Verse 1
The prophet employed another enigmatic title that implied a contrast with the actual condition of the place described to indicate the object of this oracle (cf. Isaiah 21:1). "Valley of vision" refers to Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 22:5; Isaiah 22:9-10). Isaiah pictured it as the depressed place (cf. Psalms 125:2) where he received a depressing vision, namely, the inevitable judgment that would come on the city. In this valley there was a notable lack of vision among God’s people when it came to seeing things from His perspective. The mention of a valley suggests the valleys that surrounded Jerusalem on three sides, the Kidron Valley on the east and the Hinnom Valley on the west and south.
". . . Jerusalem was an enclosed place, hidden and shut off from the world, which Jehovah had chosen as the place in which to show to His prophets the mysteries of His government of the world." [Note: Delitzsch, 1:390.]
Isaiah thought the residents of Jerusalem had behaved inappropriately by going up on their flat housetops to rejoice. Some turn of events in his day had resulted in the people feeling very secure. Perhaps Sargon’s attack on Ashdod followed by his return to Assyria in 711 B.C., or God’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. (cf. Isaiah 37:36), was the historical occasion for their rejoicing.
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