Isaiah 14:1-2 – God will always keep His word

Isaiah chapter 13 ended with the prophecy concerning the fall of Babylon to the Medes. This event took place long after the prophet announced it. However, the destruction and judgment of Babylon was God’s mercy showered on Israel. He promised in Isaiah 14:1 that He would restore them. The LORD  explicitly said He would “…show mercy on Jacob and choose Israel and settle them in the land.”

We need to know, however, that not all the people of Judah would return from the captivity. Remember in Isaiah 7:3, God instructed Isaiah saying “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-Jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field.” The name Shear-Jashub means a remnant shall return. Again in Isaiah 10:21-22 the prophet predicted saying “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, maybe like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return….”

When the people of God returned to the land, verse 1 tells us that “strangers will join them and attached themselves to the house of Jacob.”  In other words, on their return, there would be non-Jews who would join them voluntarily. Verse 2 implies that the people among whom the exile had dwelt during their captivity would help them in the restoration. This was seen in the writings of Ezra and Nehemiah where the returnees were helped and supported to return to their land. Their helpers were once their captors. And now in their restoration, they would willingly offer their service to the people of God. And Israel would even rule over those helpers.

The truth about God is that He is a faithful God. He does not vacillate like us humans. He has chosen Israel and would determinedly stay through till His plan for them comes to pass. Here Isaiah made it explicitly clear that God would choose Israel again. His faithfulness would ensure that. What a blessed thought that just as He was faithful to Israel, God will also be faithful towards us. And His plan for our life will come to pass definitively. He will ensure that. The faithful nature of God ensures that He will never be unfaithful in a single thing He has said. However, we must not take His faithfulness for granted. It does not mean that we can now live at will as we wish without regard for Him. He still requires that we trust Him obediently and walk with Him committedly. Be sure to do that!