Chapter four is tied with chapters six and twenty as the shortest in Isaiah with only six verses each. However, verse one best fits at the end of chapter three, and verse two switches back to the future restoration of Israel. The believing remnant at the end of the Tribulation is in view here. When God does restore Israel, it will include abundant crops. The visible signs of judgment will be scrubbed away from the land and people and once again display his presence with “a cloud and smoke by day and a bright flame of fire by night,” an obvious reference to his visible presence which first appeared when Israel left Egypt (Exodus 13). Jehovah himself will be their protector in their land.
