“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
2 And yet he is wise and brings disaster;
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.” Isaiah 31:1-3
This is the context of the above passage: Judah is facing enemies from every direction. They have been threatened by Syria, Edom, Israel (northern kingdom) and Assyria. They are desperate for help; they need deliverance from their enemies. They are seeking salvation and are looking to control the uncontrollable. In their time of need, there are some who look to Egypt for help.
In many ways, Egypt has everything Judah needs. They have horses, horsemen, and chariots, alluding to their vast military strength. What could be better than a strong army when you are being threatened?
As practical as this solution seems, it is far from the best. The strength of the Egyptians is formidable but not undefeatable. In fact, Egypt’s forces had previously suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the One the people of Judah should have been turning! When Pharaoh charged after Moses and the Israelites with his horses and chariots several centuries earlier, the Lord soundly defeated him at the Red Sea. It was not even close. It was worse than Clemson’s 31-14 loss in last year’s Orange Bowl to the Tennessee Vols!
Perhaps the people of Judah had forgotten what the Lord has previously done. Maybe they were impatient and did not want to wait on the Lord so they looked for a faster resolution. Possibly, they were afraid to turn to the Lord since they had recently been in the habit of ignoring him and turning to idols instead. Whatever their motivation, Judah was prepared to turn to man instead of going to the Lord for help. If I am honest, this feels awfully familiar.
Currently there are no nations personally threatening my existence. Actually, I do not think there is any individual threatening my existence. My circumstances are not identical to that of Judah 2700 years ago. However, I do face obstacles and decisions that have a profound impact on my life and the lives of those around me on a regular basis. In those less frightening, yet very real situations, the temptation to look to anything other than God for help and guidance pulls on my mind and my heart. I want to be able to control my environment and I want it done in my timing.
Recently we had to make some decisions about our finances. These decisions would have repercussions that affected (threatened?) our financial stability. My first thought was “how do I control this?” I wanted to turn to Egypt. My Egypt looked like the internet, my own experience and knowledge, a pros and cons list and more. Some of those things may have provided sound advice and help, just like it is possible that Egypt could have helped Judah. Judah’s primary issue was that they trusted in other things more than they trusted in God. It is possible that God’s deliverance could have included Egypt if they had looked to him and consulted him first. There certainly were other times where God used a pagan nation to help his people. Likewise, where I should have gone first was to God. How he chooses to provide the guidance I needed is up to him. He could provide all that I needed through his Word, the wisdom of a trusted friend or financial expert or any number of ways. The bottom line is that my trust is in him, not the world, so I seek him first.
My guess is that I am not alone. The wisdom and solutions the world offers can be very appealing. They usually allow us to maintain the illusion of control and can feed our desire to fix anything without submitting to the will of the Lord. Verses 2 and 3 warn us of the pitfalls of trusting anything in place of the Lord. When we go our own way or follow the wisdom of the world, we should be prepared for the Lord to right the ship. His guidance and solutions are always superior, even if they differ from what we would do or their fulfillment takes longer than we prefer. We should always “look to the Holy One of Israel” and “consult the Lord.”
The antithesis of Judah’s solution for deliverance is found in Psalm 20:7. I pray that this verse would be true of me… of all of us as we seek answers to all this life throws at us.
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”