 |  |
Isaiah 34:
A | 1-8. VENGEANCE. |
a | Indignation of the Lord.
b | Heavens dissolved.
c | Idumea.
a | Sword of the Lord.
b | In heaven--sword.
c | Idumea.
A | 9-17. DESOLATION. |
d | Cormorant, bittern, owl and raven.
e | Line and stone.
d | Dragons, wild beasts, owls and vultures.
e | Line and lot.
Thus, by a series of steps, some sad and some glorious, we reach the close of this
section with chapter 35:, a chapter which is in itself an epitome of the glorious
restoration which is the prophetic burden of the whole of Isaiah's prophecy.
ISAIAH.
#13.
Woes and Glories (28: - 35:).
"The ransomed of the Lord shall return" (35:).
pp. 52 - 57
We now reach one of the most glorious chapters in the first part of Isaiah's prophecy,
a chapter which brings the first section of the book to a glorious conclusion, and
anticipates by word and phrase the restoration which is the chief theme of the remainder.
We have already indicated some of the references in Isa. 35:, that find their echo in
chapters 40: to 66: One very clear example is found in Isa. 35: 10, which is repeated
in Isa. 51: 11.
Isa. 35: opens with the words: "The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for
them." We have already learned from Isa. 45: 18 that the Lord did not create the earth
tohu ("waste"), but formed it to be inhabited. We are not surprised, therefore, to find that
the first passage in Isaiah in which the word "wilderness" occurs reads:
"Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made
the world as a wilderness?" (Isa. 14: 16, 17).
The Assyrian is addressed here, but as in Ezek. 28:, a greater foe is in view. A
little earlier in Isa. 14: we read: