It will break in pieces like a potter's jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern." It will break in piecesThe imagery of breaking in pieces is vivid and powerful, drawing from the Hebrew word "רָעַע" (ra'a), which conveys the idea of being broken, shattered, or destroyed. This phrase suggests a complete and utter destruction, emphasizing the severity of God's judgment. In the context of Isaiah, this breaking is a metaphor for the impending judgment on Judah due to their reliance on Egypt rather than God. Historically, this reflects the fragile nature of human alliances and the futility of trusting in anything other than God. like a potter’s jar
The potter's jar, or "כְּלִי יוֹצֵר" (keli yotser), is a common biblical metaphor for something that is both crafted and fragile. In ancient times, pottery was a daily essential, yet it was easily broken. This metaphor highlights the vulnerability of human constructs and plans when they are not aligned with God's will. The potter's jar symbolizes the people of Judah, who, despite being formed by God, have become brittle due to their disobedience. shattered so that no fragment can be found
The word "shattered" comes from the Hebrew "נָפַץ" (napatz), meaning to break or scatter. This phrase underscores the totality of the destruction, leaving nothing usable behind. It serves as a warning of the consequences of turning away from God. The historical context here is significant, as it reflects the complete devastation that would come upon Judah, leaving them without any means of recovery or self-reliance. among the broken pieces
The broken pieces, or "שֶׁבֶר" (shever), represent the remnants of what once was whole. This imagery is poignant, illustrating the aftermath of judgment where nothing of value remains. It serves as a reminder of the consequences of sin and the importance of repentance. Theologically, it points to the need for divine intervention and restoration, as human efforts alone cannot mend what has been broken by sin. to scoop out the coals from a hearth
The act of scooping out coals, "לַחְתּוֹת אֵשׁ מִיָּקוּד" (lachtot esh miyakud), signifies a basic, everyday task that becomes impossible due to the destruction. Coals from a hearth were essential for warmth and cooking, symbolizing sustenance and life. The inability to perform this task highlights the loss of basic necessities and comforts when one is separated from God. It serves as a metaphor for spiritual barrenness and the dire consequences of forsaking divine guidance. or to scoop out water from a cistern
Water from a cistern, "לִשְׁאֹב מַיִם מִבּוֹר" (lish'ov mayim mibor), represents life and sustenance, as water is a fundamental need. In ancient Israel, cisterns were vital for survival, especially in arid regions. The inability to draw water signifies a complete lack of resources and the desperation that follows. Spiritually, it reflects the emptiness and thirst that result from turning away from God, who is the true source of living water. Persons / Places / Events 1. IsaiahA major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is the author of the book. He prophesied during a time of great political turmoil and spiritual decline in Judah. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, which was often warned by prophets like Isaiah to turn back to God and away from alliances with foreign nations. 3. The Potter's JarA metaphor used by Isaiah to describe the fragility and impending destruction of Judah due to their disobedience and reliance on human alliances rather than God. 4. The Hearth and CisternThese are everyday items used to illustrate the complete and utter destruction that will leave nothing useful behind. 5. Assyrian ThreatThe historical context involves the threat of Assyrian invasion, which Judah sought to counter through alliances rather than trusting in God. Teaching Points The Consequences of DisobedienceJudah's reliance on human alliances rather than God led to their downfall. This serves as a warning to prioritize obedience to God over worldly solutions. The Fragility of Human PlansLike a potter's jar, human plans and alliances are fragile and can be easily shattered. Trust in God provides a firm foundation. The Totality of God's JudgmentThe imagery of a shattered jar with no useful fragments left illustrates the completeness of God's judgment when His people turn away from Him. The Call to RepentanceThis passage serves as a call to repentance, urging believers to turn back to God and rely on His strength and wisdom. God's Sovereignty and PowerThe passage reminds us of God's ultimate control over nations and events, encouraging trust in His sovereign plan. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of a potter's jar in Isaiah 30:14 help us understand the consequences of Judah's disobedience? 2. In what ways can we see the fragility of human plans in our own lives, and how can we apply this understanding to our faith journey? 3. How does the concept of God's total judgment in Isaiah 30:14 relate to the New Testament teachings on repentance and grace? 4. What are some modern-day "alliances" or solutions that we might be tempted to rely on instead of trusting in God? 5. How can the themes of God's sovereignty and power in Isaiah 30:14 encourage us in times of personal or national crisis? Connections to Other Scriptures Jeremiah 19:11This verse also uses the imagery of a potter's jar to symbolize the breaking of Jerusalem due to disobedience, reinforcing the theme of divine judgment. Psalm 2:9The imagery of breaking with a rod of iron connects to the idea of divine authority and judgment over nations that rebel against God. 2 Corinthians 4:7Paul speaks of treasures in jars of clay, highlighting human fragility and the power of God, which contrasts with the brokenness described in Isaiah. People Assyrians, Egyptians, Isaiah, Mash, Pharaoh, Rahab, SaraphPlaces Egypt, Hanes, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Negeb, Rahab, Zion, ZoanTopics Beaten, Beating, Bit, Bits, Bottle, Break, Breaking, Broken, Burning, Bursting, Cistern, Coals, Collapse, Dip, Ditch, Draw, Fire, Fireplace, Fragment, Fragments, Hearth, Jar, Mercilessly, Mercy, Piece, Pieces, Pit, Potsherd, Potters, Potter's, Pottery, Ruthlessly, Scoop, Scooping, Shattered, Sherd, Smashed, Smashing, Spare, Sparing, Spring, Taking, Thereof, Unsparingly, Vessel, Waters, Wherewith, Withal, Won'tDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 30:14 5445 potters and pottery Isaiah 30:12-14 4318 coal
5890 insecurity
8844 unforgiveness Library 'Quietness and Confidence'
'In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.'--ISAIAH xxx. 15. ISRAEL always felt the difficulty of sustaining itself on the height of dependence on the unseen, spiritual power of God, and was ever oscillating between alliances with the Northern and Southern powers, linking itself with Assyria against Egypt, or with Egypt against Assyria. The effect was that whichever was victorious it suffered; it was the battleground for both, it was the prize of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureGod's Waiting and Man's
'And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are they that wait for Him.'--ISAIAH xxx. 18. God's waiting and man's--bold and beautiful, that He and we should be represented as sharing the same attitude. I. God's waiting, 1. The first thought is--why should He wait--why does He not act at once? Because something in us hinders. We cannot enter into spiritual blessings …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Voice Behind Thee
The word behind us which is spoken of in the text is mentioned as one among other covenant blessings. No "if" or "but" is joined to it. It is one of those gracious, unconditional promises upon which the salvation of the guilty depends. There are many comforts of the new life which depend upon our own action and behaviour, and these come to us with "ifs"; but those which are vital and essential are secured to the chosen of God without "but" or "peradventure." It shall be so: God declares it shall, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 28: 1882 My God Will Hear Me
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. Blessed are all they that wait for Him. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee."--ISA. xxx. 18, 19. "The Lord will hear when I call upon Him."--PS. iv. 3. "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God!"--PS. xvii. 6. "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."--MIC. vii. 7. The power of prayer rests in the faith …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession With a Heart Full of Anxious Request,
"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." -- Isaiah 30:15. With a heart full of anxious request, Which my Father in heaven bestowed, I wandered alone, and distressed, In search of a quiet abode. Astray and distracted I cried, -- Lord, where would'st Thou have me to be? And the voice of the Lamb that had died Said, Come, my beloved, to ME. I went -- for He mightily wins Weary souls to His peaceful retreat -- And He gave me forgiveness of sins, …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations But Though Prayer is Properly Confined to Vows and Supplications...
But though prayer is properly confined to vows and supplications, yet so strong is the affinity between petition and thanksgiving, that both may be conveniently comprehended under one name. For the forms which Paul enumerates (1 Tim. 2:1) fall under the first member of this division. By prayer and supplication we pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things which tend to promote his glory and display his name, as the benefits which contribute to our advantage. By thanksgiving we duly …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith "Take My Yoke Upon You, and Learn of Me," &C.
Matt. xi. 20.--"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me," &c. Self love is generally esteemed infamous and contemptible among men. It is of a bad report every where, and indeed as it is taken commonly, there is good reason for it, that it should be hissed out of all societies, if reproaching and speaking evil of it would do it. But to speak the truth, the name is not so fit to express the thing, for that which men call self love, may rather be called self hatred. Nothing is more pernicious to a man's …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. )
The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of Babylon. Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway. * The two principal …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8 How those are to be Admonished who have had Experience of the Sins of the Flesh, and those who have Not.
(Admonition 29.) Differently to be admonished are those who are conscious of sins of the flesh, and those who know them not. For those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished that, at any rate after shipwreck, they should fear the sea, and feel horror at their risk of perdition at least when it has become known to them; lest, having been mercifully preserved after evil deeds committed, by wickedly repeating the same they die. Whence to the soul that sins and never …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The Eternity of God
The next attribute is, God is eternal.' Psa 90:0. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' The schoolmen distinguish between aevun et aeternum, to explain the notion of eternity. There is a threefold being. I. Such as had a beginning; and shall have an end; as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls, fishes, which at death are destroyed and return to dust; their being ends with their life. 2. Such as had a beginning, but shall have no end, as angels and the souls of men, which are eternal …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity How Christ is Made Use of for Justification as a Way.
What Christ hath done to purchase, procure, and bring about our justification before God, is mentioned already, viz. That he stood in the room of sinners, engaging for them as their cautioner, undertaking, and at length paying down the ransom; becoming sin, or a sacrifice for sin, and a curse for them, and so laying down his life a ransom to satisfy divine justice; and this he hath made known in the gospel, calling sinners to an accepting of him as their only Mediator, and to a resting upon him for …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Gospel Message, Good Tidings
[As it is written] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! T he account which the Apostle Paul gives of his first reception among the Galatians (Galatians 4:15) , exemplifies the truth of this passage. He found them in a state of ignorance and misery; alienated from God, and enslaved to the blind and comfortless superstitions of idolatry. His preaching, accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, had a great and marvellous effect. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 "They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Covenant of Works
Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED? A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death. For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 Links Isaiah 30:14 NIVIsaiah 30:14 NLTIsaiah 30:14 ESVIsaiah 30:14 NASBIsaiah 30:14 KJV
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