Isaiah 31:3
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
The verse pronounces woe on those who go down to Egypt for help and trust in horses and chariots because they are many and strong, instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel and seeking the Lord. The Egyptians are merely men and not God, and their horses are merely flesh and not spirit, mortal and earthly rather than divine and spiritual, and therefore a vain hope for safety. When the Lord stretches out His hand, both he that helps and he that is helped shall stumble and fall and perish together. God's people must therefore trust in God alone and put away dependence on human strength and human methods, including trust in worldly politics. When a backslidden church leaves God and seeks union with civil power to enforce its dogmas and preserve religion, as in seeking Sunday laws from the state, it makes flesh its arm and commits spiritual fornication, and both the church that receives help and the state that gives it will fall together in shame and ruin.
Words, Woe, and Setting
The woe falls on those who go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, while they do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord. That going down into Egypt and staying on horses and trusting in chariots for help instead of seeking the Lord and looking to the Holy One is a wretched reliance, and the help of man so sought is vain and those who so rely are under woe.
The Egyptians are merely men and not God, and their horses are merely flesh and not spirit, mortal and human and earthly rather than divine and spiritual. Their power therefore cannot save Judah, and horses from Egypt are a vain thing for safety.
When the Lord stretches out His hand, both he that helps shall stumble and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. They shall be consumed and perish together.
In its historical setting the warning was against Judah seeking Egypt's help against Assyria instead of trusting the Lord. It applies to Hezekiah's proposed alliance with Egypt and Judah's expectation of aid from Egypt in the conflict with Sennacherib. The kings of Judah who trusted that alliance to preserve their kingdom leaned on a human prop that broke and pierced them, with helper and helped falling together in destruction.
The chapter belongs to a prophetic description of the Lord coming to fight for and defend Jerusalem, presented as connected with millennial times. Within the prophecies about Israel it belongs to a group that also treats Israel as a type of conditions in the Christian age, contrasting human and animal strength which is mortal and cannot provide lasting help with God's power.
Trust God Alone
God's people are to put their confidence in God alone and not in horses and chariots or in any human military strength, for Egypt and its horses are merely human and earthly rather than divine and spiritual and therefore cannot save those who rely on them. The order to hamstring captured horses was given for this very lesson, by taking away the instruments of warfare so that Israel would be forced to depend on God alone. When the Lord stretches out His hand against such false confidence, both the helper and the one helped will fall and perish together.
Dependence on human help and human methods must be put away just as fully as dependence on images trusted in as gods, for horses from Egypt are a vain thing for safety. True repentance turns away from the works of human hands and looks to the living God for mercy. This exposes the ancient Egyptian claim, revived in modern New Thought, that man is God possessing all divine attributes and even power to create himself. To go down to such man-exalting teaching for help is no help at all but gross darkness leading to destruction, and the warning against going to Egypt applies fully today, so that those who listen to and receive man-worshiping teachings will stumble and be consumed together with their teachers when Jehovah stretches out His hand.
Helpless humanity must learn and confess that its own strength is only weakness, that it is wretched and poor and blind and naked, unable to save itself or to overcome its enemies within and without. Those who rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, while they do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek Jehovah, lie under woe, for the help of man is vain. Their only hope is in God and in receiving the mighty help He has provided for deliverance. Moral reform likewise cannot come through the power of the flesh. The true child of God, whose kingdom is not of this world and who is a pilgrim and stranger and ambassador with citizenship in heaven, is therefore to trust God rather than to enter into worldly politics and depend upon it, since human political help is men and not God, flesh and not Spirit, and will fail together with all who trust in it.
Warning Against Worldly Alliances
When Israel turned from God she turned to Egypt and Assyria, seeking the support of civil power as a broken reed because she could no longer claim His power. In leaving her lawful Husband and committing fornication with the kings of earth she forsook God, and this was rebellion spoken of without flattering terms. The same guilt belongs to professed Christian churches today that seek union with the civil power. God has furnished fullness of blessing in Jesus Christ and demands all from His church, and He will not divide His glory with another.
Egypt and Assyria are types of civil powers, so the principle holds for any nation or government. The Egyptians being men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit means human political help has no divine power to save. The final result of union between a backslidden church and civil power is joint ruin. When the Lord stretches out His hand, both the civil power that helps and the church that is helped fall down and fail together in shame and confusion.
Turning from God and from Jesus Christ as strength to the Assyria and Egypt of politics for aid in religion makes Babylon. It puts the power of men in the place of God, the power of force in the place of love, the power of tradition in the place of truth, and the power of law in the place of the Gospel. So professed churches and ministers now uniting in federations and organizations to exalt Sunday and crush the Sabbath by political power repeat Israel's sin. When Israel of old united with Egypt it resulted in her utter defeat and confusion and in the fall of Egypt, because the Egyptians are men and not God, and the same union now will bring utter defeat and their own destruction as Babylon the great with her daughters and every nation deceived by her. That confederacy deceives the nations and oppresses the people of God who follow Christ and obey His word, leaving only the elect and holy nation whose King is Jesus and whose law is His word.
The same result must ever follow when the modern church turns from God and calls upon the state to enforce dogmas and compel observance of institutions not supported by the Bible. For the church to seek Sunday laws from the state to preserve the gospel or save the world is to trust man instead of God and to make flesh its arm. Human governments have no divine nature and their force has no spiritual power to support a religious institution, so the civil arm has ever proved a curse to the church that leans on it. Such trust cannot keep the gospel alive but drives the world to ruin and rejects Jesus Christ, in whom alone is all power for the spread of His religion, given to everyone who trusts in Him. When the Lord stretches out His hand, both the state that gives help and the church that receives help will stumble and fall and fail together, and this is a lesson God would teach His children in all ages. The kings of Judah who trusted an alliance with Egypt to preserve their kingdom leaned on a human prop that broke and pierced them, and helper and helped fell together in destruction.
Woe is pronounced on those who go down to Egypt for help and stay on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, while they do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord. Asking for armed interference such as sending a man-of-war to protect or defend missionaries or to collect for property is that same old going to Egypt for help, taking counsel apart from God and trusting in the strength of Pharaoh and the shadow of Egypt and adding sin to sin. It is not the better way, not the proper thing for Christians to ask, not the Christian way and not the Bible way, and its result is shame, confusion, and joint failure. Egypt means secular and worldly sources, and horses and chariots mean the favor and money of the world, better housing and costlier accessories, and the cooperation of business men in managing church affairs and choosing preachers, used to sustain the preaching and practice of pure Christianity. Going down into Egypt and staying on horses and trusting in chariots for help instead of seeking the Lord and looking unto the Holy One of Israel is a wretched reliance, and the church must not depend on that worldly help but trust God alone and do what it can with clean hands.