Scripture Daily

Context No. 1633 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 14:1-11: in context

1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob. 2The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3It will happen in the day that the LORD will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve, 4that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!” 5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, 6who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained. 7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song. 8Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.” 9Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?” 11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.

Isaiah promises that the LORD will have compassion on his people and give them rest from their sorrow and their hard service. And in that day, he says, they will take up a taunt against the fallen king of Babylon, their oppressor: how the oppressor has ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers who struck the peoples in wrath. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break out in singing. Even the trees rejoice: since you are laid low, no one comes up to cut us down.

The note that rings through this passage is relief, the relief of the oppressed when the oppressor finally falls. The king of Babylon had struck the nations in wrath, ruled in anger, oppressed without restraint; and now he has fallen, and the whole earth breathes out. How the oppressor has ceased, they sing; the whole earth is at rest and quiet, breaking into song, even the trees rejoicing that no one comes to cut them down anymore. It is the joy of a world set free from a tyrant, the rest that comes when oppression ends. There is real hope in this for all who groan under some oppression, whether a cruel power, a crushing circumstance, or any weight that seems it will never lift. Isaiah's promise is that God will give rest from sorrow and hard service, that the oppressor will not reign forever, that the day comes when the tyrant falls and the earth is at rest. Oppression is not the last word; God breaks the staff of the wicked, and the whole earth sings when he does. This does not mean every relief comes in this life; but it is a firm promise that oppression is temporary, that God will end it, and that the groaning of the oppressed will give way to rest and song. To those under the weight of any tyranny, the word is that it will not last forever; God will give rest from your sorrow, and the day comes when the whole earth, freed at last, breaks into song. The oppressor ceases; the LORD breaks the staff of the wicked; and rest comes to a weary earth.

When I groan under some oppression or weight that seems it will never lift, can I hold Isaiah's promise that oppression is not the last word, that God will break the staff of the wicked and give rest from sorrow, and that the day comes when the tyrant falls and the earth breaks into song?

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