6. Ezra 1:1-4, In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the Lord s message spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the mind of King Cyrus of Persia. He disseminated a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, announcing in a written edict the following: Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the

11 11 earth. He has instructed me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone from his people among you (may his God be with him!) may go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may build the temple of the Lord God of Israel he is the God who is in Jerusalem. Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem. (NET) 7. Ezra 6:1-5, So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon. A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows: Memorandum: In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet, with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized by the royal treasury. Furthermore let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God. (NET)

12 Isaiah 45:13-17, It is me I stir him up and commission him; I will make all his ways level. He will rebuild my city; he will send my exiled people home, but not for a price or a bribe, says the Lord who commands armies. This is what the Lord says: The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia, along with the Sabeans, those tall men, will be brought to you and become yours. They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. They will bow down to you and pray to you: Truly God is with you; he has no peer; there is no other God! Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden, O God of Israel, deliverer! They will all be ashamed and embarrassed; those who fashion idols will all be humiliated. Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. (NET) 9. Isaiah 49:7, 22-23, This is what the Lord, the protector of Israel, their Holy One, says to the one who is despised and rejected by nations, a servant of rulers: Kings will see and rise in respect, princes will bow down, because of the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look I will raise my hand to the nations; I will raise my signal flag to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your children s guardians; their princesses will nurse your children. With their faces to the ground

13 13 they will bow down to you and they will lick the dirt on your feet. Then you will recognize that I am the Lord; those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame. (NET) 10. Isaiah 60:4-16, Look all around you! They all gather and come to you your sons come from far away and your daughters are escorted by guardians. Then you will look and smile, you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride. For the riches of distant lands will belong to you and the wealth of nations will come to you. Camel caravans will cover your roads, young camels from Midian and Ephah. All the merchants of Sheba will come, bringing gold and incense and singing praises to the Lord. All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices. They will go up on my altar acceptably, and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple. Who are these who float along like a cloud, who fly like doves to their shelters? Indeed, the coastlands look eagerly for me, the large ships are in the lead, bringing your sons from far away, along with their silver and gold, to honor the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has bestowed honor on you. Foreigners will rebuild your walls; their kings will serve you. Even though I struck you down in my anger, I will restore my favor and have compassion on you. Your gates will remain open at all times; they will not be shut during the day or at night, so that the wealth of

14 14 nations may be delivered, with their kings leading the way. Indeed, nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish; such nations will be totally destroyed. The splendor of Lebanon will come to you, its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together, to beautify my palace; I will bestow honor on my throne room. The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you; all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet. They will call you, The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. You were once abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, but I will make you a permanent source of pride and joy to coming generations. You will drink the milk of nations; you will nurse at the breasts of kings. Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer, your protector, the powerful Ruler of Jacob. (NET) 11. Isaiah 61:5-7, Foreigners will take care of your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards. You will be called, the Lord s priests, servants of our God. You will enjoy the wealth of nations and boast about the riches you receive from them. Instead of shame, you will get a double portion; instead of humiliation, they will rejoice over the land they receive. Yes, they will possess a double portion in their land and experience lasting joy. (NET)

15 Jeremiah 30:16, But all who destroyed you will be destroyed. All your enemies will go into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered. I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. (NET) III. Isaiah 14:1-27 is a continuation of Isaiah 13 and concerns the fall of the king of Babylon. No one king is in view. Isaiah is simply personifying the whole spirit of the Babylonian rulers. (See Hailey and Coffman.) A. The destruction of Babylon is to be followed by the restoration of Israel. (The Pulpit commentary) IV. Isaiah 14:28-32 is an oracle against Philistia and Assyria. A. Hailey wrote that probably no Canaanite state touched and affected the history of Israel as much as did the Philistine city-states. They occupied a narrow, fertile coastal plain in southwest Canaan. There was constant conflict between the two nations. Philistia was under the judgment of God. The ultimate result was Philistia s complete destruction. B. Related scriptures via Hailey: Genesis 21:32, 34, So they made a treaty at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines. So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time. (NET)

16 Genesis 26:1-31, There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you. Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, She is my sister. He was afraid to say, She is my wife, for he thought to himself, The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful. After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, She is really your wife! Why did you say, She is my sister? Isaac replied, Because I thought someone might kill me to get her. Then Abimelech exclaimed, What in the world have you done to us? One of

17 17 the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us! So Abimelech commanded all the people, Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death. When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent. He had so many sheep and cattle and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. So the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the wells that his father s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, Leave us and go elsewhere, for you have become much more powerful than we are. So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave these wells the same names his father had given them. When Isaac s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing water there, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac s herdsmen, saying, The water belongs to us! So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it. His servants dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it Sitnah. Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so

18 18 Isaac named it Rehoboth, saying, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land. From there Isaac went up to Beer Sheba. The Lord appeared to him that night and said, I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham. Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. Now Abimelech had come to him from Gerar along with Ahuzzah his friend and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac asked them, Why have you come to me? You hate me and sent me away from you. They replied, We could plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you so that you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed you, but have always treated you well before sending you away in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord. So Isaac held a feast for them and they celebrated. Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. (NET) 3. Exodus 13:17, When Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them by the way to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, Lest the people change their

19 19 minds and return to Egypt when they experience war. (NET) 4. Judges 3:3, These were the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. (NET) 5. Judges 13:1, The Israelites again did evil in the Lord s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. (NET) 6. Judges 14:1-20, Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye. When he got home, he told his father and mother, A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. Now get her for my wife. But his father and mother said to him, Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines. But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, because she is the right one for me. Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel). Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. The Lord s spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands

20 20 as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Samson continued on down to Timnah and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one. Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to see the lion s remains. He saw a swarm of bees in the lion s carcass, as well as some honey. He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion s carcass. Then Samson s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. Samson hosted a party there, for this was customary for bridegrooms to do. When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company. Samson said to them, I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes. But if you cannot solve it, you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes. They said to him, Let us hear your riddle. He said to them, Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong one came something sweet. They could not solve the riddle for three days. On the fourth day they said to Samson s bride, Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. If you refuse, we will burn up you and your father s family. Did you invite us here to make us poor?

21 21 So Samson s bride cried on his shoulder and said, You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution. He said to her, Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you? She cried on his shoulder until the party was almost over. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him, What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? He said to them, If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle! The Lord s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men. He took their clothes and gave them to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. Samson s bride was then given to his best man. (NET) 7. Judges 15:1-20, Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom! But her father would not let him enter. Her father said, I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead! Samson said to them, This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm! Samson went and captured

22 22 three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. The Philistines asked, Who did this? They were told, Samson, the Timnite s son-inlaw, because the Timnite took Samson s bride and gave her to his best man. So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. Samson said to them, Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting. He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam. The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi. The men of Judah said, Why are you attacking us? The Philistines said, We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us. Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us? He said to them, I have only done to them what they have done to me. They said to him, We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines. Samson said to them, Promise me you will not kill me. They said to him, We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill

23 23 you. They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff. When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord s spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands. He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. Samson then said, With the jawbone of a donkey I have left them in heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men! When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi. He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines? So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day. Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence. (NET) 8. Judges 16:1-31, Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. The Gazites were told, Samson has come here! So they surrounded the town and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. They relaxed all night, thinking, He will not leave until morning comes; then we will kill

24 24 him! Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces. So Delilah said to Samson, Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated. Samson said to her, If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man. So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them. They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him, The Philistines are here, Samson! He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered. Delilah said to Samson, Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued. He said to her, If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be just like any other man. So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with

25 25 them and said to him, The Philistines are here, Samson! (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread. Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued. He said to her, If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man. So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are here, Samson! He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric. She said to him, How can you say, I love you, when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong. She nagged him every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. Finally he told her his secret. He said to her, My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men. When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, Come up here again, for he has told me his secret. So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him

26 26 vulnerable and his strength left him. She said, The Philistines are here, Samson! He woke up and thought, I will do as I did before and shake myself free. But he did not realize that the Lord had left him. The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison. His hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off. The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us. When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us! When they really started celebrating, they said, Call for Samson so he can entertain us! So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between two pillars. Samson said to the young man who held his hand, Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. Then I can lean on them. Now the temple was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. Samson called to the Lord, O Master, Lord, remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge against the Philistines for my two eyes! Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that

27 27 supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines! He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. His brothers and all his family went down and brought him back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years. (NET) 9. 1 Samuel 31:1-13, Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines stayed right on the heels of Saul and his sons. They struck down Saul s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; the archers spotted him and wounded him severely. Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me. But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day. When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were

28 28 dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them. The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. They cut off Saul s head and stripped him of his armor. They sent messengers to announce the news in the temple of their idols and among their people throughout the surrounding land of the Philistines. They placed Saul s armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his corpse on the city wall of Beth Shan. When the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul s corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days. (NET) Chronicles 17:11, Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute, including a load of silver. The Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks. (NET) Chronicles 21:16-17, The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines and the Arabs who lived beside the Cushites. They attacked Judah and swept through it. They carried off everything they found in the royal palace,

29 29 including his sons and wives. None of his sons was left, except for his youngest, Ahaziah. (NET) Chronicles 26:6-7, Uzziah attacked the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory. God helped him in his campaigns against the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. (NET) Chronicles 28:16-21, At that time King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. The Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried off captives. The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages. The Lord humiliated Judah because of King Ahaz of Israel, for he encouraged Judah to sin and was very unfaithful to the Lord. King Tiglathpileser of Assyria came, but he gave him more trouble than support. Ahaz gathered riches from the Lord s temple, the royal palace, and the officials and gave them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help. (NET) Kings 18:7-8, The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit

30 30 to him. He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress. (NET) 15. Jeremiah 25:15-17, 20, So the Lord, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision. Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them. So I took the cup from the Lord s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath. the foreigners living in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod; (NET) 16. Jeremiah 47:1-7, The Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. They will be like an overflowing stream. They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood. They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants. People will cry out in alarm. Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain. Fathers will hear the hoofbeats of the enemies horses, the clatter of their chariots and the rumbling of their wheels. They will not turn back to save their children because

31 31 they will be paralyzed with fear. For the time has come to destroy all the Philistines. The time has come to destroy all the help that remains for Tyre and Sidon. For I, the Lord, will destroy the Philistines, that remnant that came from the island of Crete. The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning. The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb. How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, you who remain of Philistia s power? How long will you cry out, Oh, sword of the Lord, how long will it be before you stop killing? Go back into your sheath! Stay there and rest! But how can it rest when I, the Lord, have given it orders? I have ordered it to attack the people of Ashkelon and the seacoast. (NET) 17. Zephaniah 2:5, Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, are as good as dead. The Lord has decreed your downfall, Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy everyone who lives there! (NET) 18. Zechariah 9:6, A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, for I will greatly humiliate the Philistines. (NET) IV. The people of Judah having now regained their freedom and returned to their homeland following a seventy (70) year captivity in Babylon, remember the misery of the Babylonian captivity and, by the use of various metaphors, taunt, vent their anger against

32 32 their former captors and their king. (See verses 4b-32.) (See Hamilton.) Commentary: Jacob Taunts the King of Babylon Isaiah 14:1, The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; he will again choose Israel as his special people and restore them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family of Jacob. (NET) I. The Lord will certainly have compassion (mercy) on Jacob;... A. The fall of Babylon and the return of exiled Judah to Canaan with the help of other nations was God s will, Smith advised. 1. Briley noted that The placement of these verses (1 & 2) in the midst of the message to Babylon indicates a close connection between God s judgment of the wicked and the redemption of his people. 2. The Pulpit Commentary states, God s desire to soon have mercy on Israel is the reason the days of Babylon are not prolonged. a. Isaiah 13:22, Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. Her time is almost up, her days will not be prolonged. (NET)

33 33 II. he will again choose Israel as his special people and restore them to their land. A. Related references: Deuteronomy 7:7-8, It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (NET) 2. Deuteronomy 9:4-6, Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land. It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is

34 34 about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn people! (NET) B. The covenant was broken on various occasions because of Israel s disobedience. It was renewed by the grace of God on numerous occasions. One of those occasions was the return of Judah from Babylonian exile. (See Briley.) C. Briley wrote, The purpose of the language here is to show the radical reversal of circumstances when God acts to vindicate himself and his people. 1. Egypt, Israel, and Assyria are all said to equally be God s people in Isaiah 19:19-25, At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar dedicated to the Lord at its border. It will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of the Lord who commands armies. When they cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender who will rescue them. The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they will acknowledge the Lord s authority at that time. They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord and he will listen to their prayers and heal them. At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will

35 35 worship together. At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing in the earth. The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel! (NET) (See Briley.) 2. Briley wrote, The return from exile will fulfill this prophecy to a degree, and the unity in Christ which transcends former hostilities does so to an even greater degree. 3. By sinfulness, Israel had lost its status as God s special people, but now, upon their repentance, Israel was restored to its former position of most favored nation. (See Coffman.) 4. However, Coffman observed, this was not a racial selection, but a spiritual Israel consisting of Jews and Gentiles, a remnant of righteous believers. Unrighteous Israelites were not a part of this most favored people. (See Coffman.) III. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family* of Jacob. A. *NET footnote: Hebrew a house (also in the next verse). B. Related scripture:...

36 Esther 8:17, Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples pretended to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them. (NET) 2. Acts 2:9-11, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done! (NET) 3. Acts 17:4, 17, Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. So he was addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace every day those who happened to be there. (NET) C. Hailey wrote, What took place at the return (from Babylonian captivity) was a foreshadowing of that which was to come under the Messiah. D. Smith wrote, This is best taken to be a reference to the new Israel of God, Christ s church, which would conquer the

37 37 nations through the power of the Gospel. (Also see Coffman.) 1. 2 Corinthians 10:5, and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. (NET) 2. Luke 4:18, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, (NET) 3. Cornelius was one such Gentile person of whom Isaiah wrote. a. Acts 10:1-48, Now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly. About three o clock one afternoon he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, Cornelius. Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius replied, What is it, Lord? The angel said to him, Your prayers and your acts of charity have gone up as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and summon a man