Isaiah 29:7, commentary and pictures

Isaiah 28 to 30 belongs to the prophecy of Isaiah, whose Hebrew name means Jehovah's salvation. He prophesied at Jerusalem beginning in the year King Uzziah died and continuing through the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. His vision is not restricted to his own nation and his own time but regards all nations and all times, announcing Immanuel, God with us, his beneficent life, his atoning death, and his triumphant and everlasting kingdom.

Ariel means Lion of God and is a poetical name for Jerusalem. The city shall be crushed as into the ground, having no power or reputation, yet the multitude of foes coming against her and distressing her shall be disappointed, with their attack coming to nothing as a dream of a night vision. The prophecies concerning Israel of which this is part also serve as types of conditions in the Christian age. It is part of a prophecy of apostate Jerusalem and the apostate people of God, applying not only at the first advent but now. Destruction and disappointment shall be the fate both of earthly Jerusalem and of those who fight against her, and these judgments come because there is light and warning in God's prophetic word to save, but in blind apostasy the people will not heed it.

The chapter describes false religious teachers who prophesy lies in God's name and lead people to trust in a lie, and their teaching brings destruction to those who believe it. The verse describes the final assault by the unredeemed nations against Ariel as the New Jerusalem after the second resurrection. Though they gather under Satan and try to seize the city, their expected victory vanishes like a dream, leaving them bitterly disappointed as they realize they cannot preserve themselves or share the redeemed's joys. The nations attacking Mount Zion will vanish like a dream of the night. Their destruction comes at the final judgment, when the wicked surround the camp of the saints and are consumed in the lake of fire.