CHAPTER IX

ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS

The prophets of the century following the time of Hosea wrought in the face and under the shadow of an impending national disaster which colors the work of all of them. Against the background of the Assyrian invasions we see clearly that the fall of Samaria could not long be delayed. Without strong leaders, already a vassal to Assyria, her kings too lacking in discernment to see that in loyalty to Assyria lay their only safety, it was but a question of time when the Assyrian destroyer would have his way. To us who see only the map, with its thirty miles of hill and plain stretching between Samaria and Jerusalem, it seems almost inconceivable that more than one hundred years could elapse before the city of Jerusalem would share the fate of its sister capital. That such was the fact was due not to the strength of the city, nor to the wisdom of her kings, but to the work of the prophets. Believing that Jehovah would never abandon his people, they fed the hopes of the nation, checked the rashness of kings, and by their statesmanlike counsels averted many a disaster.

First, and possibly chief among these men was Isaiah of Jerusalem. The story of his life may be gathered from his writings' more fully and clearly than that of any prophet before him. Unlike Amos and Hosea, the field of his activity was in the Southern Kingdom, and chiefly in the city of Jerusalem itself. Separated by only one generation from Amos, growing into manhood within a few miles of the Tekoan home of his predecessor, seeing distinctly what Amos less clearly discerned, the oncoming Assyrian conqueror, his conception of Jehovah, while as uncompromising as that of Amos, was shot through with gleams of hope, and sustained by a faith which proved for the time being the salvation of the nation.

'The last twenty-seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah belong to a period much later than that of Isaiah, and reflect a much more advanced conception of God. A literary confusion perhaps of some editor has brought these two distinct books together into one.

We may recall that the Assyrian armies, which were busy in other directions, had left Palestine unmolested for many years, with the result that the reign of Jeroboam II' in the North had been as prosperous as it was long. For the same reason Judah in the South, under Uzziah, had extended her territory and developed her resources in undisturbed peace through fifty years. But in both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms, beneath seeming prosperity lay the rottenness of commercial greed, extortion and craft, spendthrift luxury, low ideals of personal and national life, and a formal worship which constantly belied the character of Jehovah.

Riches and pleasure brought with them the same kind of uncontrolled joy that had characterized the life of the North in Jeroboam's day, and this joy found expression in extravagant religious demonstrations. In Jerusalem at the great temple, the worship. of Jehovah was dishonored by excesses similar to those accompanying the worship of heathen gods. Throughout the land images were freely used, and the religious zeal of the people was so great that it could not expend itself in the worship of Jehovah alone. But this fanatical religious life was based upon the old sordid conception of God which regarded him as pleased above all with material gifts and elaborate ceremonial. His moral requirements, simple honesty, justice, mercy, and truth, were not apprehended or were disregarded.

The Call of Isaiah'

But we must not suppose that no one in Jerusalem had a higher conception of Jehovah. There were doubtless some who had taken to heart the messages of Amos and Hosea, though spoken to their northern neighbors. Some there were who saw the nation weakening under the strain of the debauched life of the people. To Isaiah belonged not only this clearer vision, but the power to act in accordance with it. He has himself given us the story of the hour when it was borne in upon his understanding that he must carry a message to his people. Doubtless the account was written years afterward, and bears the imprint of the prophet's

I See pp. 64-70, for conditions under Jeroboam II.

2 Isa., chap. 6.