For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,
Judah was under threat from Assyria. Instead of turning to God, the nation looked to Egypt for fast horses — and into that fear came God's offer of rescue and strength, which the people refused.
Two faults behind one refusal
One writer sums up the whole chapter: God judges a people who lean on strength that is not His.
J. N. DarbyGod's people's reliance on other strength than His is then judged. They were a shame to themselves in their uselessness to the world… Two faults are here — first trusting in fleshly strength, and then slighting God's word.
The second fault explains the first. A people who will not hear God's word will look somewhere else for safety.
F. B. HoleThe people would not hear the word of the Lord. True prophecy they would not tolerate. They wanted, and would only listen to, "smooth" things, even if they were "deceits." Words that were "right," they refused. So the Lord said they would be saved by returning to Him and resting in Him. He said their strength would then lie in quietness and confidence in Him. They said, No. They preferred to flee upon horses — for which Egypt was famous. As a result, judgment would fall.
What Egypt was worth
Egypt had the horses, and speed was what Judah wanted. God turned their own choice into their sentence.
William KellySuch was Egypt. The flesh is deceitful and perverse by habit. But God judges it in His own. It is ever restless and pretends to something. It may look imposing, but it is ready to crumble from top to bottom, and God has doomed it… God would make them a striking example. He would show that the resources they trusted were only nets to trap them. Had they sought to flee? They should flee in terror. Had they sought help to escape quickly? Swift would be the vengeance of their foes. God again and again turns the earthly object of trust into the rod for the fool's back.
What "returning" means
The first word of the verse points in a direction, and that direction is upward.
William KellyWhat we have to seek then is to look up to God; and this is just why the first word here is "returning and rest." But there was more besides. In the chapter before, the point was the word of God, which the flesh treated as a sealed book; but God must be waited on as well as His word. He never intended Scripture to be taken apart from Himself; over and above the Bible is God Himself. Not that God can ever be against His word, but He is the only power for entering into the application of it. For the Bible is not only for me to look down into: I must look up to God.
Quietness that was tested and proved
Hezekiah's generation received this word while an enemy army closed in.
J. N. DarbyIn Hezekiah's time, God told them, "in quietness and in trust shall be your strength," and that the Assyrian would not even throw up a siege mound against Jerusalem. They were to stay completely calm and firm. And the Assyrian army was destroyed.
Stillness as an active strength
The same holds wherever a believer is under pressure. Resting is a settled judgment about who does the work.
H. L. RossierHow often we have experienced this! The Christian leaves the enemy to work himself up and redouble his attacks. He rests, fully aware that all man's activity will only weaken the work of God, and fully sure that God can act without him.
After the "No"
The refusal did not end the story. God's sternness with His people has an aim.
William KellyBut if He deals sternly with His faulty people here, is it not always for blessing in the end? God may expose His children. He may pull them down from the seat of pride. He may bring them trouble from the very people they prefer to Himself in a crisis. When He does, it is the real action of His great grace. To return to Him even with broken bones is blessed.
Summary
- Return — the first word is a direction. It points not to a book about God only, but up to God Himself. We must wait on Him, not just read His word.
- Rest — God offered rescue on terms of ceasing, not scrambling. The flesh never rests; it looks imposing, but it is ready to crumble.
- Quietness — Hezekiah's generation saw it work. They stayed calm and firm, and the Assyrian army fell before it could raise a siege mound.
- Trust — the believer lets the enemy wear himself out and rests in one certainty: God can act without him.
- But you were unwilling — they wanted only smooth words, so they said No and chose Egypt's horses. Yet God's sternness aims at blessing: to return to Him even with broken bones is blessed.