Woe to Jerusalem!

What, though, is Jehovah now speaking about?  "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the town where David encamped!  Add year upon year, you people; let the festivals run the round. And I have to make things tight for Ariel, and there must come to be mourning and lamentation, and she must become to me as the altar hearth of God."  (Isaiah 29:1, 2) "Ariel" possibly means "The Altar Hearth of God," and here it evidently refers to Jerusalem.  That is where the temple with its altar of sacrifice is located.  The Jews follow the routine of holding festivals and offering sacrifices there, but Jehovah takes no pleasure in their worship.  (Hosea 6:6)  Rather, he decrees that the city itself is to become an "altar hearth" in a different sense.  Like an altar, it will run with blood and be subjected  to fire.  Jehovah even describes how this will happen:  "I must encamp on all sides against you, and I must lay siege  to you with a palisade and raise up against you siegeworks. And you  must become low so that your saying will sound low."  (Isaiah 29:3, 4)  This is fulfilled for Judah and Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. when the Babylonian army besieges and destroys the city and burns the temple.  Jerusalem is brought down as low as the ground on which she was built. 

Before that fateful time, Judah does from time to time have a king who obeys Jehovah's Law.  What then?  Jehovah fights for his people. Even though the enemy may cover the land, the become like "fine powder"  and "chaff." In his due time, Jehovah disperses them "with thunder and with quaking and with a great sound, storm wind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire." -Isaiah 29:5, 6.

Hostile armies may eagerly anticipate sacking Jerusalem and gorging themselves on the spoils of war.  But they are in for a rude awakening!  like a starving man who dreams that he is feasting and then wakes up as hungry as ever, the enemies of Judah will not enjoy the feast that they so eagerly anticipate.  (Read Isaiah 29:7, 8)  Consider what happens to the Assyrian army under Sennacherib when it threatens Jerusalem in faithful King Hezekiah's day.  (Isaiah, chapters 36 and 37) In one night, without a human band being raised , the fear-inspiring Assyrian war machine is turned back-185,000of its valiant warriors dead!  Dreams of conquest will again be frustrated when the war machine of Gog of Magog gears up against Jehovah's people in the near future. -Ezekiel 38:10-12; 39: 6, 7. 

Next time: Conclusion of Woe to Jerusalem!

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