022. IV. Incidents And Sermons Relating To The War Of Syria And Israel Against Judah
IV INCIDENTS AND SERMONS RELATING TO THE WAR OF SYRIA AND ISRAEL AGAINST JUDAH 1. The Situation (Isaiah 7:1-2) In the closing days of Jotham’s reign over Judah (2 Kings 15:37), Rezon, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the king of Israel, made an alliance, and declared war against Judah, in order to force her to unite with them in resisting the future advances of the aggressive king of Assyria. Chapter Isaiah 17:1-11 was probably uttered by Isaiah in view of the alliance before active hostilities had been begun against Judah. The accession of young Ahaz to the throne of Judah may have been coincident with the first attack of the allies. They met with considerable success, yet Ahaz would not yield. The two kings determined, therefore, to capture Jerusalem by assault, put an end to the Davidic dynasty, and set an adventurer on the throne of Judah ( Isaiah 7:6). This greater danger produced a panic in Jerusalem. Ahaz did not fail to look to his defenses; but he resolved to save his throne by declaring himself a vassal of Assyria, and imploring the protection of his more distant foe. To people as well as prince this seemed a judicious step to take in the circumstances. While it was being considered, the prophet Isaiah came forward to urge a policy of conduct more befitting a nation whose God was Jehovah of Hosts.
2. The Speedy Ruin of Syria and Israel ( Isaiah 17:1-11) The approaching fate of Damascus (Isaiah 17:1-3). O men of Judah, are you dismayed to hear that Syria and Israel have made an alliance? Alas that it should be true! Unhappy Ephraim will bitterly regret her for-getfulness of Jehovah and her friendship with the idolatries of Damascus. Nor will it avail her politically. Damascus will soon be an utter ruin. Where once were populous cities there will be only a lonely pasturage for flocks. The kingdom, so long a protecting bulwark of Israel against all northern foes, shall cease to be. A similar judgment to be executed upon Israel (Isaiah 17:4-6). But Jehovah plans that Israel too shall speedily lose all that has made the nation renowned and wealthy. She shall be enfeebled as if by a wasting disease, her people cut off as grain is gathered by the sturdy reaper, and a mere remnant left, like the meager leavings of an olive-picker. The salutary effect in promoting the worship of Jehovah (Isaiah 17:7-11). The effect of this will be that men will recognize the divine author of life, Israel’s Holy One, and will cease to reverence idolatrous emblems and altars. Your devastation, O Israel, as complete as that which befell the inhabitants of Canaan at the hands of your forefathers, is wholly due to your forgetfulness of God, your only source of strength. The pains you take in the worship of the Syrian Adonis are utterly futile; your only reward will be incurable distress.
3. Faith, not Fear, the True Motive for Judah’s King (Isaiah 7:3-17)
Why Isaiah sought an interview with king Ahaz (Isaiah 7:3). When Judah’s affairs seemed to be coming to a crisis, Jehovah directed me to take my little son “Remnant Shall Turn,” whose name was a constant reminder to all the people both of the coming judgment which God had bade me announce so often and of the hope which he would also extend under certain conditions, and go to meet the king near the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, where he was anxiously inspecting the water supply of the city in anticipation of the coming siege. His encouraging message (Isaiah 7:4-9). My message was one of comfort and encouragement “Be prudent, O king; commit yourself to no rash policy. Do not fear these menacing foes. Their show of strength is but the last flicker of two expiring torches. Surely you are not afraid of that usurper, Pekah, who has incited Israel to make this attack, nor of his ally, Rezon. It is Jehovah’s will that their plans shall fail. Who are these champions in comparison with him![16]Let your policy be dictated by faith, and not by fear. Without faith[17] in God’s word, uttered through me, there is no security for you.”
4. The Certain Consequences of the Pro-Assyrian Policy (Isaiah 7:18-25)
Judah will be invaded by both Egypt and Assyria (Isaiah 7:18-20). At various times thereafter I set forth to my people the inevitable results of the determination of Ahaz to enter into alliance with Assyria. “It can but result in drawing us, as well as our neighbors, into the struggle which Egypt and Assyria, in God’s providence, will soon begin. Their armies, like swarms of insects in number, shall penetrate into every obscure corner and hiding-place of our land. The very force which Ahaz has bribed to rid us of our enemies Jehovah will employ to lay bare and humiliate his own people.
All Judah will be turned into pasture land (Isaiah 7:21-25). “So complete will be the ruin that the few remaining domestic animals will have free range, and from their yield of milk the sparse population will get the curds which, with wild honey, will be their only food. All the choice vineyards, so prized by Judeans, will give place to thorny thickets, where hunters will seek their game, or to pasturage for cattle and sheep.”
5. A Vain Appeal from King to People (Isaiah 8:1-18) The public tablet (Isaiah 8:1-2). Since the king and his advisers would pay no heed to my suggestion of the only policy worthy of a nation whose God was Jehovah, I was moved to take steps to impress upon the people the uselessness of their panic. I inscribed upon a huge tablet, in plain letters, the suggestive words “HASTEN-SPOIL-SPEED-PREY,” and fastened it where all the people could see, securing two reliable witnesses of my act. The name of his second son and its meaning (Isaiah 8:3-4). Some time later another son was born to me. Acting still under divine direction, I gave him this same name, explaining it to mean that before long Damascus and Samaria would be captured and plundered by the Assyrian king. The Assyrian ally to become an invader (Isaiah 8:5-8). But the faith of the populace was no sturdier than that of their king. The danger from a visible foe seemed far more substantial to them than the promises of an unseen God. So this message came to me: “Since this people despise the gently flowing water of Shiloah, fitting type of God’s unobtrusive but beneficent presence in our midst, and are faint-hearted at the sight of Rezon, Jehovah must give them a needed lesson. The Assyrians, to whom you wish to appeal, will advance like the flooded Euphrates, inundating not only Israel, but also Judah, all but engulfing this land, carrying destruction to every quarter of even Immanuel’s land.
Although a’ people of faith might bid him defiance (Isaiah 8:9-10). “Let that name be our inspiring watchword. God’s presence is indeed with us. We might defy the peoples gathered from the ends of the earth to serve under Assyria’s standard if our faith is strong. Their destructive plans can be frustrated with ease, since God is in our midst”
Isaiah’s certainty that his advice was of God (Isaiah 8:11-15). While under the immediate influence of God, in a state of prophetic ecstasy, I received this warning against the impulses of the hour: “With bated breath your countrymen are discussing the schemes of Rezon and Pekah. Do not share their absurd terrors, but reverence Jehovah as the great central factor of human life. To those who trust him, he, the Rock, will be an altar of refuge; to those who ignore his mercy, a stumbling-block and trap.” His retirement from public life to await the fulfilment of his predictions (Isaiah 8:16-18). Alas! as Jehovah predicted when he called me to his service, I have not been able to draw this people close to God. They have not listened to my appeals. God counsels me to write these down and commit them to my little circle of faithful disciples. This done, I will wait patiently until by their fulfilment Jehovah vindicates his messenger. Meanwhile, I and my children, our very names recalling constantly the messages I have uttered of judgment, promise, and power, shall be living witnesses to my people of Jehovah’s presence and purpose.
6. Jehovah’s Controversy with his People—a Retrospect (Isaiah 1:2-31) The nation’s ingratitude toward Jehovah (Isaiah 1:2-4). Let all creation listen and shudder while I recount how Jehovah has been forced to charge his people with rebellion. They are less grateful and responsive to him than an ox or an ass to its owner. So utterly corrupt are they that they hate Jehovah for his very holiness, and refuse to worship him to whom they owe their existence as a nation.
Resulting in sweeping calamity (Isaiah 1:5-9). Why lay yourselves open to further punishment by your continued apostasy? You are bruised and mangled from head to foot,—a mass of festering sores, left without attention. Our land is a desert, ravaged by foreign troops, as desolate as the site of ancient Sodom.[18] Jerusalem is yet spared, but is as isolated as a watcher’s booth in a large vineyard or cucumber-field, or as a city closely besieged. Only Jehovah’s mercy has prevented our utter destruction.
[18] This alteration of the text is supported by many scholars. It then becomes a familiar simile. Not costly rites but active righteousness is what God desires (Isaiah 1:10-17). Do you think to keep Jehovah’s favor by a lavish use of sacrifices, O wicked people! Listen to divine instruction. Your costly and constant offerings of various kinds I do not wish. Your coming into my presence is a mere form, your mechanical performance of your religious duties a desecration. Every one of your gifts is detestable to me, your presence at sacred seasons unendurable, for you bring iniquity with you. Even your prayers are offensive and useless, for your uplifted hands betray stains of blood. Cleanse yourselves, put away evil, do deeds of righteousness, give every human being his rights. Then Jehovah can show you favor.
He is willing to pardon all who will obey him (Isaiah 1:18-20). Let us come to a mutual understanding. Do not despair of divine forgiveness. However grossly you have sinned, you can be made free from stain, if you will devote yourselves heartily to Jehovah’s service. If you continue to rebel, you must take the awful consequences, for Jehovah’s word cannot be broken.
Jerusalem’s degeneracy (Isaiah 1:21-23). O my beloved city, must I utter a wail for you as one dead?[19] Instead of being a home for those who practice righteousness, you shelter offenders against God’s righteous law. Nothing real and genuine is left. Your princes have no principle.[20] They connive at extortion, and neglect the cause of those who cannot bribe them.
[19] A thought cleverly expressed in the Hebrew by putting verse 21 into elegiac meter.
[20] This chapter is full of similar plays on words, which cannot be rendered.
Jehovah’s purpose to restore her (Isaiah 1:24-26). Therefore the Lord Jehovah, the defender of Israel’s true interests, having discovered that Jerusalem’s real adversaries are her own wicked people, will purge away these evil-doers, and restore to authority true rulers who have her best interests at heart Thus the city, as of old, shall become a stronghold of righteousness. By this righteous judgment God shall redeem his city and those faithful ones who turn to him repentant, but the rebellious he will destroy. At that time, all remaining confidence in sacred trees or other emblems of nature worship shall disappear, for superstition will be as dead as a sapless oak or a waterless garden. It will destroy itself unheeded.
7. The Bright Future for those who Trust in God (Isaiah 8:19 to Isaiah 9:7) The despair and distress ofthe God forsaken people (Isaiah 8:19-22). During the dark days which followed the events already described, God gave me this message for my faithful disciples. “When the people in defiant despair urge you to have recourse to necromancers and wizards, be bold to point out to them the disloyalty and folly of such action. They will then remember my teachings, although it will be too late to profit by them. Wandering through the land, discouraged and faint with hunger, they will be goaded to fury by their sufferings. In whatever direction they look for help, no ray of hope will brighten the gloom. A gleam of hope (Isaiah 9:1). But for those who know Jehovah’s purpose, and can trust him, a brighter prospect dawns. The sure deliverance from the dominion of Assyria (Isaiah 9:2-5). The land of Zebulun and Naphtali, already feeling the depressing humiliation and hopeless prospect of a captive land, shall be the first to see the light of the new day. All shall share in the blessing; there shall be no bounds to their joy, for the galling dominion of Assyria shall be suddenly broken. Yes, every relic of the armies which trample on the liberties of Canaan, and drench its soil with blood, shall be given to the flames in anticipation of the glorious reign of our deliverer. The deliverer,—the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). He shall be born to rule and lead this people, and, in grateful recognition of his character and deeds, his people shall name him, because of his wisdom, ‘Wonderful Counselor;’ because of his strength, ‘Hero-God; ‘because of his constant care of his people,’ Father of Eternity,’ and, to describe the nature and effects of his rule, ‘Prince of Peace.’ His authority will be everywhere recognized, and his reign profoundly peaceful, for he will establish his throne forever by the exercise of justice and righteousness. Do you question this promise? Jehovah’s honor is pledged to its performance.”