Introduction: As you probably know -el at the end of Jewish words ‘means God’. Thus Daniel means God judges, Gabriel means God’s Strong Man. Here we have Ariel tying together the two words for lion and God. Used as a name for Jerusalem in this prophecy it refers to Jerusalem because of the Power of God which lies with the city. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah! I am going to make suggestions as to what Isaiah is saying but I don’t claim to be the last word as to the true meaning!
1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel. Comment: – I think that this is God speaking, acclaiming His joy in Jerusalem, the city which David conquered in God’s name. “For a year follow your ordered feasts, but after one year, as the clock turns over, I will judge You. But you will still be to me ‘my Ariel’“.
3 And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. – An Explanation: God allows Jerusalem’s attacker to speak but with His authority. The enemy says how he will attack the city. Not as in modern warfare with bombs and drones, but with towers to shoot from and to climb upon and seigeworks to break down the encircling high walls. Jerusalem will be ground into the dirt but by an invading form in numerous numbers, as many as grains of dust!
And in an instant, suddenly,
6 you will be visited by the LORD of hosts – God has NOT forgotten you! The future tense is used – but how far into the future? And who is the ‘you’? I think the invaders are meant!
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion. – The Invaders shall be attacked in the future by a tempest combining high winds, a deluge of rain and devouring fire! Is this poetic for war or will there be a strong weather eruption? The next two examples picture their lives as dreams! They imagine that they are having great success but will wakeup to find that their success is all imagined, that they have achieved nothing!
9 Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10 For the LORD has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers). – fool yourselves as you wish to! You rely on your prophets and seers, they as well are blind drunk, and staggering into the unknown!
Let’s follow this exciting prophecy tomorrow!
Deut 28: 29 – you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
Prayer: Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me; place in my hands the wonderful key, that shall unclasp and set me free.
As I read it! 