Isaiah 22:2
2 Thou that art full [male'] of stirs [tashu'ah], a
tumultuous [hamah] city [`iyr], a joyous [`alliyz] city [qiryah]: thy slain [chalal] men are
not slain [chalal] with the sword [chereb], nor dead [muwth] in battle
[milchamah].
KJV-Interlinear
2 You who were full of noise, You
boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor
did they die in battle. NASB
Only Bible doctrine
in the soul gives a person the substance of courage, but then doctrine has to
be learned from teaching. And a daily dose
is the daily diet of spiritual food that everyone needs in order to survive and
to grow up in life. Without it, there is
only cowardice.
A city full of busy
noise and activity, and a no care in the world attitude, believes that it is
invincible with nothing to worry about. But
lacking spiritual resources, the city in question here is full of cowards, and
when trouble comes along, then they all leave, run away, and so the city is
defeated with virtually no one dying.
Cowardice is
what defeats them.
You have heard
the phrase, cowards die many times.
Well, people who lack Bible doctrine worry a great deal about nearly
everything, and so they die over and over, again and again throughout their
life. They die of their anxieties and fears and worries and they just do not
have a very good life. They may even
cover up their fears with their complaining.
But, those who
have doctrine, because they have taken the time, bit by bit, day by day, to
learn Gods truth, have the construction of a formidable soul, and therefore can
face the difficult things in life. Certainly
they will be afraid from time to time, as is normal, but they will maintain
some poise and get through the problems.
However, here, the
cities defenses will dissolve and not only will the soldiers run, but as we
will see, all the leadership, the cowards that they are, will run away as well.
Poor leadership cannot
evaluate problems, cannot make decisions, and will not make the difficult
decisions. They look elsewhere for scapegoats
and the excuses to do nothing. And when
push comes to shove, they will lie their way through it all, and then run.
Lust crazed
leadership enjoys the power and approbation, but when things go badly, they
refuse to accept responsibility, refuse to lead.
