Jehovah Humiliates Self-Exalted Ones - In Pride They Bow Down

In Pride They Bow Down

Confessing the error of his people, Isaiah says:  "They have become full of what is from the East, and they are practicers of magic like the Philistines, and with children of foreigners they abound."  (Isaiah 2:6b) Some 800 years earlier, Jehovah had commanded his chosen people:  "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things  [by which] the nations whom I am sending out from before you have made themselves unclean." (Leviticus 18:24) Concerning those whom he had selected as his special property, Jehovah forced Balaam to say:  "From the top of the rocks I see them, and from the hills I behold them. There as a people they keep tabernacling isolated  and among the nations they do not recon themselves."  (Numbers 23:9, 12)  Yet, by Isaiah's day Jehovah's chosen ones have adopted the abominable practices of the surrounding nations and are "full of what is from the East."  Rather than putting faith in Jehovah and his word, they are practicing "magic like the Philistines."  Far from keeping separate from the nations, the land 'abounds' with "the children of the foreigners"-doubtless, foreigners who introduce ungodly practices to God's people. 

Noting the current economic prosperity and the military strength of Judah under King Uzziah, Isaiah states:  There land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures.  And their land is filled with horses, and there is no limit to their chariots."  (Isaiah 2:7)  Do the people thank Jehovah for such wealth and military strength? (2 Chronicles 26:1, 6-15)  Far from it!  Instead, they put their trust in the wealth itself and turn away from its Source, Jehovah God.  The result?  "Their land is filled with valueless gods. To the work of one's hands they bow down, to that which one's fingers have made. And earthling man bows down, and man becomes low, and you cannot possibly pardon them."  (Isaiah 2:8, 9)  They turn their faces away from the living God and bow down to lifeless idols.

Bowing down can be a sign of humility.  But bowing down to lifeless things is futile, making the idol worshiper "low," degenerate.  How can Jehovah pardon such a sin? What will these idolaters do when Jehovah calls them to account? 

Next time: 'Haughty Eyes Must Become Low'

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind