Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah has been speaking to Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, and to its drunken pride. Now he turns to the men who rule Judah from Jerusalem, and he calls them scoffers. His call to hear raises three questions. What makes a ruler a scoffer? What were they trusting instead of God? And does this describe Isaiah's own day, a day still ahead, or both?
The address changes at this verse. These men held real power, and their own policy had left them feeling they did not need God.
Then at verse 14 the prophetic message turns from Ephraim to the scornful men, who were ruling the two tribes from Jerusalem. They had made covenants and formed alliances, and so they felt independent of God. Their alliance with some worldly power or powers — Egypt probably — was really an agreement with death and hell. It was all falsehood and would not stand. What would stand was God's own work, which He would carry out in the coming Messiah.
Watching judgment fall on the northern kingdom did not soften Jerusalem's leaders. It pushed them the other way.
When Jerusalem sees the judgment on Ephraim, they unite more closely with the power of evil in order to escape it… At the end it will be the Antichrist joined with Satan and those he uses. But God gives the remnant a sure foundation-stone in Zion.
The word is not just an insult. It names a settled character, and it fits rulers who refuse correction.
A scorner is a bolder sinner against God and against his own soul. He does not like to be reproved; "he will not go to the wise." Self is his aim and in practice his God, and folly is his life. That is what makes him a scornful refuser of all wisdom from above.
They had their plan. They had no idea who was really behind it.
The same prophet shows how terrible this alliance is. It is an alliance with a power that comes from Satan. They never suspected its devilish source; it was hidden from their eyes… They did not know that the Dragon had given his power to the Beast. But that is the fact. Through the prophet God declares that this people is joined to death and hell. He reveals it to those among them who have ears to hear.
Assyria did invade in Isaiah's day. But what happened then was the reverse of the scene in this verse.
The fact is this. Long ago, when Sennacherib came against Jerusalem, the godly king Hezekiah ruled there. Instead of making a covenant with death, he begged the LORD for help against the scornful king of Assyria. The result was that the angel of the LORD struck the army of Assyria, and no fewer than 185,000 men fell. The Assyrian will oppose the Jews once more. Apart from that, there is hardly one feature of the past that is not the reverse of what we have here.
Commentators differ here. Hole reads the alliance as a treaty with a worldly power in Isaiah's own day, most likely Egypt. Others give reasons from the passage itself for saying the main fulfilment is still ahead.
First, it foretells events that were to come after the laying in Zion of a foundation, "a tested stone," "a precious cornerstone," on which whoever believes "will not be in haste"… The events predicted were to come after Christ's first coming. Second, these events are tied to what the prophet calls "the overflowing scourge." That phrase clearly points to the terrible judgments of the final crisis.
Not everyone in Jerusalem joined the policy. A remnant believed God's promise and refused to rush into the alliance.
As we have seen, they made a covenant with the power of evil, but it came to nothing. The remnant, though, trusted the Lord and counted on His promise. They were not yet delivered, and they did not know redemption as we do… yet they did not make haste or join the Antichrist. As for the mass of the people, the hopes they had put in him and in the beast are put to shame, and the scourge of this invader sweeps through.
- Scorn — the scorner sins boldly against God and his own soul. He refuses correction and will not go to the wise. God speaks here to that spirit in a ruler.
- Scheme — Jerusalem's leaders saw judgment fall on Ephraim and still did not repent. They bound themselves closer to the power of evil.
- Source — Satan stood behind their alliance, and they never suspected it. God names him for anyone with ears to hear.
- Scope — Hezekiah's day was the reverse of this scene. The passage points to a stone laid in Zion and to a final scourge. Commentators differ over how much belongs to Isaiah's time and how much is still ahead.
- Shelter — the covenant of the scorners comes to nothing. A remnant who trust the Lord's promise are not swept away with it.
For ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol have we made an agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
The rulers of Jerusalem boast that they have made a deal. Disaster, they say, will pass them by. God names their security for what it is: a bargain with death and a hiding place built of lies.
The words come from men who hold power in Jerusalem and mock the warnings of God. One writer sets them beside an earlier king who faced the same threat and did the opposite:
Notice the language of the prophet here: "Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! … I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land." The fact is that Sennacherib came against Jerusalem long ago. At that time the godly king Hezekiah ruled there. He made no covenant with death. He begged Jehovah for help against the scornful king of Assyria. The result was that the angel of Jehovah struck the army of Assyria, so that no fewer than 185,000 fell. The Assyrian will oppose the Jews once again. Apart from that, almost every feature of the past is the opposite of what we have here.
No one signs a deal announcing an alliance with the grave. These words are God's verdict on the bargain, not a boast the men ever made:
When the Holy Spirit says, "Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death" (v. 15), we are not to take it as a confession they actually made. Instead, God is exposing their real mind in its evil and ruin. They may boast of their covenant, but they do not know it is with Sheol. They fall for a false Messiah, whose power will turn out to be of Satan, and they never see the trick. No Jew would say out loud that he had made a pact with the devil. A man would have to be extraordinarily blind and defiant toward God to admit such a thing.
Commentators read this treaty as one still to be made, and connect it with the agreement described in Daniel 9. Fear of an invader drives the nation into the arms of a foreign ruler:
As to the covenant, if we refer to Isaiah 28, it is said in verse 15, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us." And in verse 18, "Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it." I have no question that this is the covenant referred to here… They had hoped to escape by making a covenant with this prince; they fondly thought, as it is said in Isaiah, to be delivered in this way from the overflowing scourge.
Most of the people hide under falsehood. God, meanwhile, lays a foundation stone in Zion for anyone willing to rest on it. One writer sets the two shelters side by side, using the older word "hell" where the verse says Sheol:
The true refuge is God Himself, who has laid in Zion a sure foundation-stone. The faithful can rest on this foundation. While they wait for the Messiah to deliver them, they "do not make haste." The rest of the people are terrified and unbelieving. They listen to the lies of the antichrist. Under his guidance they seek refuge in a covenant with death and an agreement with hell… It does them no good. The scourge still overflows, their refuge of lies fails, their covenant with death is dissolved.
The covenant does not fail because the danger was underestimated. It fails because the prince they trust will not keep his word:
Men make their covenants, their alliances, their friendly agreements. They flatter themselves that all will be well. But when they say, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction comes upon them, and from the quarter least expected. The prince they made the covenant with cares little for the scrap of paper the terms are written on. He breaks the covenant, and friendless Israel falls under the power of the destroyer.
One writer takes the picture of a shelter swept away by hail and flood well beyond Israel. Any security built on something other than Christ meets the same storm:
A real hurricane of divine wrath will burst out before long. It will show beyond dispute where men stand. Every unreal structure will then totter and fall. Some have never trusted, as lost sinners, in the Saviour and in His precious blood. The finest moral and religious exterior will not shield them from judgement. As the prophet declared ages ago: "Hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter" (Isa. 28:17). Happy, eternally happy, is the man who has built on Christ, the Son of God.
- Scorn. The speakers are rulers who mock God's word. Hezekiah faced the same invader and prayed, and God struck the invading army.
- Self-deception. They never used these words. God names the deal for them, because the partner they trust is not what they believe him to be.
- Shelter. Their two supports are a treaty and a lie — protection bought from a power that will break its word.
- Sweeping. Hail and flood show what happens to a shelter God has not built. It fails, and those inside are trodden down.
- Stone. In the same breath God lays a foundation in Zion. Whoever rests there is not swept away, and that choice still stands for readers today.