Isaiah 22:8
8 And he discovered [galah] the covering [macak] of
Judah [Yahuwdah], and thou didst look [nabat] in that day [yowm] to the
armour [nesheq] of the house [bayith] of the forest [ya`ar]. KJV-Interlinear
8 He has taken away the covering of
Judah. In that day you looked to the
weapons of the House of the Forest, ESV
The covering of
Judah, and the house of the forest, are two phrases that actually contradict
the attitudes that will prevail in that future day.
The first is one
of indifference toward God and the many principles that are taught in the
scriptures, namely being prepared both spiritually and prepared in this temporal
world.
Spiritual
preparation occurs only with a daily study of the Bible. Temporal preparation comes with academic or
experiential education, but on a national scale it here refers to the
preparations of national defense.
The Jews will lack
spiritual resources because of the lack of spiritual studies, but they will have
some semblance of military preparation which is more of an establishment
principle that applies to all people, both Christian and non-Christian.
We have seen
historically that the Jews have been militarily unprepared throughout their
history, until after World War 2. And
now they are one of the most prepared nations militarily, throughout the Middle
East.
The covering of
Judah refers to that which covers the privacy and security of ones person. And here the covering of Judah, is from a
national sense, in that the covering is that of God and their heritage in
Christ, but now uncovered, exposes their lack of that protection from lack of spiritual
preparation.
So they see
enemies advancing, and therefore turn to their military preparations, or stores
of military equipment that have been placed in storage as some prior time.
The house of the
forest, refers to the armory or military storage place or places. These were built by Solomon, 1 Kg. 7:2,
10:17, wherein he placed large portions of the arsenal of Israel's military
equipment.
So, on the one
hand the Jews do not turn to God for their defense, but on the other hand they
do turn to the principles of military preparation for their defense.
Now there is one
thing here that needs to be noted. When the anti-christ comes along in the Tribulation,
he will vow to protect Israel. This we
know is a lie.
And as such he will
convince Israel to remove all of their military defenses. This is the trap. Evil always wants to disarm a people, making
them vulnerable.
A defenseless
Israel, or any nation for that matter, is more vulnerable to being destroyed.
But, here we see
that the defenseless Israel is not so defenseless, for they, or someone who is
wise, will put all of their defenses in secret storage, and those secret places
will be inside of the city of Jerusalem.
Thus, when the
enemies advance and are at the gates of the city, so to speak, then the many
other prophecies of the defense of Jerusalem will become a reality, as there will
arise an army inside of the city and they will become a stumbling block to all
enemies, frustrating those enemies, as we have already studied in our prior
studies in Isaiah.
