Isaiah 29:1-14 identifies the second of six woes. This woe focuses on religious hypocrisy in Israel, particularly among the spiritual leaders. God humbles all pride but especially religious pride among those who claim to be His.
In chapters 26-28, we’ve seen a consistent pattern: judgment, preservation of a remnant and restoration leading to the Messianic hope. Isaiah 29 continues that trajectory. It moves from blind religion in Jerusalem to a future transformation when the deaf hear and the blind will see. It’s a chapter about false security, divine discipline, and the promise of renewal and revival.
An analogy in our world today would be a church where its leadership team meets privately to plan a growth strategy. They pride themselves on innovation. They frame their plans with religious language. But prayer is minimal. Scripture is used but they trust their plan more than the Lord.
Over time, attendance grows, but spiritual vitality fades. Worship becomes mechanical. Hearts drift. Eventually, crisis comes. Finances shake. Influence declines. The illusion of control collapses.
Only then does humility emerge. And then they began praying, turning back to God in dependence for Him to do what their plans cannot. And slowly, the congregation experiences revival and fruitful once again.
That is a picture of Isaiah 29.
V 1-4 “Ariel” most likely refers to Jerusalem. The name can mean “Lion of God” or “altar hearth.” There is irony in this. The symbol for Jerusalem is a lion pointing to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Messiah whom we now know is Jesus. Further the city that houses the altar of the Lord where atoning sacrifices were offered will become like an altar in which many of God’s chosen people will be killed in judgment.
Isaiah prophesies humiliation. Jerusalem will be surrounded, brought low, and metaphorically, speak from the dust. Rashi interprets Ariel as Jerusalem and connects the siege referred to in v 3-4 to Assyria, while also allowing for future distress. The theme of the siege also foreshadows the tribulation that will appear later in Isaiah and reflected also in Zechariah. Even though God’s judgment is on the city the covenant promises will stand. The preservation of the Jerusalem underlines God’s covenant faithfulness.
V 5-6 “the multitude of your enemies shall be like fine dust…” Dust is scattered by the wind and has no stability. The “ruthless ones” (literally those who are terrifying) who seem unstoppable will become like chaff separated from wheat. This connects with Psalm 1 The wicked are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Isaiah is saying that the threat that looks overwhelming when looked at from heaven’s perspective is only dust. Verse 6 intensifies it. “With thunder and earthquake and loud noise…” This suggests Mt. Sinai when God appeared on the Mount. God Himself intervenes on behalf of His covenant people. The same Lord who disciplines Jerusalem is also her Defender. God is not finished with Ariel.
V 7-8 Here the prophet uses one of the most vivid illustrations in Isaiah. The attacking nations become “like a dream.” A hungry man dreams he’s eating and wakes up still hungry. A thirsty man dreams he is drinking and wakes up thirsty. The point is psychological and theological. The nations think they will devour Jerusalem. But when God’s intervention comes, their conquest is crushed. We see this very clearly in later prophetic visions such as seen in Zech 12-14 in the final siege and deliverance of Jerusalem. It may be surrounded and overwhelmed, but she is not abandoned. God always preserves a remnant. This theme echoes forward into Romans 11, where Israel’s rejection is partial and temporary.
The dream imagery teaches us of the sovereignty of God over world powers. Empires appear permanent, they feel invincible. But they are only temporary. Egypt, Assyria. Babylon. Rome, each in time became dust. The Lord alone remains.
V 9-12 Deep sleep and blindness – God pours out “a spirit of deep sleep.” This points to the prophets and seers who are unable to see clearly. Those who are the shepherds of Israel fail in their calling to the people. Prov. 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.
“Vision” speaks of prophetic vision. In the context of Proverbs parallels with torah (law or teaching), it refers to inspired revelation from God of wisdom. Without a message or instruction from the Lord by His prophets the people will be unrestrained wild with ruinous consequences for the nation. Ex 32:25: Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies—Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies. When God’s people obey wise instruction (keeps the law) they will experience the blessings that wisdom brings.
Isaiah describes how the vision and teachings of the leaders will become like a sealed book. This points in some way to the Talmud which for most Jewish people is a book that is sealed and only the trained elite can comprehend it. This connects directly back to Isaiah 6:9-10:
He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
The people hear but do not understand. Rashi taught that God removed prophetic teaching because of their persistent rebellion. Blindness is rooted in moral failure. Paul quotes Isaiah’s language of spiritual sleep in Romans 11:7 “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened. We find this equally true in the church today. This is why we must pray for revival in the church.
In addition to the sealed book of the Talmud, there is the problem that most Jewish people are unable to understand Hebrew because of the diaspora. This is mentioned in v. 12. So, the spiritual leaders of Israel today have become in the opinion of many Jewish people, myself included as a young man going to Synagogue services, as an exclusive club of religion. God’s message to the people is of no use because the spiritually deaf and blind lead the nation. They study God’s word and hear God’s teaching from His prophets but will not believe or obey God’s Word through them. Their reverence of God is only in their ritual.
Today the Talmud’s trajectory excludes Jewish people from considering the possibility that Yeshua is the Messiah. This is the chief difference between Pharisaic Jews and Messianic Jews. Messianic Jews believe that all the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in both the first and second comings of Yeshua. His first coming providing atonement, His resurrection proving His claims to be Israel’s Messiah and Lord by fulfilling prophecy. Then 50 days later the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit, enabling His disciples to learn and grow in sanctification and grow in their faith guided by God’s Word. Messianic Jews are the Israel of God, the remnant of Jews who believe. They correspond to the remnant in Isaiah’s day. Born again Christians who are walking in God’s Spirit are part of today’s remnant as well.
This passage helps shape the doctrine of divine hardening. God confirms people in the path they choose. Persistent resistance results in spiritual dullness. But those who seek the Lord will find and then grow in Him.
Verses 13 to 14 form the theological center of the chapter: “This people draw near with their mouth… but their heart is far from Me.” God exposes the danger of outward religion without inward devotion. When worship becomes ritual, it invites His discipline. Yet discipline leads to brokenness, and brokenness prepares the way for His work in our lives. In that place of humility, the Lord promises to do a “marvelous work.”
Yeshua’s words in v 13 confront religious hypocrisy, applying it to the Pharisaic leaders in the Gospels. The issue was not Torah, but empty tradition separated from heartfelt obedience. True faith is inward and transformative, the work of God’s Holy Spirit. This is a warning to both Judaism and Christianity against legalism and cultural religion without genuine repentance leading to a daily walk in God’s Spirit.
V 15-16 “Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from the LORD.” This third woe addresses Israel’s leaders who thought they could conceal their plans from God. While professing trust in Him, they were secretly forming political alliances, likely with Egypt.
They foolishly believed that their plans could be hidden from God scrutiny. They sought security apart from faith and obedience. The phrase “deeply hide” in verse 15 implies deliberate concealment, not ignorance but rebellion. It echoes Psalm Psalm 10:11: “He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” the illusion that the Lord does not see. Israel’s leaders acted as though the God who gave His covenant at Sinai were blind. Reliance on political alliances rather than the Lord is practical atheism, denying His sovereignty, discernment, power, and discipline.
To illustrate this Isaiah reveals how absurd their thinking was. They inverted reality “You turn things around”. The metaphor of the potter and clay is foundational in Scripture: Jeremiah 18 develops it in covenant terms. Romans 9 applies and Isaiah uses it again in 45:9 and 64:8.
The clay questioning the potter is a denial of God’s authority, wisdom, and creative rights. “He did not make me” rejects His hand in Israel’s creation and provision. “He has no understanding” rejects His wisdom. The nation formed in the covenant at Sinai, shaped through His discipline in the wilderness, now questions the competence of their Maker. Paul echoes this truth in Romans 9:20: “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?”
Verses 15-16 expose the heart behind the earlier spiritual blindness. Before God blinds, people first distort reality. Pride clouds judgment, which leads to discipline, which becomes the way to repentance and revival and renewal.
In chapter 28 the leaders are drunk and mock revelation. In chapter 29 they move from mockery to concealment. First, they ridicule God’s Word, then they attempt to hide their own strategies. Yet nothing escapes His gaze. No alliance, no budget, no ministry plan is hidden from the Lord.
V 17-18 Isaiah shifts from woe to hope. “…; (in) a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field?” This pictures a great reversal. What seems immovable like Lebanon’s forests becomes a cultivated field, and what appears barren becomes fruitful. The Lord overturns human expectations and altars the way things are by His sovereign hand.
This speaks of spiritual transformation. “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.” Earlier in the chapter the people were spiritually blind and unable to understand revelation (God’s Word). Now God reverses that condition by His Spirit. It is only by God’s Spirit we are able to comprehend His Word. Light replaces darkness and life is transformed.
This of course anticipates the age we live in now in Messiah and the day coming, that Isaiah speaks of in 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. The eyes of God’s people are restored, and the Word of God is no longer sealed. We see this renewal and revival in v 19.
V 19 – The afflicted and needy will rejoice – Those who have done evil and benefited through injustice will be destroyed. The humble will rejoice. The “Holy One of Israel” who disciplines also restores. Joy and peace flow not from political alliances but from a renewed relationship with the Lord. This theme runs through Scripture. The humble inherit blessing while the self-sufficient are humbled.
V 20-21 – The End of Tyranny and Injustice the Hebrew word translated ruthless refers to those who practice wickedness. In 25:3, the same work speaks people who were the leaders of the people. They use empty arguments (the word meaningless is the same word used in Gn 1:2 describing the new creation as “formless and void”) to pervert justice while oppressing and mistreating their countrymen. The leaders who laughed at God’s Word and relied on hidden deals will not last. God will overturn their injustice with His justice.
V 22-24 – These verse point back to Abraham. Just as God gave Abraham children by promise, He will again act to bless Jacob with a new generation. Jacob’s shame will be removed when he sees the children the Lord has raised up among him. As God fulfilled His word to Abraham through his children, so He will now bring renewal and hope through the descendants He has provided. When Israel sees what God has done, they will turn and honor Him. This is true for us as well when we reflect on what the Lord has done in our lives.
