Isaiah 29 (NIV)
29 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a]
3 I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.
4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff. Suddenly, in an instant,
6 the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
10 The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.”
12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?
17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21 those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.”
Footnotes
[a] Isaiah 29:2 The Hebrew for “altar hearth” sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.
Discussion:
Bible Study Questions
1. What does Ariel symbolize in the context of this chapter?
2. Why was Ariel (Jerusalem) being judged by God? How does the description of Ariel's judgment reflect the consequences of disobedience to God's word?
3. What is the reason of the sudden scattering of Ariel's enemies in verses 5-8? How can it be seen as a demonstration of God's divine intervention?
4. Pay attention to the word “dust” which is repeated (v4, 5). How is it used to illustrate the people of Jerusalem and its enemies?
5. Why did the people not able to see the vision and understand (v9-12)? What does the spiritual blindness in these verses suggest about the state of society and God’s people in Isaiah's time? and today?
6. Reflect on a time when you felt you could hide actions or thoughts from God. How does Isaiah 29:15-16 speak to this?
7. How does the prophecy of the transformation of the land offer hope in the context of divine judgment?
8. In verses 17-24, who are the humble that will experience joy in the Lord? How can we strive to be like them?
Reflections:
9. In what ways can you relate to the themes of judgment and redemption in your life?
10. Are there religious rituals and spiritual blindness in today’s church? How can you tell religious rituals from true spirituality?
11. How can we guard against offering mere "lip service" to God in our own lives? What steps can you take to avoid falling into spiritual blindness?
12. How can you move your heart closer to God, beyond just following religious rituals?
13 How can we help each other see the truth and avoid spritual blindness?
