Happy Sunday,
As we prepare for our second week of readings, we will leave Matthew for a while and dive into Isaiah. Hopefully you've already benefitted from the readings. You may have noticed in Matthew 1-13 that the writer often says something to the effect of "this happened in order to fulfill what was said by the prophets." As you know, over these 40 days we will read all 4 gospels (usually the whole book on consecutive days). One reason to read books like Isaiah, though not at all the only one, is that these texts serve as important source and reference material for the gospel and other new testament writers. It is hard for us to hear what the authors were saying if we aren't aware of the stories to which they referred.
The attached document gives a little background to Isaiah 1-39. As you read I encourage you to be aware of the situation that Judah faced and to which Isaiah was speaking, but also ask yourself, "Where are these types of situations present in my own life and the life of my community?"
For instance we'll see that King Ahaz is afraid of the armies of Pekah and Rezin and is called by Isaiah to trust God for protection. Instead he turns to even worse King of Assyria for assistance. To avoid one bad option he turns to another, more dangerous option out of perceived necessity, instead of trusting God - a move of fear that will have terrible implications. But are we not often tempted to do the same? Asking such questions as we read will allow God to shine light on the areas of our lives that need a little prophetic "prompting."
Please let me know if you have any trouble opening the file or if you can think of someone else who needs to be added to the email list for these updates. May God bless the reading and hearing of His Word.
Grace and Peace,
Bret
I owe the bulk of this material to Dr. Mark Shipp who teaches the graduate Intro to Old Testament class at ACU. As we prepare to read Isaiah 1-39 this week, the following information might provide some helpful background.
Isaiah can most likely be split into three distinct books. This week we’ll be reading the first of those books, found in chapters 1-39. It was written by a prophet referred to as Isaiah of Jerusalem, as distinguished from the Isaiah of the exile 200 years later. He was probably called to the prophetic ministry with the extremely tense political situation of the Syro-Ephraimite war and Assyrian political intervention in view. Isaiah was called in ca. 740, ± the year of the death of Uzziah. Some have suggested that in the death of good king Uzziah, and his foot disease which forced a co-regency with his son Jotham, Isaiah 6 reflects the uncertainty of the times and the end of this golden age. In any event, Isaiah is called at the beginning of bad political times and its subsequent loss of political independence to the Assyrians soon after this.
Isaiah 6 reflects much of the theology and focus of Isaiah 1–39: the holiness of God, the judgment and purging of Jerusalem, the righteous remnant which would remain.
This section of Isaiah was likely written around 700 BCE with the imminent threat of Assyria and Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria mounting. He came to the throne in 745 and with him we have the true beginning of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. According to II Kings 15, Menahem (King of Israel) paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III and averted destruction. His son, Pekahiah, was murdered by an officer named Pekah (ca. 737). Pekah soon joined an anti-Assyrian Coalition with Rezin of Aram and possibly Tabeel or Ittobaal of Tyre. They attempted to get Judah to join, but Judah and her king Ahaz refused so they invaded Judah.
Isaiah is first sent by God to contact Ahaz while he was inspecting the city waterworks, probably with the siege in view. Note also that Isaiah was to take his son Shear-Jashub (which means “a remnant shall escape or return”) with him, a son with a very strange name who was a kind of visual aid to Ahaz. Isaiah’s message is that Ahaz and Judah should not fear, for Rezin and Pekah were not worthy of their fear. Not only this, God was with Judah and would not let them fall. Later, Isaiah came back with a further word of comfort for Ahaz. This time, Isaiah offers a sign to Ahaz—anything in the earth or the underworld. Ahaz demurs with false piety and Isaiah responds with a sign from God anyway, the sign of Immanuel. The obvious positiveness of these oracles is followed by Isaiah’s exasperation with Ahaz’s refusal to believe and then the interpretation of his own prophecies in a negative light. Ahaz, rather than listening to the word of the Lord from Isaiah, chose to seek help instead from Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria. Assyria invaded, deposed Pekah and put Hoshea on the throne.
Finally, there follows in chapter 8 a final prophecy dealing with sign children, just as in Hosea there are three: the sign of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (which means roughly, "Hurrying to the spoil, he has made haste to the plunder.”) As with Shear-Jashub and Immanuel, this son is also supposed to be a sign of God’s protection and comfort to Ahaz. It also is reinterpreted as a prophecy of disaster when Ahaz refuses to believe. Ahaz has refused the peaceful waters of the Shiloah—a canal or aqueduct that flowed through Jerusalem—and has brought upon himself and his people the raging torrents of the Euphrates, the king of Assyria and his armies. He has hired a hired razor from beyond the Euphrates to cut of his hairy situation, but this razor was not content with a close shave, but a whole body makeover. There is one other overt historical background which bears mentioning in Isaiah. This pertains to ca. 701 B. C. and the invasion of Judah by king Sennacherib of Assyria. We read about Judah’s further involvement in conspiracies to throw off Assyrian domination in chap. 39. Here, Merodach-Baladan of Babylon came to Judah and was shown everything which the king possessed—his wealth and armaments. It is understandable why Isaiah becomes very upset with this because Merodach-Baladan was a well-known rebel against Assyria and king of Babylon during a 10-15 year period. The only reason Merodach-Baladan had to be in Judah was to gather support among the petty kings of the Assyrian empire to throw off their vassal status. Regardless of when this event happened in Hezekiah’s reign, Judah was clearly immersed in sedition and it did not take long for Sennacherib to respond. (701 and Sennacherib’s 3rd campaign). The chaps. 1 and 28–33, + 36–39, seem to reflect this period. As in the earlier period, Isaiah’s message is one of judgment, purging, and a righteous remnant emerging.
This historical background is meant only to help us have a framework as we begin to read Isaiah. We can see how the original context of the prophecies came into play. Once that is established our goal, through much prayer and listening to God is to, like the gospel writers, discern what the prophet has to speak into our present situation. You should have noticed during our Matthew readings that in that particular gospel account it is very important that the reader/hearer see the connection between Jesus and Israel: prophecies pertaining to Israel pertain to Jesus, regardless of what their original context was. This is just one of the reasons why it is important to read Isaiah and other Old Testament texts - we miss so much that is said about Jesus if we don’t read the authors’ reference material!
Outline of the book of Isaiah:1: Introduction to the book as a whole.
2–12: Oracles mainly from 735 and the Syro-Ephraimite war.
2–5: Oracles of judgment, chiefly from 735.
6–9:16: the
Denkschrift, or memoirs, of Isaiah.
9:17–chap. 11: Further oracles of judgment and future restoration.
chap. 12: a short poem about the restoration of Judah.
13–23: Oracles against foreign nations.
24–27: The Apocalypse of Isaiah.
28–33: Oracles pertaining to the year 701.
34–35: Oracles pertaining to the chaps. 40–55 and the exile.
36–39: Narrative about 701, almost verbatim from II Kings 17–19.
40–55: Deutero-Isaiah.
56–66: Trito-Isaiah.
Theology: The theology of Isaiah of Jerusalem is conveniently located in chap. 1:
1) God is the Holy One of Israel and has an indictment against his people.
2) Oppression of the poor, like Amos.
3) False religion.
4) Idolatry of Judah.
5) Certainty of judgment and destruction.
6) The purging of Jerusalem from sinful elements (also found in chap. 2).
7) The restoration of the righteous remnant (also found in chap. 3). Related to this theme is the prevalence of the Zion theology in Isaiah, particularly in chap. 3.
