Isaiah-26. LTTs Again

Isaiah (TCB) 26:
1 ON THAT DAY, THIS SONG SHALL BE SUNG IN THE LAND OF JUDAH: "THE CITY THAT WAS OUR STRENGTH-SALVATION SHALL HE PLACE [FOR] WALLS AND A BULWARK.

IN the day when the enemy falls (mentioned previously Isaiah 24;10 25;2 25;12) shall this song be sung.  “WE HAVE A STRONG CITY” in Hebrew ("ir oz lonu") the expression literally means "the city is our strength". Through dedication to Jerusalem God helps us. God wants us to rebuild and dedicate ourselves to Jerusalem (Psalms 51:20-21). This message is to all of Israel and Isaiah (as we shall) see is going out of his way to include the Lost Ten Tribes in the people he is addressing and speaking about.

2 OPEN THE GATES, SO THAT A RIGHTEOUS NATION, AWAITING THE REALIZATION [OF GOD'S PROMISE], MAY ENTER.
Speaks of the Last Days when God delivers the faithful remnant in Jerusalem. 

3 THE CREATURE THAT RELIED, YOU SHALL GUARD, [THAT THERE BE] PEACE, PEACE, FOR THEY TRUSTED IN YOU.
Isaiah was a Prophet. Moses the chief of the prophets prophesied under full cognition of his Prophetic encounter. All the other prophets had visions and flitted back and forth over different levels of consciousness. They  also expressed themselves according to their background.  It appears that: At that time vast amounts of oral tradition and traditional proverbs and epic songs were committed to memory as a matter of course. The common people had favorite themes and loved to hear the same long refrains repeated over and over again. The children grew up with it and the repetition of such refrains became part of common culture. Minor variations on these refrains acquired significance in the understanding of those who heard them. The Prophets when prophesying also used expressions and even parts of the popular verbal heritage in their prophesies. Sometimes they repeated prophesies and sayings made by others but often inserted subtle variations of their own. They did this naturally and those who heard at the time would have appreciated the connotations and verbal forms. Isaiah flits back and forth between moral exhortations and prophetic predictions. He manages to merge the two so that where one begins and the other stops is not always clear.
Isaiah is saying that someone who trusts in God will remain with HIM.

Isaiah 26:4 TRUST IN THE LORD FOREVER, FOR IN YAH THE LORD, IS THE ROCK OF ETERNITY.
God is our strength.

Isaiah 26: 5 FOR HE HUMBLED THE INHABITANTS OF THE HIGH PLACES, THE FORTIFIED CITY; HE BRINGS IT LOW, HE BRINGS IT LOW EVEN TO THE EARTH, HE MAKES IT REACH EVEN TO THE DUST.
He raises the humble and downtrodden and debases the proud. Even today things are not what they seem. Real wealth and happiness can be measured more in the successful raising of children and in good health and intellectual accomplishments than in other things. Even so some people do not achieve these or other things through no fault of their own. The bottom line is that we must believe in Divine justice and God being with us,

6 A FOOT SHALL TRAMPLE IT, THE FEET OF A POOR MAN, THE SOLES OF THE IMPOVERISHED.

7 THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS THAT IS STRAIGHT - O UPRIGHT ONE, THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS, YOU SHALL WEIGH.

Isaiah 26: 8 EVEN [FOR] THE WAY OF YOUR JUDGMENTS, O LORD, HAVE WE HOPED FOR YOU; FOR YOUR NAME AND FOR YOUR REMEMBRANCE WAS THE DESIRE OF [OUR] SOUL.
 Even when we sin there is a section of our subconscious that constantly yearns for God.

Isaiah 26: 9 [WITH] MY SOUL I LONGED FOR YOU AT NIGHT; EVEN [WITH] MY SPIRIT WITHIN ME I BESEECHED YOU, FOR WHEN YOUR JUDGMENTS [COME] TO THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD LEARN JUSTIFICATION.
At nighttime our more hidden thoughts come to the surface and we allow our imaginations to drift to areas we would normally keep out of. We should transfer this source of energy into a yearning after the God of Israel. Pray to Him and He will answer.

Isaiah 26:10 SHALL THE WICKED BE FAVORED - WHO DID NOT LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS? IN THE LAND OF UPRIGHTNESS HE DEALS UNJUSTLY, AND HE DOES NOT SEE THE PRIDE OF THE LORD.
Some people are just bad and want to be bad even though they are quite aware that doing bad is bad for them and even in the short run they probably will not gain very much (if anything) from it.

Isaiah 26:11 O LORD, YOUR HAND HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY THAT THEY NOT SEE; LET THEM SEE AND BE ASHAMED. THE ENVY OF A PEOPLE, EVEN THE FIRE THAT SHALL CONSUME YOUR ENEMIES.
They envy the people of Israel and envy those who do good ( “ENVY AT THE PEOPLE”) Their own bad nature will burn them up.

12 O LORD, YOU SHALL PREPARE PEACE FOR US, FOR ALSO THE RECOMPENSE FOR ALL OUR DEEDS HAVE YOU DEALT TO US.

Isaiah 26:13 O LORD, OUR GOD, MASTERS OTHER THAN YOU HAVE POSSESSED US
In Hebrew the exzpression translated as HAVE POSSESSED US is "Baaluni" 
derived from the same root as “Baal” indicating the worship of "Baal.”
 
ONLY CONCERNING YOU WILL WE MENTION YOUR NAME.
 The word for “HAVE POSSESSED US” in Hebrew is "Ba-aluni," derived from the same root as “Baal” indicating the worship of "Baal.” in Hebrew is derived from the same root as “Baal” indicating the worship of Baal.
 
 
Almost without noticing it by not doing the will of the Almighty it was as if we passed into possession of the adversary.

14 THE DEAD SHALL NOT LIVE, SLACKERS SHALL NOT RISE; THEREFORE, YOU VISITED [UPON THEM] AND YOU DESTROYED THEM; YOU HAVE PUT AN END TO ANY MEMORY OF THEM.
In pagan legends Baal died and was believed to have been resurrected. He was identified with Tammuz and with other Middle East deities. Also in Celtic Britain the god “Bel” (derived from baal) was worshipped and amongst the Anglo-Saxons  as “Baldor”.
Baldor was once (says Grimm) the chief god of the Anglo-Saxons. 
Isaiah is saying that contrary to pagan belief Baal was a dead god who did not rise from the dead.
He is speaking to the LTTs prior to their return when they reject their former errors.

15 YOU HAVE ADDED TO THE NATION, O LORD; YOU HAVE ADDED TO THE NATION AND HAVE BEEN HONORED; YOU HAVE REJECTED ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.
Despite its faults God has magnified the nation that he will return and claim again. 
The KJV renders the last section of this passage as:

15 THOU HAST INCREASED THE NATION, O LORD, THOU HAST INCREASED THE NATION: THOU ART GLORIFIED: THOU HADST REMOVED IT FAR UNTO ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.

THE ENDS OF THE EARTH throughout Prophecy are linked with the LTTs. It means geographical extremities when considered from the Land of Israel like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Scandinavia, Holland, West Europe, Britain, North America.

The LTTs are at the continental extremities ("End of the Earth"):  

Deuteronomy 33: 13-17: AND OF JOSEPH HE SAID, BLESSED OF THE LORD BE HIS LAND (FOR THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF HEAVEN, FOR THE DEW, AND FOR THE DEEP THAT CROUCHETH BENEATH, AND FOR THE PRECIOUS FRUITS... AND FOR THE CHIEF THINGS OF THE ANCIENT MOUNTAINS OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS... OF THE EARTH AND FULLNESS THEREOF... THE GOOD WILL OF HIM THAT DWELT IN THE BUSH.. HIS GLORY IS LIKE THE FIRSTLING OF HIS BULL, AND HIS HORNS, ARE LIKE THE HORN OF A UNICORN WITH THEM HE SHALL PUSH THE PEOPLE TOGETHER UNTO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: AND THEY ARE THE TEN THOUSANDS OF EPHRAIM, AND THEY ARE THE THOUSANDS OF MENASSEH..

Isaiah 49:6
 "AND HE SAID, IT IS A LIGHT THING THAT THOU SHOULDEST BE MY
SERVANT TO RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB, AND TO RESTORE THE PRESERVED OF ISRAEL: I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT THOU MAYEST BE MY SALVATION UNTO THE END OF THE EARTH."

See Also: Isaiah 41:8,9,13 16 O LORD, IN THEIR STRAITS THEY REMEMBERED YOU; THEY POUR OUT PRAYER WHEN YOUR CHASTENING IS UPON THEM.

Isaiah 26: 17 AS A PREGNANT WOMAN COMES NEAR TO GIVE BIRTH, SHE SHUDDERS, SHE SCREAMS IN HER PANGS, SO WERE WE BECAUSE OF YOU, O LORD.
As a woman just before giving birth experiences acute pains and cries out in her travailing so were we in times of our pain and trouble calling to God. We were regarded to a degree in the same way: As a type who when in pain will promise anything but immediately upon alleviation of our pain return to our bad ways.
On the other hand even though both God and we know of our own shallowness God hears us because our sins in the first place were to some degree of the same nature. We never really wanted to distance ourselves from the Almighty nor to deny Him. We were just weaklings and weaklings should be pitied. We have it in ourselves to better ourselves.
Prophesying that at some stage in the Latter Days calamites will come upon Israel but Israel will repent and return to God and God will answer.

18 WE CONCEIVED, WE SHUDDERED, AS THOUGH WE BORE WIND; WE WREAK NO SALVATIONS [IN] THE LAND, NEITHER DO THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD FALL.

Speaks of the Resurrection of the Dead. The earth like the womb of a woman giving birth to new life will bring forth the resurrected. We have here the juxtaposition of themes: The resurrection of the god the pagan-worshipping Israelites believed in did not happen. Their god cannot save. There will however be a real Resurrection of the Dead in the Last Days. This  will entail the revival of the righteous and those whom God decides. This Resurrection that will happen however is not the main purpose of the prophecy. It turns out that the resurrection is used as a parable concerning the reliving of the Israelite People. The Ancient Hebrews believed in the physical Resurrection of the Dead. Isaiah uses this belief as an allegory for the Revival of the People of Israel and the return of the Lost Ten Tribes and the Captives of Judah. This is explained by the continuation of this Chapter 26 into Isaiah Chapter 27 where it says:

 See:  Isiaah-27. Great Shofar.

20 GO, MY PEOPLE, COME INTO YOUR CHAMBERS AND CLOSE YOUR DOOR ABOUT YOU; HIDE FOR BUT A MOMENT, UNTIL THE WRATH PASSES.
Exodus 12:22 tells how the Israelites had to hide themselves for a short period while the Egyptians were being punished. Similarly in the last days when the evildoers amongst the nations are punished the righteous remnant of Israel may temporarily have to take  refuge.

21 FOR BEHOLD THE LORD COMES FORTH FROM HIS PLACE TO VISIT THE INIQUITY OF THE DWELLER OF THE LAND UPON HIM: AND THE LAND SHALL REVEAL ITS BLOOD AND IT SHALL NO LONGER CONCEAL ITS SLAIN ONES.

Like giving birth, or resurrection of the dead, hidden things will be revealed. Bloodshed especially will be punished. Those who helped kill Jews in the Holocaust will be punished. Those who encouraged abortions will also be punished. Murder will be no longer hidden from and passed over as if it did not exist.

This was a very powerful chapter with mixed messages all of which in the perception of the Prophet were interlocked. The chapter is to be viewed in the context of messages preceding it and those that follow it.