Isaiah: Chapters 7 to 12

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CHAPTER 7

It’s the time of King Ahaz of Judah.  He’s the father of Hezekiah, the good king who endures the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem.  Well, thinks look bleak for Judah, with a war going on between Egypt and Syria, and them in between.  Isaiah tells him to stay calm and trust in the Lord.  Yeah, if I’m king, I want something more than that.

He also tells the king to have a son, who shall be named Emmanuel.  Give the kid curds and honey to eat (which the footnote tells me are food eaten by those living in a devastated land).  He says the child will know good from evil, but then Isaiah’s vision immediately turns quite dark, as he prophecies a terrible time in store for the people.

I have no idea what to make of this.  Ahaz has a son who will know good from evil, but his name is Hezekiah, not Emmanuel.  And I just can’t figure out the veering to bleakness by the end here. 

CHAPTER 8

Speaking of sons, Isaiah has one, who he names “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”  That’s a mouthful.  It means, “quick spoils, speedy plunder.”  That’s a terrible name for a child.  The child’s name is supposed to represent what Assyria will soon do in the north.  My, that’s an even worse name for a child.  He’s going to get so picked on at school with that name. 

Oh, apparently Isaiah has disciples.  That’s nice, and makes sense.  I’ll just point out that many scholars aren’t really sure how many prophets are being condensed into one here.  There is talk of an “Isaiah school” and breaking it into sections has perhaps gone too far; so far that there is no Isaiah left in Isaiah.  That said, there is likely 2 or 3, just because you have this guy living well before the Captivity.  One guy living later in the Captivity.  And one guy after the Captivity.  The last two can be the same guy, but one person didn’t live that long.

Anyhow, because people are unethical sinners, God will send doom their way, but never fear.”  We’re told that, “Where once he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphatali, now he has glorified the way of the Sea, the land across the Jordan, Galilee of the Nations.”  I’m sure the Galilee reference perks up the ears of Christians.  Matthew, after all, will have Jesus begin his public mission in Galilee.

CHAPTER 9

The prophecy we ended last chapter with keeps going here.  And boy of boy, is it ever some famous stuff.  Isaiah says of nameless Kid Galilee: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.  His dominion is vast and forever peaceful.  Upon David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!” 

Nice, huh?  That seems to set up Christ really well – except for one thing.  If you read it, this sounds like Isaiah is imaging an early leader.  He’s already prophesized that we’ll have an earthly wonderland after a period of purification, and this is it.  David’s throne is very much an earthly throne.  Now, this material can be – and will be – interpreted to mean we’ll have peace in heaven above, but there is also a reason why the Jews of the 1^st century AD didn’t really see Christ as a savior.  The messiah was supposed to establish David’s throne here, not get crucified by some Roman soldiers.

Also, the Lord is upset at the northern kingdom of Israel.  Apparently, it’s still around in these early prophecies.  So they are so doomed.

CHAPTER 10

Now it’s time for what Isaiah does best – give us a big sermon!  This once denounces those who pervert justice, and it kicks off the beginning of the chapter.  Remember – these things work best if you imagine them spoken out loud.  Here it goes:

“Ah!” – again, with the Ah!  That’s his signature move. – “Those who enact unjust statutes, who write oppressive decrees depriving the needy of judgment, robbing my people’s poor of justice, making widows their plunder and orphans their prey!  What will you do on the day of punishment, when the storm comes from afar?  To whom will you flee for help?  Where will you leave your wealth, lest it stink beneath the captive of fall beneath the slain?  For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand outstretched.” 

I don’t think Isaiah would support the Ryan budget plan at all.  His concern here is justice for the poor and downtrodden.  Plenty of this stuff in the Bible.  A lot more of this than, say, stuff on homosexuality.

Isaiah moves into more concrete details.  Assyria is coming and they’ll win – because they are an instrument of God. They are what God is using to punish people.  But – there is a but here, fortunately – then the Assyrians will get cocky and assume that they are the ones who did it, not God.  They’ll give themselves credit, and then God will turn his anger upon them.  Isaiah notes, “Will the ax boast against the one who hews it?”  That’s a nice analogy, with God the hewer and Assyrian the ax.

This is the process of purifying the Hebrew.  The remnant will come back stronger and more faithful than before.  And this is absolutely true.  Sometime between Isaiah and the end of the prophet period, the Jews did become very faithful to the Lord, more faithful than they ever were during the time of miracles.

Actually, let’s pause on miracles.  In the early Bible, if God wanted to punish a people, he wouldn’t send Assyria or some other army.  He’d do it himself.  He’d flood the earth and have the 10 plagues or whatever else.  He was very much involved.  Then he retreated to just doing miracle through prophets, like Elijah.  Now?  He’s pretty much entirely hiding his face from us.  While it sounds more impressive, it didn’t work.  He’d get involved, and people would build some damn golden calf.  So God is letting people be more involved – and strangely enough, that’ll work even better.

CHAPTER 11

Isaiah keeps going back and forth from doom and gloom predictions about the purification process, to sunny and light visions of life after the purification.  Here, we get more of the sunny vision, and it’s some more of the most famous lines in the Bible – largely because Christians point to it as a prediction of Jesus.

Isaiah says, “a shoot shall spout from the stump of Jesse.”  Jesse, of course, is David’s father.  Two of the gospels will trace Christ’s ancestry back through David, and Isaiah is the reason they feel it’s important to do that. 

There are all kinds of good things to be said about the sprout, but rather than just quote the entire first half of the chapters, let’s just cut to my favorite part (and the most famous part, too): “But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide fairly the land’s afflicted.  He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.  Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.  Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with the little child to guide them.”

The King James translation is more famous, but that’s what my Bible has. Isaiah himself has no idea exactly who he is clearing the way for – than unborn kid Emmanuel is as close as we’ve gotten to an identity, but that kid apparently never existed.  But if you’re used to Christian theology, this screams out for Christ to come.

It screams out even louder if you read on, “Him the nations will seek out.”  Yeah, Christianity begins among Jews but then goes to other nations.

CHAPTER 12

This is another short, six-verse chapter.  It’s giving thanks to the Lord for the salvation to come.

I’ll just note one thing before moving on.  This is the third time I’ve read Isaiah.  I have no recollection or retention of anything from those first two times.  I know about Isaiah from reading Biblical commentary, not the Bible itself.  Those previous times, my goal was just to finish the Bible, and once you got past Psalms and all that, I was just reading over it.  For the rest of the Old Testament, almost everything I know about it comes from reading about the Bible; not what I’ve read from the Bible.  Go figure.

I guess that points out the advantages of the approach I’m taking now.  Instead of trying to get through it as fast as I can, I’m trying to take my time.  And writing down my thoughts forces me to, y’know, actually pay attention and stuff.  My eyes still glaze over on occasion, but I’m retaining a hell of a lot more. 

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