Isaiah 9:18
18 For wickedness [rish`ah] burneth [ba`ar] as the
fire: ['esh] it shall devour ['akal] the briers [shamiyr] and
thorns, [shayith] and shall kindle [yatsath] in the thickets [cabak] of
the forest, [ya`ar] and they shall mount up ['abak] like the lifting up [ge'uwth] of smoke. [`ashan] KJV-Interlinear
18 For
wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the
thickets of the forest aflame, And they roll upward in a column of smoke. NASB
Evil is the policy of Satan.
Wickedness is the action
of evil, the thoughts, activities, intents, attitudes and so forth.
These cover the entire
realm of cosmos diabolicus, or the plan of Satan that includes all that is
anti-God, anti-truth, and make up all of the corruption that this universe has
been exposed to since his original fall.
When people live outside
of the fellowship sphere, the environment in which believers are mandated to
live within, then their lives are driven by evil and their productivity (wood,
hay, and stubble) is nothing more than wickedness. This includes all manner of criminal activity
and social arrogance in every form imaginable.
When believers live
within the fellowship sphere, then their lives are directed by doctrine and
their productivity (gold, silver, and precious stones) is defined as divine
good.
Divine good maintains
high value and is the basis for divine favor and reward.
The productivity of evil
is destined for burning and total destruction, and has no value.
And wickedness burns as a
raging fire out of control. First the
tender of dry shrubs and weeds and such, smolder and smoke and kindle. Then they spark into a fire that consumes
other shrubs and weeds and grasses and spreads rapidly to greater objects of
burnable material such as trees and buildings.
The shrubs are the people
who turn to evil and reject God and truth, and in their destructive fire, the
whole realm of national and social structure is burned down in an out of
control crashing heap of fire and smoke and ash.
This verse describes a
society that is out of control, and the result of that failure is horrendous
disaster.
