Grace Institute: Isaiah: Isaiah in Context

Isaiah in Context Isaiah Fall 2008

Biblical Context of Isaiah

While Isaiah is a book complete unto itself, it also fits within the larger context of the whole Bible. Isaiah is the second longest book of the Old Testament and is quoted in the New Testament more than any other book. As such, it is important for us to see how Isaiah fits into the context of the whole of scripture and the Old Testament.

The Old Testament

The Bible is divided into two major sections: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written before Jesus while the New Testament was written after Jesus. The Old Testament consists of 39 books written by at least 29 different authors over the course of 1,000 years and includes several different literary genres, including historical narratives, poetry, prophecy, and law.

Historic Context of the Old Testament

The Old Testament is primarily the literary history of the nation of Israel from its founding around 2000 BC to its return from Babylonian exile in 500 BC.

Abraham and the Patriarchs

The father of the nation was Abraham. Around 2000 BC, God called Abraham to move from Mesopotamia to a new land, and promised him that he would become the father of a great nation. This promise is known as the Abrahamic covenant in which God established that, through Abraham's family, all the nations of the world would be blessed. For four generations Abraham's family sojourned in this land, until due to famine the family moved to Egypt .

Moses and the Exodus

Over time this family, now for Abraham's grandson Israel, grew and became enslaved to the Egypt ians. After 400 years of slavery, God rescued the Israel ites through Moses, freeing them from their captivity. As the nation traveled back to the land promised to Abraham, God gave Moses the Torah (law), which served as the civil and religious law for the new nation. The law serves as the foundation of the Mosaic covenant between God and Israel where He promised to be their God if they would obey the Torah.

David and the United Kingdom

Under the leadership of Joshua, Israel conquered and settled in the land promised to Abraham, but forgot the God who made the promise. A 400 year period of time known as the “time of the judges” (named for the judges who governed Israel at this time), was known for its immorality and idolatry. Coming out of this period God raised up King David, who united the tribes of Israel under one kingdom, ushering a brief golden age of prosperity and religious revival.

The Divided Kingdom and Exile

David's son Solomon ascended to the throne and continued this golden age. However, in his old age he turned to the worship of other gods and oppressed the people with heavy taxation. So after his death, the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled and formed their own kingdom, which was called Israel , while two tribes in the south remained loyal to the house of David in the kingdom of Judah (named after the largest of the loyal tribes). During the time of the divided kingdom, Israel rejected the worship of the true God, and as a result God allowed them to be conquered by Assyria in 722 BC. Judah had several good kings who followed after God, but eventually it too fell into idolatry, and God allowed them also to be conquered, this time by Babylon in 586 BC.

Post-Exile

For 70 years Judah was forced by Babylon to leave their homeland and live in exile. During that time Persia conquered Babylon , and the Persia n king Cyrus allowed the Israel ites to return to their homeland. Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Israel ites rebuilt their society and their religion during the post exilic period.

Contents of the Old Testament

The Hebrew Bible

The ancient Hebrew Bible arranges the Old Testament around 24 books grouped into three sections: the Torah (law), the Nevi'im (prophets) and the Ketuvim (writings). These section correlate to the timing of the books compilation and addition to the cannon:

• The Torah was most likely compiled by Joshua at the end of the Exodus and before the time of the judges, shortly after the death of Moses (~1500 BC).
• The Nevi'im was mostly written primarily around the time of the exile as an explanation as to why Israel had been taken into captivity (~600 BC).
• The Ketuvim was compiled by Ezra after the exile as part of his efforts to re-institute temple worship (~450 BC). Much of this was originally written, however, during the time of David and Solomon (~1000 BC)

Because this arrangement is based upon periods of history, studying the Old Testament according to this arrangement helps a student to more easily understand the historical and spiritual background into which these books were written. The overriding purpose of the books become more apparent, and provides the context for the message.

The English/Greek Old Testament

By contrast, our modern English arrangement consists of 39 books arranged into five sections. This arrangement, along with the names for the books, came out a translation of the Old Testament into Greek called the Septuagint (2 nd century BC). In this translation, some books were split (Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah), and they were rearranged more according to literary genre than historical context. It is also through this Greek translation that we get our modern English titles to the books (e.g. Genesis is Greek for “origins”).

Because this arrangement is based on literary genre, studying the Old Testament using the Greek/English arrangement helps the student to use consistent hermeneutical techniques for each genre.

Purpose and Theme of the Old Testament

Why would God use the historical literature of one nation as His revealed Word for the entire world? What makes Israel 's history so special and distinct from the history and literature of other nations?

The history and literature of Israel is special because the Jews are God's “chosen people.” This is the nation through which God would reveal himself to the nations (Isaiah 42:6) and through which God would reveal His Chosen One, or in Hebrew, His Messiah (Isaiah 49:6, Galatians 3:8). To be the chosen people is to be the family or nation through which the Messiah would descend. Therefore God specially worked in this nation in order to prepare all things at just the right time to reveal His Messiah (Galatians 4:4).

Israel was not chosen because it was especially righteous or had any special qualities. Indeed, Israel repeatedly failed to live up to the standard that God had for them. Instead, the history of Israel is a testimony not to the greatness of the nation, but to the sovereignty, faithfulness and the grace of God.

It is not that God didn't work in and among other nations. In fact, several times the Old Testament refers to priests and prophets of His who are at work in other nations (Genesis 14:18, Exodus 18:1ff, Numbers 22). However, Israel is unique because the salvation of all humanity would come through this nation.

Therefore, the Old Testament is not just a history of Israel , but it is the revelation of God's plan of salvation for all of humanity, culminating in the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament is not a record of all God's interaction with humanity during this time, nor is it even an exhaustive record of all that happened in Israel . Instead the Old Testament is a deliberate collection of books which are carefully written and compiled to reveal how God founded, developed, nurtured, disciplined and raised the nation through whom He would reveal His Messiah in order to bring salvation to the entire world.

The Prophets (Nevi'im)

The book of Isaiah is found within the second division of the Hebrew Bible, The Prophets , or the Nevi'im .

What is a Prophet?

Prophet Defined

The Old Testament prophets were messengers of God, calling on the nations of Israel and Judah to remember and keep their covenant with God. They were the enforcers of God's covenant, serving as God's direct representative and messenger to the people. The prophets were addressing specific situation in the history of Israel as they brought forth the word of God to the people.

Forth-telling vs. Fore-telling

The primary purpose of the prophet was to proclaim God's word to the people. In conjunction with the “forth-telling” message, the prophets often also were “fore-telling” the future. Usually this foretelling was a prediction of future events should the nation continue in their sinful behaviors. However, the foretelling spoke not just of judgment, but also a time of restoration and peace for Israel and the entire world.

Law of Double-Fulfillment

However, foretelling in the prophets presents significant interpretative difficulties for the modern reader. Often the prophet sees two or more future events as one. This is called the Law of Double-Fulfillment, the Law of Transparency, or “Foreshortening.”

Double fulfillment means that often a prophecy will have a near term and a later, greater fulfillment. The diagram above illustrates this (Stewart 182) . The prophets look down on the future and don't see the depth between the two concentric circles. However, later we can see that these two circles are some distance apart. The concept is also likened to seeing a large mountain in the distance which looks like it is just beyond the nearest hill. However, the distance to the mountain can be miles away.

An example of this principle is found in Isaiah 9:6. The prophet foretells the coming of the Messiah, saying, “unto us a child shall be born.” This is clearly understood as the being fulfilled with the birth of Jesus. However, the prophet goes on to say, “and the government shall rest upon His shoulders.” This aspect of Isaiah's prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. We anticipate the second advent of our Messiah who will bring peace as he takes his place as King.

Who were the Prophets?

The biblical prophets of Yahweh were all based out of Judah and Israel, and prophesied during the ninth through fifth centuries before Christ. The prophets were from all walks of life and class. They were not pawns of the monarchy, nor were they the agents of the priesthood, although some of the prophets were priests. However, they were just as likely to be farmers or common people. Some prophets were wealthy and part of the kingly court, while others were peasants. What they all did have in common was a calling from God, and a willingness to pursue this calling.

How did the Prophets Communicate God's Word?

Up to the eighth century BC, the message was almost always directed at the monarchy. But these messages were never written down for later generations. These early prophets also performed miracles, as seen with Elijah and Elisha.

From about the eighth century on the prophets recorded their messages in books bearing their names. We have 16 of these books today, and they are the final books of the Old Testament. Their writing included poetry, historical prose, and descriptions of visions and direct revelations of God's word (oracles).

Historic Context of Isaiah

Isaiah 1:1 gives us the historical context plainly:

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Isaiah 1:1 ESV)

History tells us that these kings reigned over the kingdom of Judah from 790 to 697 BC.

The Political Situation

The Divided Kingdom

The nation of Israel reached its greatest military and economic strength under the reigns of King David and his son Solomon. Their reigns lasted a combined 80 years around a millennium before Christ.

However, upon Solomon's death, the nation divided into to two kingdoms as the ten northern tribes rebelled against the house of David.

This northern kingdom was called the Israel or sometimes Ephraim, after the largest of the rebelling tribes. The new kingdom established their capital in the city of Samaria.

The southern kingdom was called Judah, after the largest of the two tribes faithful to the throne of David. This kingdom was centered around the city of Jerusalem and was also home to the temple to the God of Israel, located in the capital city on Mount Zion.

The Glory of Assyria

The biblical books of 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles tell the history of these two kingdoms from the tenth to the fifth century BC. From this biblical perspective, it appears that Israel and Judah are the major players on the world scene.

However, from a global perspective, these two kingdoms were merely insignificant little nations which would serve as pawns between the larger global super powers.

Without a doubt, the most dominant empire of the 7th, 8th, and 9th century before Christ was Assyria. Militarily, Assyria's empire extended from Egypt to Iran. The Assyrians were amazing engineers who built beautiful palaces and amazing temples in their capital city, Nineveh. Through archeology we have seen their sculptures, painting, and wall reliefs. They had a very sophisticated literary tradition, and an extensive and sophisticated bureaucracy.

Because of these things, we have a tremendous body of historical evidence describing the history and culture of the Assyrians. This evidence is consistent with the Bible and sheds some fascinating light on the history of Israel and Judah.

The Reigns of Uzziah and Jotham

The Age of Uzziah and Jeroboam II

In the first half of the 8 th century BC, Assyria suffered from several epidemics and internal political turmoil. As a result, both Israel and Judah realized a brief rise in influence and power.

Israel was ruled at this time by King Jeroboam II, whose 41 year reign was the longest in the northern kingdom. Jeroboam restored the territory of Israel to nearly the same extent as under King Solomon (2 Kings 14:23-29).

At this same time, Judah was ruled by King Uzziah (also called Azariah). Uzziah ruled for 52 years and followed after God. Under his reign Judah saw peace, prosperity and a stability not seen since the time of Solomon.

In Uzziah's later years he contracted leprosy, and his son Jotham ruled in his place. Jotham, who ruled for 16 years, also followed after God and built a new upper gate to the temple.

Coups in Israel

Upon the death of Jeroboam II, the northern kingdom fell into political chaos. Four of the next five kings in Israel would be assassinated in military coups. In addition, Israel faced a new threat to the north as Assyria regained its strength.

The Rise of Tiglath-Pileser III

A young Assyrian general named Tiglath-Pileser III (called Pul in 2 Kings) seized power in the midst of this turmoil, and began reasserting Assyria's domination. Under his reign (745 – 727 BC), Assyria conquered nearly the entire middle east from Babylon to Egypt.

The Reign of Ahaz

After the death of King Jotham in Judah, his son Ahaz of Judah reigned for 16 years. Ahaz was the first king in over 100 years who did not worship the true God, sacrificing to foreign gods and even offering his own son as a burnt offering.

The Syro-Ephraimite War

Ephraim During Ahaz's reign, Israel allied itself with Syria and attacked Judah in what is called the Syro-Ephraimite war. Judah was deeply outnumbered by this invading army, so in an act of desperation, Ahaz called on Tiglath-Pileser to help. The Assyrian army needed little to entice them to wage a campaign against its southern neighbors. In 732 BC they destroyed the Syrian capital, Damascus, invaded large sections of northern Israel, and carried off the residents to captivity (2 Kings 15:29). Hoshea, the next king of Israel was forced to pay tribute to Assyria to prevent further incursions by Assyria.

The Fall of Israel

God warned Israel through the prophets that unless they repented of their idolatry, that Assyria would destroy them (2 Kings 17:13-18). Yet the people did not listen. In 722, Tiglath-Pileser's son, Shalmaneser V, discovered that Israel was plotting with Egypt to rebel against him. So he destroyed Samaria, and carried away all the people of Israel into captivity.

The Reign of Hezekiah

The Accomplishments of Hezekiah

While Israel ignored the prophets of God and was destroyed, Judah heeded the words of the prophets, and under the leadership of King Hezekiah, experienced a national revival. Hezekiah destroyed the idols, which were tripping up the Jews, and trusted Yahweh.

In addition to Hezekiah's religious reforms, he established an underground aqueduct to provide water for the city in the case of a siege. He conquered the Philistines and became very wealthy. Hezekiah's greatness was such that 2 Kings 18:5 declares:

…there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. (2 Kings 18:5 ESV)

Invasion by Assyria

The most telling example of Hezekiah's trust in God came in 701 BC, when King Sennacherib of Assyria launched an invasion of Palestine. Sennacherib had faced the Egyptian army in a major battle in the plains of Judah and won. With this victory under his belt, Sennacherib headed to Jerusalem to lay siege to the capital city. In this story, told both in 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37-39, Hezekiah does not surrender, but heeding the advice of the prophet Isaiah, leads the nation in prayer and fasting. The Assyrian army is stricken by a plague from God and returns to Nineveh.

The Rise of Babylon & Judean Exile

The Reign of Manasseh

After the death of Hezekiah, Judah goes into a downward spiral. Hezekiah's son Manasseh reigned for 55 evil years during which he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings 21:6). Jewish tradition states the Isaiah was sawn in two by Manasseh.

At this time the Assyrian empire was at its largest. Under Esarhaddon and his successor Ashurbanipal, the empire expanded into Egypt and Persia. Manasseh avoided Assyrian invasion, not by trusting God as his father had, but by paying tribute and by adopting many of the Assyrian gods.

The Rise of Babylon

But upon the death of Ashurbanipal in 633 BC, the empire was thrown into civil war as the dead king's sons battled for the throne.

During this time of weakness, Judah was able to suspend tribute payments to Assyria. But it was also this weakness that allowed a new power to arise. In 626, Nabopollaser of Chaldea seized power in Babylon, and after allying himself with Persia, was able to conquer Assyria.

Egypt also sensed the change in the balance of power, and launched a campaign to stop the march of the Babylonian army. In a dramatic battle that signified the change in the balance of power, Nabopollaser's son, Nebuchadnezzar, defeated the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish (605). Babylon was the new dominant empire, and would become the agent by which God would bring judgment to an unrepentant Judah.

The Fall of Judah (605-586)

After the battle of Carchemish, which ended Egypt's domination over Judah, Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem in 601 BC, made the king a vassal, and took many of the Jewish nobles (including Daniel) to Babylon.

For 14 years the king of Judah paid tribute, until 586 BC when Judah again rebelled against Babylon, looking to Egypt for help. Egypt never came to help, and this time Nebuchadnezzer destroyed Jerusalem, including the temple and hauling off the rest of the Jews to Babylon.

The Exile (605 to 536)

The Jews remained in exile in Babylon for 70 years, when King Cyrus of Persia invaded and defeated Babylon. Then in 538 BC, Cyrus gave permission for the Jews to return to their homeland. A group of 49,897 people returned to Judah led by Zerubbabel. The exile accomplished its purpose, as the worship of foreign gods would never again take place in Judah.

Religious Context of Isaiah

Yahwehism in Judah

In Isaiah's day, most of the kings of Judah adhered to the worship of the God of Israel, whose name is Yahweh [1]. This worship was centered around a central tenant found in Deuteronomy 6:4:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord (Yahweh) our God, the Lord (Yahweh) is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV)

That Yahweh is One has two connotations. First it means that there is only one God. Secondly, this God rules over all. In other words, in opposition to the pantheism of the day, there is not one god of the sea, another god of the sky, or another god which causes the crops to grow. Yahweh is the one God, and He is over the earth, the sky, and the crops. He reigns over all.

Because Yahweh is the one and only God, the first two of the Ten Commandments deal with the worship of God:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God. (Exodus 20:3-5 ESV)

This was monotheistic belief was unique in Isaiah's day. But it is one of the central themes of the book of Isaiah (see Isaiah 45:18-23).

Idolatry in Israel

The Sin of Jeroboam

When the ten northern tribes rebelled against the throne of David, the temple to Yahweh remained in the capital of Judah, Jerusalem. Fearing that pilgrimages to the temple by his subjects would erode his authority, the first king of the north, Jeroboam instituted a perversion of Yahwehism. He built his own temples in the north and set up two golden calves as an image of God for them to worship. Jeroboam was not so much introducing a new god to Israel, but was instead declaring that these golden calves were an image of Yahweh, in direct violation of the second commandment.

There is precedent for the calf being the seen as the image of Yahweh, clear back to the time of the Exodus. While Moses was receiving the Law from God on Mount Sinai, his brother Aaron made a calf of gold and declared it to be Yahweh (Exodus 32:4-5).

Many of these temples and sites of worship were in the “high places.” The Golden Calf Cult is the first of two major religious perversions that Israel, and to a lesser extent Judah, embraced.

The Worship of Baal

In the 7 th century BC, the Israelite king, Ahab promoted the second major religious perversion of Israel, Baalism.

And as if it had been a light thing for him (Ahab) to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, … (he) went and served Baal and worshiped him. (1 Kings 16:31 ESV)

Baal was the ancient Canaanite god of fertility. The fertility of the land, however, depended not upon the loyalty of the people to Baal, nor the keeping some moral law. Instead, Baal worshippers would practice sexual rites and temple prostitution in the hopes that these actions would excite Baal and he would then engage in sexual relations with his consort. When Baal engaged in sexual relations with his consort, the earth gave forth a bountiful harvest.

The sexual nature of this cult made it particularly evil in God's sight, for it violated those basic moral and ethic underpinnings of Judaism and attacked the boundaries of familial relationships (Bullock 23) .

The Sin of King Ahaz

The third major false religion which Isaiah faced was introduced by King Ahaz of Judah when he made an alliance with Assyria in the Syro-Ephraimite war (2 Kings 16:10-19). After the defeat of Syria and Israel, Ahaz met Tiglath-Pileser in Damascus, where he saw an altar to the Assyrian gods. In an effort to win favor with the Assyrian king, Ahaz took the design of this altar and brought them to the high priest of Yahweh. He ordered the priest to tear down the altar to Yahweh and instead construct a new altar based on Assyrian designs.

While this may not seem to be a serious issue, this should have been considered an abomination to the priests for two reasons. First, the original design of the altar was given by Yahweh himself to the Moses in Exodus 27:1-8. Secondly, Ahaz built the altar to impress the king of Assyria, revealing that his trust was not in Yahweh, but was in Tiglath-Pileser.

Ahaz's religious perversion took him even further. In 2 Kings 16:3, we learn that Ahaz sacrificed to many different gods, and even sacrificed his own son as an offering to the gods.

The Nature of Paganism

While Ahaz's human sacrifice and the temple prostitution of Baalism are hideous religious practices, there is something more fundamental in the error of these religious practices.

In each of these perversions, be it making an image of Yahweh, participating in sexual rites, human sacrifice or constructing an altar of Assyrian design, all of these are an attempt to manipulate the gods to human will. Each of these practices are an attempt to appease a god so that they will do what you want, be it enticing Baal to cause your crops to grow or enticing Tiglath-Pileser to protect your kingdom from invaders.

But the worship of Yahweh, the true God, is not about manipulating Him to do what we want. The worship of God is not an attempt to mold God to our will, but to conform ourselves to His will (Moyer) .

Furthermore, We do not need to sacrifice our sons as burnt offerings to appease God or to earn His favor. God himself has provided the sacrifice of His own Son.

He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6 ESV)

The worship of Yahweh is not the worship of one god among many. It is the worship of the One true God, who gave up his own son, Jesus, as the sacrifice for our sin. Our worship is not an attempt to manipulate God to love us, for He has already demonstrated His great love for us by dying for us. Why, then would we want to worship any God but Him?

Footnotes

1. God reveals himself to Israel with his special memorial name, YHWH (see Genesis 3:15). Most English Bibles translate this name with the word Lord , printed in small caps.