Till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain
Israel’s past, present, and future
I.
THE PAST.
1. Sins of God’s people (Isa_30:1-2; Isa_30:9-12). Rejecting His Word; trusting in arm of flesh.
2. Judgment on them (Isa_30:16-17).
3. Mercy to them in things spiritual and temporal (Isa_30:19-21; Isa_30:26; Isa_30:29; Isa_23:1-18; Isa_24:1-23). Deliverance from their enemies (Isa_30:30-33). Especially destruction of Sennacherib’s army (Isa_30:31).
4. Glory to God, who is “exalted”--in His judgments--in His mercies.
II. THE PRESENT.
1. The people now left as a “beacon.” upon the top of a mountain (marg., “tree bereft of branches”). Condition bare, and seen of all. “And as an ensign, on an hill.” Word for ensign same as “sign” in Num_26:10. The people “cannot be hid.”
2. Now God waits for the set time, for the filling up of His people’s sins Hos_5:15); for the filling up of His judgments; for the fulness of the Gentiles to be come in (Rom_11:25); for the showing mercy in the end.
III. THE FUTURE. It will be as the past, but greater.
1. Sin still continues in unbelief of Messiah, in pride, worldliness, and self-righteousness.
2. Judgment on these sins up to the end.
3. Mercy when they “cry.” Deliverance from their enemies, as prophesied Isa_66:13-16.
4. Glory to God, the “God of judgment,” the Father of mercies. He shall be “exalted,” as prophesied in Isa_2:10-11; Isa_2:17-22.
5. “Beacon” and “ensign”--refer to again. Israel conspicuous now, will be more so in the last days, as a landmark amidst waves of trouble and strife. “Ensign,” the same word as rendered “pole” in Num_21:8-9. See again in Exo_17:15, “Jehovah-Nissi.” See Isa_31:9; Isa_11:11-12; Isa_18:3; Isa_49:22; Isa_62:10. Israel the rallying centre of the nations, in the midst of them the royal standard of the King, high on “God’s hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to dwell” (Psa_60:4; see Zec_8:2-3; Zec_8:22-23).
IV. THE BLESSING.
1. “To the Jew first.”
2. “And also to the Gentile.”
3. Note the correspondence between God’s waiting and His people’s waiting. (Flavel Cook, B. A.)
