Isaiah 26:11

"Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries. Jehovah, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou has also wrought all our works for us. O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; thou has enlarged all the borders of the land."

On Isaiah 26:11, see under Isaiah 26:10, above. Isaiah 26:13-14 are the most challenging verses in this paragraph. Who is it that received this triple declaration in the Word of God that they are dead, deceased, perished? Barnes believed that these "other lords" were "kings of Babylon who had ruled over the Jews";[12] and, of course, other scholars have followed his lead in this; but we believe that Archer has the proper understanding of it.

"Other lords are probably false gods, rather than foreign rulers ... Now they are dead because Christianity forever abolished the worship of all the heathen gods known to the Jews.[13] (Rawlinson agreed with this). The power of the idol gods is altogether passed away, because God has visited and destroyed them, and made their very memory to perish."[14]

What a wonderful demonstration does history itself become in connection with all of those heathen gods which were once worshipped by millions and millions of people! What a demonstration of the power of Almighty God and what a demonstration of the effects of the rise of Christianity is the current status of all those ancient gods and goddesses!

Bel, Asshur, Milcom, Molech, Zeus, Juno, Iris, Astarte, Diana, Mercury, Baal, etc., etc. Where are they now? They are deservedly almost totally forgotten; and, furthermore, there is not even the remotest possibility of the worship of such "gods" ever being renewed.

It is regrettable that some able scholars have missed the point about who those "other lords" actually were. The interpretation that understands them to have been the kings of Babylon, Nineveh, etc. makes the proper understanding of this passage impossible. For example Kelley, on the basis of what this passage says, and in the light of his erroneous application of it to former earthly overlords of Israel, stated that:

"The meaning of Isaiah 26:14 is that the death of the wicked will be final and irrevocable ... they will never rise."[15]

Now the startling thing about this is the fact that, "If this is really what Isaiah 26:14 teaches, it is a lie"; because Jesus plainly taught that both the righteous and the wicked shall rise in the judgment. The Old Testament teaches the same thing (Daniel 12:2). Of course, the word of God never contradicts the Word of God, thus the error is in the interpretation.

Hailey did not fall into the same error that Kelley made, avoiding it only by referring this absence of any kind of a resurrection for those "wicked" in Isaiah 26:14 to the resurrection of "their states." We do not believe that the death of mortal men is even hinted at in Isaiah 26:14; for the reference is to the "death of the pagan gods and goddesses." They are the ones for whom no "resurrection" will ever come. Such considerations as these compel us to find the end of the age, the second advent, and the final judgment in this passage. Nothing else fits all the facts.

"Thou hast increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation ..." (Isaiah 26:15). Note the repetition, which, in the Hebrew always means extreme emphasis. "This remarkable increase of God's people points to the inclusion of the worldwide Gentile Church; hence also the enlargement of the borders of the kingdom."[16]