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Revised Isaiah Chapter 35

Canonical Text

¹ The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,
² it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
³ Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
⁷ The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
⁸ And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.
⁹ No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰ and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Synopsis

All the canonical verses are outgoing.

Outgoing Verses

1-2. The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

Analysis: The miraculous transformation of the parched land and desert by the hand of the Lord is slated to occur in the reign of the Branch of the Lord. In principle verses 1-2 could be lodged in any chapter that deals with that reign, but in this work, as a matter of personal taste, most verses describing the miraculous transformation of nature are lodged in one revised chapter.

Destination: Revised Chapter 2, "The Mountain of The Lord."

3-4. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

Early Analysis: The Lord is instructing the prophet Isaiah to encourage the fearful at a time of great distress ("he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you").

Destination: Revised Chapter 7, "The Lord's Testing of King Ahaz,"

^8:1 The Lord said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ^8:2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me." ^8:3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ^8:4 Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria. ^8:16 Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. ³ Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'"

The choice fails on the absence of divine intervention in this biblical episode, for King Ahaz forsook the word of the Lord and turned to the king of Assyria for help (2 Kings 16:7-10).

Final Analysis: God came with unmistakable vengeance, with conspicuous divine retribution, when Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded the land of Judah. The Lord had warned Isaiah beforehand about the Assyrians so the Lord's instruction to Isaiah to encourage the fearful must have come with the warning.

Destination: Revised Chapter 8, "Assyria Will Invade Judah,"

^8:5 The Lord spoke to me again: ^8:6 "Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, ^8:7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks ^8:8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!

³ "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'

5-10. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. ⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. ⁷ The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. ⁸ And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. ⁹ No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, ¹⁰ and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Analysis: At first sight these six verses could just as well be lodged in Revised Chapter 2, "The Mountain of the Lord." However the literal-minded reader could be perplexed by the semantic contradiction between the affirmation here that "No lion will be there" (v 9) and the announced tolerance of lions on the Mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 11:6). In the end, of course, the apparent contradiction is purely semantic, the "lions" of verse 9 are a metaphor for ferocious, predatory men.

Destination: Revised Chapter 4, "The Branch of The Lord."

Revised Chapter 35

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