Jerusalem has more than one nickname. We’ve already considered the name Zion and what it implies. Here, Isaiah refers to Jerusalem as “Ariel.”
🤔 Ariel? As in The Little Mermaid? 🧜♀️ 🦀🪸
No. It means “lion of God,” implying “heroic,” but it also seems to be a homonym for “altar.” Here’s what the commentary by David Guzik says:
Here is the Strong’s Concordance entry for “altar” in Eze. 43:15:
The Lord often uses puns and word-play in the Bible. It could be that by using this nickname for Jerusalem, readers were meant to think of both “lion of God” and “altar for burning.”
😏 It’s kinda like there, their, and they’re. Lots of people were goofing off in English class the day the teacher explained which witch was which.
The NLT takes the “altar” translation:
“Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means— an altar covered with blood.”
Isaiah 29:2 NLT
In both chapters 29 and 30 there are descriptions of Jerusalem being supernaturally rescued from an invading army.
- Chapter 29:3-8
- The Lord initiates this destruction as an act of judgement (v2-3)
- There is some kind of cryptic reference to voices from under or within the earth (v4)
- All of the nations attacking Jerusalem will be suddenly destroyed by thunder, earthquake, storm, and fire. (v5-8)
- Chapter 30:25-33
- Defeat of enemies accompanied by:
- Falling towers (v25)
- (New?) streams of water in the hills (v25)
- The moon as bright as the sun, the sun 7x brighter than usual (v26)
- The Lord appears in anger and vengeance to punish “proud nations” (v27-28)
- God’s people will sing & rejoice (v29)
- The Lord’s Voice will “descend” (v30) with:
- Flames
- Cloudbursts
- Thunderstorms
- Huge hailstones
- This destruction is aimed at the Assyrians (v31-33)
- Defeat of enemies accompanied by:
This event will come in 710BC. The Assyrians will conquer Samaria and deport the northern tribes of Israel. Then, they will begin a campaign on the southern kingdom of Judah, ultimately aiming to conquer Jerusalem itself by siege. But we will come to that story later.
Personally, I wonder if this historical prophecy concerning the rescue of Jerusalem will play out again in the future in some way; particularly in THAT Day, The Day of the Lord. If so, it may be worth considering the king of Assyria as a kind of Antichrist figure.
Here in the midst of these prophecies of coming trouble and supernatural rescue, Isaiah drops this MASSIVE hint that Yahweh Himself is going to make Himself visible to His people.
“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”
Isaiah 30:20-21 ESV
There is no indication for them of when this would happen but I wonder if the Apostle John was thinking of this text when he wrote to the churches about Jesus:
“We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:1-3 NLT
And that’s really what ALL of scripture is about – revealing God in Jesus Christ.
I know that reading the prophets is a challenge. I find them to be the most challenging content in the Bible. But it really helps to remember that the whole point of scripture is to make the invisible Creator visible and known to us SO THAT we can fellowship with Him.
To The Reader 