For wickedness burneth as the fire; And they roll upward in a column of smoke. 30 Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burnt up: The people are as the fuel of fire. No man spareth his brother;1 And one shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satis- 35 They shall eat every man the flesh of his neighbor; But his hand is stretched out still. 40 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, And to the writers that write perverseness: To turn aside the needy from justice, And to rob the poor of my people of their right; 45 And that they may plunder orphans! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, And in the desolation which shall come from far? And where will ye leave your possessions? 50 So as not to bow down under the prisoners, And fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, But his hand is stretched out still." And again the prophet says: 55 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, And will hiss for them from the end of the earth: And, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: Strophe 3: A picture of anarchy, greed, and blind strife introduced under the imagery of a forest fire. "Neither shall Judah escape in this general turmoil," says the prophet. 2 Strophe 4: "To whom will the unjust legislators turn when the more distant nation comes with its visitation of desolation ?" 60 Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, Nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, 65 And their wheels as a whirlwind: Their roaring shall be like a lioness, They shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, And there shall be none to deliver. 70 And they shall roar over them in that day like the roaring of the sea: And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress, Isaiah Fighting a Foreign Alliance The invasion of Northern Israel and Syria, which brought such fear in its train, seems certainly to have been due to the intention of the two northern nations to force Ahaz of Judah into a triple confederacy against Assyria, of whom the northern nations were rebellious vassals. Ahaz was reluctant but frightened. Should he refuse the demand, he was not prepared to maintain war against the combined forces of Israel and Syria. On the other hand, he was too good a statesman to fail to see that even with his aid the trio could not hold back such a formidable foe as Assyria. By an appeal to Assyria herself, however, he might be able to get rid of his neighboring foes, and at the same time forestall any attack from Assyria. This is the situation which confronted the king when Isaiah, already a man who commanded the respectful attention of the royal household, assumed a definitely political rôle, seeking to keep the nation free from foreign alliances, and in comparatively safe neutrality. In the accounts which follow we see the prophet striving to **Lines 55-70: Note the wonderful description of the oncoming of an army, swift and sure. The prophet here represents Jehovah as actually calling the foreign army to execute his purpose. He does not merely allow it to come. Isaiah: We have no definite knowledge of the family or position of Isaiah. We may infer, however, from the close relation which he held to the king, even when arrayed against him, that he was of good family and familiar with the life of the court. reassure Ahaz, to persuade him to rely upon Jehovah alone, and to show him that he has nothing to fear from the fast decaying nations on the north. Isaiah's faith in the truth of his message led him to employ expedients peculiar to himself. He not only spoke words of counsel, but enforced them by illustration. By the very names which he gave to his children he kept before the people a continual reminder of his message. Upon one occasion, we are told, Ahaz was returning from an inspection of the water supply of the city, preparatory to a possible siege. Isaiah, going out to meet him, took with him his son whom he called by the symbolical name "Shear-jashub" (a remnant shall turn). He exhorted Ahaz to take courage, for the record tells us "the heart of Ahaz was moved, and the hearts of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind." Says Isaiah: Take heed and be quiet; Fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, Because of these two tails of smoking fire-brands, For the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of 5 Because Syria hath counselled evil against thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, saying, "Let us go up against Judah and vex it, And let us make a breach therein for us, And set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel."3 10 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, "It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, 15 And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son."4 But the king was already considering what seemed to him the one open door of safety, an appeal to Assyria, and the attempt of Isa. 7:4-9 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission). 2* Son of Remaliah: A contemptuous way of naming Pekah, king of Israel. 3* Son of Tabeel: Perhaps a rival of Ahaz, who was willing to be subservient to the will of Rezin and Pekah. 4 Summary: "Do not fear, Ahaz. These two nations whom you so greatly dread will certainly be destroyed. They are already like burnt-out firebrands." Isaiah to turn him aside from his strengthening purpose was unsuccessful. The days passed, Again we find the prophet, this time perhaps in the court, before the king and his assembled household, offering to perform some sign' which should attest the validity of his message as coming from Jehovah, for like his predecessors, Isaiah could conceive of himself only as the direct representative of Jehovah. But Ahaz, possibly having already made his appeal to Assyria, claimed superiority to any such requirement. Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah." And Isaiah said, "Hear ye now, O house of David: is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; 5 Behold, a young woman shall bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.3 Butter and honey shall he eat,4 When he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good. the good,5 IO The land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken." Later the prophet, convinced that Ahaz has already made the alliance which he was striving to avert, again appeared before the king with a bitter denunciation. He presented a picture of devastation at the hands of Assyria which plainly showed that he understood the situation. With keener insight than Ahaz he foresaw that the destruction which the appeal of Ahaz would precipitate upon the Northern Kingdom would not stop there. It must sweep through Judah and leave the land shaved with the very razor which the king had hired to destroy his enemies. A sign: Some sign of the authenticity of a prophet's message was very commonly given. Isaiah offered to give such a sign in heaven or on earth. See Isa. 7:10, II. 2 Isa. 7:12-16. Again a prophecy of destruction for the Northern nations. 3*Immanual: “God is with us." This might be a comfort or a menace, according to whether Jehovah should come as a defense or in judgment. gone. 4*Butter and honey: The natural simple food of the land, all other resources being 5*When he knoweth to choose, etc.: Would it be at about five or six years of age? mon. 2 'Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 5 And it shall come to pass in that day, That the Lord will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.3 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them In the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, 10 And upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all pastures. In that day will the Lord shave With a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, The head and the hair of the feet; 15 And it shall come to pass in that day, That a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep: And it shall come to pass, that because of the abundance of the yield of milk he shall eat butter: For butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.5 And it shall come to pass in that day, 20 That every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, Shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bow shall one come thither; Because all the land shall be brier and thorns. And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, Isa. 7:17-25; 8:5-8 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission). Ephraim departed from Judah: The kingdom was divided at the death of Solo 3 Lines 5-10: Note the striking figure of Jehovah calling the nations as a beemaster calls the bees, and with the same quick response. 4 Lines 11-15: The figure changes to one which will represent the complete devastation of the land. 5 Lines 15-18: Only the natural products of the land, the wild honey and the milk of one cow and two goats, will be needed to nourish the people who remain after the foreign army has swept over it. |