And all the people shall know [it], Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in pride and stoutness of heart,
The word God has just sent lands on the northern kingdom: Ephraim, its leading tribe, and Samaria, its capital. What lands is not comfort but exposure. God reads out the thought of their hearts, and that thought is pride.
Verse 8 picks up a song of judgment that Isaiah broke off chapters earlier. One writer traces the seam:
Isaiah 5 opens a new prophetic message… After six woes in verses 8-24, Jehovah declares that His hand is stretched out over them, and that solemn refrain of coming chastening begins (verse 25): "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."… Isaiah 6 interrupts the song for a moment, and so does Isaiah 7 – 9:7. Only at Isaiah 9:8 do we take up again the lament begun in Isaiah 5.
God had already struck this people. So why was His hand still stretched out?
God has chastised His people, but this has not yet dealt with their pride: they still trust in themselves (vv. 8-12). The anger of Jehovah is not yet turned away, but His hand is stretched out still, for the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, and have not recognised His hand. And until they see this, they resist and strengthen themselves in their own power.
The verse traces their trouble to "pride and arrogance of heart." The next verse gives that pride a voice: the ruins will be rebuilt better than before.
It is clear that so far the ten rebellious tribes are the object of judgement, and above all their pride of heart, which despises Jehovah's rebuke and trusts in their own powers. This is their cherished hope and empty boasting: they turn their loss into an occasion for greater strength and display than ever.
Another writer sets that boast beside a line from Malachi:
"Built of cedar" may well remind us how Ephraim and Samaria say in pride, "The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone" (Isaiah 9:9-10). Of such God says in Malachi, "They may build, but I will throw down."
Kelly points to where the blow fell — on the ally they had courted:
Had Syria's king, Rezin, joined them in an unholy league against Judah? Then Jehovah will set the adversaries of Rezin against him, the Syrians in front and the Philistines behind, and they will devour Israel with open mouth… So it always is. An unfaithful people seek the world's alliance against those who carry God's testimony, but they soon prove that the friendship of the world is not only enmity against God, but destruction to themselves.
Worse follows: not enemies outside only, but collapse inside.
The next view of their judgement (vv. 13-17) is not so much punishment from outside. Because they made light of His chastening, Jehovah gives Israel up to complete moral collapse within… The ruin falls in one day on every class, from the highest to the lowest in Israel, "palm-branch and rush": leaders and led alike plunged into one common destruction.
One writer sees the same hardness in every age, and reads the passage as pointing forward too:
Hard times seldom soften or improve the heart of a proud rebel against God. Still more rarely do we find a whole nation, or any large part of it, truly humbled by defeat… The same is written later of Israel, beaten by that same enemy, and there we surely have a prophecy of the still sharper tribulation of the last days [Isaiah 9:8-13].
The same instinct shows up in anyone who tries to rebuild what sin knocked down. One writer points to Jericho:
In the same way men often try to rebuild what their sins have brought crashing down (Isaiah 9:9-10). But all the cleverness of man could not lift the curse that lay on Jericho. The setting of the city was pleasant, yet the people living there had to admit "the water is bad, and the ground barren" (2 Kings 2:19). God is the great restorer; oh, that men could understand it!
The same warning fits our own plans:
"Who shall despise the day of small things?" was the prophet's encouraging word in the days of the rebuilding of Jerusalem… Those days of small things were just God's opportunity for doing great things. But let us, beloved, beware of attempting to do great things in a day of small things. It would be pretty much like the language of those Ephraimites and Samaritans in the days of Isaiah the prophet.
- Word sent. The song of judgment broken off after Isaiah 5 resumes here. The word lands on Ephraim and Samaria — the northern kingdom and its capital.
- Word resisted. Chastening came, but it never touched their pride. They did not turn to the One striking them, and so strengthened themselves in their own power.
- Word answered. Pride turned loss into a chance for a grander display. God's answer was enemies in front and behind, then leaders and led collapsing together in one day.
- Word repeated. Rebuilding what your own sin knocked down never lifts the curse; "they may build, but I will throw down."
- Word for us. A small day is God's opportunity, not our cue for hewn stone and cedar — He is the restorer, not us.
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamore trees are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.
The words in this verse are not a prayer after disaster but a boast. Bricks and sycamore wood were the cheap materials. Dressed stone and cedar were the costly ones. God had struck the northern kingdom, and its people answer by promising themselves a grander building than before.
Isaiah names the speakers in the line before: Ephraim and Samaria, the ten tribes. They treat God's blow as a chance for an upgrade.
So far the ten rebellious tribes are the object of judgement, and above all their pride of heart. They despise the Lord's rebuke and trust in their own powers. This is their foolish hope and empty boasting: they turn the damage done to them into a chance for greater strength and display than ever.
God had already struck them. But the blow left their self-confidence untouched, so the discipline went on.
God has chastised His people, but this has not yet dealt with their pride: they trust in themselves (v. 8-12). The anger of Jehovah is not yet turned away. His hand is stretched out still, because the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, and have not recognised His hand. Until they see this, they keep resisting and strengthening themselves in their own power.
There is a repentance that stops just short. It admits the trouble came from sin, then tries a little self-improvement instead of going to God Himself.
Sometimes the heart admits that the chastening has come because of known evil, and then it only wants to reform itself a little. But the hand of God remains stretched out still. There is no return to Him who strikes; there is only an effort to appease God with a certain amount of hypocrisy. The conscience has not come into direct contact with God.
The plan sounds impressive. God has His own word about builders like this.
Ephraim and the people of Samaria speak in pride and in strength of heart. Of such God says in Malachi, "They may build, but I will throw down."
Men still speak this way when they look at fresh ruins.
God had chastised the ten tribes with much destruction. But in their pride they declared that it gave them the chance to rebuild on a much improved scale. They spoke then just as men speak today when they look at the destruction caused by the recent war. The Lord warned them that their ally, Rezin of Syria, would be overthrown, a sign of the overthrow coming on themselves.
The same instinct appears when people set out to rebuild the church.
Trying to rebuild the church is as hopeless as trying to build the tower of Babel, and must end in the same confusion. Men may say, "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones." It is all vanity.
A day of small things is not the time to try something big. Isaiah met that ambition in his own day.
Those days of small things were just God's opportunity for doing great things. But let us, dear friends, beware of trying to do great things in a day of small things. That would be much like the words of the people of Ephraim and Samaria in the days of Isaiah the prophet. In their pride and stubbornness of heart they said, "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones" (Isa. 9:9-10).
Jericho makes the point in stone. Men rebuilt the city, but the curse on it stayed.
In the same way men are often seeking to rebuild what has crashed as the fruit of their sins (Isa. 9:9-10). But all the wit of man could not lift the curse that lay upon Jericho. The situation of the city was pleasant; but the residents had to confess "the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful" (2 Kings 2:19). God is the great restorer; oh, that men could understand it!
- The boast. Bricks and sycamore fall; the answer is stone and cedar. They treat the damage as a chance for greater strength and display than before.
- The blindness. The blow was God's. They never recognised His hand or turned to the One who struck them, so His hand stayed stretched out.
- The counterfeit. A little self-reform after admitting sin leaves the conscience out of touch with God.
- The verdict. "They may build, but I will throw down." Human skill could not lift the curse on Jericho, and it cannot rebuild what God has pulled down.
- The cure. Do not try great things in a day of small things. Turn to the great Restorer, because small days are God's opportunity for great things.