National judgment for national sins.
In this latter part of the chapter we have one of those highly elaborate, intense, and suggestive pictures which are peculiar to the books of the prophets. The mighty Assyrian army sweeps over the land; the people flee before them; they fill every corner; they eat up all the food; they carry away all the flocks and herds; a man can barely save one cow and two sheep; they consume the fruits; they trample down the shrubs; they bear off the people captive; they leave behind them a wilderness; there is nobody to rent or till the land; the few scattered inhabitants are content to live on the spontaneous products, milk and curds and honey; agriculture is entirely stopped, and the wild beasts are again encroaching on the arable and pasture lands. William Jay, of Bath, was accustomed to say, "God can punish individuals in this life, and in the next; but he can only punish nations, as such, in this life." This may be further illustrated by reference to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, which was a direct national judgment on their sins as a nation, culminating in the judicial murder of their Messiah. The shout had risen, "His blood be on us, and on our children;" and so it was. We suggest the following points for consecutive illustration:—
I. Some sins are distinctively national. Such as the high-handed dealings of modern nations with semi-civilized peoples.
II. Some judgments are distinctly national. Such as Isaiah refers to: loss of statesmen; or of male population; war, etc.
III. These are directly related, the one to the other, as are sowing and reaping.
IV. They are thus fitted together, as outward and evident illustrations of the relations between sin and punishment, for the individual.—R.T.
Isaiah
Isaiah 7 - isaiah-7 - worlddic.com