Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt
Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.
Isa 31:2 Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers.
Isa 31:3 But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.
Isa 31:4 This is what the LORD says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey— and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor— so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Isa 31:5 Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
Isa 31:6 Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against.
Isa 31:7 For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
Isa 31:8 “Assyria will fall by no human sword; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor.
Isa 31:9 Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
1 The prophets show the cursed folly in trusting to Egypt, and forsaking of God. 6 He exhorts to conversion. 8 He shows the fall of Assyria.
Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt
Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.
Isaiah continues (see ch. 30:2–7) rebuke of the leaders of Judah for turning to Egypt for help against Assyria. Judah was so weak in cavalry that the Assyrians tauntingly offered to provide 2,000 horses if Hezekiah could set riders upon them (ch. 36:8). The Hebrew politicians sought to make up for this weakness by an appeal to Egypt.
Rely on horses. In ancient times horses were used almost exclusively for warfare. God, who had once given Israel a signal triumph over the horses and chariots of Pharaoh (Ex. 14:9, 17, 18, 23, 27; 15:19), was forgotten, and Egypt, now a relatively weak nation, was looked to as a source of help.
Isa 31:2 Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers.
There is a note of sarcasm in these words. Those who sought help from Egypt thought their policy a wise one. But Isaiah reminds them that God also is wise, and that He can carry out His threats against those who despise His word.
Isa 31:3 But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.
Despite all their vaunted wisdom and their material resources the Egyptians were still human. Isaiah here drives the point home that the strength of a nation consists not in its material advantages but in the moral and spiritual stamina of its leaders and people.
Isa 31:4 This is what the LORD says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over its prey— and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor— so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
A vivid illustration of God’s power and protecting care.
Isa 31:5 Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
Perhaps, in using the word pasach, Isaiah intends to remind his contemporaries of the great deliverance experienced by their forefathers.
Isa 31:7 For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
Isa 31:6 Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against.
Isaiah’s one great objective was to bring the people of Judah back to God and thus save the nation. Unless they were turned from their present course, they would suffer the recent fate of Israel (2 Kings 17:6).
Isa 31:7 For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
In ch. 2:20 the people are pictured disposing of their idols when it is too late. Now they do so in a spirit of penitence and return to the Lord (2 Chron. 31:1).
Isa 31:8 “Assyria will fall by no human sword; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be put to forced labor.
It was not the hand of man that destroyed the army of Sennacherib, but the hand of God (ch. 37:36). The “sword” was the judgment from the Lord (Deut. 32:41, 42; 1 Chron. 21:16; Isa. 34:5, 6; 66:16; Jer. 9:16; Eze. 9:1; 21:9–14, 20).
Isa 31:9 Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
The Lord is pictured as a “devouring fire” (Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29). When the Assyrians attacked Jerusalem they would be “devoured.” The figurative “fire” of Isaiah’s time will be literal fire at the time of the attack on the New Jerusalem at the close of the 1,000 years (Rev. 20:9; cf. Zech. 14:2, 3).