Spiritual Incorrigibility – Cities Burned With Fire

     Having spoken of the desolation of this land of milk and honey brought on by the disobedience of the people of Israel, Isaiah goes on and speaks of their cities, cities God had promised to bless and protect, being burned with fire.

Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. (Isaiah 1:7)

     “Cities” is a common word that can refer to anything from a population center ranging from a small un-walled hamlet to a large, walled city.[1] There is no inherent size reference.

     “Burned with Fire” obviously speaks of the act of burning objects by fire. It is a verb and in the passive and so speaks means to consume objects by fire. Ex 29:34 uses the word in conjunction with the fire used to consume the left over portions of offerings from the Tabernacle: [2]

34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

     We ought to note that the OT can use this word in this fashion, however, to refer to giving a sacrifice or offering to any deity by fire.[3] That makes this use significant. It is as if God is saying that the land itself has been offered on a foreign alter as a burnt offering! It is worth noting, in conjunction with this idea, that one of uses of this very word can also refer to burning as a form of execution, killing by fire in conjunction with the offering of children to a foreign God that was strictly forbidden to Israel (not to mean a horror!) This could be an oblique reference to that practice coming into use in Israel as well, as we know it did. (Deuteronomy 18:10; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6)[4] We should not miss the irony in this phrase. The use of the word and mention of an act that should have been a sacred one, in the face of rampant idolatry and abominable practices that were going on, boldfaced in the land, blandly being called acceptable with the people and their leadership acting as if all was well.

     The parallel to today is both staggering and unmistakable. Our own land, while professing to still be “godly” and to maintain some semblance of a connection with God and with His Spirit, and to reaping His blessing; we see more abomination than at any other time in our nation’s history and we see horrible things happening and treated as if they were non-events.

     The only thing missing is as truly frightening as it is needful to mention. The truth of the matter is that when there is this kind of false profession, there is no real spiritual connection with God present! In Israel’s life they had a covenantal relationship with Him, but no generational one. God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and had reiterated that promise time and again. But over the years, the nation had left the Lord and moved over to the pursuit, not of holiness and Him, but of idols and false gods. For this, God judged them.  How can we but not believe that He will judge us?

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[1] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.) (DBLH 9039, #2). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.) (DBLH 8596, #1). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.