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In each of the oracles today, imagine the prophet overcome with a vision that overpowers him with passionate imagery.  In the oracle against Egypt in chapter 19, you’ll notice themes of foolishness and confusion.  When the LORD comes to Egypt, He “will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians… and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel.”  In the vision regarding Babylon, the watchman stands at his post, awaiting riders who will bring the news that “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods He has shattered to the ground.” 

And in Jerusalem, there is confusion and tumult, as Isaiah envisions the city under threat, “a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the ‘Valley of Vision.’”  The prophet watches as houses are toppled to fortify the wall, as water is pooled to prepare for siege, while agonizing that its inhabitants refuse “…to look to Him who did it, or see Him who planned it long ago…”   For it is the LORD, not Assyria, who will “seize firm hold on you…and throw you like a ball into a wide land.” 

Yet once again, in the midst of this, there is hope far beyond that which any son of Abraham could imagine.  For there is coming a day when “the LORD will make Himself known to the Egyptians… and they will return to the LORD…” And “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria… in that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.”  

Listen closely for how this hope extends both backward and forward, before the nation of Israel and beyond it.  In Genesis 12, the LORD promised that Abram “will be a blessing,” and that in him “all the families on earth will be blessed.”  Isaiah foresees the day when Judah’s purpose will be fulfilled, and Israel, Egypt, and Assyria will bow to the LORD. 

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 19 through 22.  Now let’s read it!

Following the promise of Babylon’s fall in the beginning of today’s reading, the next oracle comes “in the year that King Ahaz died...” which would have been around 715 B.C.  Remember that Ahaz was the king in chapter 7 who refused to ask the LORD for a sign regarding the threat from Israel and Syria.  Not only had Ahaz and Judah survived these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, but, as Isaiah had promised, neither Israel nor Syria even existed as nations any longer. 

Moreover, Philistia, Moab, and Cush would meet their demise as well.  You’ll recognize most of these names from Israel’s past, and each had delighted in the troubles of Israel and Judah.   These oracles are scattered throughout an undefined time period – some just after Isaiah promises Damascus’ fall in chapter 7, others after the fall of both Damascus and Samaria.   As we’ve seen in other places – most notably in the book of Judges – patterns and themes matter more to the author than chronology. 

Chapter 14 opens with a promise: “The LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land…”  When you read you’ll notice that this promise is nested within a prophecy against Babylon.  There was nothing jarring to the Israelite mind in these oracles against other nations.  What do gods do?  They try to beat up on other gods.  And what do I want my gods to do?  I want my gods to provide protection and exact vengeance on other nations. 

The jarring part is the alarm that this ebb and flow of strife is not how it's supposed to be, and one day it will be put right.  The promise in these passages – and it’s an audacious one – is that the LORD alone has the ability and the integrity to end the chaos.  Not simply to exact vengeance, but to inaugurate an order that both mirrors and fulfills the promise of Genesis 1. 

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 14 through 18.  Now let’s read it!

After an introductory decree against oppression and injustice, the LORD turns His attention in chapter 10 to Assyria.  While he believes that by the strength of my own hand I have conquered, Assyria is simply the rod of [the LORD’s] anger.  And when the LORD has finished all His work on Mount Zion… He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.   

This conceit likewise drives the LORD’s anger at Babylon in chapter 13.  Over a century before Babylon will cast off its own Assyrian yoke and terrorize Jerusalem, Isaiah foretells the cause of its demise.  The day is coming when the LORD will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless… And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. 

Between these judgments against the current and future nemeses of Judah is a series of promises of no mean significance.  First, the LORD promises that a remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.  Second, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse – a king in the line of David – and in that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant that remains of His people…

Furthermore, it is promised that this shoot of Jesse will answer the call for justice, for: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD… He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;  

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 10 through 13.  Now let’s read it!

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son.  Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”  2 Kings 16:17

It’s important to remember that prophecy is launched in a time and a place, with an original author and hearer and situation into which the prophet speaks.  Ahaz, grandson of Uzziah, is now on the throne in Jerusalem and is threatened by an alliance between Syria and Israel.  Isaiah is sent out to counsel him to trust that these two kingdoms will not stand.  The sign of a child that the LORD promises – which Ahaz resisted – will be fulfilled more than once. 

This is one of the few narratives in Isaiah, and you’ll notice that it flips between first- and third-person accounts.  The underlying themes are fear and faith.  When the northern threat emerges, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.   When the LORD promises Ahaz that Ephraim and Syria will not stand, he warns “If you are not firm in the faith, you will not be firm at all.”  Later, when speaking to Isaiah alone, the LORD likewise cautions him, “Do not fear what [the people] fear…But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.  Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.” 

As we read earlier from Kings, Ahaz did not head this counsel.  Indeed, within a decade, the kingdom of Israel itself will be washed away.  And Isaiah, in chapter 8, is given the sign that Ahaz forfeited.  But Assyria will not be satisfied with Samaria and Damascus, for the Lord will allow the “River of Assyria” to rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah…

Chapter 9 is devoted to the LORD’s anger and judgment against the Northern Kingdom.  In fact, just so there is no misunderstanding, in one sequence all the synonymous titles for the Northern Kingdom – Jacob, Israel, Ephraim, and Samaria – come in brisk succession.  You’ll remember from the book of Kings that this is not simply because they have risen against Judah, but because they had abandoned the LORD from the very beginning. 

But embedded in this is a message of hope for the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, for in the latter time [the LORD] has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations… For the child will be born as promised, and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. 

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 7 through 9.  Now let’s read it!