Isaiah 2:7, commentary and pictures

Their land full of silver and gold with no end of treasures and full of horses with no end of chariots means boundless material wealth joined to great military strength, seen together with a land filled with idols made and worshiped by human hands. In its first setting it depicts Judah's backsliding reliance on riches and war power, which stands as a type of last-day apostasy to come to pass in the last generation just before the Lord's coming, the setting up of Christ's kingdom and the shaking of the earth. That wealth is heaped up and concentrated in the hands of a few in extravagant desire for gain and worship of riches alongside poverty, producing the conflict between capital and labor. The horses and chariots are multiplied means of transport and pleasure, from abundant horses and pleasure carriages to railway trains and carriages, streetcars, automobiles and bicycles everywhere. The talk of going up to the mountain of Jehovah and beating swords into plowshares is the cry of the many peoples on their own responsibility and not God's promise of universal peace, so He has forsaken and will not forgive that proud, idolatrous house, and when He arises to shake terribly the earth the wealthy will find riches cannot deliver them but will cast away their silver and gold idols and flee to the rocks for fear of His majesty.

Wording and Original Setting

The land is described as filled with silver and gold and with treasures, and also filled with horses and with chariots, and the twice-repeated statement that there is no end to them stresses wealth without limit and military resources without limit. What was seen in vision was this abundance standing together with a land also filled with idols, idols made by human hands and then worshiped by those who made them. In its first setting this is a forceful depiction of Judah's backsliding in Isaiah's own day, a sinful reliance on wealth and military power for carnal security, for which the Lord rebukes the people. That condition of Judah serves as a type of apostasy in the last days.

The chapter is parallel to Micah 4:1-6, and those words describe what the peoples will say in the last days. It is to be read together with Joel 3, where God makes known a purpose opposite to the sayings of the many people in the last days recorded by Isaiah. The chapter closes with the needed admonition to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. It is also to be read together with Isaiah 3 as the setting for the promise that the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for a defence.

It points to the same time as the prophecy of Amos, the commencement of the day of the Lord before the resurrection of the just. In that prophetic setting the gathering and deliverance of Israel and the outpouring of God's Spirit occur together. It belongs to a prophecy about the last days, the terrible shaking of the earth, and the coming of the Lord to judgment, when they will fear Him as He rises to shake the earth.

Time and Fulfillment in Last Days

The verse describes what shall come to pass in the last days, in the last generation, in the present time just before the coming of the Lord, the setting up of Christ's kingdom, and the resurrection, as shown by verse 2 speaking of the last days and verse 21 speaking of the shaking of the earth. It portrays the last days as a time of great boundless material wealth in silver and gold and treasures without end, and of great military and mechanical abundance in horses and chariots without end, joined to idolatry in worshiping what human hands have made. That condition is joined to the house of Jacob being forsaken because they are replenished from the East and filled with customs from the East, are soothsayers like the Philistines, and strike hands with children of foreigners, meaning people in the last days turn to the old religions of the East and fill themselves with their customs and mystic practices. It is the condition of a popular church that has established ecclesiastical authority in the heights of civil power yet has sacrificed divine approval, with wealth lying cankering in heaps and millions constantly added to the coffers of the rich, and with horses never so plentiful as now and chariots of all kinds everywhere in evidence from the rushing railway train to the ubiquitous bicycle, including automobiles and the like. It is a time when a comparatively small number of men are insanely absorbed under the spell of greed in amassing wealth and oblivious to every danger signal of approaching doom, joined with haughtiness and wanton wickedness, until the climax when God arises in His majesty to shake mightily the earth, bringing such terror on the day of the Lord that men seek shelter in the rocks from His majesty.

It is to be read together with Joel 3, where God makes known a purpose opposite to the sayings of the many people in the last days recorded by Isaiah, and the chapter closes with the needed admonition to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. The prophecy goes minutely into detail and is literally and plainly fulfilled in present financial and social conditions, showing where the world stands in history and that the prophets foresaw today. Its picture of a land overflowing with silver, gold, and treasures without end is applied to the unprecedented wealth of the closing years of time, plainly visible in present financial conditions, in the extraordinary accumulation of wealth and vast fortunes, in the sharp rise in gold production, and in the concentration of great fortunes in the hands of a few. Its picture of countless chariots is applied literally to railway carriages, streetcars, and automobiles, and these developments are signs that the day is dawning, that the Lord's coming is near, and that the end is approaching.

The chapter predicts that an independent government would be established in the last days, providing a place where God's church could be protected in civil and religious liberty. This government is identified as the United States, whose establishment is linked to the ending of the scattering of the holy people.

Wealth Without End

The land full of silver and gold with no end of treasures means boundless material wealth in precious metals and treasures without end, heaped-up wealth and extravagant desire for gain in the last days. It is the condition of a comparatively small number of men insanely absorbed under the spell of greed in amassing wealth and oblivious to every danger signal warning of approaching doom, joined with haughtiness and wanton wickedness until the climax when God arises in majesty to shake mightily the earth. Its setting is the last days just before the coming of the Lord, as shown by verses 2 and 21 of the same chapter, foretold so God's people would know they are living near the close of time.

Its fulfillment is verified by unprecedented increase, when the wealth of the world is greater than at any period since the words were spoken. World gold and silver grew from $160,000,000 in 1000 A.D. to $8,139,300,000 in 1896 A.D., and the wealth of the United States alone reached $125,000,000,000, with thousands of millionaires and even billionaires and ninety-five per cent of money hoarded away. The same abundance is seen in the sharp rise in gold production and the great increase in the world's gold, in the stupendous growth of wealth during the last fifty years verified most conspicuously in the United States, and in the enormous growth of American foreign commerce, export trade, and inflow of gold. These financial conditions are plainly visible as the heaping up of earthly riches for the time immediately before Christ's kingdom is set up.

The land full of silver and gold with no end of treasure means wealth lying cankering in heaps with millions constantly added to the coffers of the rich. It is applied to the present age of gold exposing a generation devoted to getting rich, to the rapid concentration of wealth and the growth of luxury, extravagance, and worship of wealth alongside poverty and need, and to the unprecedented magnitude of wealth in the modern world whose economic conditions the prophecy anticipates. That includes the accumulation of wealth among American millionaires, with millionaires trebled in number.

Under normal conditions such plenty would make good times for the laboring classes, but because it falls into the hands of only a few who heap treasure together it produces the conflict between capital and labor.

Horses and Chariots Without End

The fullness of horses and the endlessness of chariots mean great military and mechanical abundance, a land wealthy and heavily equipped for war, with boundless wealth joined to military strength and power. It belongs to the last-days condition at the very time many peoples preach peace and say swords shall be beaten into plowshares, and it stands immediately under God's verdict that He has forsaken the house of Jacob and will not forgive them. That abundance stands among the people's sins alongside being replenished from the East, soothsaying like the Philistines, striking hands with children of foreigners, and worshiping idols made by human hands with universal bowing down. It is the condition preceding the Lord's act of shaking the earth, when those who trusted in wealth will in terror cast away their silver and gold before Him, and it marks the professed church in the last days in spiritual backsliding headed for sudden destruction when they say peace and safety.

It is literally fulfilled by multiplied means of transport and pleasure in the last days and the last generation, with horses never so plentiful as now and chariots of all kinds everywhere in evidence. Pleasure carriages once rare have become common through widespread individual and corporate accumulation of riches, completing the prophetic picture of possessions seemingly without limit. The countless chariots are railway carriages, streetcars, and automobiles, from the rushing railway train to the ubiquitous bicycle, including both chariots propelled by steam and those drawn by horses. The prophecy in this detail goes minutely into present conditions, with sharp rise in production and concentration of fortunes joined to expanding transport as signs that the day is dawning and the Lord's coming is near.

The vast multiplication of passenger vehicles without end is seen in London alone, with at least 150 railway stations and trains every three or five minutes conveying twenty to fifty millions of passengers annually. Seven hundred trains pass every day through one junction at Clapham with numerous platforms and underground passages and overground bridges, while some fourteen or fifteen thousand tram-cars, omnibuses, and cabs traverse the streets besides the railways. One company alone has 563 omnibuses carrying fifty millions annually, showing chariots propelled by steam and chariots drawn by horses multiplied together. The fullness of horses is likewise shown in the great value put upon them, with American horses bought and sold for $8,000 to $40,000 and high offers refused.

False Peace and Forsaken Condition

The words about going up to the mountain of Jehovah and walking in His paths and beating swords into plowshares are spoken by the many peoples and the many nations on their own responsibility and not sent by God through His prophet. They claim that Jehovah says them and that the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken them, but Jehovah does not say them. Those who repeat them are soothsayers whom He has forsaken.

The chapter therefore exposes a false human cry and not God's word or promise of coming universal peace. There is no corresponding action to that talk, but only the illusion of standing on the vestibule of a resplendently glorious era while mocking themselves. To use it to prove a temporal millennium, or to argue that removing social evils will bring the hoped-for millennium, shows failure to distinguish what God says from what men say.

God's own verdict immediately following is that He has forsaken the house of Jacob and will not forgive them. That verdict proves the cry will not issue in peace but in increasing armaments and colossal preparation for war, with resources and industries devoted to military preparation. Meanwhile peace movements and societies and multitudes deceive themselves with hopes of peace toward the final great conflict, Armageddon, and the close of earth's history. When they say peace and safety, sudden destruction will come.

They are forsaken because they are replenished from the East and filled with customs from the East, turning to the old religions of the East with their customs and mystic practices. They are soothsayers like the Philistines and strike hands with children of foreigners and strangers in alliance with them. They are full of earthly treasure and military power and of idols worshiping what human hands have made, with universal bowing down that will not be forgiven. That state includes hypocrisy having the form of godliness but no power, haughtiness and wanton wickedness, pride and popularity and worldly honor, and dull spiritual sense regarding God as like themselves and worshiping without repentance and taking pleasure in Babylon's abundance.

This condition is the condition of a popular and professed church in the last days that has established ecclesiastical authority in the heights of civil power yet has sacrificed divine approval. Exalted and full of wealth and treasures and military strength, it accumulates great riches in individual and corporate holdings from desire for independence from God and lack of trust in Him, as a sign of spiritual backsliding. While it is so exalted, God's true people are only a halting, afflicted remnant.

The verse belongs to a concise, specific prophecy of a great world federation forming in the last days through a worldwide movement stirring popular sentiment. In those last days the final apostate confederacy of Babylon will take its seat in Jerusalem and proclaim peace. The superiority of the Christian religion having been proved by past history, unconverted men will exalt it above all other religions in a civil way, setting it on top of the mountains of religion and above the hills, and all nations will flow into it in a merely nominal way with feigned obedience, saying in her heart I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no mourning. Professedly Christian nations gathering at Jerusalem to establish Christ's kingdom by military conquest meet the same fate as Russia and the heathen nations under God's last-day judgments.

The people proclaim peace and safety and a coming earthly millennium while ignoring the danger around them. Material prosperity and preparations for war do not establish lasting peace or righteousness, and the dream of peace has only temporary fulfillment. When that cry reaches its climax, sudden destruction will come upon the world and human pride will be brought down and the Lord alone exalted.

Judgment and Warning

The fullness of silver and gold and treasures and horses and chariots belongs to the last-days condition that comes just before the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth. It is the prosperity and military equipment that stands under the terror of the day of the Lord, when the loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of man shall be made low. In that day works built on human principles cannot stand, and the Lord alone shall be exalted. Then men fear before His majesty and seek shelter in the rocks, fleeing into caves of the earth and clefts of the rocks and tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty.

When judgment reaches its climax, making riches a defense and refuge is revealed as idolatry leading to destruction. Riches cannot deliver the proud and wealthy from the day of the Lord's wrath. Silver and gold cannot protect the wealthy from those who seize their riches, and the heaping up of treasure by rich men hastens the day of the Lord. In terror before the Lord men will cast away their idols of silver and gold and flee from His majesty.

The exalted state of the professed church, full of wealth and treasures and military strength, is followed immediately by its humbling in the day of the Lord when He arises to shake terribly the earth. The chapter applies to the periods of Christ's first and second comings, and Bible students are urged to examine the condition of God's professed people in light of the coming day. It was foretold so that God's people would know they are living near the close of time. The status of capital and labor and the modern upheaval between the capitalistic class and those who rise against it is thereby made one of the most conspicuous last-day signs of the nearness of the Lord's return.

The same fullness stands as a prophetic warning against extravagance and against squandering resources that should be used in God's cause. God's actual command for that time is the opposite of the people's talk of beating swords into plowshares, for He bids them prepare war and wake up the mighty men. That human cry for peace has no corresponding action, and ends in final discomfiture. The chapter's needed admonition is therefore to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils.