Isaiah-Chapter 24
[Isaiah 24:1] BEHOLD, THE LORD MAKETH THE EARTH EMPTY, AND MAKETH IT WASTE,
AND TURNETH IT UPSIDE DOWN, AND SCATTERETH ABROAD THE INHABITANTS THEREOF.
Most of the major Jewish traditional commentaries say that this cahpter is
speaking of the Lost Ten Tribes. The Land of Northern Israel will be emptied
of its people.
[Isaiah 24:2] AND IT SHALL BE, AS WITH THE PEOPLE, SO WITH THE PRIEST;
AS WITH THE SERVANT, SO WITH HIS MASTER; AS WITH THE MAID, SO WITH HER MISTRESS;
AS WITH THE BUYER, SO WITH THE SELLER; AS WITH THE LENDER, SO WITH THE BORROWER;
AS WITH THE TAKER OF USURY, SO WITH THE GIVER OF USURY TO HIM.
When great calamity strikes all are equal. They all suffer the same disaster.
[Isaiah 24:3] THE LAND SHALL BE UTTERLY EMPTIED, AND UTTERLY SPOILED:
FOR THE LORD HATH SPOKEN THIS WORD.
[
The land shall be emptied out. Archaeology confirms that this is what did
happen. Israelite settlemen\ts in the northern Kingdom of “Israel” are all
destroyed, disappear. Most are not built up again. Those that are have different
inhabitants bearuing a different foreign culture.
[Isaiah 24:4] THE EARTH MOURNETH AND FADETH AWAY, THE WORLD LANGUISHETH
AND FADETH AWAY, THE HAUGHTY PEOPLE OF THE EARTH DO LANGUISH.
[Isaiah 24:5] THE EARTH ALSO IS DEFILED UNDER THE INHABITANTS THEREOF;
BECAUSE THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED THE LAWS, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, BROKEN THE
EVERLASTING COVENANT.
Northern Israel broke the Laws of the Torah. That is why they were exiled. See 2-Kings chapter 17.
[Isaiah 24:6] THEREFORE HATH THE CURSE DEVOURED THE EARTH, AND THEY
THAT DWELL THEREIN ARE DESOLATE: THEREFORE THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE
BURNED, AND FEW MEN LEFT.
A very few did remain and these attached themselves to the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
[Isaiah 24:7] THE NEW WINE MOURNETH, THE VINE LANGUISHETH, ALL THE MERRYHEARTED DO SIGH.
[Isaiah 24:8] THE MIRTH OF TABRETS CEASETH, THE NOISE OF THEM THAT REJOICE ENDETH, THE JOY OF THE HARP CEASETH.
They were eating, drinking, singing, and making merry. That is all gone.
[Isaiah 24:9] THEY SHALL NOT DRINK WINE WITH A SONG; STRONG DRINK SHALL BE BITTER TO THEM THAT DRINK IT.
Drinking was a problem. The “Drunkards of Ephraim” are mentioned (Isaiah
28;1,3). Some things do not change. I was once almost a problem drinker myself.
[Isaiah 24:10] THE CITY OF CONFUSION IS BROKEN DOWN: EVERY HOUSE IS SHUT UP, THAT NO MAN MAY COME IN.
[Isaiah 24:11] THERE IS A CRYING FOR WINE IN THE STREETS; ALL JOY IS DARKENED, THE MIRTH OF THE LAND IS GONE.
[Isaiah 24:12] IN THE CITY IS LEFT DESOLATION, AND THE GATE IS SMITTEN WITH DESTRUCTION.
[Isaiah 24:13] WHEN THUS IT SHALL BE IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND AMONG
THE PEOPLE, THERE SHALL BE AS THE SHAKING OF AN OLIVE TREE, AND AS THE GLEANING
GRAPES WHEN THE VINTAGE IS DONE.
[Isaiah 24:14] THEY SHALL LIFT UP THEIR VOICE, THEY SHALL SING FOR
THE MAJESTY OF THE LORD, THEY SHALL CRY ALOUD FROM THE SEA.
“FROM THE SEA”: In Hebrew also meaning “from the west”. The Aramaic and Commentators
say it means the exiles will be in the west in the last Days. Then it goes
on to speak of Britain.
[Isaiah 24:15] WHEREFORE GLORIFY YE THE LORD IN THE FIRES, EVEN THE
NAME OF THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL IN THE ISLES OF THE SEA.
Piotr Gasiorowski: <<I think the tradition of erecting hilltop cairns
and mounds as orientation marks, and of using beacon fires for long-distance
communication was very strong in Celtic (also Roman) Britain; the landscape
of much of the country is as suitable for this purpose as could be. One trace
of that is the occurrence of the Brythonic element tan- 'fire' (Welsh tגn)
in hill names (there are many Tan Hills in England). -- not only in ancient
times but all through history down to the invention of the telegraph. For
example, a network of beacons set up on hilltops was used in England in 1588
to signal the approach of the Spanish Armada, and once it was spotted off
the Scillies the news reached the English commanders in no time at all.>>
Extract from “Lost Israelite Identity” by Yair Davidy
<<"The Chronicles of Eri, being the history of the Gaal Sciot Iber,
or the Irish People, translated from the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian
language", by Roger O' Connor were published in London in two volumes in
1822. It is not certain what sources this work is based upon but internal
evidence indicates that it derived from similar ancient traditions as those
known from elsewhere …. The Chronicles of Eri do not expressly say that their
ancestors were Hebraic but they talk around the subject so that Hebrew origins
are the logical conclusion to be drawn even though such may not have been
the intention of the editor or "translator" who attempts to date the described
events long before the time of Israelite exile.
<<The Chronicle says that the Gaali had been
in Armenia, and the Caucasus. They were traders and metallurgists, and archers.
Oppressed by the Assyrians they fled via Hamath in northern Syria [-Which
incidentally was known later as "Daphne of Antiochia" and was considered
one of three regions through which the Lost Ten Tribes were taken into exile*24.
The Jewish historian Nahum Slouschz (1909) regarded the exile of Daphne of
Antiochea to represent that of Israelites associated with the Phoenicians].
<<The Chronicles tells how the Gaali sail to Spain which was then ruled
by the Phoenicians who in turn were directed from (Assyrian-controlled?)
Hamath. In Spain they move from the southern area of Tartessos to Galatia
in the northwest and shake off Phoenician control. Together with the Phoenicians
from their base in Spain they establish mining operations in Cornwall, in
Britain. Some of them move to Aquitaine in Gaul. Due to war and famine, those
in Spanish Galatia emigrate to Ireland. Though not Phoenicians they worship
God under the form of baal, receive instruction in Phoenician ways, bear
Hebrew-sounding names and seem to have Israelite-values such as an aversion
to images and other characteristics.
<<These people (the Gaal of Sciot) had the custom of lighting beacon fires on the coasts.
"All the headlands and promontories belonging to the
Gaal of Sciot on the northwest coast of Spain were called in the Phoenician
language Breoccean, that is, The Land of Flaming Fires, because of the blaze
that was kept up and could be seen at a great distance out to sea. The same
custom was observed on the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire after the Gaal
of Sciot joined with the Phoenicians in their mining operations there, and
that land was called Breotan, Breo meaning Flaming Fire" [cf. "BIAR" = burn
in Hebrew].
<<This practice has been used25 to explain a verse in Isaiah:
"They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the
majesty of the LORD. They shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore, glorify
the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the
isles of the sea" (Isaiah 24;14-15).
[Isaiah 24:16] FROM THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH HAVE WE HEARD SONGS,
EVEN GLORY TO THE RIGHTEOUS. BUT I SAID, MY LEANNESS, MY LEANNESS,
WOE UNTO ME! THE TREACHEROUS DEALERS HAVE DEALT TREACHEROUSLY; YEA,
THE TREACHEROUS DEALERS HAVE DEALT VERY TREACHEROUSLY.
We do not have to understand everything nor answer every conundrum. The chapter
begins by describing the Land of Northern Israel being utterly devasted and
emptied of Israelites who were all taken into exile. Thiswas the exile of
the northern Ten Tribes taken away by Assyria. Then come verses saying that
in the Latter Days the exiles will be in the west and in the Isles apparently
meaning the Isles of Britain. There will be at least a partial return to
the True Way. Then some type of disaster will occur apparently involving
most of the earth. Finally there will be succor and salvation to Zion and
Jerusalem.
[Isaiah 24:17] FEAR, AND THE PIT, AND THE SNARE, ARE UPON THEE, O INHABITANT OF THE EARTH.
[Isaiah 24:18] AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT HE WHO FLEETH FROM THE
NOISE OF THE FEAR SHALL FALL INTO THE PIT; AND HE THAT COMETH UP OUT
OF THE MIDST OF THE PIT SHALL BE TAKEN IN THE SNARE: FOR THE WINDOWS
FROM ON HIGH ARE OPEN, AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH DO SHAKE.
[Isaiah 24:19] THE EARTH IS UTTERLY BROKEN DOWN, THE EARTH IS CLEAN DISSOLVED, THE EARTH IS MOVED EXCEEDINGLY.
[Isaiah 24:20] THE EARTH SHALL REEL TO AND FRO LIKE A DRUNKARD, AND
SHALL BE REMOVED LIKE A COTTAGE; AND THE TRANSGRESSION THEREOF SHALL BE HEAVY
UPON IT; AND IT SHALL FALL, AND NOT RISE AGAIN.
[Isaiah 24:21] AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, THAT THE LORD
SHALL PUNISH THE HOST OF THE HIGH ONES THAT ARE ON HIGH, AND THE KINGS
OF THE EARTH UPON THE EARTH.
From this we learn that every nation has its own “guardian” angel in heaven.
Somehow or other the angel is held responsible for the deeds of the nation
underneath it. See Daniel 10;13 10;21: “Michael your prince”.
Michael is described as the guardian angel of Israel. In early Christian
times the archangel Michael was regarded as the patron saint of Britain but
was later replaced, first by St. Edward, then by St. George.
[Isaiah 24:22] AND THEY SHALL BE GATHERED TOGETHER, AS PRISONERS ARE
GATHERED IN THE PIT, AND SHALL BE SHUT UP IN THE PRISON, AND AFTER
MANY DAYS SHALL THEY BE VISITED.
[Isaiah 24:23] THEN THE MOON SHALL BE CONFOUNDED, AND THE SUN ASHAMED,
WHEN THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL REIGN IN MOUNT ZION, AND IN JERUSALEM,
AND BEFORE HIS ANCIENTS GLORIOUSLY.
“moon” perhaps means the nations of Islam, “sun” those of Christendom.
The Divine Presence of the Almighty God of Israel Creator of the Universe
will return to dwell in Jerusalem. Some traditional commentators (e.g. Midrashim)
say that on a mystical level “Zion” can represent Joseph. Jerusalem is Judah
but also the future capital of all Israel.
Chapter Twenty-Five
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