The reversal of the Creation pattern signifies a judgment of the utmost severity. De-creation means it would be as though the old World never existed.
Read Part 1 here.
This three-part article is from the forthcoming second book of my Isaiah commentary series. Book 1 is still available to read complete online for a limited time here.
The prophet used the Temple pillars as a literary device numerous times in Volume 1, but they are the key to the overall architecture of Volume 2.
The Jachin column (Priesthood) is comprised of chapters 13-20, and the Boaz column (Kingdom) of chapters 21-27. Both sequences are sevenfold and follow the Bible’s standard Creation/Dominion pattern, and both begin with judgment upon Babylon. But unlike Isaiah 2:12-21 where the sequence in both pillars runs backwards to signify their demolition (see page 186), in this case it is only Jachin that runs in reverse. This is a clue to the choice of the oracles and the order in which they appear.
| JACHIN Priesthood De-Creation | BOAZ Kingdom Re-Creation |
 2A Babylon Judged (Isaiah 13:1-14:2) |  2H Babylon, Edom & Arabia Judged (Isaiah 21) |
 2B The Taunt of Israel (Isaiah 14:3-23) |  2I Jerusalem Judged (Isaiah 22) |
 2C Assyria & Philistia Judged (Isaiah 14:24-32) |  2J Tyre & Sidon Judged (Isaiah 23) |
 2D Moab Judged (Isaiah 15-16) | 2K The Judgment of the Land (Isaiah 24) |
2E Damascus Judged (Isaiah 17) | 2L The Resurrection of the Land (Isaiah 25) |
2F Cush Judged (Isaiah 18) | 2M The Redemption of Israel (Isaiah 26) |
2G Egypt Judged (Isaiah 19-20) | 2N The Succession of Israel (Isaiah 27) |
In the same way that the first half of Isaiah concerns the death of Israel, and the second half the resurrection of Israel (see pages 20-23), the first pillar of Volume 2 is a process of death, and the second pillar is a process of resurrection. As such, this cosmopolitan “Passover” is another reflection of the shape of the prophecy as a whole.
The entire old World order would be gradually wiped out under “plagues” of judgment. Every dynasty of the age would see its royal sons cursed and cut off. Even the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as spiritual Egyptians, are counted among the idolaters to be slain. They withstood their own prophets as Pharaoh had withstood Moses, but their physical captivity would free the Messianic line from spiritual bondage.
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’” (Exodus 4:22-23)
Only “God’s firstborn son” would escape through the wild waters of the “Sea” into the new World order—the age of empires. Israel’s resurrection from Babylon would be as sudden as Israel’s second birth from Egypt.
“Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” says the Lord; “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God. (Isaiah 66:7-9)
So although the two columns both begin with Babylon, their itineraries move in opposite directions. Jachin “dies” to purify the priesthood, and Boaz “rises” to re-establish the kingdom.
Jachin’s symbolism emphasizes the Creation thread of the sevenfold biblical pattern. The seven days in Genesis 1-2 were recapitulated in the creation of the nation of Israel in Genesis to Judges. Isaiah’s rewinding of history in his covenant-literary demolition of the priestly pillar deconstructs—or de-creates—Israel’s idolatry by returning it to Egypt whence it came.
This ironic “turning back” to Egypt is not only a humbling punishment for disobedience according to the curses of the Law (Leviticus 18:3; Numbers 14:3-4; Deuteronomy 28:68); it is also a condemnation of Judah’s vain hope for protection from Assyria and Babylon via desperate but worthless treaties made with treacherous Egypt (Isaiah 30-31; Jeremiah 42).
Day 7 | Failure to enter into rest (Glorification – Representation – Booths) | Babylon Judged (Isaiah 13:1-14:2) |
Day 6 | Land animals & mankind (Conquest – Vindication – Atonement) | The Taunt of Israel (Isaiah 14:3-23) |
Day 5 | Birds & fish (Maturity – Transformation – Trumpets) | Assyria & Philistia Judged (Isaiah 14:24-32) |
Day 4 | Sun, moon & stars (Testing – Purification – Pentecost) | Moab Judged (Isaiah 15-16) |
Day 3 | Dry land & fruit bearers (Ascension – Presentation – Firstfruits) | Damascus Judged (Isaiah 17) |
Day 2 | Waters above & below (Division – Delegation – Passover) | Cush Judged (Isaiah 18) |
Day 1 | Light & darkness (Creation – Initiation – Sabbath) | Egypt Judged (Isaiah 19-20) |
The reversal of the Creation pattern signifies a judgment of the utmost severity. De-creation—not ex nihilo but in nihilum—means it will be as though the old World never even existed. Since Jachin represented the Edenic Tree of Life, the “Adamic” kingdoms of the World would be suddenly dispossessed of all the blessings they had obtained from their demonic gods, and their serpentine kings would be made to lick the dust (49:23).
Each nation in the sequence corresponds symbolically to its designated “creation day” through a combination of prominent and easily-recognized geographical, historical, and religious characteristics. The message in this threefold cord is that the Lord would destroy all three aspects of the old World order—the borders of the kingdoms, the kings who ruled them, and the territorial gods upon whom the nations depended for protection, power, and wealth.
The geographical aspects contrast Yahweh with the gods of the nations. While the Lord had identified Himself with a particular people in a particular land, He was not delimited by a single mountain, river, boundary, or people as were the gods of the Gentiles. He is the Creator and ruler of all the earth.
The historical aspects are references to earlier events in the biblical narrative. These mostly relate to the characteristics of peoples as displayed and memorialized in Scripture by their interactions with the people of God.
The religious aspects in this de-creation are derogations of the worship of the created order by the pagan nations. Each of the Gentile steps disparages and disempowers a false god in the same way that the ten plagues upon Egypt demonstrated the superiority of Joseph’s god over the gods that once again ruled Egypt. The one exception in this first sequence is Israel, whose religion, when pure, corresponded to Adam (the High Priest) and the land animals (the atoning sacrifices) on Day 6.
Babylon is the capital of Edenic lily-work at the top of each pillar. This is because Babel was the first counterfeit of the Noahic “ascensions,” the whole burnt offerings made after the Great Flood that established the Noahic order of priest-kings.
Whereas the devil’s strategy before the Great Flood was the abolition of worship, his strategy against the Noahic order was its corruption. So the Babelic head of Jachin is not only the crown of man’s rebellion, but also the Nimrodian head from which all the false gods descended. James B. Jordan writes:
Instead of one idolatrous system in the world, there came to be many. To be sure, from an objective perspective all of these idolatries are pretty much the same, but the nations do not think so. There is hardly a dime’s worth of difference between Molech and Chemosh, but the Moabites and Ammonites did not think they were the same at all.1
The city (state) and the tower (church) represented kingdom and priesthood in that order of priority, which was the sin of Adam regarding the trees in the Garden. So the kingdoms in the first sequence are all classified as Adamic rebels by their mere inclusion in the pillar of Priesthood. As mentioned, such a commandeering of the priestly office by a king was the sin that condemned Uzziah (see page 239). These “high ones” who exalted themselves would likewise be abased.
Babylon Judged
Just as the nations gathered at Babel, so God would gather the nations against Babylon in an anti-Booths. But although the Jachin pillar reverses the pattern, Babylon, as the headspring of counterfeit beginnings, was an appropriate place to start.
The spiritual heirs of Nimrod preserved the Enuma Elish, a corrupted account of the Creation that was recorded on seven tablets. Babylon’s patron god, Marduk, began as a mediator between gods and men (like a Noahic priest-king) but was eventually exalted as the supreme deity among its extensive pantheon. Marduk conquered the cherubic dragon Mushussu and kept him as a familiar spirit and servant.
Babel means “gate of God,” but God Himself would storm her gates and the shock wave would shake heaven and earth.
The Taunt of Israel
Israel’s song in response to the fall of Babylon corresponds with the Conquest and Day of Atonement step of the pattern. This king who made himself like the Most High (a Gentile name for God) is the antithesis of the Suffering Servant—a true priest-king—in the Atonement Volume of the prophecy (see page 145). King Belshazzar invoked protection from gods by drinking from a vessel from Solomon’s Temple (Daniel 5:1-4). This corresponds to Communion in the Church liturgy (see page 133), and the cup of blood drunk by Jerusalem as spiritual Babylon (Revelation 17:6) (see page 396).
In terms of the covenant pattern, the fall of Babylon was an anti-Succession, and this taunt from Israel was an anti-Oath—a flaming sword of vengeance in the mouth of Israel. It was a Vindication of the Levite musicians who were taunted by their captors. They sang a song of invocation to their God, calling Him to cut off the Babylonian dynasty (Psalm 137:8-9).
Assyria & Philistia Judged
The short oracles concerning Assyria and Philistia comprise a Trumpets dyad borne of the symbolic “day” they represent—the creatures that filled the sky above and the sea below.
The national deity of Assyria was their supreme god, Ashur. But it is their eagle-headed god, Nisroch, who is the referent here. The Assyrians were famous fowlers who regarded their enemies as birds to be snared (see page 329), and Sennacherib prayed to this bird god after his campaigns in Israel. Fittingly, it was “in the house of Nisroch his god” that the king was assassinated by his own sons (2 Kings 19:36-37; Isaiah 37:38).
The Assyrians and Babylonians both included a fish god among their deities, but Dagon of the Philistines is the one mentioned in the biblical narrative. A sacrifice was made to Dagon to celebrate the capture of Samson, but it was the blood of the Philistine lords that was offered to God. The mighty judge of Israel demolished the temple by grasping the two middle pillars of their pagan “Eden” (Judges 16:29).2
Dagon also famously met his match when the Philistines seized the Ark of the Testimony. Egypt had been plagued and plundered by God, so these sons of Egypt freed the Ark from bondage with plagues crafted from plunder (1 Samuel 5-6).
Also significant is the location of Assyria in the north-east (the “sky” above Babylon, the top of the pillar) and Philistia in the south-west (the “waters” from Egypt, the base of the pillar).
The birds and fish combination is also the symbolic heart of the story of Jonah. His name means “dove” and he was delivered by a great fish (dag) to minister at Nineveh, where Dagon and his female counterpart Nanshe were worshiped.
Moab Judged
The Moabites were known as the people of Chemosh, their chief god, who brought them victory but also punished them when he was angry. Chemosh was identified with Venus, and associated with a moon god and a sun goddess as a triad. That gives us the symbols corresponding to the sun, moon, and stars of Day 4 at the center of the Creation Week.
Moab was a desert people, and the center of the sequence relates to the Testing of Israel in the wilderness in the Book of Numbers. Balak, the king of Moab, hired the prophet Balaam to curse Israel (murder) and lead the people into adultery. These are the two sins at the center of the Ten Words given at the first Pentecost. And of course Moab and his brother Ammon were the result of acts of incest. Moreover, this step corresponds to Kingdom in the covenant pattern, and it was Solomon’s pagan wives who introduced the worship of Chemosh (among other gods) to Israel.
Moab’s worship of the evening and morning star was insulted not only by Balaam’s prediction that Moab would be crushed, but also that it would be accomplished by the royal “star” that would come out of Judah (Numbers 24:17).
Isaiah’s oracle ends with Moab presenting himself on his high place, coming to his sanctuary to seek blessing and protection from his god. But his prayers avail nothing.
Damascus Judged
The city of Damascus sits upon a fertile plateau in a region that is otherwise arid, so it apes the Ascension theme of Day 3 —the firstborn and firstfruits offered in faith before heaven in order to secure a greater dominion on earth.
Many of the ancient gods promised the blessing of fertility, but this was especially true of the baals of the Canaanites. King Ahaz sacrificed his sons and built an altar to the gods of Damascus (2 Kings 16:10-11; 2 Chronicles 28 1-5; 22-27), and he was smitten by the true God as a result.
Isaiah portrays Damascus as the pagan head of Ephraim (“fruitful”), the tribe whose name came to represent the entire Northern kingdom. In this construct, the fertile city is the spiritual spring of a counterfeit Garden, Land, and World. Damascus also crowns the threefold ziggurat to highlight Israel’s treachery with Syria against Judah (7:1-9).
The oracle itself mentions fertility rites, high places, altars, and idols, along with the thundering ocean of invaders that would render the city so desolate that only gleanings would remain for the looters. This fertile patch on the dry land would be subjugated and descend into the “Sea.”
Cush Judged
The oracle concerning Cush (Nubia) brings the separation of the waters on Day 2. Its dark people are “stretched out” (tall) and “smooth” like the firmament. The ancient territory is divided by rivers and runs alongside the Red Sea.
The Division step of the sevenfold pattern is also expressed in the swiftness of this warrior people (like the horseman of war in Revelation). The shadow relates to both the Passover and the Veil of the Temple, and the ministry of the emissaries of Cush alludes to the mediatory function of the firmament.
There are allusions to the exodus in vessels made of reeds, and to Delegation in the ambassadors sent by sea.
In this oracle, the Cushites are “judged” only in the sense that their mission is assessed by God and redirected. Their king despatched delegates to seek help in fighting off the Assyrians (Isaiah 37:9), but they are sent home with the promise that King Sennacherib will be defeated by Yahweh.
In gratitude for this deliverance, the ambassadors of Cush would return with a tribute to Israel’s mighty God.
Egypt Judged
Like the seven trumpets on the seventh day in the conquest of Jericho, the grand finale is a miniature of the whole. It brings down the pillar by removing its foundations. Jachin (“he shall establish”) is no longer a firm footing for faith (7:9b). Having been corrupted by idolatrous kings and exposed by Isaiah as an Asherah pole, this serpentine tree of fertility rites was spiritually barren. Ironically, it would be cut down by Babylon.
This final sequence brings both blessings and curses upon the lands watered by the Nile. Like Jachin, its apparently odd arrangement is explained by its careful progression through the sevenfold biblical pattern.
- The true God will visit on a cloud to judge the idols of the Egyptians and bring Babelic confusion (Creation – Light & Darkness);
- He will dry up the Nile (Division – Waters);
- He will confound the haughty princes, and Judah will become a terror to them (Ascension – Dry Land & Fruit Bearers);
- Egypt will come to know the Lord after being struck and healed by Him (Testing – Governing Lights);
- The Gentile hosts, Assyria and Egypt, will worship the Lord as two witnesses, from above and below (Maturity – Birds & Fish);
- Naked and barefoot like Adam, Isaiah will preach as a sign to Egypt and Cush (Conquest – Animals & Man);
- Egypt and Cush, suffering as captives and exiles, will be exposed as impotent against the gathering armies of Assyria (Glorification – Rest & Rule denied).
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