Isaiah Foretells the Desolation of Judah

Some kings of Judah were faithful, but most were not.  Even under a faithful king, such as Jotham, the people did not turn completely away from false worship.  (2 Kings 15:32-35)  A climax in the wickedness of Judah is reached during the reign of bloodthirsty King Manasseh, who according to Jewish tradition, murders the faithful prophet Isaiah by commanding that he be sawed apart.  (Compare Hebrews  11:37)  This wicked king "kept seducing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do worse than the nations that Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel."  (2 Chronicles 33:9)  Under Manasseh's rule the land becomes even more polluted than when the Canaanites  controlled it.  Hence,  Jehovah declares:  "Here I am bringing a calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, of which if anyone hears both his ears will tingle. . . .I shall simply wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes the handle less bowl clean, wiping it clean and turning it upside down. And I shall indeed forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will simply become plunder and pillage to all their enemies, for the reason that they did what was bad in my eyes and were continually offending me." -2 Kings 21:11-15.

Like a bowl that is turned upside down, allowing all its contents to spill out, the land will be emptied of its human inhabitants.  This coming desolation of Judah and Jerusalem is again the subject of prophecy by Isaiah.  He begins:  "Look!  Jehovah is emptying the land and laying it waste, and he has twisted the face of it and scattered its inhabitants."  (Isaiah 24:1)   This prophecy is fulfilled when Jerusalem and its temple are destroyed by the invading Babylonian armies under King Nebuchadnezzar and when the inhabitants of Judah are decimated by sword, famine, and pestilence.  Most of the Jewish  survivors are taken captive to Babylon, and the few left behind flee to Egypt.  Thus the land of Judah is wrecked and completely depopulated. Not even domestic animals remain.  The deserted land becomes a wilderness with dreary ruins inhabited only by wild beasts and birds.

Will anyone in Judah receive preferential treatment during the coming judgment?  Isaiah answers:  "It must come to be the same for the people as for the priest; the same for the servant as for his master; the same for the  maidservant as for her mistress; the same for the buyer as for the seller; the same for the lender as for the borrower; the same for the interest taker  as for the one paying the interest. Without fail the land will be emptied, and without fail it will be plundered, for Jehovah himself has spoken this word."  (Isaiah 24:2, 3)  Wealth and privileges of temple service will make no difference.  No exceptions will be made.  The land is so corrupted that everyone surviving -priests, servants, and masters, buyers and sellers -must go into exile. 

Next time: Conclusion of Isaiah Foretells the Desolation of Judah

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000