“The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” — Isaiah 24:4-6
Although Isaiah saw the Assyrian threat to Jerusalem fail (approx. 701 BC), he foresaw the eventual utter destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (approx. 586 BC). We tend to know that the Babylonians carried away the people into captivity, but we don’t often note which people were carried away.
The Babylonians invaded Judah in three distinct phases over approximately 20 years. They took captives each time. The captives (including Daniel and Ezekiel) were the royalty, the priests, the soldiers, the craftsmen, and the smiths. The poor were left behind.
And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. — 2 Kings 24:14
These remaining people were left under the the rule of puppet kings chosen by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. After the final destruction of Jerusalem, most of those left fled to Egypt (with Jeremiah).
Isaiah chapter 24 describes the desolation of that time (which parallels the desolation soon to come). But the poor and hungry who were left behind did not complain about the invaders, but rather, they complained about the war-time profiteers who were selling food at outrageous prices!
My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. — Isaiah 24:16
At the start of chapter 25, Isaiah praises God for destroying “a defenced city” on behalf of the poor and the needy.
1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. — Isaiah 25:1-4
I believe this destroyed city is a reference to Jerusalem. Isaiah had already announced that the Lord was displeased with the city’s aristocracy for starving the poor and that there would be a “judgement” upon them. The Lord allowed the city to be destroyed to relieve the poor and the needy.
14. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts. — Isaiah 3:14-15
The poor and the needy were better off under the appointed governors of Nebuchadnezzar than they were under the corrupted Priests and Kings of Judah. They had no reason to miss the fallen regime that had oppressed them.
The lesson for our day is that WE are now the “haughty people of the Earth” that Isaiah is trying to warn. Will our fate be any better than what happened to Jerusalem?
Source: “The Captivity of Judah,” Josiah Blake Tidwell.