“Woe to the soiled city!
Woe to the defiled city!
Woe to the rebellious city!
Woe to the oppressing city!
She has listened to no voice.
She has accepted no correction.
She has not trusted
In Yahweh.
She has not drawn near
To her God.”
Jerusalem, the city itself, was to be cursed because it was a soiled, defiled, rebellious, and oppressing city. Jerusalem would not listen to any voice or accept any correction. She had not trusted in Yahweh, nor drawn near to her God. Jerusalem was in bad shape.
“The fig trees
Do not blossom.
There is no fruit
On the vines.
The produce
Of the olive tree fails.
The fields yield
No food.
The flock is cut off
From the fold.
There is no herd
In the stalls.”
These farmers have hit bad times. The fig trees were not blossoming, while there were no fruits of grapes on the vines in the vineyard. The fields were not yielding any kind of food. The flocks were running aimlessly, while the herd was not in its stalls. Things were in bad shape.
“This is a day
For the building
Of your walls!
In that day,
The boundary
Shall be far extended.
In that day,
They will come
To you,
From Assyria to Egypt,
From Egypt to the River,
From sea to sea,
From mountain to mountain.
But the earth
Will be desolate,
Because of its inhabitants,
For the fruit of their doings.”
This is a post-exilic call to restore Israel. They would build walls around their buildings. They would have an extended boundary for their country. The Israelites would all return from Assyria to Egypt, from the Nile River to the Euphrates River, from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain, from everywhere. However, the earth would be desolate, because of what the living people were doing. The fruit of their activity left them in bad shape, desolate.
“Rouse yourself!
Rouse yourself!
Stand up!
O Jerusalem!
You have drunk
At the hand of Yahweh
The cup of his wrath.
You have drunk to the dregs
The bowl of staggering.
There is no one to guide her
Among all the children
She has borne.
There is no one to take her
By the hand
Among all the children
She has brought up.
These two things have befallen you.
Who will grieve with you
In this devastation with destruction?
Who will grieve with you
In this famine?
Who will grieve with you
Because of the sword?
Who will comfort you?
Your children have fainted.
They lie at the head of every street
Like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the wrath of Yahweh.
They are full of the rebuke of your God.”
Second Isaiah has a wakeup call for Jerusalem. They had suffered enough, since they were drunk from the cup of Yahweh’s wrath. They drank so much wrath that they were staggering around. No one was guiding them. No one was taking them by the hand, among all the children of Israel. They had been struck by more than two things, devastation, destruction, famine, and the sword. Who would comfort them? Their children have fainted on the streets, like they were antelopes caught in nets. They were filled with Yahweh’s anger and rebuke. They were in bad shape.
“Listen!
The valiant cry in the streets!
The envoys of peace weep bitterly!
The highways are deserted!
The travelers have quit the road!
The treaty is broken!
Its cities are despised!
Its obligations are disregarded!
The land mourns.
The land languishes.
Lebanon is confounded.
Lebanon withers away.
Sharon is like a desert.
Bashan shakes off their leaves.
Carmel shakes off their leaves.”
Now we have a lamentation. Things are in bad shape. Once again, there is the continual plea to listen. The valiant ones are crying in the streets. The peace envoys are also weeping. The highways are deserted, since no travelers are going any place. The treaties have been broken. The city is despised since no one keeps their obligations. The land itself mourns and languishes. Even the northern neighbor Lebanon is confused and withering away. Sharon and Carmel on the west and Bashan on the southeast are like dying trees in a desert. Everybody is having troubles.
“The enemy has pursued me.
He has crushed my life to the ground.
He has made me sit in darkness
Like those long dead.
Therefore my spirit faints within me.
My heart within me is appalled.”
The situation of David is described as being pursued by his enemies. He seems like he has been crushed to the ground. He sat in darkness as if he were dead. His spirit was fainting as mentioned above. His heart was appalled. He was in bad shape.
“My soul is full of troubles.
My life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted
Among those who go down to the Pit.
I am like
Those who have no strength.
I am like
Those forsaken among the dead.
I am like
Those slain that lie in the grave.
I am like
Those whom you remember no more.
Thus they are cut off from your hand.
You have put me
In the depths of the Pit.
You have put me
In the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me.
You overwhelm me with all your waves.”
Selah
This psalmist is in bad shape, near death. He was full of troubles. He was counted as dead already. He was like a dead man with no one to help him. He was like a forsaken dead person that nobody cared about. No one remembered him. He sounds a little like Job. He was cut off from the hand of God as if he were already in the deepest pit in some dark area. God’s wrath had come upon him as he was overwhelmed with the waves. This section ends with the musical interlude meditative pause of Selah.
“My wounds grow foul.
My wounds fester.
Because of my foolishness,
I am utterly bowed down.
I am utterly prostrate.
All day long I go around mourning.
My loins are filled with burning.
There is no soundness in my flesh.
I am utterly spent.
I am utterly crushed.
I groan
Because of the tumult of my heart.”
David or the psalmist was in bad shape. His wounds were growing more rank. They festered in his body because he had been foolish. He was knocked down and prostrate. Every day, all day long, he was in mourning. He had burning loins. As stated above, his body was not sound. In fact, he was utterly spent and crushed because of his sorrowful heart.
“I am the scorn of all my adversaries.
I am a horror to my neighbors.
I am an object of dread to my acquaintances.
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind.
I am like one who is dead.
I have become like a broken vessel.
I hear the whispering of many.
There is terror all around.
They scheme together against me.
They plot to take my life.”
David was scorned by all his enemies. He was a horror to his neighbors. He was an object of dread to his acquaintances. Anyone who saw him in the street fled from hid. He was a like a dead man walking. He was like a broken vessel. They whispered all around him. There was terror in the air. They schemed and plotted to take his life. He was in bad shape.
“He has put my family far from me.
My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
My relatives and my close friends have failed me.
The guests in my house have forgotten me.
My servant girls count me as a stranger.
I have become an alien in their eyes.
I call to my servant,
But he gives me no answer.
I must myself plead with him.
My breath is repulsive to my wife.
I am loathsome to my own family.
Even young children despise me.
When I rise,
They talk against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me.
Those whom I loved have turned against me.
My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh.
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have pity on me!
Have pity on me!
O you my friends,
The hand of God has touched me!
Why do you,
Like God,
Pursue me?
Why are you never satisfied with my flesh?”
Job was an outcast from his family and friends. Everyone had failed him. His own house guests have forgotten him. As if to impress us with his wealth, his servant girls now treat him like a stranger. His servants do not answer him so that now he has to actually plead with them to do things. His wife did not like his breath. Even little kids ran away from him and talked behind his back. His bones clung to his skin since he seemed to lose weight. His teeth were in bad shape. He wanted God to have pity on him. He wanted to know why God was pursuing him. Why was everybody after him?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 