Verse 14: “Therefore Sheol is going to be made broad and she will open her mouth beyond measure; Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.”

Note: Disobedience and faithlessness have eternal consequences for Israel as a people. Israel will come to faith (Romans 11:26-27), but not these individuals. They were going to die in exile. They were going to reap the consequences of their sin.

Sheol: This is a place of death. Sheol, it is thought, had two compartments that all people, who died before Messiah’s death and resurrection, went into when they died. The one compartment was called Gehenna or hell. This is commonly thought of as a place of
torment. The other compartment that made up Sheol is called Abraham’s bosom and is also sometimes translated ‘paradise’ (Luke 16:22-23).

Going to be made broad: Enlarged itself. A future change is going to happen in Sheol – it is going to be expanded, made broader (Matthew 7:13).

She will open her mouth: Sheol is written in the feminine.

Beyond measure: Without measure. The point here is that those who choose the ‘broad way’ are beyond what anyone can think. Although God’s desire is that all be brought to repentance and find life (2 Peter 3:9) it does not mean that all will. Many, many people have chosen, are choosing and will choose to reject the salvation that God has provided for them.

Jubilant: They rejoice in the things that bring about God’s judgment.

Verse 15: “Man is going to bow down, each man is going to be humbled, and the eyes of the haughty ones will be brought to humility.”

Bow down: A word of being made submissive.

The haughty ones: Those who are high-minded. They think too much of themselves.

Verse 16: “But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And God, who is holy, shall be hallowed in righteousness.”

Exalted: Made high.

Lord of hosts…God who is holy: These two are parallel, showing that there is a relationship between these two concepts.

Judgment…righteousness: These two concepts are also parallel. It is through God’s judgment that righteousness and holiness are established.

Verse 17: “And the lambs will graze in their pasture, but in the remants of destruction of the fat, slothful sheep foreigners will eat.”

Note: This verse gives us a clue as to what to expect through God’s judgment.

Lambs: The rabbis interpret this word to be referring to the righteous ones.

Pasture: They are in their right location. They are where they are meant to be, doing what they are meant to be doing.

The fat, slothful sheep: Referring to the unrighteous people, ungodly individuals.

Foreigners will eat: This is a matter of interpretation because there are no clear grammatical clues that lead to a sure conclusion. One possible interpretation is that ‘foreigners’ refer to believers who are also called ‘strangers, aliens, pilgrims’ just passing through this world. If we are going to inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) then this could mean that the prosperity that the wicked have accumulated in this world will be transferred over into our account – leaving them desolate – ‘remnants of destruction’.

Another interpretation is that foreigners (Babylon etc) are going to partake of the destruction of Israel – the Israel that had grown fat and sinful through her rebellion.

Verse 18: “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of futility, and sin as if with a cart rope.”

Woe: How awful it will be if there is no change.

Draw iniquity with cords of futility: These people are pulling sin towards themselves with ropes of vanity. When things are done in vanity or futility then it means that there is no positive or pleasing outcome from it.

Cart rope: This would be a very thick, very strong, rope. Those who believe that their business can thrive and prosper through deceit, iniquity and sin are going to find that all those things are futile.