John Gill Commentary Isaiah 30

Woe to the rebellious children, says the LordThe Jews, who were, by national adoption, and by outward profession of religion, the "children" of God, but were apostates from him, had turned their backs upon him, deviated from his law, and departed from his worship and ordinances; and therefore a woe is pronounced against them, or they are called upon to consider of their evil ways, and return, that iniquity might not be their ruin.

that take counsel, but not of me;they met and consulted together about their safety, when in danger, but did not ask counsel of the Lord; they did not consult his word, nor his prophets, nor by Urim and Thummim, as in case of war they should more especially.

and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit;they sought for a cover, a shelter, a protection from the enemy, but not from the Spirit of the Lord, in his word and prophets, who would have directed them to a more suitable and sufficient one. Kimchi understands this of their covert and secret counsels, which they laid deep, as they fancied, and sought to hide.

The Targum of the former clause and this is: "that take counsel, but not of my word; that consult a consultation, but do not ask of my prophets:"

that they may add sin to sin;the sins of consulting others, and of putting confidence in a creature, to their other sins of rebellion and apostasy: so wicked men, who are enemies in their minds, by wicked works, to God, and commit acts of hostility against him, and are in danger thereby of eternal ruin, do not consult the word and ministers of the Gospel, but flesh and blood, carnal sense and reason, and seek to cover themselves with the rags of their own righteousness, and not with the robe of Christ's righteousness, and garments of salvation, which the Spirit of God reveals and brings near; and so to their other sins they add that of trusting to their own righteousness, and not submitting to Christ's.

That walk to go down into Egypt
That walk out of their own land to go thither; who sent messengers thither to form an alliance, and get help and assistance, or went in person, to secure themselves from present danger. Jarchi refers this to the times of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, who sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, (2 Kings 17:4) . Jerom to the times of Jeremiah, to the history in his prophecy, (Jeremiah 41:17) and others to Zedekiah. Kimchi thinks it respects the time of Ahaz, though there is no account, either in the books of Kings or Chronicles, of sending then to Egypt for help; or else to the times of Hezekiah himself; which latter is right, as appears from the insults of Rabshakeh, when Sennacherib's army was before Jerusalem, (Isaiah 36:6) :

and have not asked at my mouth :
or as the Targum, "the words of my prophets they have not asked;" they did not inquire of the prophets of the Lord, whether they should go down or not:

to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh ;
by making an alliance with him, and receiving men and horses from him, to assist them against the Assyrians; this Pharaoh was he whom the Scriptures call So, (2 Kings 17:4) and by other writers, Sevechus and Sethon:

and to trust in the shadow of Egypt ;
the protection that would afford them, in which they placed their confidence, and thought themselves safe from their other enemy, by having so powerful an ally; but this was but a shadow, as are whatsoever men trust in short of the Lord himself, be they riches or righteousness, or any creature or creature enjoyment.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame
They should be disappointed of the help and assistance they expected from him, and so be ashamed of their ally, and of confidence in him: and the trust in the shadow of Egypt [your] confusion ;
they should be confounded, when they should find themselves unsupported by the Egyptians, in whom they put their confidence; so all such that trust in the creature, or in an arm of flesh, sooner or later are ashamed and confounded; but those that trust in the Lord never are, neither in this world, nor in that to come.

For his princes were at Zoan That is, the princes of the king of Judah, or of the people of Judah; though it can hardly be thought that princes should be sent ambassadors into Egypt, to enter into an alliance, or request help, without the knowledge, leave, and consent, and indeed order, of the king, under which character they went, as appears from the following clause: and his ambassadors came to Hanes ; these are the same with the princes, for such were sent on this embassy, both for the honour of the kingdom, and for the more easy obtaining of their end; the two places mentioned, to which they went, were two principal cities in Egypt, where probably the king of Egypt was, and his court kept, sometimes at one place, and sometimes at another.

Zoan is the same with Tanis, the metropolis of one of the nomes or provinces of Egypt, called from it the Tanitic nome; and so the Targum here renders it, "Tanes": and the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, "Tanis"; (See Gill on Isaiah 19:11). The Jews ^F7 say there is not a more excellent place in all Egypt than Zoan, because kings were brought up in it, as it is here said, "his princes were at Zoan";

the other, here called "Hanes", is the same with Tahapanes in (Jeremiah 2:16) and Tahpanhes, (Jeremiah 43:7–9) and so the Targum here calls it; it is thought to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae; here Pharaoh had a house or palace; see (Jeremiah 43:9) and this is the reason of the ambassadors going thither.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 112. 1. & Sota, fol. 34. 2.

They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them

The princes, the ambassadors that were sent to them, and the king or people, or both, that sent them, who hoped for and expected great things from them, but, being disappointed, were filled with shame; because either the Egyptians, who are the people here meant, either could not help them, or would not, not daring to engage with so powerful an enemy as the Assyrian monarch, which is illustrated and confirmed by repeating the same, and using other words:

so far from being of any advantage to them, by helping and assisting them against their enemy, wanting either inclination or capacity, or both, that it not only turned to their shame, but even was matter of reproach to them, that they ever made any application to them, or placed any confidence in them for help.