The Folly of Trusting in Flesh: A Warning Against Political Idolatry Text: Isaiah 31:1-3
Introduction: The Constant Temptation
In every generation, the people of God are faced with the same fundamental choice, a choice that reveals the true object of their worship. It is the choice between trusting in the visible, tangible, and apparently mighty arm of the flesh, and trusting in the invisible, sovereign, and truly omnipotent hand of God. This is not a choice that presents itself only in the grand crises of nations, though it certainly does there. It is a choice we make in our businesses, in our families, and in our own hearts every single day. But here, in the prophet Isaiah, the Lord addresses this choice on the geopolitical stage, and He does so with a blistering word of woe.
The historical situation is straightforward. The kingdom of Judah is caught in a vise. The brutal Assyrian empire, the superpower of the day, is breathing down their necks, threatening annihilation. And so, the brilliant political strategists in Jerusalem, the men of worldly wisdom, hatch a plan. It is a sensible plan, a pragmatic plan, a plan that any secular think tank today would applaud. They will form a strategic alliance with Egypt. They will go down to Egypt for help. Egypt had the horses, Egypt had the chariots, Egypt had the military hardware. From a purely horizontal perspective, it was the only sane move. But from a heavenly perspective, it was sheer, unadulterated idolatry. It was spiritual adultery.
This passage is a divine denunciation of all political pragmatism that leaves God out of the equation. It is a warning against what we might call salvation by statistics. "Their chariots are many," the pragmatists say. "Their horsemen are very mighty." This is the constant temptation for the church in every age: to look at the cultural and political threats arrayed against us, to do the math, and to conclude that our only hope lies in securing a powerful earthly ally. Whether that ally is a political party, a favorable court, or a charismatic leader, the temptation is the same. It is the temptation to go down to Egypt. And God's message through Isaiah is this: Woe to you when you do.
The Text
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very mighty, But they do not regard at the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!
Yet He also is wise and will bring about an evil demise And does not turn His words aside, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So Yahweh will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble, And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together.
(Isaiah 31:1-3 LSB)
The Anatomy of Unbelief (v. 1)
We begin with the first verse, where God dissects the sin of Judah.
"Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very mighty, But they do not regard at the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!" (Isaiah 31:1)
The word "Woe" is a declaration of judgment. This is not a mild suggestion. This is a divine curse upon a particular course of action. And what is that action? "Going down to Egypt for help." Notice the geography of sin. They go "down" to Egypt. Spiritually, any move away from reliance on God is a move downward. Egypt, in Scripture, is the consistent symbol of worldly power, slavery, and godless humanism. To return to Egypt is to return to the house of bondage, to trade the freedom of faith for the shackles of sight.
Their sin is specified. They "rely on horses" and "trust in chariots." Why? Because the chariots "are many" and the horsemen "are very mighty." This is the logic of materialism. It is faith in numbers, faith in military hardware, faith in visible strength. They have conducted a threat assessment and concluded that God is not a sufficient variable. Their problem is big, so they need a big, visible solution. They can count the chariots. They can see the muscles on the horses. God, on the other hand, cannot be entered into a ledger. So they neglect Him.
And that is the heart of the matter. The verse concludes with the root of their political idolatry: "But they do not regard at the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!" Their sin was not primarily in the seeking of an alliance. The sin was in the neglect of God. They did not consult Him. They did not seek His face. They did not tremble before His holiness. They treated Him as irrelevant to their real-world problems. This is the essence of practical atheism. It is not denying God's existence with your lips, but denying His relevance with your plans. It is to say, "God is fine for the temple, but for foreign policy, we need horses." This is the great sin of the modern secular West, and it is a constant temptation for the Church within it. We want a God for our souls, but we turn to the state for our salvation.
God's Forgotten Wisdom (v. 2)
In the second verse, God sarcastically reminds them of a few things they have conveniently forgotten in their panic.
"Yet He also is wise and will bring about an evil demise And does not turn His words aside, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity." (Isaiah 31:2 LSB)
The opening phrase, "Yet He also is wise," is dripping with divine irony. The political counselors in Jerusalem thought they were the wise ones, the realists. They had their charts and their projections. God's response is a sharp jab: "You think you're wise? I have some wisdom too." And what is God's wisdom? It is that He "will bring about an evil demise." The word for evil here can also mean disaster or calamity. God is the sovereign Lord of history, and that includes the disasters of history. He is not a frantic spectator, wringing His hands. He is the one who brings judgment.
Furthermore, He "does not turn His words aside." The politicians make promises and break them. Treaties are signed and discarded. But God's Word is immutable. What He has spoken, He will perform. His threats are as certain as His promises. This is the foundation of a sane worldview. God's Word is more real than the Assyrian army, and more reliable than an Egyptian treaty.
And what is the content of that unbending Word? He "will arise against the house of evildoers and against the help of the workers of iniquity." Notice the comprehensive nature of the judgment. It falls not only on the "house of evildoers," which in this context is unfaithful Judah, but also on the "help," which is Egypt. When God's people make an unholy alliance with the world, they do not consecrate the world; they bring the world's judgment down upon themselves. You cannot hire the wicked to protect you from the wicked and expect God to bless the arrangement. God will not be mocked. He will arise and sweep away both the faithless and their faithless saviors.
The Creator/Creature Distinction (v. 3)
Verse three brings us to the bedrock of all reality, the fundamental distinction that Judah had forgotten and that our own age is desperate to erase.
"Now the Egyptians are men and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So Yahweh will stretch out His hand, And he who helps will stumble, And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together." (Isaiah 31:3 LSB)
Here it is, as plain as it can be stated. "The Egyptians are men and not God." Their horses are "flesh and not spirit." This is the Creator/creature distinction. There is an infinite, qualitative difference between the uncreated, self-existent God and everything else. Men are finite, frail, and mortal. God is infinite, omnipotent, and eternal. Flesh is weak, corruptible, and temporary. Spirit is powerful, life-giving, and everlasting. Judah's folly was that they had confused the two categories. They looked at men and saw gods. They looked at flesh and saw spirit. They looked at the impressive but temporary power of Egypt and mistook it for ultimate reality.
This is the foundational error of all humanism and all statism. Man looks at his own creations, his own institutions, his own military and technological might, and he begins to worship it. He thinks that because his chariots are many, he is secure. He believes that because his technology is advanced, he is sovereign. He forgets that he is but man, and his proudest achievements are but flesh. He forgets that he is dust, and to dust he will return.
And because God is God and man is man, the outcome is inevitable. "So Yahweh will stretch out His hand." This is the language of effortless sovereignty. It does not require a great struggle for God to deal with the combined might of Judah and Egypt. He simply stretches out His hand. And the result is total collapse. "He who helps will stumble" that is Egypt. "And he who is helped will fall" that is Judah. "And all of them will come to an end together." When you tie your fortunes to a sinking ship, you go down with it. When you trust in the arm of flesh, you will discover that the arm of flesh is a broken reed that will pierce the hand of the one who leans on it.
Conclusion: Where Is Your Trust?
This passage forces a question upon us, and we must not evade it. Where is our trust? When the pressure is on, when the threats are mounting, when the culture appears to be collapsing, where do we instinctively look for help? Do we look to Washington? Do we look to a political savior? Do we look to clever legal strategies or cultural maneuvering? Do we look to the numbers, the polls, the apparent strength of our "allies?" In short, do we go down to Egypt?
The temptation is immense, because horses and chariots are visible. They are tangible. You can count them. Trusting in the Holy One of Israel, on the other hand, requires faith. It requires looking beyond the apparent realities to the ultimate reality. It requires believing that the Word of the unseen God is more substantial than the armies of the seen world.
The woe pronounced here is not just for ancient Judah. It is for any people, any church, any individual who makes the same disastrous calculation. To trust in man is to be cursed. To trust in the Lord is to be blessed (Jeremiah 17:5-8). The Egyptians are still men, and not God. Our politicians are men, and not God. Our military is flesh, and not spirit. Our economy is flesh, and not spirit. All these things are temporary and will ultimately fail. When God stretches out His hand, all the helpers and all the helped who have put their trust in the arm of flesh will perish together.
But for those who regard the Holy One, for those who seek Yahweh, there is a different promise. God Himself will be their defender. He will be like a lion over his prey, and He will not be frightened by the shouts of the shepherds (Isaiah 31:4). He will be like a mother bird hovering over her nest, shielding and delivering her young (Isaiah 31:5). Our choice is between the impressive but doomed strength of Egypt's horses and the fierce, tender, and invincible protection of the living God. May God grant us the grace to choose wisely.