What is the meaning of Isaiah 9:20? They carve out what is on the right “They slice meat on the right but still go hungry” (Isaiah 9:20a). • The picture is of people hacking away at whatever is nearest, urgently grabbing resources. • This frantic self-reliance parallels Isaiah 5:8, where greedy land-grabbing brings judgment. • It is the same desperate spirit God warns about in Micah 6:14: “You will eat but not be satisfied.” • The scene anticipates the chaos of siege conditions (2 Kings 25:3), when food becomes scarce and every scrap on the “right” side is snatched. But they are still hungry • No matter how much they seize, emptiness remains (Leviticus 26:26; Proverbs 27:20). • God’s curse for covenant rebellion includes hunger that hard work cannot relieve (Deuteronomy 28:48). • The deeper issue is spiritual famine—rejecting the Lord leaves an appetite nothing earthly can fill (Amos 8:11). They eat what is on the left “They devour on the left but are not satisfied” (Isaiah 9:20b). • The right hand and the left hand together picture every direction—people scavenge everywhere. • Yet even after turning to the “other side,” relief is elusive, echoing Haggai 1:6: “You eat, but you are never satisfied.” • This restless consumption mirrors the prodigal in Luke 15:16 who longed to fill himself with pig food once the far country’s resources dried up. But they are still not satisfied • God deliberately frustrates rebellious appetites so that people see the futility of trusting in themselves (Isaiah 55:2). • Like the idols in Habakkuk 2:5 that “never have enough,” sin keeps promising satisfaction and never delivers. • The only true fullness is found in returning to the Lord (Psalm 107:9). Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring “Each one eats the flesh of his own arm” (Isaiah 9:20c). • Literally, cannibalism tragically occurred during Israel’s sieges (2 Kings 6:28-29; Lamentations 4:10), fulfilling covenant warnings (Deuteronomy 28:53-57). • Figuratively, the verse launches Isaiah 9:21 where Ephraim and Manasseh turn on each other; the nation consumes itself in civil strife (Galatians 5:15). • Sin’s end-game is self-destruction: when God’s protection is withdrawn, people destroy the very “flesh” that should be dear to them (Romans 1:28-31). summary Isaiah 9:20 paints a grim progression: frantic grabbing on the right, then the left, yet hunger remains until the people finally consume their own. The verse exposes the emptiness of self-sufficiency and the horrific consequences of persistent rebellion. Only by turning back to the Lord who “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:9) can the cycle of insatiable hunger and mutual destruction be broken. |
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