Humanity is often guilty of mockery towards God and His providential judgments. Franz Delitzsch explained, “The sin of Jerusalem is expiated by the giving up of the sinners themselves to death.” Ironically, this prophecy becomes a warning more than an actual foretelling of an event where the Assyrians face destruction from Jerusalem.

“And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die. Isaiah 22:13”

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die is one of the most quoted parts of Isaiah. This portion of the verse has appeared in films and ancient literature throughout history.

You might immediately think of an ensuing battle when you hear the verse. And while this is technically true, a more significant message applies.

The Book of Isaiah is an integral part of the Old Testament. It is most often associated with a call to repentance, prophecy of judgment, and even the future arrival of Jesus Christ.

However, in verse 22:13, Isaiah recorded the reaction of the people of Jerusalem upon learning their judgment of an incoming invasion. John Calvin commented:

Isaiah, on the other hand, relates here the speeches of wicked men, who obstinately ridiculed the threatenings of the prophets, and could not patiently endure to be told about chastisements, banishments, slaughter, and ruin. They employed the words of the prophets, and in the midst of their feasting and revelry, turned them into ridicule, said, in a boasting strain, “To-morrow we shall die.”[1]

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