“Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now the astrologers, the stargazers,
And the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.
Behold, they shall be as stubble,
The fire shall burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
Thus shall they be to you
With whom you have labored,
Your merchants from your youth;
They shall wander each one to his quarter.
No one shall save you. (Isaiah 47:12-15)

What you put your faith in matters. Israel had turned to other gods, hoping that they would provide the answers to the puzzles of life. The Israelites had been influenced badly by the peoples around them. They imagined that their neighbors who worshipped moon and stars, sun and sea, together with their enchanters and astrologers, had something worthwhile to say to them. They believed that wisdom dwelled in the ancient mysteries that the people of Canaan put their trust in.

But it would all prove to be worthless. Lies cannot be transformed into reality just because you believe hard enough. Astrologers imagine that the placement of the planets among the stars, and the placement of the stars in the sky somehow influence the paths of human beings. They think that the motions of the sky can predict the directions of people on earth. God challenged the false gods to save his people as they faced their invaders. But the conquering Assyrians were not stopped by paying attention to horoscopes. When the bad times came, the enchanters and false gods and everything else that the Israelites had trusted in proved incapable of rescuing them.

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